This CAVE AQUARIUM is the MOST BIODIVERSE One Yet! (Part 2)

In this episode of The Natural Aquarium, I set up a Father Fish-style cave tank using organic soil, deep substrate layers, reddish sand, and tons of surface area for microorganisms. Within days, the aquarium exploded with copepods, ostracods, infusoria, biofilms, fungi, bacteria, and filter-feeding colonies that fuel the entire food web.

I planted the tank using trimmings and epiphytes—Anubias, Java Fern, ground cover, stem plants—focused on the center. After letting the ecosystem establish, we added:

✅ Yellow Neocaridina shrimp
✅ Ramshorn, bladder & Malaysian trumpet snails
✅ Blackworms and microfauna from Resurrection jars
✅ Red Tiger Medaka (ricefish)—and they bred immediately!

This cave aquarium combines deep substrate, natural cycling, and hidden refuges so microfauna can survive even after fish are added—making this the most biodiverse tank I’ve ever built.

Chapters:
0:00 Intro
0:12 Deep substrate with organic soil bags
2:18 Planting
4:30 Introducing microfauna & infusoria
9:09 Interesting ciliates
11:15 Worms
12:08 Snails
14:15 Shrimp
14:56 Medaka fish
17:26 Plant growth
18:33 Timelapse

If you love natural aquariums, microfauna, Father Fish soil, shrimp tanks, or self-sustaining ecosystems, you’ll love this one.
✅ Like, Comment, & Subscribe to support the channel!

#Ricefish #Medaka #PlantedTank #NaturalAquarium #FatherFish #CaveAquarium

Helpful Links:

???? Join the Father Fish Shoal Discord channel. It’s a wonderful community to learn & grow. https://discord.gg/father-fish-shoal ????

????Official Father Fish Merch at https://father-fish-official-merch.printify.me We have t-shirts, hats, bags, and much more! ????

Join this channel to get access to perks:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_yczBK9HleS-HOFFHtM5Wg/join

Support me on Patreon
https://www.patreon.com/user?u=25478137
For sales of plants, fish, supplies and more go to https://father-fish-aquarium.myshopify.com/
Father Fish Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/3244678768912659/

All clips and images are used for illustration purposes only.