Managing the harsh Food Web in My Ecosystem Vivarium

Building an ecosystem vivarium is no easy task. It requires an intrinsic understanding of biology, animal husbandry, and the food web. I am on a mission to construct a 1,200 gallon ecosystem vivarium with a many plant and animal species living within. I do have a strategy to ensure the greatest amount of success. This is Part 3 of the Ecosystem Vivarium Series in celebration of 5 Million Subscribers. Hope you enjoy this week's episode! Ant love forever! This video was shot in 4K Ultra HD resolution.

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Directed/Written/DOP/Edited by AntsCanada
Executive Producer RJ Garcia

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[AntsCanada]

AC Family, here we are! OMG your feedback! Thank you all so much. A lot to consider here, and I'm taking notes. Ant love forever!

[AntsCanada]

WE DID IT, AC FAMILY! You are officially 5M! I'm so happy and tearful rn. Ant love forever!

[PhillShoeguy]

If you end up doing the planned biological events, it would be really cool if you would post a monthly calendar showing when exactly events would take place throughout the month

[USECmyBalls]

YOU NEED TO SETUP A 24/7 LIVE STREAM FOR THE VIVARIUM! Its a massive MUST, it'd be great for keeping a eye on things that happen during the night and it'd be a fantastic way to keep the AC Family satiated when we want a update on the tank :D

[zacharyzier]

I’d recommend building your vivarium by first establishing the soil and plants, make sure the bottom of the food chain itself is stable and established and can flourish. After this, place in critters that’ll handle and begin cycling the dead matter. Then, put in a very small number of herbivores, free of carnivores, let them rebalance the system, then put in predators effectively one at a time to prevent a shock to the system.

[caitlinobrien]

While in theory this rotation idea sounds very cool, I agree with many of the other commentors that it would probably be incredibly stressful for not only the apex predator being moved in or out, but also for all of the smaller creatures who would be moved about or potentially unearthed during the process. Especially if the creature you want to move out of the tank is hiding well enough that you have to do a deeper search and possibly move around or take out items in order to find them (notably the tarantula would have the hardest time with this change)

I think it sounds super cool, but I have my reservations.. I wish this process the best of luck though, it's such a big decision left ultimately up to you, so I'm sure you'll choose what you think is best for the creatures within Mikey! Ant love forever <3

[Nigel_BC]

I think moving around the apexes might stress them out to the point that they won’t exhibit natural behaviors. I think out of all the apexes the tarantula is the most viable but I would still prefer a multi-smallish predator system.

[tvh]

Remember when you had plans for a massive tree in the middle of your house, that would also be a cool place for an ecosystem simulation

[mortem]

I personally really like the idea of planned natural events. My main worry for the rotating apex predators is just the stress of the animal. Outside of that I also don't want it to be super major event, for example I don't think weaver ants works, yes they are cool but getting them out sounds like a nightmare if they start to overrun the vivarium

[ToaofAnarchy]

Having to rotate the predators sounds like a ton of work just to keep things balanced and fair, and also stressful for the animals. I really think your best bet is to just have a lot of smaller predators, with maybe one Apex at most, and then leave it at that.

[jasonz]

I think an important part of this project's success would be to try and use species that are endemic to the same areas as one another. An example of this would be a tank featuring all South American flora and fauna. Amazon Tree Boas (which aren't restricted to a rodent diet), mourning geckos, tree frogs, bullet ants, etc. By doing it based off of a naturally observed area, you can fill the same niches that we see being filled in nature. The blueprints to a successful ecosystem are already laid out in front of you by Mother Nature, you would just have to do some extensive research. It would make it a lot less hands on and much more natural. Doing it in this fashion is the clearest way to a large self-sustaining vivarium imo. I also think if you want to rotate apex predators they should be from the same parts of the planet, just to make it more natural.

[lorenzogratton]

I have to say the Ecosystem Vivarium series has been my favorite series so far.

[theduckknight]

I'm not convinced the rotating apex predator idea is good. That vivarium will be HUGE and will have lots and lots of places to hide, even for an apex predator. searching the whole thing because; for example the tarantula, decided to settle down somewhere unknown in the vivarium while it does not have to eat for weeks and just sticks in a burrow for a long time would mean you have to deepsearch the whole thing to find it, stressing every other animal inside and disturbing the status quo of the other predators. just hoping for it to appear someday in a visible spot to catch it might take MONTH.

[ashhawk]

My only concerns are how the apex predators may be stressed out by the rotation.

[vesper]

Mikey, you really care about your fans and the fact that you are willing to create such a massive project and then cycle the biological events is truly incredible for all of us.
I think your plan is A LOT of work, but absolutely feasible.
Honestly, if you can pull this off and find the right rhythm to maintain balance, you will likely be contributing to science once more.
You probably already make notes on every enclosure, but they will be essential to this project, and I can not wait to see the data this dream churns out.

Edit: well done on 5M subs 👏 ❤

[L-AFOL-de-MOC]

I watched a documentary years ago about a zoo that rotated the animals in their enclosures. This was great stimulation for the animals. New smells and new locations was great for the animals psychological health

[thedinosavior]

I think that my only concern with this plan would be how the apexes you own could be hurt by a gang of the smaller predators(mainly ants).

[VeryHuman]

This should count as a 5M special, because this is the most interesting and special series on YouTube I have ever watched

[blister]

Would moving such predators like a tarantula be harmful to it? I have a friend with a couple of tarantulas and he disturbs them as little as possible especially as they get larger. I'd hate to see an animal injured by rotating it out. I think that the idea of changing predators is great as a forest changes over seasons, or natural events but some creatures are sensitive to being handled and risking them just to move them off display/rotation wouldn't be worth the risk.

[ShapeshifterShifty-eqmc]

I love this idea! Although you may wanna make apexes' personal enclosures as close to the vivarium as possible while still providing them with their individual needs, so it's not like a huge change when you put them in and take them out, which could stress some animals.