Rio Negro

I'm researching aquarium plants, narrowing down from a million available species to less than ten. Why get carried away with ten species? I've settled on mostly red with a few green for contrast. I'll have contrast in shape, in texture, in height and shades of red. I learned that to bring out the red requires strong light, CO2, and iron supplement. I recalled a video produced by Takashi Amano about his trip to the Amazon to explore natural habitat of fish. To copy them. The type fish that I like come mostly from Rio Negro. I found this lovely video with no sound.

Did I say lovely? I meant ugly video. Turns out the natural environment is a complete chaotic mess covered with debris and rotting leaves. It's not a pretty environment. While it does have imitable elements.

Did you know, to breed these fish from the Amazon you must have exceedingly soft water? The water that is run through a kitchen ten-stage filter works fine, it needn't be so extreme as reverse osmosis water. But with all those dead leaves and debris, why is the water so soft? Wouldn't the water be loaded with minerals dissolved from fallen wood and from leaves and runoff from the soil? Wouldn't it be loaded and dark with tannin? Turns out, the answer to that is all the minerals of the Amazon and its tributaries are locked up in the canopy. Any mineral laden material that falls into the water gets sucked right back up. Slurp. There are no minerals leftover in the soil or in the water. It's all in the trees. The water is very soft. And the fish need that to breed.

This video is twenty minutes. It's slow. Little is forfeited by changing the speed to 2X and that way you'll see a lot of fish. I want all of them. I like seeing all these fish in their natural environment. But it won't do for an aquarium. Too gross a mess. It can be inspiration, but it'll have to be cleaned up considerably to more idealized representation. Or else it's not pretty.

So how's that for an ugly video?

I must say that I am heartbroken.

Here's why.

The man Takashi Amano changed the world of aquarium plants single handedly by the simplest comprehension. He put to practice what we all learn in 3rd grade science class at pubic schools worldwide. That plants evolved on Earth first. The atmosphere back then did not contain oxygen. Plants produced the oxygen that we breathe. Plants made animal life possible. We need plants a lot more than plants need us. 

Takashi Amano dumped bottled carbonated soda water into his small home aquarium and it didn't kill his fish while it did make his plants pearl tiny oxygen bubbles. But he had to keep adding soda water. So his tiny apartment was littered with empty soda bottles until he devised a system to sparge CO2 in the right dose. And he had to increase light. And he had to find the proper substrate material with minerals to anchor his plants. He built a company to provide these things to hobbyists. He amassed tremendous recognition, fame and fortune by simply and sensibly and persistently pursuing his interest. He wrote books describing his activities. He gave demonstrations on setting up tanks. He opened his own shop. He traveled, he gave speeches. He inspired the Asian world, then the Europeans, then the North Americans all latched onto his bright ideas and his Japanese aesthetic. 

He used his own local Japanese plants while other hobbyists did the same and now the best of all these plants available worldwide are exchanged through internet marketing so that Asian plants are available to Europeans and African plants are available to North American hobbyists and so forth. Plants are cloned all over the world. You can buy any species on eBay and Amazon only to mention countless specialized forums and exchanges.

I leaned by reading his first book where he introduces himself right off that we were born on the exact same day. What a surprise to see my own birthday and year. 

When he discusses how and when his interest in aquariums developed, I realized those were the years that I lived there, where my interest began through a school class. When he says where he lived on the outskirts of Tokyo I realized that we were neighbors. Our interest started precisely the same time. I went onto my strange wending way, and he changed the world of aquarium hobbyists permanently. He is a true inspiration. 

When I searched YouTube [takashi amano, amazon] looking for his trip there for his own inspiration, I encountered eulogy videos instead. He died! Two years ago. 

It struck like an arrow through my heart. I'm still stupefied. He was supposed to outlive me. He had all the advantages. He died of pneumonia. I had that too. It very nearly killed me, it took years to recover. But I did. I've had serious seizures and he did not. I have MS and he does not. My nerves are seriously shot while his were not. I cannot comprehend how I am alive and he is not. I cannot process him dying. I just can't. What am I, made of iron? 

Very stupid iron.

It makes me feel like angels really are watching over my stupid ass. Protecting me from my own stupid shit. Why? Because I invited them? I just cannot accept that Takashi Amano is gone and I am still alive. It's like my Japanese twin died and I'm still alive. 

Researching plants I've watched a dozen of this young man's videos. Jacob Castro. He's a bit of an oddball. Aren't we all? You can tell by the Apple t-shirt he wears in one of them. And by the way that he tiptoes around his point delaying getting right to it. And by the way he address his viewers in Italian sometimes.

Oddball, kindred spirit, same thing. Say, you don't care about aquariums and you cannot bring yourself to care about Takashi Amano nor underwater gardens. Still, here is a touching eulogy from and oddball addressing kindred spirits. And the comments to this video on YouTube are equally touching. Hobbyists considered Takashi Amano their hobbyist god. I cannot imagine a higher honor for a regular guy than to have affected so many young people so beautifully.