Today we “celebrate” 700 days since February, 24 2022 when the so-called russian federation breached the international laws and invaded the Ukrainian land. 700 days of the terrible genocide of the Ukrainian nation.
Ukrainians left without home after russian missile attack
THE WAR
The war that could have easily been avoided in 2014 when the russians annexed the Crimean Peninsula and some territories of the Donets’k and Luhans’k regions. If the US and European leaders had followed their obligations before Ukraine and given us so needed arms to protect ourselves we would have fought back and returned our lands the same 2014 year. This war could have already been won if the US and European leaders had had enough courage to give us arms to fight russians in 2022. Hundreds of fighter jets, thousands of tanks and long range missiles are rusting in the NATO warehouses and at the same time russians kill us every day and night. Your politicians refrain from supplying us with arms they are to supply due to the signed obligations. And even worse: they prohibit us to protect ourselves. They forbid us to hit military targets on the russian territory and thus they help russians continue their genocidal war and kill more Ukrainians. They act as allies of the so-called russian federation. I don’t know whether they fear russia so much or are just corrupted by the russians. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that if we fall – russians will come for your land and souls. And there will bo no Ukraine to protect you.
Ukrainian city after russian missile attack
701 days ago I cherished plans to visit the town of Barcelos in Brazil in January 2024. I dreamt to explore the mysterious waters of the Rio Negro and use this experience to win the AGA biotope contest.
Small igarape near Barcelos, Rio Negro, Brazil by Valeriy Shylenko
Now I dream to wake up next morning…
This post is a reminder for you to stop tolerate anything russian in order to save yourself. Remember, when you choose anything russian – you join them in the genocide of the Ukrainian nation and get your own hands soaked in our blood.
russian ballet stands with russian war criminals. original propaganda poster
Trying to relax a bit and distract from the cruel war reality I sometimes start browsing Instagram and everytime I come across inappropriate combinations of aquarium inhabitants.
When you add together anubias plants and cardinal tetras you make one of them suffer (if not both).
Do you know why?
– They live in completely different habitats with unmatched conditions.
Even more, such popular plants as Anubias, Bucephalandra, Ludwigia and many-many others (even Echinodorus!) are aerial plants that inhabit swamps and marshes and can survive short flood periods in submerged conditions. But they are not true aquatic plants and are not to be grown underwater.
Unfortunately
Echinodorus grandiflorus, Rio Rosario. Photo by Andrez Gonzales
Again, cardinal tetra is a blackwater fish that requires acidic and low nutrient water. Anubias is a semi-aquatic plant that requires just the opposite water quality. If you want to keep together these species, you have no other choice than compromise.
In most cases such aquarists are not to blame for the wrong choice of inhabitants, they just blindly follow the advices of the person who is treated as an aquarium guru – Takashi Amano.
Beautiful looking aquarium is not a healthy ecosystem.
To avoid problems of coexistence we need to send to hell the commercial pseudo natural Amano concept and start learning from the Nature, study biotopes and replicate them in our home aquariums.
Anubias barteri in natural habitat. Photo by Takashi Amano
Anubias barteri plant in its natural habitat. Photo, by the way, was taken by Takashi Amano
So, why do most aquarists repeat the same mistake?
