I Added Freshwater Fish to My Saltwater Paludarium – Incredible Results!

Today we have yet another exciting update on the 100-gallon saltwater paludarium. We'll explore some fascinating new developments in the aquarium and review a bold experiment. Introducing freshwater fish into a saltwater ecosystem. Yes, you heard that right. Freshwater fish in a saltwater setup. It's an unconventional twist and I can't wait to show you how it all comes together. Be sure to subscribe, sit back and let's dive right in. Before I introduce these new and exciting additions to the ecosystem, let's take a look at some other developments. Last night I was sitting in front of the aquarium and I wasn't happy with what I saw. One of the pieces of macroalgae didn't look good. Some smaller pieces had fallen off and were caught by the powerhead, causing them to be blown all over the reef tank. I decided to use the fragments and wedge some of them in between the rocks. But one thing led to another and I ended up doing a small rescape on this part of the aquarium. The rocks in this area are Indonesian live rocks. I had originally built a small, separate island near the front of the aquarium using these rocks. But I wasn't satisfied with the way that it looked. It blocked the view, making it hard to observe what was going on behind it or see the wood we placed there. There was a big area behind it, let's call it reef estate. But because the views were getting blocked by this rock, it ended up using its value for this aquarium. But that wasn't the only reason for this change. The loose macroalgae also highlighted another problem. Many of them got stuck in one place. This meant that the flow wasn't optimal. To fix this, I decided to break up the large piece of rock and move some of it further back, creating more space between the glass and the rocks. I also spread the pieces further apart. Now I have two smaller pieces of rock that I can fully utilize for corals and macroalgae. In my opinion, this looks so much better. The tank feels more open, the flow is improved and the added depth makes the tank look way bigger. Now ever since I installed the new filter for flow and heating on this aquarium, the Duncan coral had been closed up. I think it wasn't happy with the increased flow. However, I left it there for a few days hoping it would acclimate. But if it stayed closed for too long, I had to move it because it would starve and die as it couldn't extend its polyps to feed itself. And unfortunately, this ended up being the case. For now, I moved it onto this rock, and this morning it was fully open again. Of course, as soon as I wanted to film, it closed up, which is typical. As for the Turbinaria coral, I placed it where the Duncan coral originally was. It hadn't been doing well on the right side of the tank either, but it seems much happier in its new spot. Look at its polyps, they are Sitting in front of the system is such a treat. You see all kinds of life, from fish darting around to small shrimp and starfish cleaning the rocks and sand. It is awesome. Yesterday I noticed something on top of one of my snails. These very small green flower looking things. Now it can be one of two things, a species of coral. What do you think this is? Now look at the alveopora corals we added last week, they are doing very well. The one in the back however has shorter and smaller polyps, so I will probably move it to the front of the aquarium more. It also seems to have a piece of dragon's bread on top of it, which really doesn't help it either. One of the Peterson's cleaner shrimp decided to move into this area of the reef, the alveopora garden. It has not moved out of there for days, so this is pretty cool to see, it's so small. I love how this part of the reef is starting to look with the tubeworms, mangroves, macroalgae and other marine life. The longer you look, the more you'll see. But wait, are we looking at a freshwater planet aquarium? No, this is the feather calarepa that's growing all over the place. This species of macroalgae is considered invasive. As you can see, it grows extremely fast and all over the place. Compared to last week, it has grown a lot. I even trimmed it down a bunch yesterday during the rescape. It pretty much closed up the entire tidepool, hiding all the life that was inside of it. So I decided to cut some of it away. I think this is going to be part of my weekly maintenance routine. Another disadvantage to these fast growing macroalgae is that the portal to the tidepool is closing up really fast. So soon I'll have to trim this macroalgae as well. But this is awesome to see. This is a high nutrient system. Mangroves, macroalgae and filter feeders need a dirty aquarium. Because higher levels of nitrates and phosphates are a must when you successfully want to grow macroalgae and mangroves. As these plants and algae grow, they will consume more and more of this. I really have to start keeping track of these nutrients and some trace elements through water tests to make sure that they have enough. One of the disadvantages