May 8, 2022 • 42 mins
In this week's episode of the Pet Owner Diary Show, Co-Host Tay Shoemaker talks with friend Nick Davis, a recent Marine Biology graduate with a passion for fish Nick discusses his large TikTok following, pet celebrity status, his puffer fish Cookie Dough, and gives great advice for newbie and seasoned Fish
Keepers. We’ll learn new things about these mysterious creatures that inhabit our oceans, pet stores, and homes. You
don't want miss this fish-tastic episode!
Guest Links:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nickdavis.00?igshid=YTM0ZjI4ZDI=
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdbvp1YW/
Nick Davis on TikTok @nick.animalia
Keepers. We’ll learn new things about these mysterious creatures that inhabit our oceans, pet stores, and homes. You
don't want miss this fish-tastic episode!
Guest Links:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nickdavis.00?igshid=YTM0ZjI4ZDI=
TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdbvp1YW/
Nick Davis on TikTok @nick.animalia
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Pet Owner Diary Podcast, a show about helping you become a
better pet parent. In each episode, we deliver raw, honest, funny,
and insightful advice on how to bea great pet parent for any type
of pet. Now here's your host, America's Pet Owner Coach Janelle Young.
(00:20):
Welcome back to the Pet Owner DiaryShow. My name is Tay Shoemaker and
I'll be your co hosts today.So, throughout all of Pond's history,
we've never actually done an episode aboutkeeping fish or the aquarium hobby as a
whole. So, for those ofyou that don't know, fish are the
(00:42):
third most popular pet in the US, right behind dogs and cats. Yeah,
I know you wouldn't think that,but they actually are. And fish
are often seen as cheap pets tokeep kids happy for a week to a
month until the fish ultimately passes forone reason or another. What people don't
know is that fish are way moreintelligent than they get credit for. Fish
(01:06):
have a lot of requirements for carethat are often swept under the rug,
and it's trying to make them seemkind of easy and simple and kind of
disposable pets for busy parents with petloving kids. But tank keeping is a
huge hobby all over the world.On every single platform you'll find fish keepers,
(01:30):
tank designers, aquadscapers, and manymore. Designer fish are sold for
thousands and not everyone knows what it'slike to actually be a part of this
kind of niche but not so nichecommunity. So what's it like and what
makes fish such a misunderstood pet?When it comes to fish, there's nobody
(01:55):
better to ask than a marine biologist. So today I want to introduce you
guys to my friend Nick Davis,also known as Nick and Amelia on TikTok.
Welcome Nick, Hi, Thank youso much for having me. I'm
so excited to talk about fish andother aquatic life forms. Yes, finally,
(02:16):
we've been trying to get Nick onthe show for a little bit,
so this is this is finally comingto Fruition. Yes, and okay,
before we start, you know,I'm gonna ask what is your favorite fish
slash marine animal? Oh, mygoodness, so him, so many.
I don't even know where the start, but ultimately I think it's always going
(02:38):
to be raised. I love rays, manta rays, stingrays. I think
the spotted eagle ray is one ofmy favorite rays. I love sawfish.
They don't look like a traditional ray, but they are ray, but stingrays
raise a whole. Yeah, lovethem my favorite. I love them too.
Mine's probably I love whale sharks.Yeah, they're so cute. Yeah,
(03:02):
they're so majestic. Oh my gosh, so many amazing marine animals.
Definitely so pet family. I knowNick from TikTok. You've probably seen his
videos floating around on your forty pagewithout even knowing. And I would say
your big claim to fame is yourvideos about your pufferfish. Would you say
(03:24):
the same? I would definitely haveto agree. Yeah. And so you've
had cookie dough and cookie dough fora while, I think now right,
Yeah, I got cookie dough.Um, I've almost had her for a
year now, because I remember Igot her when I came back from one
(03:47):
of my um Florida marine bio trips. I remember getting her. And yeah,
it's almost been a year, whichis really crazy. Yay, we'll
get more than the cookie dough.But, as you've mentioned, you just
recently graduated and received your BA inmarine biology. How does it feel to
be like an official fish scientist now? It honestly it's it's really a dream
(04:11):
come true because I remember I've alwaysbeen into the ocean, even though I
never lived by the ocean. It'skind of weird, but I always remember
some of the books I was alwaysable to read because I wasn't the best
reader. We're ocean books. Andso going from like having this dream of
one team to be a marine biologistor just someone that works in marine animals,
and now being even closer to thatdream, it's it feels really really
(04:34):
good. Yeah, well that's amazing. Yeah, so congrats on your accomplishment
there. Than are you Are youplanning on continuing your education at all?
Like what's next for you? Yeah? So I have decided that I do
want to at least get a master'sin marine science, but I have realized
(04:59):
I need to take a gap yearbefore that happens. I think a little
bit of I need a bit ofa break. And also I found that
it'll probably be super beneficial for meto um because currently I'm kind of shopping
around for some internships or temporary positionsthat are kind of research based so I
can gain a bit more of experiencebefore going on to grad school. But
(05:24):
it's kind of exciting seeing what's outthere. So yeah, definitely, and
I mean, you know, buildingup your resume is always future work,
future universities stuff. Definitely amazing.And yeah, so you you are working
at the school because I know youhave like a lab where your animals stay.
(05:46):
Yeah. So but this year Iwas the teaching assistant or TA for
the zoology class, and so withinthat class, not only do I keep
my animals in the lab because unfortunately, animals aren't allowed in the dorms unless
they're a fish, and so I'mable to keep my animals like my Jackson's
(06:10):
chameleon, my chinchilla, my ducks, and chickens are are in there now,
so I was able to keep themin there. But also I also
cared for some of our lab animalssuch as our upside down jellyfish, as
well as our anemones, our crayfishand so on. So yeah, it's
been a lot of fun. Yeah, no, that sounds super fun.
Yeah, I've always wanted to dolab work and stuff, so like,
(06:33):
I know, how how fun what'sit like working in a lab, because
I don't think a lot of peopleactually get to see like that side of
science a lot. Yeah, Sowhile being a ta I also had to
help set up some of the labstoo, so of course I had to
be in there setting up the slidesfor our microscope labs if they're looking at
(06:56):
tissues or things like that. Buthonestly, in it's particular lab, since
there's a lot of animals, it'skind of messy in there. Like you'll
walk in there, there's some woodchipson the ground from cleaning out some chicken
stuff from other students animals. There'swater on the floor sometimes, but of
course we clean it up. Butyeah, I can get kind of messy
in there sometimes. Yeah, well, I mean when you have so many
(07:20):
animals. I mean my house getsmessy with just twenty frogs, so you
can't imagine different species all together inone room. It gets crazy in there
sometimes. Yeah. So I wantto shift over to the fish because you
know, we got to talk aboutthem. So in the beginning, you
went viral a couple times with yourvideo of dumpling your pufferfish. Yes,
(07:47):
yes, and unfortunately Dumpling his past. So we give her much love in
the ocean of the sky. Butshe was a pufferfish. Was she like
a certain species of pupferfish or yeah, so her species of pufferfish, it
was she's called a long spine porcupinefish or a long spine porcupine pufferfish.
(08:11):
Of course she has that ability toenslate, so yeah, that's the type
of species that she was. Yeah, and I mean if you've never heard
of a pepperfish, they are youknow, the little spiky guys that you
know, you see blow up incartoons. That's what we are talking about.
And she seemed very full of personality. I often see people call like
(08:35):
pufferfish the dogs of the fish worldbecause they're super smart, they're super flateful.
What was she like personality wise?She was definitely like a dog.