Today, September 5, 2023, Biotope Aquarium Project team admitted their guilt in the following:
– they still keep the russian in the jury of the BAC and as an expert (to judge Ukrainians in the European category after the russians started the genocidal war in Ukraine!);
– they added the modified map on the biotopeaquariumproject.com website to show the Crimean Peninsula as russian territory;
– in 2022 they censored my BIN (Biotope In Nature) and BAM (Biotope Aquarium Model), so my entry became non-competitive compared to other contestants;
– in 2022 in my BIN and BAM they deleted all indications of Ukraine (though BINs and BAMs from other contestants are indicated) and they deleted everything about russian occupation of Crimea (it terrificly influences the ecology of my BIN and I had to mention it to be correct and not disqualified);
– with my precedent they made all their website database apocryphal, dubious and corrupt as they freely censor BINs and BAMs. So biotope aquarists around the world who decide to recreate any BIN/BAM from their website, cannot trust their database;
– BAP team is a political and ideological supporter of the russian war against Ukraine and is their accomplice
Background
In 2022 I wanted to participate in the contest and wrote numerous letters to the BAP team asking them to exclude the russian citizen Aleksey Malyshev from the jury (read about this person here: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/2023/06/06/russianbiotopers/ ). They ignored me. Completely. I took part in the contest in my native European category and won the third prize. As a Ukrainian I had to use the pseudonym to be accepted because they had not accepted the BIN/BAM of my Ukrainian colleague Volodymyr Korotin.
After the publication of the results I found that both my BIN and BAM had been censored to avoid any indication of Crimea as a part of Ukraine and any indication of russian destruction of the Crimean Peninsula nature (though both are crucial for judging my entry and for biotopers who’d like to recreate my BIN/BAM). Details are here: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/2023/07/07/bap/ https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/2023/07/07/censor/
The above mentioned persons ignored all my appeals and thus they agreed to all above stated statements.
As a victim of their policy I suggest and advise you to stop cooperation and avoid the BAP in the future. If you have sent your BIN/BAM to the BAC 2023 you’d better cancel your application.
The reputation of the BAP is destroyed as they prove themselves biased and unfair. They let themselves censor information they receive from BAP experts and make any data on their website corrupt and apocryphal.
As you will see further in the post, the entry was heavily censored and lost its original meaning. The message was distorted – this influenced the judging, confused the real biotope description and deprived me on chances to win the category.
The organizing team of the BAC 2022 did the worst they could have done – they censored my entry to please russians as any mentioning of the russian presence and influence on the nature of the Crimean Peninsula was deleted (though there was nothing political and sensitive, only unbiased facts) …
Let’s analyse the text of my entry I sent to the BAC 2022 contest.The full title is:
Chorhun river (Chorna), Crimea, UkraineSpot near Chornorichia village after a heavy summer rainfall
These are the screenshots I made before sending the entry to the contest. In red frames are the data I had send that completely disappeared after experts’ approval:
BIN
Screenshot of the original BIN entry, BAC 2022Screenshot of the original BIN entry, BAC 2022
Here the level of arrogance and hypocrisy of the judge is beyond even imagination! Compare this one with the previous screenshot:
Screenshot of the BIN entry, censored by experts, BAC 2022
They first delete most of my “Threats to ecology” chapter and then the judge writes the following in the comment: “but unfortunately there is a lack of information on certain parts, such as ecological threats due to the human species”. Further, can you imagine that a Ukrainian citizen come to the territory, occupied by the lifetime enemy for biotope studies?
BAM
Screenshot of the original BAM entry, BAC 2022
These facts, I assume, may have influenced judging of my entry.
To take part in the contest I had to use a pseudonym as I had been blocked in social media networks and was afraid that they would have not even accepted my entry. Things, as you see, turned even worse.
But again, my purpose was not winning the contest, I intended only to draw mankind’s attention to the ecocide of the Ukrainian nature by the so called russian federation. And it failed due to the experts’ censorship.
Yes, I understand my contest entry may be perceived by judges as political, but in fact, with this ecosystem, I was begging the civilized world for help: we have to force the Russian military fleet and army to leave the area of the city of Aqyar (Sevastopol), in which they are illegally located, so as not to destroy our suffering nature anymore. Those, who did this censoring, moved the problem from ecology to political, what I had completely avoided.
Protection of the nature of the Crimean Peninsula is a huge environmental problem. After the military occupation of the peninsula by the so-called russian federation, the russians made it their military base. They do not care about ecology at all, they are constantly destroying unique biotopes when they take water for the needs of their army (yes, not for the local population, but for the russian army, russians never care for humans).