of high nutrients is that algae grows fast. And no, this time I'm not talking about the macroalgae I like. But more about the nuisance algae. On the mangrove trunks, some parts of the reef and the wood we added, certain species of algae are starting to proliferate. By the appearance of it, it mainly seems to be hair algae and sea lettuce. Now, if left untouched, this can become a huge problem. But hopefully we can keep it in check with these new freshwater fish. Let's check it out. I was recently introduced to something that blew my mind. Keeping freshwater fish in a saltwater aquarium. I thought I was being pranked. But as I looked into it more, my jaw dropped. There are certain species of fish that can transfer from freshwater to saltwater and back. If you have kept freshwater fish before, you may recognize black mollies, self-finned mollies, and even certain guppies. It turns out they can all be acclimated to saltwater and they are the perfect, budget-friendly, and algae-eating saltwater fish. Acclimating them is a timely process, but quarantining them for parasites or diseases is not needed. Freshwater diseases can transfer to saltwater fish or even survive in saltwater. Self-finned mollies are very adaptable. They live in all sorts of waters. From freshwater to slightly salted water, which is called brackish water, to actual saltwater like we have in this aquarium. In the wild, they will actually swim back and forth between freshwater and saltwater all the time. I read many different methods on how to acclimate these fish to a saltwater aquarium. From tossing them into the aquarium straight out of the bag to drip acclimating them in a separate container for up to a week. I've read some articles online and watched some videos on YouTube, one from Reef Builders, the most popular saltwater block in the industry, and it seems that most of them drip acclimate them overnight. So that's exactly what I will be doing as well. I did read that the freshwater bred versions don't do too well in the long term and you may lose some of the fish. But newer generations will do so much better. So hopefully these two females can have some babies and maybe we can form an algae-eating army. I am using a bucket with freshwater and place it into a bigger container, just in case it overflows overnight. I have a heater and a small filter inside the bucket to make sure that the temperature stays the same and the water gets aerated. I'm using a process called drip acclimation, where saltwater is slowly introduced into the bucket by dripping down from the aquarium. This ensures a slow and steady acclimation to saltwater for these fish. And while they're acclimating, there are some other things I'd like to show you. Yesterday, when I was taking a closer look at the reef, I noticed a crab. But it's one I didn't introduce on purpose. It hitchhiked into the aquarium through the live rock we added when we set it up. If you've watched the previous episodes on this saltwater paludarium, you'd know that this is not the first time that we've found a dead crab. It's happened before. The only crab I added in here deliberately is a decorator crab. It has incredible camouflage. Perhaps the best form of camouflage in the entire underwater animal kingdom. It collects all sorts of stuff from all over the reef. Now, I had a hard time spotting it, but I finally found it hiding underneath this rock, inside the sand. Can you see it? Okay, back to the dead crab. I suspect that our pistil shrimp, which also hitchhiked into the tank, played a big role in taking out this tiny little critter. But maybe it just died naturally. Who knows. The asparagus fern is growing incredibly fast. Compared to last week's video, it has grown a lot. Yesterday, I cut off a small part of the plant because the leaf turned yellow. But overall, it seems to be doing great. It looks like the orchids have finished blossoming as well. Now, I'm pretty new to this, but do I cut off these twigs or just leave them be? Let me know in the comments. It's now been three hours and the freshwater sailfin mollies are still looking good. I think it's time to head to bed and check in on them in the morning. Well, good morning guys. We're back and the sailfin mollies have been acclimating to saltwater for about 15 hours now. It is time to set them free into their new home, the saltwater paludarium. But before we do that, we have to make sure that the salt levels inside the bucket are the exact same as the aquarium. A quick check with my refractometer confirmed that the salinity levels matched. It is time to set them free. Now, I hope they've taken care of by the time I post the next update. We'll see. Just look at these fish. This is going to be very controversial. Some people will hate these fish and others will love them. A quick poll about a week ago showed people were very divided. Respectively, 62% thought this was an awesome idea and 38% thought it was boring. What do you think? Let me know in the comments and make sure you are subscribed to the channel. Thanks for watching.