1A year ago today, I built this little chunk of rainforest.
2This is much more than a bedside tank.
3It has evolved into a dense ecosystem teeming with life.
4It is in this video where you can see both the brutality and beauty of mother nature.
5Today, I will unveil to you the full history of the cannibal jungle in my bedroom.
6The tank began as a summer project.
7I built a custom background for the tank using some ghost wood, spray foam and silicone, nothing major.
8The tank wouldn't be the same without it.
9I built up some lava rock in the foreground.
10This was to create the water area.
11The back of the tank was then filled with some lica and substrate.
12From here I planted the tank and it was complete.
13I didn't realize I had created the groundwork for an ecosystem.
14At the time, the only animals were these tiny garden snails that hitched along one of the plants.
15As time went by, the plants started to grow in and moss began to appear.
16The progression of the tank was slow but clearly evident.
17Once mold appeared, I introduced various species of springtails into the tank.
18They thrived in the humid environment.
19I felt the tank was ready for a more complex life,
20so I got some shrimp and Malaysian trumpet snails.
21Those shrimp were shy but would always come out during feeding time.
22As for the snails, they settled in right away.
23Within just a few days I found baby snails scattered throughout.
24To make the shrimp feel more at home, I added in some red root floater.
25These plants acted as cover and made the shrimp feel secure.
26After that, it didn't take long for the shrimp to get busy.
27Here you can see a very pregnant shrimp.
28She carries the eggs under her abdomen
29and those tiny black dots are actually eyes.
30There was a population boom and you could clearly see that in the time lapse.
31About a month down the road, everything was still going smoothly, so I was ready to add in an apex predator:
32the vampire crab.
33Their eyes glow a menacing yellow which is how they get their name.
34I started with only six of them.
35When I added them to the tank, little did I know of the army they would become.
36I gave them each a mealworm to feed upon.
37This crab eats his food like a cup of takeout.
38I always thought it was funny.
39These crabs are semi-terrestrial, meaning they need both a land and water area to survive.
40On land, they breathe using a thin layer of water on their shell.
41If you look closely, you can see the water moving around their exoskeleton.
42This one is even blowing bubbles.
43The crabs often venture to the water in search of a meal.
44They tried to hunt the shrimp but aren't very successful.
45Two months later, the tank was still thriving.
46The plants finally started to fill in the space and some of them developed crazy colors.
47One day, I was baffled when I found baby crabs wandering around the tank.
48They weren't much bigger than a sesame seed.
49The babies had very effective camouflage as they blended right into their surroundings.
50Here you can see him eating some algae.
51The babies were an awesome surprise though I became concerned.
52I feared the crabs would overpopulate and there would be way too many of them.
53I needed a solution.
54I needed a new predator.
55That is where the morning gecko comes in.
56I bought 3 adult females and I thought they would be the perfect tank mate.
57The geckos immediately took up residence in the canopy.
58The adult crabs were too big for them to hunt but the babies...
59well, the babies could become an unfortunate meal.
60Now it wasn't only geckos that were hunting the baby crabs.
61The crabs hunted the crabs.
62Here you can see a baby crab eating his own brother.
63They were cannibals.
64it showed how brutal nature can be.
65As more time passed, the forest floor became much more than just a pile of dead leaves.
66it became a refuge.
67There were still these tiny snails who would wander in search of food.
68More than just microfauna lived here,
69it was home to the baby crabs.
70They rarely ventured out to explore or to become someone else's meal.
71As the crabs grew, they no longer needed the security of the forest floor.
72They could climb into the canopy in search of food.
73At this stage, they were too big to become a meal for one of the geckos.
74I'd even see them peacefully sitting side by side.
75In the canopy, the crabs found refuge in the bromeliads.
76These plants hold many pools of water in their leaves which turned out to be a perfect hiding spot.
77I'd often find them hiding in these pockets.
78If I ever got too close they would quickly dive deeper into the plant.
79The geckos also call the bromeliads home.
80I'd find them tucked in between their leaves and they'd find shelter here when it rains.
81Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the tank has rain.
82The tank has these tropical storms five times a day.
83The heavy rain brings out the geckos and you can even hear them talking to each other.
84That clicking noise is actually the geckos communicating.
85They are very social animals that like to be housed in groups.
86Well, their group is about to get bigger because they had laid piles and piles of eggs.
87This may come as a surprise because if you recall,
88all the geckos I bought were female then how do they reproduce?
89Well, this isn't just any ordinary gecko.
90This type of gecko can make clones.
91All you need is one gecko to start an entire population.
92As the days went by, I began to find baby geckos all over the tank.
93They were extremely quick and difficult to film.
94Most of the time I would find them resting among the bromeliads or high up in the canopy.
95This little guy was drinking off one of the leaves.
96Funny little guys for sure!
97And now this brings us to present day.
98Like my hair, the tank looks nothing like it did a year ago and has become overgrown.
99The diversity in leaf shape size and color is extremely variable.
100The ecosystem has finally found balance where no animal outcompetes the other.
101Many of the crabs have reached adulthood.
102Here you can see a baby juvenile and adult crab in the palm of my hand.
103The smallest crab doesn't have any of his adult coloration yet.
104Right now, he's cleaning his eyes with his claws.
105They are like mini windshield wipers.
106Because the crabs don't have any eyelids, they have to manually keep their eyes clean.
107You can see how the juvenile crab has developed some color on his eyes and they're now a deep orange.
108I decided to give him a little treat and this is a blood worm.
109He took it right out of my tongs and began to eat it.
110His mouth was like a little meat grinder and he ate the entire thing.
111And here is an adult crab.
112He is clearly the biggest and most colorful of the three.
113His massive claws were disproportionate to his tiny frame.
114I tried feeding him a cricket but he pushed that away.
115I then tried feeding him a blood worm and of course he didn't hesitate to eat that.
116He ate the whole thing in under a minute.
117The geckos were thriving and now I had well over 30.
118I didn't feel comfortable leaving them in the big tank so I built them their own setup.
119I'll be sure to make a video on them in the future.
120The tank as a whole is definitely looking at its best.
121Beauty lies in its constant evolution and change.
122Every day, there is new growth, a new plant or even a new generation.
123This tank is not the only project I've been working on.
124Right now, I'm building a 100 gallon polidarium, a saltwater ecosystem
125and I'm keeping a colony of wasps.
126So definitely stay on the lookout for that.
127Now here's a full playlist of all the videos I have on this tank.
128Feel free to check that out.
129Thank you for watching and I'll see you in the next one.