The Crimean Tatars, as the indigenous people of Crimea, very much hope that after the return of their land back to Ukraine, Ukrainians will help restore the unique and beautiful nature.
And another serious problem though not relevant with my entry: can anybody explain me the role of the “experts” on the BAP website beside censoring entries? How can even the best knowing experienced biotope expert, who live far away from the spot, check and approve the entries from BAP members who explore the biotope personally right in the field?!
Information is provided for personal review with no purpose for making any accusations and not trying to discredit or cause any harm to anybody. I state the facts. You make your own conclusions yourself
Here come the proofs of the pro-russian political position of the BAP team. This may be painful to you but facts are facts…
(and of course, no accusations here, just facts)
The Biotope Aquarium Project was started by the famous biotoper Heiko Bleher as an international biotope database to promote biotope aquaristics to aquarium enthusiasts throughout the world.
Though nothing in this world is apolitical and after the start of the full scale war of the so-called russian federation against Ukraine this international organisation took the side of the russian criminals
Unfortunately.
Last year (2022) I asked the team of the Biotope Aquarium Contest (BAC) to exclude the russian Aleksey Malyshev from the jury and I didn’t even expect such results…
They refused. They went further and blocked me everywhere where possible. And they held the contest with the russian who judged the European category.
I could not take part in the contest but I had to. I had to draw the world’s attention to the ecocide the russian armed forces commit in my native land.
Soon I found the way to participate, but I did not expect that the BAC team would bury the reputation of the contest and of the whole BAP itself.
During June and July, 2022 I wrote numerous letters with detailed explanations why russians are to be excluded. And I sent the letters to the BAP, other BAC judges, contest sponsors and contestants from previous years. In response I got complete ignorance from officials (was politely sent to hell by the man from Aquarium Muenster) and personal letters of moral support from some other biotopers. And what went worse, the initiative was ignored by the official Ukrainian aquarist community (they are still under the russian influence, and we work on this problem) 😦
My friend, a Crimean tatar offered his help. He consulted me on the creation of my contest biotope, helped with the selection of inhabitants and advised to create a new email to register my entry. He also offered the pseudonym “Akhtem Aqyar” where Akhtem is a popular tatar name for boys and Aqyar means the historical name of the Crimean tatar city which was renamed by the russian occupants to Sevastopol.
The title of our entry is “Chorhun river (Chorna), Crimea, Ukraine. Spot near Chornorichia village after a heavy summer rainfall”
As you can easily notice, the word “Ukraine” disappeared from both titles after the entry had been verified by the “experts”. I checked other entries for the fact of deleting the names of countries in the entries’ titles.
And again, further you see yourself, other country names were not deleted. Someone in the jury considered the name of Ukraine in the title too political…
My whole contest entry was heavily censored to avoid any indication of Crimea as a part of Ukraine and any indication of russian destruction of the Crimean Peninsula nature.
You may argue that the aquarium contest is not a place for political issues. My dear baby, everything in our lives is political and the BAP team proves this successfully by censoring my entry.
They not only play politics on the side of the so-called russian federation but also modify BIN data, making it corrupt and apocryphal. But are you sure that my entry is the only one corrupted? And is the whole database worth trusting? I am not.
And here are the posts on the problem of the BAP team supporting the russians in their genocidal and ecocidal war against Ukraine:
1. Biotope Aquarium Project team modified the world map to show Ukrainian Crimea a disputed territory between Ukraine and the so called russian federation: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/2023/06/16/border/
2. The legal data proofs that the Crimea is a region of Ukraine (with the putin personal signature of this recognition): https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/crimea/
Again, information is provided for personal review with no purpose for making any accusations and not trying to discredit or cause any harm to anybody. I state the facts. You make your own conclusions yourself
I dreamt of a beautiful Black Sea marine biotope aquarium but the ecocidal crime of russians with blowing up the Kakhovka HPP dam destroyed the tender biological balance of the northwestern part of the Black Sea.
