Left Alone for 6 Months, 360° No-Filter Guppy Pond Tank

I set this aquarium in motion 270 days ago, and it has quickly become one of my favorites. It's a low-tech, no-filter ecosystem pond tank that I built for guppies. We last observed it at 100 days old when I performed maintenance and added new animals, including more guppies, a shoal of pygmy Cory catfish, and shrimp. Excluding feeding and water top offs, I haven't done anything since. With nature uninhibited for 170 days, competition between the plants has become fierce, and the animals are absolutely thriving alongside others who snuck in. Needless to say, it's time to intervene once more. Let's take a closer look. The first thing you'll notice is that the environment appears less manicured and wild. That's to be expected as it took on a life of its own. However, without a hand to direct things, some life has thrived and some has not. At least in regard to the plant life. To better understand what's happened underwater, we should first look at the riparian plants above the rim. Other than a few leaves that need to be trimmed, everything has taken exceptionally well. That's great news for the animals because these play a huge role in filtering the water, but bad news for the plants below. That's because these have first dibs on the light, and as they absorb nutrients from the water, they progressively obscure the light that the others need to grow. This is easily avoided with regular pruning, which I have not kept up with. Now I've grown the majority of these in a riparian setting before, so I knew what to expect. Though I am surprised by a few things. Syngonium is a vining plant. If given the opportunity, it stretches out, and I usually stop that through trimming. It sent vines all throughout the water with leaves growing upward. Some are even growing out of the tank. I think it looks amazing, but I can't allow this to continue, or it will smother everything else. I also didn't expect the parrot's feather to take off as well as it has. What began as a simple experiment has now become part of the problem too. That's because all this foliage at the water's surface is also blocking precious light from reaching the aquatic plants. All this caused the hygrophila pinnata to perish and left the cymba and wisteria ruins. Meanwhile, the hygrophila corombosa avoided extinction above the rim, though it doesn't have much foliage underwater. The lack of light is a major factor, but dwindling nutrients have likely contributed as well. The plants made quick work of whatever was in the soil to begin with, and what remains, combined with what's added during feeding or from animal waste, isn't enough to sustain the volume, which is especially evident with heavy feeders like the lilies. There are also visible deficiencies on the Amazon swords and a few of the crypts. All that's to say, it's probably a good time to start supplementing with root tabs. Laying a nutrient aside, more easygoing plants are still thriving. The rotala carpet is doing its thing. Moss has created a beautiful plume. Satch has taken over this corner, and my other experiment with dwarf hairgrass has proven successful as well. By no means is any of this bad. It's just an example of what happens when you don't regularly intervene. As for the animals, it's the complete opposite. All of them have settled nicely into this tank, flourishing to varying degrees. This began with bladder, trumpet, and ramshorn snails, all of which are still here. However, in the past few months, ramshorn snails have taken the lead, and I'm okay with that. Most are the standard brown coloration, with a few blues peppered in. One of which is massive. It's probably not quite full grown, but easily one of the largest I've ever produced in an aquarium. Speaking of blue, the shrimp population has boomed as well. The blue velvets were essentially MIA until recently. I was beginning to think they didn't make it, but I had to keep reminding myself to trust the process, remembering that shrimp prefer seasoned aquariums and find comfort in numbers. Then about a month ago, my patience finally paid off when I saw one during feeding. Every day since, there's been more and more, and now you can't look anywhere in the tank without seeing them. At this rate, I know it's only a matter of time before they'll have the largest population of any creature in here. Until then, the guppies have them beat. They're often spread out, so their numbers might not be apparent at first glance. Fish looking for a quiet place to retreat often go into the carpet of plants, which doubles as a nursery for fish fry to develop before venturing out. Of course, I see the tank every day, so I know they're in there. But I'm always surprised by their numbers. However, this new life is contrasted by the fact that guppies don't live forever, and the older ones are aging out. While sad, their passing creates an opportunity for the custodians who leave nothing behind. Additionally, over the five years I've been developing this group, I must have introduced much guppies, and prior to them being in this tank, their traits had surfaced. There's not much I can do about that now, and many of the fish look amazing. But I guess we could argue whether this is actually a guppy aquarium or not. That's part of the reason why I want to add some more fish. I was also surprised to find that scuds had taken up residence when I was documenting all of this. Had I seen them sooner, I likely would have been concerned for the shrimp because scuds typically outcompete them for resources. However, I'm certain they snuck in on some plants when I established the tank prior to even adding shrimp, and only now have become apparent. Clearly, the shrimp populations are booming, and I doubt there's much I could do about them at this point if I wanted to, anyway. There's also the pygmy corys, which were a fun addition to the tank. At first, they were inseparable, but have gradually become less