She's like a little puffy. Itwas just so funny because typically when people
think of a fish, they justthink of this animal that they have an
aquarium that's just sort of around.But Cookie dough, I mean dumpling,
(08:58):
sorry too though, cookie too.It's just so amazing to see how she
really observed me while I was workingaround in the lab. It was just
so cool to see this type ofinteraction between a fish. It's not typically
something that people think of when itcomes to fish, right, Yeah,
no, fish fish are super personal, very smart. Have you noticed like
(09:22):
any other fish in the lab thatyou, you know, wouldn't really expect
to have character, but are reallyjust like funny, funny little guys.
Yes. So I currently have alittle scrawled cowfish and oh my goodness,
his name's mister Bubbles. And he'sthe funniest thing ever. Whenever someone goes
to his tank, he'll look upthrough the water surface and he'll start bobbing
(09:46):
up and down. It's just thefunniest thing ever. And once again,
he's just one of those fish thatis just observing everything. It's right,
so cool to watch, right,And they're the little like cowfish tourists fish.
They kind of look like a blockof cheese with horns. Yes,
yeah, so my cowfish, Tauristyespecially looked like a block of cheese,
(10:09):
very yellow. And then this scrowgcowfish he kind of looks like maybe like
a block of parmesan, very palewith some blue spots. But you're definitely
a block of cheese. Yes,And I always see people will take videos
of them, like putting their wholetheir horns. I'm I'm pretty sure they're
not actual horns, but horns outof the water and kind of like bucking
(10:31):
at the water. Yes, yeah, it's the funniest thing ever. They're
so cute. Yeah. Well,we are going to take a really really
quick break and we'll be right backwith Nick Davis from Nick at Nava Pets.
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you. Welcome back that family.We are here with Nick Davis of Nick
(12:18):
and Amilia on TikTok and we weretalking about some of his fish, some
of the fish he works within hislab and all that good stuff. We
were kind of touching on how smartand funny fish can be. And yeah,
I don't think people really realize howhow smart fish actually are, Like
(12:39):
there are ways that you can trainfish to do certain things, right,
yes, yeah, I've seen videosof a fish being trained to push a
sock a little soccer ball through agoal. So oh yeah, I've seen
people train like betas to like jumpthrough hoops and stuff like that. With
blood worms, Like they're very they'rethere. We don't give fish enough critics
(13:03):
because we do. Is there doyou know anything about like the science behind
how smart they are? Is there? Like, um, well, it's
very variable, so of course,so of course some of our smaller fish,
like what's going into freshwater, bitlike our tetras are guppies, They're
(13:24):
not going to be the smartest.But the thing is, yes, but
the thing is, when we thinkabout smarts, we often compare them to
us as people, and of coursethey're not going to be as smart as
us, but I guess I can. I feel like it really depends on
the scale when it comes to intelligence, because I feel that as long as
they're able to get by, thenthat makes them smart enough, right,
(13:48):
Yeah. But in terms of likewhen we're thinking of intelligence like a dog
or a cat, it definitely goesup in levels when the fish gets bigger
from what I have experienced, andso it's really variable, right Yeah.
I mean I guess when you're thatsmall, you only really need to be
smart enough to get by. Yeah, you're not solving math equations or anything,
(14:13):
and so now you have cookie doughand cookie dough. Is she the
same type of pupperfish as M.Dumbling was? She is? Yes,
yes, she's so. My favoritething about her is her eyes. I
feel like they look like little galaxies. Yeah, they definitely do, and
people often compare them to Opal.They people think they look like little opal
(14:37):
gemstones, and yeah, I thinkthat's a really cool aspect about these fish
and a lot of similarly related fishas well. They tend to have these
galaxy eyes which are really cool.Yeah, they're very for those of y'all
that haven't seen Cookie dough or pupperfish, they have these very almost like their
(15:00):
eyes kind of look like marbles becausethey have that dome over their eyes and
then they're they're like kind of pitchblack, but they look like little like
city lights or galaxies when they lookinto the light, it's so pretty.
Yeah, and when you want yourvideos, you can see Cookie kind of
like shooting water out of her mouth, kind of like a little kid like
(15:22):
playing. Is that like a defensemechanism? Is it just fun for her?
Well, it's more of a foodresponse. So in the wild,
fish such as pufferfish cowfish, whichare actually very closely related to puffers and
porky pine fishes, they will actuallyblow jets of water into cracks and crevices
(15:45):
and over the substrate to find food. And so I actually also experienced this
in the wild. I remember watchingthis little bandtail puffer just off this little
dock and they started shooting water outof the It started shooting water just like
Dumpling and Cookie down. I waslike, Okay, so it doesn't just
happen in captivity, and so Ithink it's just a feeding response. They're
(16:08):
trying to get that food. Ibelieve that one little puffer fish I was
watching was trying to knock a craboff the side of the wall. And
so I think it's just a reallyfunny looking food response. So oh wow,
Yeah, I didn't know that.I guess they do, you know,
have to kind of. I feellike I've seen videos of them kind
of blowing on like corals and stuff, trying to get food out of the
(16:33):
sand. So yeah, that's reallycute. That's so cute when they do
it. No, it's the funniestthing ever. And yeah, so speaking
of like puffers and the cowfish theyhave those spikes. Are those bone?
Are they scale? Like? Whatare those made out of? Yes?
So actually the spines are kind ofmade out of a similar substance that are
(16:59):
nails are made out of. I'mkind of I forgot there was. I
remember UM researching us a little bit. It's some type of really cool compound
UM. But they're kind of somepeople consider them to be like modified scales
in a way. But in termsof I'd often get asked about the sharpness
UM in terms of like that sharpness, because there was one time where I
(17:22):
had with M Dumpling, she didhave a little um. I forget what
happened with her, but I hadto hold her and she puffed up,
of course. And they don't.They feel like a little sharp, but
they're not. It doesn't feel likeshe was gonna like pierce my skin or
anything unless I really squeezed on her. Um. Yeah, yeah, and
I and I mean it's probably sharpto certain fish, yes, rather than
(17:45):
our tough skin. Yeah. Anddo they do I guess they're very famous
for their ability to kind of inflate, if that's what you want to call
it. Um. Do they dothat when they're scared or attacked or like
what is kind of the trigger forthe puffing up? Yeah, So they're
(18:07):
definitely going to do it if they'rescared, especially if they're about to get
eaten eaten by something. But alsosome people in the hobby they like to
call them practice puffs. Then thesefish will sometimes inflate themselves to help keep
their skin stretched, kind of likean exercise, to ensure that for when
the time that they do need touse their inflation tactic, they're able to
(18:32):
do so and that their skin isstretched out. And so sometimes they'll just
do it to do it essentially andI have observed Dumpling doing that when I
had her, but I haven't seenCookie Dough do it at all. Right,
Yeah, I was gonna ask,like, do you see it often
in captivity? Yeah? Yeah,honestly, I've only seen um Dumpling do
it two times when I had her, But other than that, I haven't.
(18:57):
I haven't really seen it all thatmuch. That must be a good
thing. Then I got lucky.It's a good son. And I mean,
would you say, okay, SoI don't like to say that animals
are easy, because you know,all pets require a lot of work,
no matter how small, But wouldyou say keeping a pufferfish is hard?
(19:19):
Per se? And what kind ofwork goes into keeping a puffer So it
really depends. So with porcupine pufferfishespecially, they are very large fish.
So when I had Dumpling, shewas about three inches. Cookie Dough is
about four and a half inches now, which she grew quite a bit since
I first got her. But allin all, these fish can grow up
(19:42):
to a foot in length. Wow. Yeah, And so I'm so by
the time that Cookie Dough is fullgrown, I'm going to need about two
hundred gallons of aquarium and I understandthat times this can be a bit difficult
for people. And the thing withporcupine pufferfish is that people will see them
(20:06):
in pet stores and be like,oh my goodness, this is so cute.
I want to buy it, andthen they'll go home once they have
the fish already. In research thatthis fish is about to get about eight
to twelve. Yeah, well theydon't just see like fish flakes either.