Now I cannot dream to keep a piece of the Black Sea in my home aquarium, even more, I am afraid to even dream about the ecology of our Sea to return in faraway future to the pre-war condition.
The Black Sea ecosystem is unique and vulnerable and here’s why:
Geography
The Black Sea is an intracontinental sea of the Atlantic Ocean. It washes the shores of Ukraine, the so-called russian federation, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey. The Gulf of Odesa suffered the worst damage of the Kakhovka dam destruction. This gulf is located in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, within the Odesa city borders in Odesa region of Ukraine. The width of the bay is 9 km, the water depth is up to 14 m. On its shores there are located the city of Odesa, Odesa Port, the southern part of the bay is used exclusively for recreational purposes.
The northwestern part of the sea is much more influenced by freshwater income from rivers than the rest of the Black Sea. Here, the largest rivers (the Danube, Dniester, Southern Bug and Dnipro) flow into the sea on a 250 km long stretch of coast bringing water and thousands of tons of organic matter. This dependence causes significant environmental consequences: the Black Sea, primarily its northwestern part, is one of the most eutrophic areas of the world ocean.
Ukrainian part of the Northwestern region of the Black Sea, Odesa Bay highlighted in red, Google Maps, 2023
Climate
The Odesa Bay, as well as the adjacent areas of the sea, are located in the temperate continental climate zone. Average water temperature is: in summer +19.9°C, in winter up to +2.2°C. In extremely cold winters, the sea freezes within the bay.
Hydrological and hydrochemical regime of the gulf
The vital for the biolife of the Black Sea is the Rumelia water current. It receives a momentum of movement from the flow of large rivers flowing into the northwestern part of the Black Sea – the Dnipro, Dniester, Southern Buh and Danube. Beginning near the mouth of the Dnipro-Buh estuary, the Rumelia Current moves first from east to west along the northern shores of the sea, and then south along the western shore in an about 50-75-mile strip.
Salinity and biogenic substances regime of the region are greatly influenced by sources of the large rivers freshwater runoff. Maximum river discharge into the bay occurs in the spring period (April-May). Average water salinity ranges from 15.2‰ in summer to 15.6‰ in winter. Water salinity varies from 6-8‰ at the intrusion of water masses from the Dnipro-Buh rivers estuary and up to 18‰ during western winds and rising of deep sea waters.
The hydrogen index value varies in the range from 7.85 to 8.61 pH.
The water of the Black Sea from a depth of 120-200 m is saturated with hydrogen sulfide. Its percentage content increases with depth and covers about 87% of the total volume of the sea. There is almost no life within the range of hydrogen sulfide. In connection with the strengthening of unfavorable anthropogenic factors, there is a tendency to increase the layer of hydrogen sulfide, which is dangerous for all living things.
extremely rich flora of the Odesa Bay, June, 26 2021, photo by Valeriy Shylenko
Biology
Studies of the ichthyofauna of the Odesa Bay were started 100 years ago. At that time, there were 75 species of fish, of which 13 were freshwater.
Past history of the Black Sea and the low salinity of its waters determine the c of flora and fauna. They include:
1) ancient relic brackish water fauna, which is a remnant Pontic fauna,
2) Mediterranean (in other words, Atlantic) fauna and flora is a younger inhabitant and currently its most complete host and
3) freshwater forms.
Especially rich hydrobiont diversity is observed in shallow waters of coastal areas.
The first thing that attracts the attention of an underwater observer is the large number and variety of algae that is the main representative of the Black Sea flora. Unicellular algae cover the solid surface with a continuous green or olive-brown film, large algae, or macrophytes rise above them, this can be seen with the naked eye. These are mainly representatives of three types of algae: green, brown and red algae. The most common green algae along the Ukrainian shores of the Black Sea are Ulva species, brown algae – Cystoseira, up to 1 m high, it forms thick thickets near the shore, red algae – Сeramium and Phyllophora. The latter grows in an unattached form. It forms a huge cluster in the central part of the Black Sea northwestern shelf – the Zernov Phyllophora field, with an area of about 11,000 km.
