About a year ago, I watched a movie called The Biggest Little Farm. It was an endearing flick about a small family who decided to start a farm, and wound up solving every problem they had by adding in a component of nature that took care of it. For instance, when their orchard was overrun with snails, they let a flock of ducks out to eat them. When there were too many rats, they put up owl houses to encourage predators to do some natural pest control. 

The movie made me start to think more about how we can use the natural assets animals provide to help us in every sort of scenario like this. Cleaning is the first one that comes to mind as it's always a pain and never seems to end. If you keep fish, you know first hand that the algae buildup never seems to stop. What if I told you we could apply the methods used in the Biggest Little Farm to keep your fish tank clean? 

When I worked at a pet store in high school, we had a massive tank filled with fancy goldfish for sale. They had a giant castle to swim in and around, and it was difficult to remove from the tank and clean properly, Using soap and water is also risky with fish, as any soap residue left can harm their health. I suggested we order some pleco fish to join the tank school, as they eat algae and are fabulous natural cleaners. Sure enough, within a week of the additions, the castle and every other speck of the tank was squeaky clean. 

Now I will warn you, I have learned through trial and error that the addition of pleco fish does not apply successfully to turtles - who think you are just giving them a snack. I'll have to find another way to keep algae down for them, but in the meantime - if your fish tank is turning green, or if you have another problem you want to solve naturally, why not get a pleco and watch the Biggest Little Farm? I'd love to know what you come up with.

xo, A & P