Yeah, and yeah, the besttypes of food to feed them are meat
seafood items. These are carnivores,So I feed my fish things such as
(20:30):
squid, octopus, clams, oysters, muscles, things like that, And
that could be a bit tricky forsome people as well. Right, Definitely,
it's a lot of food prep,just like just like a dog or
account. Yeah, so we aregoing to take another quick Breakful will be
right back with Nick Davis from Nickand Amelia on. We all know that
(21:06):
a dog is man's best friend,won't why stop there? We think that
all pets make our lives a littleeasier, whether it's a cat, gecko,
or even a horse. We wantto learn what makes your pets so
special to you. Maybe they havean eccentric personality or even give good cuddles.
Whatever it is, we want tohear about it. After all,
our pets deserve a moment in thespotlight. Why not share an interesting story
(21:30):
about your pet with our host,pet coach Janelle Young. No matter how
big or small, we'd love tohear from you on the Pet Owner Diary
Show. We're looking for the nextpet celebrity superstar or that unique animal story
for TV and radio. If youbelieve your pet has the it factor,
then call our pet line at fouroh seven nine oh six fifty seven twelve
(21:51):
or email us at pet Owner Diaryat gmail dot com. The possibilities are
endless. Maybe you and your petwill be our next featured weekly guest on
TV or radio. Let's give ourpets the attention they deserve. Welcome back,
(22:18):
pet family. We are still herewith Nick Davis of Nick an Amelia
on TikTok and for y'all wanting tolook that up, it is at NI
C K dot A N I MA l I A Nick an Amelia.
And yeah, we were talking aboutsome of the lab animals, the pufferfish,
(22:41):
and you work with a lot ofmany other animals in the lab.
How many do you look after andwho are they introduce us to some of
them? Okay, well there areso many. So right now we have
my Jackson's chameleon named Spo, wholives in there right now. He's been
in there since I moved back oncampus in January. We of course have
(23:06):
my chinchilla Lana. Lana has actuallyum she's first lived in the lab back
in the beginning of twenty twenty andso when I moved back home, she
comes with me, of course,but so she's been in and out of
there for quite some time. Shekind of rules the lab in a sense.
We also have um, well,I'm currently raising my new ducklings in
(23:30):
there right now as well as anew chicks. They'll soon be back at
home with the other birds. Um. But in terms of animals that um
oh, we also have mister Bubblesis in there as well. Um But
in terms of animals that aren't minethat are in there, there are I
believe ten little button quail that arein there right now. I did.
I did have the pleasure of caringfor them when their owner was often Africa
(23:55):
for a trip during spring break.Wow. Yeah, and so it was
really fun carrying for them. Theyare really good escape artists. Though sometimes
I would go in there thinking thething was locked down and I see a
little button quail running across the Yeah, it was kind of crazy sometimes,
but they're all good. And thenwe also have our upside down jellyfish which
are in there. Those are alot of fun to care for. They're
(24:19):
really interesting. They they're a jellyfishessentially, but they're upside down and so
they're sitting on the bottom the wholetime, soaking up the light. And
then we also have some anemones wecare for, which we do some really
cool labs with them. We actuallywill feed them brine shrimp that's really fun.
And then we also have some crayfishin there as well as some ghost
(24:41):
shrimp, and so there's a lotgoing on at the moment. Great and
I've seen like octopus all over yourpage as well. Yes, and they
are notoriously hard to care for becauseof how friggin smart they are. They're
very smart. One of my favoritebooks, I don't know if you've read
it, but is Soul of anOctopus by Said Montgomery, which is an
(25:07):
amazing read. If you haven't doneyet, you should read it. And
before reading that book, I hadno idea how brilliant octopus I are.
Really, could you tell us alittle bit about the little guys that you
have and like how much fun theyare? Yeah, So these octopuses that
I had the pleasure of caring for, they have been amazing. It has
(25:30):
been such a cool experience. Andso something I guess a very similar thing
they have with Dumpling and Cookie though, is that they're observers too. I
remember when I would be working withOne of the first one that I got
the pleasure to care for was Arca, And when I was working with her,
she would observe me when my handswere in the tank, and then
(25:52):
as I would leave the aquarium,she would come up to the front to
see where I went. And soI thought that was really cool. And
then I ended up um receiving twomore. So I then received Octavia,
who is a species of long armoctopus, and I also have Clementine,
who is the same species that Arcais, which is and um it's an
(26:14):
octopus mercatarus, also known as aCaribbean doorf octopus. Yeah, very small,
So Arca was only about the sizeof a ping pong ball. And
then Clementine um she's a little bitbigger than that, but she's still very
small but nonetheless very smart. Yeah, they there was one I remember.
(26:38):
I think one of the funniest thingsI would watch them do is that with
Clementine, at least, she's currentlyresiding in this little shell, and so
every morning I would wake up andshe'd have a new shell covering the entrance
of the shell. And I thoughtthat was saying, yeah, that's so
(27:00):
cute. Yeah. No, AndI think if I'm remembering it correctly,
OCTOPI their arms are kind of likealmost individuals, like they kind of work,
yeah, like individually, I can'tremember if it said that they have
like brains or something in the arms, but they're very it's just kind of
(27:23):
wild. They're crazy. Yeah.Yeah, So all their arms have their
own little ganglion, and then thesuckers themselves even have their own ganglion as
well, which are kind of likea little cluster of neurons essentially, and
so they're able to actually taste withtheir suckers, which is really cool.
(27:44):
And so yeah, octopus is theirwild animals. Great, Yeah, and
I mean it the same with likethe tasting with the suckers. They're very
curious and they always you know,if you put your hand in there,
they'll come and taste you and makesure like you know, they like you
or the young yes, yeah,and octopi are also known escape artists.
(28:06):
Do you have to like walk thelids on their tank or are they in
like special tanks so that they don'tget out? Yeah, So I actually
I clamped down my aquariums and Iactually stealed off some of the gaps that
I'm allowed the filters to go in. And so luckily I haven't had any
experiences where the octopus was trying toget out, except for one where which
(28:30):
I could see this one coming becausewhenever I was working in the aquarium with
Arca, she would be very curiousand come up to the top of the
aquarium. And so there was amoment where I left for just a second
and then I came back. She'sabout to crawl out of the aquarium.
And so that was the only experienceI had. But luckily, I haven't
had any experiences where one was activelytrying to leave the aquarium, right,
(28:52):
And they can like squeeze into supersuper tiny holes they can. Yeah,
so Clement time actually, so she'squiet she's She's the larger of the octopuses
that I've had. And so Iactually have this little hamster ball thing that
I would put food in, andthey have these little splits in there for
air if you're putting an actual hamsterin there. But she would actually be
(29:18):
able to slip right on through there. And I thought it was the craziest
thing because it does not look likeshe can fit in there, but she
was able to do it. It'sthe coolest thing ever, right, that's
crazy. Yeah. And I hearthey like like puzzle puzzle games, kind
of like um dogs. Yeah,especially some of the larger species, Like
I seen a lot of videos ofa giant Pacific octopus doing puzzles with jars
(29:41):
and stuff. I tried doing thosetypes of things with these guys, but
they seem to like the hamster balla bit more. I just want to
be able to get the food.Yeah, and she I've seen m arca.
She has like a little water guntoo. Is that like, is
that it depends she just having funspo Yeah, so that I would say
that's definitely more of a UM.That's definitely more of a defense mechanism.