The present animal world is rich, it is represented by many species of fish, invertebrates, mammals. Mass seasonal migrations of fish are observed at the beginning of summer when fish from the Mediterranean Sea and the southern part of the Black Sea go to the northern part of the sea and through the Kerch Strait to the Sea of Azov. In autumn fish migrates in the opposite direction to warmer waters.
extremely rich flora of the Odesa Bay, June, 26 2021, photo by Valeriy Shylenko
My underwater video:
WAR and DESTRUCTION
The Russian war in Ukraine has been going on for more than 9 years with the full-scale invasion that they have started on February, 24 2022. The destruction of the Black Sea ecosystem russians started in 2014 when they occupied the Crimean Peninsula and turned it into their huge military base.
The war has a significant impact on the natural environment, in particular, on our seas: the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Due to the blocking of ports and mining of the water area, they remain almost inaccessible not only to fishermen or tourists, but also to scientists who have been studying changes in the marine environment for decades. But despite the impossibility of taking samples at sea now, based on the available data and facts, still it is possible to understand how war and military occupation affect the marine environment.
Among the main factors of the nature destruction of the sea by armed aggression of the so-called russian federation, the following can be named:
1. Sunken military ships. They destroy the seabed and pollute water with toxic substances
(russian flagship “Moscow” sank right in the middle of the Zernov Phyllophora field causing terrific consequences to this natural phenomenon)
moscow, flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, Twitter of John Konrad
2. Discharge of ballast water with invasive species
(ecosystem of the Black Sea is relatively new and it has no natural mechanisms to withstand dangers of new invasive organisms)
3. Blast waves from underwater detonation of ammunition
(underwater explosions cause a shock wave that spreads far away from the epicentre, stunning fish and killing other organisms (their swim bladder, filled with gas, is easily ruptured under the influence of large pressure drops from an explosion)
vacuum bomb explosion at russian military training Caucasus – 2016, Opuk training base, BlackSeaNews
4. Acoustic waves from sonar devices of warships and submarines
(The acoustic frequency of cetaceans coincides with the frequency of russian military marine sonars, which damages animals’ hearing system. Dolphins rely on echolocation for most biological aspects of their lives, so acoustic trauma can interfere with foraging, reproduction and communication, as well as lead to disorientation and ultimately death)
dead dolphin on the coast, Tuzla estuaries National NP (April 2022), Photo by Ivan Plachkov
5. Pollution of the sea surface with oil spills
(spills of oil products create a film on the surface of the sea, this thin film is impermeable to oxygen. In addition, they are toxic to the sea inhabitants, especially microscopic organisms that live in a thin water layer near the surface – neuston. This surface layer of water acts as an “incubator” for the young of many aquatic organisms. Its destruction can lead to significant changes in food chains and disruption of the entire balance in ecosystems)
6. Chemical contamination with toxic substances from ammunition
(Even rocket shells, bullets, and casings themselves are often made of toxic materials. Especially, lead (this metal is most often used in bullets and casings) can affect various organ systems of vertebrates, mostly the nervous system. Shells or debris left over from the war can also lead to poisoning of birds as they often swallow small stones to help digestion. The remains of chemical weapons and toxic substances beside the immediate effect also accumulate for years in the natural environment and continue to empoison living creatures even long after the war ends)
8. Creation of military bases and training grounds in protected areas
9. Mining of the bottom and coastal sea waters with russian naval bottom and floating mines
(mines can appear anywhere and anywhere and blow up taking away lives of humans and animals)
russian marine anchor mines, carried by storm close to the coast in Odesa, Photo by OC “Pivden
10. Construction of the Crimean bridge
(the notorious Crimean bridge between the town of Kerch in Ukrainian Crimea and Taman Peninsula in the so-called russian federation was built on the Kerch Strait. It heavily affects the water exchange between the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov through the strait and breaks the route for the migratory fishes and dolphins. Beside, the unique ecosystem of the Tuzla island was completely destroyed by the russians during the bridge construction)
Destruction of the Tuzla Island ecosystem by Crimean bridge, Google Maps, 2023
11. Blowing up the Kakhovka HPP dam
(I am afraid, the Black Sea and the lands around the dam will not be able to recover to the pre-war conditions. This is the worst human caused ecocide of the current century. You can read the detailed investigation of this russian crime here: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/2023/06/21/dam/ )
Sources:
Black Sea Biological Diversity Ukraine. Compiled by Prof. Yu. P. Zaitsev and Dr. B.G. Alexandrov. United Nations Publications. New York 1998
Чорноморські береги України. Prof. Yu. P. Zaitsev. Kyiv. 2008
Yes! Everything is possible for the russian armed forces!