tight-knit. Only occasionally shoaling as they had before. I suppose that in the safe environment, without any concern for predation, there's no need to stick together. Now with a better idea of what's going on in here, I'm gonna do some maintenance before adding some new animals. First, had to address the plants above the rim to get better access to everything else. As I already said, the syngonium was quite overgrown. That's why I removed struggling leaves, those close to the light, and the vines in the water. These can be cut anywhere and they'll be fine, but I like to trim at the node just above the leaf. The part right here where the roots develop. Doing so produces robust cuttings for propagation and maintains the original plant's appearance. Once these ones develop roots in water, I'll move them into a pot in my office. The cotton candy fern, which initially had acclimation issues, is doing very well with foliage spilling into the water. However, these sections won't last very long like this, so I trimmed them. And unlike the syngonium, they won't produce new plants. That's okay because one of my favorite plants to grow, like this, the hemiographis, will. I trimmed the stems just above the leaves and put them back in the water to produce denser plants. I also snipped the phytotnia and removed all the parrot's feathers. All this allowed me to see into the water more clearly than I had in months. That's when I realized that the cabomba wasn't as dilapidated as I thought. Most of the stems were stretched out to access light, but the leaves at the ends looked great. Even so, I trimmed and replanted them near the others. I also didn't care for the way that the sage had spread into other plants, especially the rotala. So I combed through to relocate them to a bare spot in the back that never quite filled in. I likely would have left the rotala as is after that, but I wanted to fill the spot where the pinetophyta was. With these tanks, there's always a degree of experimentation where some plants work and others don't, even if they had in similar setups before. Instead of trying to force something that I want to happen, I simply work with what's working once I know. Thankfully, the tank has been relatively free of algae to this point, except for small tufts that form on this rock. Thankfully, they're easy to remove. As were deficient leaves on the tiger lily and Amazon swords. This highlights the importance of trimming. Removing quote unquote bad leaves forces the plants to grow new pristine foliage instead of wasting their time preserving what's damaged. In contrast, removing all the debris with the tiny net is tedious and easily the part I enjoy the least. No doubt it's apparent on video, but whatever biofilm or algae had formed on the glass significantly reduced visibility. I like to do all that before the water change, so any water-born debris is removed. This filter tube and sponge strainer apparatus literally is a lifesaver. Not only does it keep all the animals safe, but I can keep working as it drains. Every time I do a video like this, I always get a lot of questions about the water I'm using. Thankfully, I'm on a well that's not treated with chemicals like chlorine, so it's safe for the animals directly out of the tap. Finally, I added about 30 root tabs to replenish nutrients. That may seem like a lot, but the tank occupies a large area relative to its volume. The vast majority of my tanks are pretty low tech, and I find that doing this a few times a year, as things appear less vibrant, helps a lot. By the following day, it was ready for some new friends. For me, part of the fun with guppies is just adding some random ones together and seeing what arises. That said, the oranges and reds always look amazing, so I made sure to have a few of those. While I was at it, I figured why not get a few more cories as well. Truthfully, I was hoping this would make them show a little bit more, but I wasn't banking on it, which is why the final addition was the skull of Harlequin Rasbora. They looked great as they filled the aquarium, which had me hoping this was the right choice. This was also when I returned some of the parrot's feather. After the animals had time to settle into their new lives here in this aquarium, all was good and well. The cories sifted through the substrate as shrimp meticulously scrubbed the surfaces. Meanwhile, the happy galakki guppies enjoyed their new rasbora buddies. Unexpectedly, kind of scolded together, even if that's not quite what I had imagined. While this tank was originally built for the guppies, for me it embodies what I imagine an aquarium to be—a place where aquatic life can thrive carefree and bring joy to those on the outside. Even though this is an environment that I designed, I'm constantly surprised by what I find. That happens with other tanks too, but the scale of this one, in contrast to the animals, just feels different. It creates a sense of wonder that reminds me why I started keeping aquariums in the first place decades ago. The moments when I discover things like the scuds or when the shrimp began to emerge never get old. My only complaint would probably be the lack of schooling, which I could force by adding something more aggressive. However, I feel that would detract from the joy I find here. The world is very loud, and as life gets more complicated, the simple joy of observing an aquarium full of creatures living carefree is a great reminder to make time for quiet moments. I think that's why this became one of my favorites. I'm not sure what I'll do with it next, if anything. Either way, I'm excited to see how it progresses and to share that with all of you. If you missed the original build, I've linked that up here, as well as the time I made a creek for a fishing spider I found in my bathroom. It's kind of foreshadowing to my next project. Anyway, as always, thank you so much for watching, and until next time, Serpa Squad, take care and peace.