(30:07):
UM. That was during the timebecause I would routinely, of course,
have to check on them, makesure they have an escape. It's a
little of little paranoid, but luckythey have it. But just checking in
her shells and then a squirt ofwaters like okay, yeah, you're in
there there. Yeah, and so, And I mean when we think of
octopi or octopuses whatever whatever the correctone is, um, we often think
(30:32):
of like them shooting ink. Doall do that? Or is that just
like one species? Yeah? Soactually, um, most cephalopods do have
the ability to do that, Soof course, UM, all octopuses,
yes, UM, squids they havethat ability as well. UM cuttlefish of
course. And so that ink isactually just a mucus that has a black
(30:56):
tint to it. And so it'sreally interesting because remember the first time I
saw an octopus actually ink, whenI was down in Florida, we found
a Caribbean doorf octopus inside the shellof a dead sea biscuit. It just
crawled out and then we put itin a bucket of water ink, and
I thought it was really interesting tosee how thick it was. I always
(31:17):
imagined it as a bit more viscusthan what it was, but it was
quite thick, and it didn't reallylose its shape. It kind of retained
its shape once the octopus ink,So I thought that was something really interesting
to see. Yeah. Well,I mean when you see videos of them
inking in the ocean, it kindof it also looks very like whispy and
(31:37):
yeah, yeah, it's very interesting. Yeah. Okay, So I have
to I have to ask who,out of all the animals that you work
with, is your favorite. Ihave to go with Lana, my chinchilla.
She is Oh my god, Idon't know what I would do without.
(32:00):
I love her so much. She'sthe funniest chinchilla I've ever seen,
I feel, because so she getsto run around in the lab when I'm
in there of course watching her,and it's so funny because she sprints around
and then she knows that I'm lookingfor her, she'll stop. She'll stop
in an area, and then justas I creep up towards her, and
she'll go sprint again. It's thefunniest thing ever. But I think I
(32:22):
definitely have to go with I loveher so much. Oh. I don't
think people realize how big chinchillas are, like they get She's quite large.
Now, I remember when I firstgot her, I thought she was full
size, but she's now, likeI want to say, she's about the
same size as a football, maybea little thing, but she's quite big
(32:43):
now. Great. Yeah, andwell, we're gonna talk more about this
when we come back after the break, so we'll be right back with Nick
Davis from Nick and Amelia on TikTokAt Nava Pets. We know how important
(33:12):
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the pet you know and love.Your furry friend is sure to enjoy the
(33:35):
organic Pet Hemp Tincture, which infusesanti inflammatory plant properties and omega fatty acids,
providing for a more mobile and energeticpet, while also assisting with any
chronic pain or medical conditions your petmay be experiencing. Our hemp products also
give a natural calming effect, perfectfor the continuous barkers or those stressed out
cats. We also offer a rangeof flavors, including bacon, peanut,
(34:00):
butter, and salmon. What's notto love At navopets dot com, you
can spoil your pet with goodness,treat your pet like they treat you.
(34:27):
Welcome back that family. We arehere with Nick Davis of Nick Annamelia on
TikTok or Nick Davis at Instagram.So Nick is very knowledgeable in keeping fish
obviously, and lots of people don'tknow or are told differently when they go
to set up a tank. Obviously, fish tanks will be a little bit
(34:49):
different for species, but I wantto keep it simple and go with a
general freshwater set up. Let's say, for like a beta or a goldfish.
Nick, what is the first stepfor setting up a new freshwater tank?
So, besides gathering your materials,which you'll need to do before doing
(35:10):
this very important step, you're goingto have to cycle your aquarium before getting
fish. This may defer depending onwhat type of methods you use. Sometimes
people actually get already seated filter mediawhich has beneficial bacteria on it already,
which you can kind of help lowerthe time in which you need to cycle.
(35:36):
But cycling is one of the mostimportant steps, and for because I
hear a lot of people say,you know, you have to cycle your
tank, cycle tank, But whatdoes cycling your tank actually mean for those
who have never heard it, orlike, yeah, I don't know what
that means. Yeah, so cyclingyour aquarium essentially means that you're building up
this beneficial bacteria that is going toessentially consume some of these harmful chemicals that
(36:04):
will arise within your aquarium. Andso of course, as we know fish,
they're going to poop, and frompoop that can bring a rise in
things such as nitrites, which arevery harmful for your fish. Nitrates they're
not as harmful, but they canget to harmful levels if they get way
too high. But if you let, if you properly cycle your aquarium,
(36:30):
it allow for this beneficial bacteria toconsume these nitrites, so you don't have
any dead fish once you introduce fish, Right, and when you go about
choosing a fish, what are someof the things you should look for for
designing on what type of fish willfit your lifestyle? Yeah, so it
(36:51):
really depends on what type of fishkeeper you are. If you're a beginner,
of course, you may want togo for those beginner fish talking about
freshwater. Those would be your DebraDanios, your tetras, just hardier fish.
They can also do well in asmaller aquarium, like a ten gallon
nothing under that. I feel maybefive gallons for a beta fish. The
(37:14):
ducts as far as I would go, right, yeah, and I hear
sorry, I hear about you know, bowls and tiny point five to one
gallon tanks. Why are these tanksbad for fish? Yeah, So these
aquariums, for one, they justdon't allow enough space for the animals to
(37:37):
actually thrive. And also these aquariumsdon't allow enough space for the type of
equipment you need. And so especiallyfor beta fish, which I feel they
are some of the more neglected fishout there, they're often put in these
situations unfortunately. But beta fish,they're tropical fish. They're going to need
(37:58):
a heater or you'll want of filteras well, because once again you need
that proper cycle and beneficial bacteria actuallyneeds aeration and water movement to sustain themselves.
And so I want to put abeta fish in anything smaller than a
five gallon aquarium and I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's a
(38:19):
big misconception. A lot of peopleoften bring up the fact that they can
be found in shallow rice patties,but that's not always realistic though, because
they're not always in those shallow ricepatties twenty four seven, right, Yeah,
like stuff like that, So thatI was actually going to ask you,
what is one myth that you hatehearing when people bring up fish keeping?
(38:43):
So I don't know if you everheard this before, but something I've
heard is that some people will intentionallykeep a larger fish in a smaller volume
of water because they think it's goingto retain that size, right, And
to an extent that's kind of true. But that extent is the fact that
(39:07):
the fish is going to have somegrowth defects. It's going to have stunt
to your growth essentially, and it'snot going to survive very long, right,
So do your research before you geta fish, guys. Yes.
And of course, lastly, toclose out, what is your favorite fish
fact? My favorite fish fact Ithink going to back to the galaxy eyes
(39:34):
of dumpling and cookie dough. Ithink it's really cool that they have those
because it actually helps shield out whitewhen they're in shallow wreath environments. And
so that's why when I post videosof cookie dough and if there's kind of
like a light shining near her eyes, that's why they look so galaxy light
(39:55):
because that little sheen is actually protectingher pupils. Wow. So it's kind
of like it's kind of like builtin sunscreen for album. Yeah. Yeah,
it's amazing. Well, thank youso much for coming on the show.
Nick. It was great to finallyhave a fish expert. I don't
(40:15):
know if you would call yourself anexpert, but I call you an expert.
So take this time here to promoteyourself projects. Let everyone know where
they can find you go. Yeah, so just thank you so much for
having me on here, Tay.You can find me on TikTok at Nick
dot Anamalia. You can find meon Instagram at Nick Davis dot zer zero,
(40:39):
and you can also find me onYouTube at Nick an Amalia. Yes,
thank you so much for hanging outwith us today, Nick, and
thank you pet family for tuning in. Next week we have an amazing episode.
So I'm really really excited. Youguys have been amazing. I have
(41:00):
been tastiuemaker and this has been thepet Owner Diary Show. We'll see you
back here, same time, sameplace, next week. Bye y'all.
Thank you for joining us on PetOwner Diary. Make sure to visit our
website pet owner diary dot com,where you can sign up for our newsletter,
(41:21):
view show highlights, and download eachepisode via SoundCloud. Make sure to
subscribe to the show on your favoritepodcast app too, so you and your
pet never miss an episode. PetFamily. If you like what you here,
please share on your social media andtell a friend to tune in on
behalf of America's Pet Owner Coach,Janelle Young. We wish you love,
(41:43):
peace and harmony with your pet.We'll catch you in the next episode.