At 2:30 AM on June, 6 2023 russian terroristic forces in a desperate attempt to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectroplant in Nova Kakhovka town. This act of russian ecocide will cause the terrific consequences to the ecology and humans of the whole world.
Kakhovka Dam first footage. AP
Inevitable results of this terroristic act will include:
1. huge flood that has already ruined the large area of Ukrainian lands with more than 40 towns
2. deaths of civilians who had no possibility to evacuate
3. deaths of animals, wild in protected areas, pets and cattle
4. damage to agricultural fields causing huge drop in crops production
5. as the result of 4th point – increase in food prices and risk of famine in the southern regions of the world
6. ecological disaster in the Black Sea region that will affect all the countries on its shores (even Turkey).
7. many cities occupied by russians alongside of the Dnipro river are left without water supply
8. threat of explosion on Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The Kakhovka hydroelectroplant dam was underminded by the 205th separate motor rifle brigade of the russian armed forces (they boasted about the crime in the brigade’s telegram channel the same day). They blew up a load many tons of explosives in the passageway under the dam.
The huge power of explosion ruined the base of the dam and caused the destruction of the whole structure. The dam had been built in the 1950s during the Cold War to withstand a direct nuclear attack from the outside and was an unreal target for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but became an easy kill from the inside by russians…
Kakhovka Dam drawing. New York TimesKakhovka Dam drawing. New York Times
When any (every) war goes wrong russians apply the scorched-earth military strategy.
This time during the retreat, the russian armed forces undermined the Kakhovka hydroelectroplant on the Dnipro river.
They had done it in 1941 on Zaporizhzhia hydroelectroplant during the retreat in WWII.
They had done it in the winter of 1941 on the Istra river (outskirts of Moscow).
They burned bread in 1812 during the Napoleon invasion of Russia.
Every time this strategy caused terrific casualties among people and huge ecocides.
This line proves that the team of the Biotope Aquarium Project sympathises the criminal russian federation in its war against Ukraine.
But why do I make so serious conclusion about so trustworthy international non-political and non-governmental organisation?!
Ukrainian border, BAP map 15 06 2023
Answer is simple, as always:
1. this thin, light-gray dotted line indicates borders between neighbouring regions within the same country (here – Ukraine)
2. this dashed gray line is used to indicate disputed boundaries where the involved countries don’t agree on a boundary
3. the same as 2
4. continuous solid gray line shows the undisputed international boundaries between neighbouring countries as shown in the Google map below and as it is in the reality:
Ukrainian border, Google map 15 06 2023
So, the continuous line in the Google map follows international laws that the Crimea is a region of Ukraine. And the dashed line on the BAP website map means that the Biotope Aquarium Project team considers the Crimean Peninsula a disputable territory between Ukraine and the russian federation. But in reality the peninsula is Ukrainian (check here: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/crimea/). It was occupied by the russian armed forces in 2014, breaching international laws, agreements and treaties. And unfortunately, the BAP takes the side of the russian federation in its invasive war and justifies the russian crime.
