ALL I EVER WANTED IS SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL TO SAY.

Yeah, let's talk about fish. You know when we talk about fish? You know when we talk about fish, you know what we get into? We get into everything. And this has been the week that we got into everything, didn't we? It's been up one side and down the other. I'm here to tell you, you can't talk about fish without talking about religion and politics. You can't do it. Can't do it. Now I know there are these purists out there who insist that that's what we have to do. They insist on it. The only reason they're insisting on it is because they've got a prior agenda. What do you suppose that is? The prior agenda. Well, now let's just think about that for a moment, shall we? What is it? What is it that, I don't know how to quite say this, what is it that disturbs people the most who are invested in trying to achieve some level of, what shall we call it? Let's call it what it is, shall we? Some level of financial success. There it is. Isn't that it? Isn't that it? The people who don't want to talk about religion and politics are the people who want to make money. They want to make money and they are, they don't want to alienate anybody who's going to be upset about talking about religion and politics and zip up their pocket and not pull their wallet out at the drop of a hat. So let me suggest to you, I ain't here to make money. And sometimes, I'll tell you frankly, I think sometimes I ain't here to make friends either. There are times when it feels that way, which is not to say I don't have friends here. I've got a lot of friends here, a lot of really good, very close friends, a lot of people who love me and I love them. But we're doing something here. We're doing something here that a whole lot of people don't like very much. A whole lot of people. And those people who don't like it very much tend to be the people who've got the biggest vested interest in keeping things going just exactly the way they're going right now. And I'm not interested in that. And that is intimidating. Now what am I talking about? Okay, here's what I'm talking about. I want to show you a video. This is a video put out by Piava. Piava. Never know how to say that. Piava. It's called Leaf Litter Lovers. Just watch this. These leaf litter loving fish were filmed at Cambello by Fernando Breslau. First we'll take a look at the habitat and the fish. This is a spring creek in the rainforest. So it's clear water, not black water. And it's just a little bit cooler, but that doesn't seem to matter to these fish. A lot of them are also present in the warmer blackwater Igarapes along the Rio Negro. Leaf litter is what's important to them for diving in and hiding, finding food, and for their courtship behaviors. Leaf litter is an easy feature to replicate in an aquarium. And if you keep any of these species, they'll sure appreciate it. Now, did you hear that? Did you hear that? Did you? I don't know if you could hear that. She said leaf litter is easy to duplicate in an aquarium. And if you provide it, these fish will love it. And what am I talking about? What I'm talking about is what we've been working on now for the last couple of months. We call it the food web. The food web developed by agronomists in the West, in Oregon and in Washington state, is a way of growing crops, of maintaining farms based on a living soil. What do we mean by a soil? I mean a soil that has humus in it. What is humus? Humus is a K-invention diplomatic, primarily leaves, twigs, and the like. As it breaks down through the culture, culturation, they call it the culturization. What's the word I want? They're the culture of, excuse me, humus and bacteria. They cause it to deteriorate. Then other microscopic fauna, microfauna and microflora, that's micro animals and micro plants, invade that soil and begin consuming those leaves that are being broken down. What that does then is that creates an environment that is especially conducive to growing crops from land to sea, or land to water, if you will. What are we doing with this? Why, the very same thing. We're providing in our substrate, we're providing the media, the humus that allows for fungus and bacteria to break it down, that it might be fed on by microflora and microfauna. What's the function of those? Well, they further deteriorate waste and humus. They provide nutrition for plants, and they provide food for fish. So, whereas the term food web has been coined to describe what's happening among the farmers in the Northwest, we apply the term food web to describe what we're creating in our aquariums. An environment like this, an environment that is alive. The long snake-like fish with the stripe on it is a dwarf picyclid. The fish with the red eyes are Hemigrammus annulus, and the fish with the checkerboard pattern, well, that's a checkerboard cichlid. And here's a fish I bet you've never seen before. This was identified as Parapristella georgiae by expert Flavio Lima. I'm told it's quite common in the area, but not so much as a terrible photo of the species exists on the internet yet. This is just a quick blurry glance at this fish, but I'm happy to have seen it. The gentle capture of aquarium species from this area drives So, one of the comments that was made this week by one of my detractors, by a man who thought it was absolutely dreadful that I used the term like god, was that he could not imagine that more than a microscopic number of people would ever take the yucky leaves out of a body of water and put them in their fish tank. He could not imagine such a thing. Well, you know what? I see it happening every day. I see people doing things over on Discord, coming in there, showing us what they're doing. By the hundreds, people by the hundreds are coming in, showing us what they're doing, putting leaves in their tank, creating food webs in their aquarium. There is enormous excitement about this, and it's only growing. It's only becoming more and more evident to people that they really can create an environment like the Piaba environment is alive. It's alive. It may not be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen, but it will be the most spectacular because it will contain all of the elements of a living environment. Now, here's the key. Here's the key. The only way you can bring yourself to do this is if you honestly believe, sincerely believe, that a natural environment is healthy, balanced, wholesome, dynamic, and most importantly of all, beautiful. If you don't believe that, then you can't do this. That is to say, if you don't believe that nature knows how to take care of that little fish tank in your house, if you don't believe that, you can't do this. You are consigned to the drudgery of keeping your hands in that water day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, in order to keep those precious little animals alive. Now, I'm here to tell you, it ain't up to you. It ain't, and you're never going to pull it off by depending on yourself to be able to make it happen. You have to be able, you have to be willing to depend on the natural system, life, nature, creation, yes, the presence of God as the ordainer and creator of a universe that is one, that is whole, that is unified, that works together, that is not in conflict and war with itself, to be able to say, I can do this and this and sit and watch and observe and love and enjoy and appreciate what is going on in there, because there is a miracle, a miracle, a magnificent creation brought down to the level of my little square box that I may appreciate. Well, we'll clip that and post.