Welcome to the Pet Owner Diary Podcast, a show about helping you become a
better pet parent. In each episode, we deliver raw, honest, funny,
and insightful advice on how to bea great pet parent for any type
of pet. Now here's your host, America's Pet Owner Coach Janelle Young.
(00:20):
Welcome back to the Pet Owner DiaryShow. My name is Tay Shoemaker and
I'll be your co hosts today.So, throughout all of Pond's history,
we've never actually done an episode aboutkeeping fish or the aquarium hobby as a
whole. So, for those ofyou that don't know, fish are the
(00:42):
third most popular pet in the US, right behind dogs and cats. Yeah,
I know you wouldn't think that,but they actually are. And fish
are often seen as cheap pets tokeep kids happy for a week to a
month until the fish ultimately passes forone reason or another. What people don't
know is that fish are way moreintelligent than they get credit for. Fish
(01:06):
have a lot of requirements for carethat are often swept under the rug,
and it's trying to make them seemkind of easy and simple and kind of
disposable pets for busy parents with petloving kids. But tank keeping is a
huge hobby all over the world.On every single platform you'll find fish keepers,
(01:30):
tank designers, aquadscapers, and manymore. Designer fish are sold for
thousands and not everyone knows what it'slike to actually be a part of this
kind of niche but not so nichecommunity. So what's it like and what
makes fish such a misunderstood pet?When it comes to fish, there's nobody
(01:55):
better to ask than a marine biologist. So today I want to introduce you
guys to my friend Nick Davis,also known as Nick and Amelia on TikTok.
Welcome Nick, Hi, Thank youso much for having me. I'm
so excited to talk about fish andother aquatic life forms. Yes, finally,
(02:16):
we've been trying to get Nick onthe show for a little bit,
so this is this is finally comingto Fruition. Yes, and okay,
before we start, you know,I'm gonna ask what is your favorite fish
slash marine animal? Oh, mygoodness, so him, so many.
I don't even know where the start, but ultimately I think it's always going
(02:38):
to be raised. I love rays, manta rays, stingrays. I think
the spotted eagle ray is one ofmy favorite rays. I love sawfish.
They don't look like a traditional ray, but they are ray, but stingrays
raise a whole. Yeah, lovethem my favorite. I love them too.
Mine's probably I love whale sharks.Yeah, they're so cute. Yeah,
(03:02):
they're so majestic. Oh my gosh, so many amazing marine animals.
Definitely so pet family. I knowNick from TikTok. You've probably seen his
videos floating around on your forty pagewithout even knowing. And I would say
your big claim to fame is yourvideos about your pufferfish. Would you say
(03:24):
the same? I would definitely haveto agree. Yeah. And so you've
had cookie dough and cookie dough fora while, I think now right,
Yeah, I got cookie dough.Um, I've almost had her for a
year now, because I remember Igot her when I came back from one
(03:47):
of my um Florida marine bio trips. I remember getting her. And yeah,
it's almost been a year, whichis really crazy. Yay, we'll
get more than the cookie dough.But, as you've mentioned, you just
recently graduated and received your BA inmarine biology. How does it feel to
be like an official fish scientist now? It honestly it's it's really a dream
(04:11):
come true because I remember I've alwaysbeen into the ocean, even though I
never lived by the ocean. It'skind of weird, but I always remember
some of the books I was alwaysable to read because I wasn't the best
reader. We're ocean books. Andso going from like having this dream of
one team to be a marine biologistor just someone that works in marine animals,
and now being even closer to thatdream, it's it feels really really
(04:34):
good. Yeah, well that's amazing. Yeah, so congrats on your accomplishment
there. Than are you Are youplanning on continuing your education at all?
Like what's next for you? Yeah? So I have decided that I do
want to at least get a master'sin marine science, but I have realized
(04:59):
I need to take a gap yearbefore that happens. I think a little
bit of I need a bit ofa break. And also I found that
it'll probably be super beneficial for meto um because currently I'm kind of shopping
around for some internships or temporary positionsthat are kind of research based so I
can gain a bit more of experiencebefore going on to grad school. But
(05:24):
it's kind of exciting seeing what's outthere. So yeah, definitely, and
I mean, you know, buildingup your resume is always future work,
future universities stuff. Definitely amazing.And yeah, so you you are working
at the school because I know youhave like a lab where your animals stay.
(05:46):
Yeah. So but this year Iwas the teaching assistant or TA for
the zoology class, and so withinthat class, not only do I keep
my animals in the lab because unfortunately, animals aren't allowed in the dorms unless
they're a fish, and so I'mable to keep my animals like my Jackson's
(06:10):
chameleon, my chinchilla, my ducks, and chickens are are in there now,
so I was able to keep themin there. But also I also
cared for some of our lab animalssuch as our upside down jellyfish, as
well as our anemones, our crayfishand so on. So yeah, it's
been a lot of fun. Yeah, no, that sounds super fun.
Yeah, I've always wanted to dolab work and stuff, so like,
(06:33):
I know, how how fun what'sit like working in a lab, because
I don't think a lot of peopleactually get to see like that side of
science a lot. Yeah, Sowhile being a ta I also had to
help set up some of the labstoo, so of course I had to
be in there setting up the slidesfor our microscope labs if they're looking at
(06:56):
tissues or things like that. Buthonestly, in it's particular lab, since
there's a lot of animals, it'skind of messy in there. Like you'll
walk in there, there's some woodchipson the ground from cleaning out some chicken
stuff from other students animals. There'swater on the floor sometimes, but of
course we clean it up. Butyeah, I can get kind of messy
in there sometimes. Yeah, well, I mean when you have so many
(07:20):
animals. I mean my house getsmessy with just twenty frogs, so you
can't imagine different species all together inone room. It gets crazy in there
sometimes. Yeah. So I wantto shift over to the fish because you
know, we got to talk aboutthem. So in the beginning, you
went viral a couple times with yourvideo of dumpling your pufferfish. Yes,
(07:47):
yes, and unfortunately Dumpling his past. So we give her much love in
the ocean of the sky. Butshe was a pufferfish. Was she like
a certain species of pupferfish or yeah, so her species of pufferfish, it
was she's called a long spine porcupinefish or a long spine porcupine pufferfish.
(08:11):
Of course she has that ability toenslate, so yeah, that's the type
of species that she was. Yeah, and I mean if you've never heard
of a pepperfish, they are youknow, the little spiky guys that you
know, you see blow up incartoons. That's what we are talking about.
And she seemed very full of personality. I often see people call like
(08:35):
pufferfish the dogs of the fish worldbecause they're super smart, they're super flateful.
What was she like personality wise?She was definitely like a dog.
She's like a little puffy. Itwas just so funny because typically when people
think of a fish, they justthink of this animal that they have an
aquarium that's just sort of around.But Cookie dough, I mean dumpling,
(08:58):
sorry too though, cookie too.It's just so amazing to see how she
really observed me while I was workingaround in the lab. It was just
so cool to see this type ofinteraction between a fish. It's not typically
something that people think of when itcomes to fish, right, Yeah,
no, fish fish are super personal, very smart. Have you noticed like
(09:22):
any other fish in the lab thatyou, you know, wouldn't really expect
to have character, but are reallyjust like funny, funny little guys.
Yes. So I currently have alittle scrawled cowfish and oh my goodness,
his name's mister Bubbles. And he'sthe funniest thing ever. Whenever someone goes
to his tank, he'll look upthrough the water surface and he'll start bobbing
(09:46):
up and down. It's just thefunniest thing ever. And once again,
he's just one of those fish thatis just observing everything. It's right,
so cool to watch, right,And they're the little like cowfish tourists fish.