Justification of the russian invasion and occupation on the map is not the only law violation by this organisation. They easily modify contestant’s entries to please the russians. Soon you’ll be shocked by their hypocrisy.
CITIZENS OF THE STATE SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACTIONS OF POLITICIANS THEY HAVE ELECTED
OLEG LABUTOV
Most biotopers probably know Oleg Labutov, the owner of the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest (BADC). Here is the translation of his post on the invasion of the russian federation in Ukraine on Apr. 13, 2022:
“Friends, I want to say goodbye to you!
I’m ashamed that I’m human
I am ashamed that I am part of the evil that is devouring this planet and destroying all life in its own interests.
Any human is created to consume, and only some in the middle or towards the end of their lives try to somehow compensate for this damage.
I made my choice as a child.When other children threw frogs into the sky and shot them, I studied the underwater world and its inhabitants’ behavior.At the age of 20, I created the Biotope Aquarium Design Contest to tell more people about the conditions in which underwater inhabitants live and to recreate these conditions in an aquarium.
But it doesn’t seem to matter now.People want to fight.I created a Facebook page to connect with aquarists from all over the world.Now 90% of my feed is news about the war and insults to Russian people.For this reason, Facebook and Instagram are blocked in Russia.Perhaps YouTube will be blocked soon too.PayPal is also blocked and I will no longer be able to send magazines to other countries.
I’m surprised that the civilized world uses aggression to solve a problem.You give arms so that there are even more victims from all sides.Let the kindred peoples of Russia and Ukraine kill each other and everyone will feel better?
I see that the empires made a lot of mistakes when drawing up the boundaries between states in Africa and on other continents.The peoples are divided from each other.Every day there are conflicts somewhere in the world.And this is the fault of the states that thought not about people, but about their economic interests (and Russia).Now the situation is no better.Global corporations continue to fight for resources.They are ready to destroy the forest and make neighbors quarrel with each other.And we are part of this evil, because we rarely think about the level of our consumption.
Since I have taken responsibility for hosting the 2022 contest, I intend to carry it out to the end.The jury members will start their evaluation soon. Later you will see the results at biotope-aquarium.info
I do not give up.I will continue to do something for the world
Thank you for everything!”
Oleg Labutov. Personal Facebook account
Looks nice at first, like he is against this war and condemns the russian invasion. But he tries to show that Ukraine shares the responsibility and guilt for the war his state has started. Yep, the victim in Labutov’s post is as guilty as the aggressor. He justifies the genocide and blames the civilized world for giving Ukraine arms to defend itself from russians and save innocent lives of its people.
Labutov is a typical russian citizen and only fakes his pacifistic belief.
“Global corporations continue to fight for resources” – this is either the highest level of hypocrisy (attempt to minimize the guilt of russians by sharing it with mysterious “globals”) or primary school level of understanding the modern world. Of course, he is not so stupid.
These two examples of “prominent” russian aquarists clearly prove us that they are the collective putin and they are the true reason of the present war. Their president only fulfils their imperial dream; his name is not important.
P.S.: “I do not give up.I will continue to do something for the world “ means “I will continue to support my state and hope to carry out another contest when we invade Ukraine, kill all Ukrainians and the world closes eyes on our crime” – spectacular stupidity, sorry…
CONSTITUTION GIVES THE CITIZENS THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AGAINST THE POLICY OF THEIR STATE. IF THE CITIZENS DON’T EXECUTE THIS RIGHT – THEY SUPPORT THEIR STATE’S DECISIONS AND THUS SHARE THE COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY WITH THEIR POLITICIANS.
ALEXEY MALYSHEV
In 2021 I made a beautiful biotope project and dreamt to win the BAC 2021. But there was one jury member – Alexey Malyshev ( https://biotopeaquariumproject.com/bap-experts/alexey-malyshev/ ), the citizen of the russian federation because of whom I could not let myself betray my native country and be judged by a person who takes my nation as enemies.