They kind of look like a blockof cheese with horns. Yes,
yeah, so my cowfish, Tauristyespecially looked like a block of cheese,
(10:09):
very yellow. And then this scrowgcowfish he kind of looks like maybe like
a block of parmesan, very palewith some blue spots. But you're definitely
a block of cheese. Yes,And I always see people will take videos
of them, like putting their wholetheir horns. I'm I'm pretty sure they're
not actual horns, but horns outof the water and kind of like bucking
(10:31):
at the water. Yes, yeah, it's the funniest thing ever. They're
so cute. Yeah. Well,we are going to take a really really
quick break and we'll be right backwith Nick Davis from Nick at Nava Pets.
(11:01):
We know how important your furry companionsare, so we want to help
keep them happy and healthy. Ourorganic hemp products are especially formulated to enhance
the well being of your beloved pet. But don't worry. Our hemp supplements
don't contain any of the psychedelic stuff, so your animal will receive all the
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(11:24):
is sure to enjoy the organic petHemp Tincture, which infuses anti inflammatory plant
properties and omegafatty acids, providing fora more mobile and energetic pet, while
also assisting with any chronic pain ormedical conditions your pet may be experiencing.
Our hemp products also give a naturalcalming effect, perfect for the continuous barkers
or those stressed out cats. Wealso offer a range of flavors, including
(11:48):
bacon, peanut butter, and salmon. What's not to love At navapets dot
Com you can spoil your pet withgoodness, treat your pet like they treat
you. Welcome back that family.We are here with Nick Davis of Nick
(12:18):
and Amilia on TikTok and we weretalking about some of his fish, some
of the fish he works within hislab and all that good stuff. We
were kind of touching on how smartand funny fish can be. And yeah,
I don't think people really realize howhow smart fish actually are, Like
(12:39):
there are ways that you can trainfish to do certain things, right,
yes, yeah, I've seen videosof a fish being trained to push a
sock a little soccer ball through agoal. So oh yeah, I've seen
people train like betas to like jumpthrough hoops and stuff like that. With
blood worms, Like they're very they'rethere. We don't give fish enough critics
(13:03):
because we do. Is there doyou know anything about like the science behind
how smart they are? Is there? Like, um, well, it's
very variable, so of course,so of course some of our smaller fish,
like what's going into freshwater, bitlike our tetras are guppies, They're
(13:24):
not going to be the smartest.But the thing is, yes, but
the thing is, when we thinkabout smarts, we often compare them to
us as people, and of coursethey're not going to be as smart as
us, but I guess I can. I feel like it really depends on
the scale when it comes to intelligence, because I feel that as long as
they're able to get by, thenthat makes them smart enough, right,
(13:48):
Yeah. But in terms of likewhen we're thinking of intelligence like a dog
or a cat, it definitely goesup in levels when the fish gets bigger
from what I have experienced, andso it's really variable, right Yeah.
I mean I guess when you're thatsmall, you only really need to be
smart enough to get by. Yeah, you're not solving math equations or anything,
(14:13):
and so now you have cookie doughand cookie dough. Is she the
same type of pupperfish as M.Dumbling was? She is? Yes,
yes, she's so. My favoritething about her is her eyes. I
feel like they look like little galaxies. Yeah, they definitely do, and
people often compare them to Opal.They people think they look like little opal
(14:37):
gemstones, and yeah, I thinkthat's a really cool aspect about these fish
and a lot of similarly related fishas well. They tend to have these
galaxy eyes which are really cool.Yeah, they're very for those of y'all
that haven't seen Cookie dough or pupperfish, they have these very almost like their
(15:00):
eyes kind of look like marbles becausethey have that dome over their eyes and
then they're they're like kind of pitchblack, but they look like little like
city lights or galaxies when they lookinto the light, it's so pretty.
Yeah, and when you want yourvideos, you can see Cookie kind of
like shooting water out of her mouth, kind of like a little kid like
(15:22):
playing. Is that like a defensemechanism? Is it just fun for her?
Well, it's more of a foodresponse. So in the wild,
fish such as pufferfish cowfish, whichare actually very closely related to puffers and
porky pine fishes, they will actuallyblow jets of water into cracks and crevices
(15:45):
and over the substrate to find food. And so I actually also experienced this
in the wild. I remember watchingthis little bandtail puffer just off this little
dock and they started shooting water outof the It started shooting water just like
Dumpling and Cookie down. I waslike, Okay, so it doesn't just
happen in captivity, and so Ithink it's just a feeding response. They're
(16:08):
trying to get that food. Ibelieve that one little puffer fish I was
watching was trying to knock a craboff the side of the wall. And
so I think it's just a reallyfunny looking food response. So oh wow,
Yeah, I didn't know that.I guess they do, you know,
have to kind of. I feellike I've seen videos of them kind
of blowing on like corals and stuff, trying to get food out of the
(16:33):
sand. So yeah, that's reallycute. That's so cute when they do
it. No, it's the funniestthing ever. And yeah, so speaking
of like puffers and the cowfish theyhave those spikes. Are those bone?
Are they scale? Like? Whatare those made out of? Yes?
So actually the spines are kind ofmade out of a similar substance that are
(16:59):
nails are made out of. I'mkind of I forgot there was. I
remember UM researching us a little bit. It's some type of really cool compound
UM. But they're kind of somepeople consider them to be like modified scales
in a way. But in termsof I'd often get asked about the sharpness
UM in terms of like that sharpness, because there was one time where I
(17:22):
had with M Dumpling, she didhave a little um. I forget what
happened with her, but I hadto hold her and she puffed up,
of course. And they don't.They feel like a little sharp, but
they're not. It doesn't feel likeshe was gonna like pierce my skin or
anything unless I really squeezed on her. Um. Yeah, yeah, and
I and I mean it's probably sharpto certain fish, yes, rather than
(17:45):
our tough skin. Yeah. Anddo they do I guess they're very famous
for their ability to kind of inflate, if that's what you want to call
it. Um. Do they dothat when they're scared or attacked or like
what is kind of the trigger forthe puffing up? Yeah, So they're
(18:07):
definitely going to do it if they'rescared, especially if they're about to get
eaten eaten by something. But alsosome people in the hobby they like to
call them practice puffs. Then thesefish will sometimes inflate themselves to help keep
their skin stretched, kind of likean exercise, to ensure that for when
the time that they do need touse their inflation tactic, they're able to
(18:32):
do so and that their skin isstretched out. And so sometimes they'll just
do it to do it essentially andI have observed Dumpling doing that when I
had her, but I haven't seenCookie Dough do it at all. Right,
Yeah, I was gonna ask,like, do you see it often
in captivity? Yeah? Yeah,honestly, I've only seen um Dumpling do
it two times when I had her, But other than that, I haven't.
(18:57):
I haven't really seen it all thatmuch. That must be a good
thing. Then I got lucky.It's a good son. And I mean,
would you say, okay, SoI don't like to say that animals
are easy, because you know,all pets require a lot of work,
no matter how small, But wouldyou say keeping a pufferfish is hard?
(19:19):
Per se? And what kind ofwork goes into keeping a puffer So it
really depends. So with porcupine pufferfishespecially, they are very large fish.
So when I had Dumpling, shewas about three inches. Cookie Dough is
about four and a half inches now, which she grew quite a bit since
I first got her. But allin all, these fish can grow up
(19:42):
to a foot in length. Wow. Yeah, And so I'm so by
the time that Cookie Dough is fullgrown, I'm going to need about two
hundred gallons of aquarium and I understandthat times this can be a bit difficult
for people. And the thing withporcupine pufferfish is that people will see them
(20:06):
in pet stores and be like,oh my goodness, this is so cute.