As you all know, his native state (russian federation) breached international laws and invaded Ukraine in 2014, annexed Crimean Peninsula, which according to all international laws is a region of Ukraine: https://biotopeaq.wordpress.com/crimea/
On February 24, 2022 the russian federation started a terrible bloody war attempting to destroy the whole European nation.
Who is Alexey Malyshev?
Alexey Malyshev is a citizen of the russian federation. He can be a highly motivated professional and a reliable friend (as any other person on the Earth) but he represents the russian federation in Heiko Bleher’s Biotope Aquarium Contest (BAC) and he judges European category. This means that a person from an aggressor country judges his victims, just like nazis in the WW2 would have judged Jews in their competitions…
This is a terrible fail from the BAC Organizing Team but they desperately try to “save” him and keep in the jury.
Is Alexey Malyshev really to be excluded from the jury team?
Sure, he is, because:
– Alexey Malyshev is a citizen of the russian federation and he is fully responsible for their military invasion in Ukraine since February, 2014.
– He lives in the russian federation, takes active part in public activities, promotes the terroristic state abroad;
– he works there, pays taxes there and buys goods and services, financing russian military aggression in Ukraine with his own money;
– since the start of the war he did not show his disagreement with the state’s policy, he did not write any post in support of Ukraine and he didn’t emigrate from russian federation; his silence means only his silent agreement with the russian federation state policy;
– he shares political responsibility of russian leaders with all other russian citizens.
And here you are welcome to enjoy the photos of “apolitical” “impartial” russian judge Alexey Malyshev from his Facebook account
Aleksey Malyshev. Personal Facebook accountAleksey Malyshev. Personal Facebook account
Depending on the exact season this condition can either have no importance or be crucial for successful acclimatization of new fish.
In summertime slow river shallows can be warmed up by the sun to +30°C and higher. Wild fish, taken from these shallows, can easily adopt to temperature regime in our tanks.
On the other hand, most fish species in nature try to avoid such hot water and find shelter in deeper areas, where they are much harder to be caught.
The real problem arises in cold seasons, when water temperature falls to nearly 0°C. In nature big water bodies are stable systems, temperature fluctuations in them are low, seasonal changes are a slow gradual process and metabolism of fish organisms adopts to daily and seasonal changes easily.
Fish organism cannot adopt quickly to sudden changes, when you bring a trophy from ice fishing into your aquarium. It suffers from a heat shock and has no chances to live.
Another problem of fast temperature rising is the huge fall in dissolved oxygen level. Warm water contains significantly less oxygen and fish can die of hypoxia.
The problem of winter adaptation is hard and can be solved by gradual rising of water temperature: I usually put new fish in a separate aquarium with powerful filtration and heavy oxygenation. Fish is kept there for a couple of days with as slow temperature rise as I can provide (ice bricks from a thermobox work perfect for this purpose).
This year on February, 18 I bought 11 small ruffes on the local market. There they were kept in quite poor conditions and had little chances to survive, but I risked. At home I released them into a small 5 litre plastic box on the cold balcony. I added a tiny internal filter Sunsun HJ-111B to clean and oxygenate water. Air temp was about +15 ⁰C, water temp after cooling was +5 ⁰C.
The ruffes underwent acclimation process with gradual rise of temperature for 2 days and were released into the Chorhun’ biotope aquarium next evening. Temperature acclimation was successful, but we later encountered other 3 problems…
P.S.: note the state of the ecosystem. Aquatic plants look not ideal because of the constant electricity outages: in February we still suffered 15-18 hour power outages each 24 hours because of constant russian missile attacks on our Ukrainian critical infrastructure. Even now I wonder how my aquariums managed to survive.
Higher temperature in aquarium also accelerates metabolism and affects feeding peculiarities of European temperate fish. I will explain this problem in future posts.
biotope aquarium 