I want to buy it, andthen they'll go home once they have
the fish already. In research thatthis fish is about to get about eight
to twelve. Yeah, well theydon't just see like fish flakes either.
Yeah, and yeah, the besttypes of food to feed them are meat
seafood items. These are carnivores,So I feed my fish things such as
(20:30):
squid, octopus, clams, oysters, muscles, things like that, And
that could be a bit tricky forsome people as well. Right, Definitely,
it's a lot of food prep,just like just like a dog or
account. Yeah, so we aregoing to take another quick Breakful will be
right back with Nick Davis from Nickand Amelia on. We all know that
(21:06):
a dog is man's best friend,won't why stop there? We think that
all pets make our lives a littleeasier, whether it's a cat, gecko,
or even a horse. We wantto learn what makes your pets so
special to you. Maybe they havean eccentric personality or even give good cuddles.
Whatever it is, we want tohear about it. After all,
our pets deserve a moment in thespotlight. Why not share an interesting story
(21:30):
about your pet with our host,pet coach Janelle Young. No matter how
big or small, we'd love tohear from you on the Pet Owner Diary
Show. We're looking for the nextpet celebrity superstar or that unique animal story
for TV and radio. If youbelieve your pet has the it factor,
then call our pet line at fouroh seven nine oh six fifty seven twelve
(21:51):
or email us at pet Owner Diaryat gmail dot com. The possibilities are
endless. Maybe you and your petwill be our next featured weekly guest on
TV or radio. Let's give ourpets the attention they deserve. Welcome back,
(22:18):
pet family. We are still herewith Nick Davis of Nick an Amelia
on TikTok and for y'all wanting tolook that up, it is at NI
C K dot A N I MA l I A Nick an Amelia.
And yeah, we were talking aboutsome of the lab animals, the pufferfish,
(22:41):
and you work with a lot ofmany other animals in the lab.
How many do you look after andwho are they introduce us to some of
them? Okay, well there areso many. So right now we have
my Jackson's chameleon named Spo, wholives in there right now. He's been
in there since I moved back oncampus in January. We of course have
(23:06):
my chinchilla Lana. Lana has actuallyum she's first lived in the lab back
in the beginning of twenty twenty andso when I moved back home, she
comes with me, of course,but so she's been in and out of
there for quite some time. Shekind of rules the lab in a sense.
We also have um, well,I'm currently raising my new ducklings in
(23:30):
there right now as well as anew chicks. They'll soon be back at
home with the other birds. Um. But in terms of animals that um
oh, we also have mister Bubblesis in there as well. Um But
in terms of animals that aren't minethat are in there, there are I
believe ten little button quail that arein there right now. I did.
I did have the pleasure of caringfor them when their owner was often Africa
(23:55):
for a trip during spring break.Wow. Yeah, and so it was
really fun carrying for them. Theyare really good escape artists. Though sometimes
I would go in there thinking thething was locked down and I see a
little button quail running across the Yeah, it was kind of crazy sometimes,
but they're all good. And thenwe also have our upside down jellyfish which
are in there. Those are alot of fun to care for. They're
(24:19):
really interesting. They they're a jellyfishessentially, but they're upside down and so
they're sitting on the bottom the wholetime, soaking up the light. And
then we also have some anemones wecare for, which we do some really
cool labs with them. We actuallywill feed them brine shrimp that's really fun.
And then we also have some crayfishin there as well as some ghost
(24:41):
shrimp, and so there's a lotgoing on at the moment. Great and
I've seen like octopus all over yourpage as well. Yes, and they
are notoriously hard to care for becauseof how friggin smart they are. They're
very smart. One of my favoritebooks, I don't know if you've read
it, but is Soul of anOctopus by Said Montgomery, which is an
(25:07):
amazing read. If you haven't doneyet, you should read it. And
before reading that book, I hadno idea how brilliant octopus I are.
Really, could you tell us alittle bit about the little guys that you
have and like how much fun theyare? Yeah, So these octopuses that
I had the pleasure of caring for, they have been amazing. It has
(25:30):
been such a cool experience. Andso something I guess a very similar thing
they have with Dumpling and Cookie though, is that they're observers too. I
remember when I would be working withOne of the first one that I got
the pleasure to care for was Arca, And when I was working with her,
she would observe me when my handswere in the tank, and then
(25:52):
as I would leave the aquarium,she would come up to the front to
see where I went. And soI thought that was really cool. And
then I ended up um receiving twomore. So I then received Octavia,
who is a species of long armoctopus, and I also have Clementine,
who is the same species that Arcais, which is and um it's an
(26:14):
octopus mercatarus, also known as aCaribbean doorf octopus. Yeah, very small,
So Arca was only about the sizeof a ping pong ball. And
then Clementine um she's a little bitbigger than that, but she's still very
small but nonetheless very smart. Yeah, they there was one I remember.
(26:38):
I think one of the funniest thingsI would watch them do is that with
Clementine, at least, she's currentlyresiding in this little shell, and so
every morning I would wake up andshe'd have a new shell covering the entrance
of the shell. And I thoughtthat was saying, yeah, that's so
(27:00):
cute. Yeah. No, AndI think if I'm remembering it correctly,
OCTOPI their arms are kind of likealmost individuals, like they kind of work,
yeah, like individually, I can'tremember if it said that they have
like brains or something in the arms, but they're very it's just kind of
(27:23):
wild. They're crazy. Yeah.Yeah, So all their arms have their
own little ganglion, and then thesuckers themselves even have their own ganglion as
well, which are kind of likea little cluster of neurons essentially, and
so they're able to actually taste withtheir suckers, which is really cool.
(27:44):
And so yeah, octopus is theirwild animals. Great, Yeah, and
I mean it the same with likethe tasting with the suckers. They're very
curious and they always you know,if you put your hand in there,
they'll come and taste you and makesure like you know, they like you
or the young yes, yeah,and octopi are also known escape artists.
(28:06):
Do you have to like walk thelids on their tank or are they in
like special tanks so that they don'tget out? Yeah, So I actually
I clamped down my aquariums and Iactually stealed off some of the gaps that
I'm allowed the filters to go in. And so luckily I haven't had any
experiences where the octopus was trying toget out, except for one where which
(28:30):
I could see this one coming becausewhenever I was working in the aquarium with
Arca, she would be very curiousand come up to the top of the
aquarium. And so there was amoment where I left for just a second
and then I came back. She'sabout to crawl out of the aquarium.
And so that was the only experienceI had. But luckily, I haven't
had any experiences where one was activelytrying to leave the aquarium, right,
(28:52):
And they can like squeeze into supersuper tiny holes they can. Yeah,
so Clement time actually, so she'squiet she's She's the larger of the octopuses
that I've had. And so Iactually have this little hamster ball thing that
I would put food in, andthey have these little splits in there for
air if you're putting an actual hamsterin there. But she would actually be
(29:18):
able to slip right on through there. And I thought it was the craziest
thing because it does not look likeshe can fit in there, but she
was able to do it. It'sthe coolest thing ever, right, that's
crazy. Yeah. And I hearthey like like puzzle puzzle games, kind
of like um dogs. Yeah,especially some of the larger species, Like
I seen a lot of videos ofa giant Pacific octopus doing puzzles with jars
(29:41):
and stuff. I tried doing thosetypes of things with these guys, but
they seem to like the hamster balla bit more. I just want to
be able to get the food.Yeah, and she I've seen m arca.
She has like a little water guntoo. Is that like, is
that it depends she just having funspo Yeah, so that I would say
that's definitely more of a UM.That's definitely more of a defense mechanism.
(30:07):
UM. That was during the timebecause I would routinely, of course,
have to check on them, makesure they have an escape. It's a
little of little paranoid, but luckythey have it. But just checking in
her shells and then a squirt ofwaters like okay, yeah, you're in
there there. Yeah, and so, And I mean when we think of
octopi or octopuses whatever whatever the correctone is, um, we often think
(30:32):
of like them shooting ink. Doall do that? Or is that just
like one species? Yeah? Soactually, um, most cephalopods do have
the ability to do that, Soof course, UM, all octopuses,
yes, UM, squids they havethat ability as well. UM cuttlefish of
course. And so that ink isactually just a mucus that has a black
(30:56):
tint to it. And so it'sreally interesting because remember the first time I
saw an octopus actually ink, whenI was down in Florida, we found
a Caribbean doorf octopus inside the shellof a dead sea biscuit. It just
crawled out and then we put itin a bucket of water ink, and
I thought it was really interesting tosee how thick it was. I always
(31:17):
imagined it as a bit more viscusthan what it was, but it was
quite thick, and it didn't reallylose its shape. It kind of retained
its shape once the octopus ink,So I thought that was something really interesting
to see. Yeah. Well,I mean when you see videos of them
inking in the ocean, it kindof it also looks very like whispy and
(31:37):
yeah, yeah, it's very interesting. Yeah. Okay, So I have
to I have to ask who,out of all the animals that you work
with, is your favorite. Ihave to go with Lana, my chinchilla.
She is Oh my god, Idon't know what I would do without.
(32:00):
I love her so much. She'sthe funniest chinchilla I've ever seen,
I feel, because so she getsto run around in the lab when I'm
in there of course watching her,and it's so funny because she sprints around
and then she knows that I'm lookingfor her, she'll stop. She'll stop
in an area, and then justas I creep up towards her, and
she'll go sprint again. It's thefunniest thing ever. But I think I
(32:22):
definitely have to go with I loveher so much. Oh. I don't
think people realize how big chinchillas are, like they get She's quite large.
Now, I remember when I firstgot her, I thought she was full
size, but she's now, likeI want to say, she's about the
same size as a football, maybea little thing, but she's quite big
(32:43):
now. Great. Yeah, andwell, we're gonna talk more about this
when we come back after the break, so we'll be right back with Nick
Davis from Nick and Amelia on TikTokAt Nava Pets. We know how important
(33:12):
your furry companions are, so wewant to help keep them happy and healthy.
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(33:35):
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(34:00):
butter, and salmon. What's notto love At navopets dot com, you
can spoil your pet with goodness,treat your pet like they treat you.
(34:27):
Welcome back that family. We arehere with Nick Davis of Nick Annamelia on
TikTok or Nick Davis at Instagram.So Nick is very knowledgeable in keeping fish
obviously, and lots of people don'tknow or are told differently when they go
to set up a tank. Obviously, fish tanks will be a little bit
(34:49):
different for species, but I wantto keep it simple and go with a
general freshwater set up. Let's say, for like a beta or a goldfish.
Nick, what is the first stepfor setting up a new freshwater tank?
So, besides gathering your materials,which you'll need to do before doing
(35:10):
this very important step, you're goingto have to cycle your aquarium before getting
fish. This may defer depending onwhat type of methods you use. Sometimes
people actually get already seated filter mediawhich has beneficial bacteria on it already,
which you can kind of help lowerthe time in which you need to cycle.
(35:36):
But cycling is one of the mostimportant steps, and for because I
hear a lot of people say,you know, you have to cycle your
tank, cycle tank, But whatdoes cycling your tank actually mean for those
who have never heard it, orlike, yeah, I don't know what
that means. Yeah, so cyclingyour aquarium essentially means that you're building up
this beneficial bacteria that is going toessentially consume some of these harmful chemicals that
(36:04):
will arise within your aquarium. Andso of course, as we know fish,
they're going to poop, and frompoop that can bring a rise in
things such as nitrites, which arevery harmful for your fish. Nitrates they're
not as harmful, but they canget to harmful levels if they get way
too high. But if you let, if you properly cycle your aquarium,
(36:30):
it allow for this beneficial bacteria toconsume these nitrites, so you don't have
any dead fish once you introduce fish, Right, and when you go about
choosing a fish, what are someof the things you should look for for
designing on what type of fish willfit your lifestyle? Yeah, so it
(36:51):
really depends on what type of fishkeeper you are. If you're a beginner,
of course, you may want togo for those beginner fish talking about
freshwater. Those would be your DebraDanios, your tetras, just hardier fish.
They can also do well in asmaller aquarium, like a ten gallon
nothing under that. I feel maybefive gallons for a beta fish. The
(37:14):
ducts as far as I would go, right, yeah, and I hear
sorry, I hear about you know, bowls and tiny point five to one
gallon tanks. Why are these tanksbad for fish? Yeah, So these
aquariums, for one, they justdon't allow enough space for the animals to
(37:37):
actually thrive. And also these aquariumsdon't allow enough space for the type of
equipment you need. And so especiallyfor beta fish, which I feel they
are some of the more neglected fishout there, they're often put in these
situations unfortunately. But beta fish,they're tropical fish. They're going to need
(37:58):
a heater or you'll want of filteras well, because once again you need
that proper cycle and beneficial bacteria actuallyneeds aeration and water movement to sustain themselves.
And so I want to put abeta fish in anything smaller than a
five gallon aquarium and I feel like, yeah, I feel like that's a
(38:19):
big misconception. A lot of peopleoften bring up the fact that they can
be found in shallow rice patties,but that's not always realistic though, because
they're not always in those shallow ricepatties twenty four seven, right, Yeah,
like stuff like that, So thatI was actually going to ask you,
what is one myth that you hatehearing when people bring up fish keeping?
(38:43):
So I don't know if you everheard this before, but something I've
heard is that some people will intentionallykeep a larger fish in a smaller volume
of water because they think it's goingto retain that size, right, And
to an extent that's kind of true. But that extent is the fact that
(39:07):
the fish is going to have somegrowth defects. It's going to have stunt
to your growth essentially, and it'snot going to survive very long, right,
So do your research before you geta fish, guys. Yes.
And of course, lastly, toclose out, what is your favorite fish
fact? My favorite fish fact Ithink going to back to the galaxy eyes
(39:34):
of dumpling and cookie dough. Ithink it's really cool that they have those
because it actually helps shield out whitewhen they're in shallow wreath environments. And
so that's why when I post videosof cookie dough and if there's kind of
like a light shining near her eyes, that's why they look so galaxy light
(39:55):
because that little sheen is actually protectingher pupils. Wow. So it's kind
of like it's kind of like builtin sunscreen for album. Yeah. Yeah,
it's amazing. Well, thank youso much for coming on the show.
Nick. It was great to finallyhave a fish expert. I don't
(40:15):
know if you would call yourself anexpert, but I call you an expert.
So take this time here to promoteyourself projects. Let everyone know where
they can find you go. Yeah, so just thank you so much for
having me on here, Tay.You can find me on TikTok at Nick
dot Anamalia. You can find meon Instagram at Nick Davis dot zer zero,
(40:39):
and you can also find me onYouTube at Nick an Amalia. Yes,
thank you so much for hanging outwith us today, Nick, and
thank you pet family for tuning in. Next week we have an amazing episode.
So I'm really really excited. Youguys have been amazing. I have
(41:00):
been tastiuemaker and this has been thepet Owner Diary Show. We'll see you
back here, same time, sameplace, next week. Bye y'all.
Thank you for joining us on PetOwner Diary. Make sure to visit our
website pet owner diary dot com,where you can sign up for our newsletter,
(41:21):
view show highlights, and download eachepisode via SoundCloud. Make sure to
subscribe to the show on your favoritepodcast app too, so you and your
pet never miss an episode. PetFamily. If you like what you here,
please share on your social media andtell a friend to tune in on
behalf of America's Pet Owner Coach,Janelle Young. We wish you love,
(41:43):
peace and harmony with your pet.We'll catch you in the next episode.
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