The Story of Dr. Gerald Bassleer & Dr. Bassleer Biofish Food

Thanks for watching my videos. And because of the requests I'm getting about me, Gerald, Gerald Bassleer, why did you become a fish doctor? How come you developed that fish food, that special fish food, Dr. Bassleer Biofish Food? Let us know. So explain in this short video. So well, I compiled a video with some details No secrets, but some details about my history in the field of fish research and about the development of our Dr. Bassleer, uh, biofood. And our food is, is, is the story of, of working with fish. And that's why we produce this kind of food, because of training. It's Study and experience, and I started in 1977 as a young biologist working at a wholesaler in Belgium, Aquaria Antwerp. That's already 44 years ago. Afterwards, I went to Chicago working for a wholesaler. Afterwards, I went to work to Runemans Aquarium in Multfort in the Netherlands. And then I went to work for Aquarium Glaser in Frankfurt, Germany. And I studied meanwhile with different specialists on fish diseases to get my training on fish pathology. Why? There were hardly any books available, and the books I could get were the people I was trying to get in touch with, like Dr. Schubert, Dr. Gretschek, Dr. David Conroy. Dr. Roberts, which are really some fish experts in those days, in the '70s and the '80s. And there were hardly any books available. That's why I start— you look at me here reading one of the first books which I could get in that time. There was no internet, no social media. But now I hopefully having more opportunities to give lectures and speeches about my knowledge. And that's why I trained myself. And in 1995, I started my fish house in Belgium with 1,000 aquariums, all with individual filtration, supplying the, the local pet shops. Also in the Netherlands and in Germany and in France, we were supplying many pet shops. We were also shipping some fish to the— to Japan and Asia, some special fish which are tank-raised in Europe. Amigo, look here, older guy, bald hair. Look at this, this is, uh, experiencing working with the microscope because the microscope was giving me lessons and teaching me how to take care of fish. With the training I got at different parts of the world— Venezuela, America, Scotland, Germany— I, I obtained experience by talking to hobbyists, talking to breeders, helping me a lot with things. Explaining what, what to do with fish diseases and how to prevent and how to control. And well, that training and consulting I still do now every day when I can. I travel. This is some lectures I'm presenting with some dissection and training to people in Asia or in Brazil or where I can come to share my knowledge. After 44 years, well, you gather some knowledge and experience. And I luckily have been training people at fish farms where the fish are produced. So I, I see the local problems and I can see what I can contribute for the fish health for industry. And that's why eventually I, I came to develop my books, uh, and, and my fish food. The books was collecting my information by photographs I collected during my research And my experience with fish study and training. And the fish food is, well, that's a separate story because the fish food came along when I started my fish house in 1995. And, and it's all about trial and error and studying, making errors, trying out different kinds of fish food. That so far we, we had a difficult time when we had fish that come in from— that did come in from Brazil or from Nigeria, Congo— fish were weak and they were susceptible to diseases, or they were already carrying diseases when they arrived in the fish tank. So my, my way was to find a fish food that could help my fish to become stronger in a short time, and in the way that I could prevent the use of A lot of medications, so I could prevent treatments, so I could have a chance to make the fish stronger. That means to do better in captivity during the time they were in my quarantine station in Belgium, in my fish house since 1995. So I could do a lot of testing with my fish food, adding on some supplements so the fish could become— how can I say— stronger and healthier for the fish market. So my customers were happier, they were buying more fish from me, and that of course was giving me a good business and a good profit. Because as you know, less losses is less losses of money, is less work, is less medication because you have less diseases, and it's a lot more profit for your company. So it's a very beneficial factor if you do a good effort on Fish health management with prevention and control with fish food. Because my question was always, why do the fish become sick? And you see the clown loach here swimming with barbs. Why, you know, this is not a perfect mix of fish. So there is food competition. So there is a stress factor like the skinny pleco. Why is the pleco getting skinny? You know, when, when you see fish fighting here like the cichlids between each other in a fish tank, you You know there is something not correct. It could be that the habitat is not well decorated, lack of hiding places, but also the food could make fish aggressive. And if I was doing my trials of feeding, like here the pleco, people say, well, we have to give the pleco green food, cucumber salads, spinach. Well, I tell you, my fish food with the Biofish Food granulates I had much more success to keep these fish alive, to give them a belly and a healthier way of surviving infections or fish diseases. So that was my main goal, is trying out fish foods. Because the origin of fish diseases are factors we all know. It's parasites, bacteria, it's water quality, it's the stress of packaging, temperature, aggression. overcrowding, all stress factors. But the main thing, that's the unknown factors, which I would like for me to emphasize in my life as a fish pathologist, is what is bad food, what is poor feeding practice, because that is giving a food stress. And the food stress is a very important origin of diseases for you as a hobbyist or as a fish breeder or a fish farmer. And through my examination as a fish pathologist, I I could check the fish. I could check the internal, the organs, how fatty the organs were. Like here, this, this congotether had very fatty degeneration. Look at the fat in organs. That means there is not adequate, uh, good food supply to the fish. And there was a lot of fluid in the stomach, in the intestine. So things we can learn by examination of the fish. What I try to teach during my work as a consultant is that the immune system of the fish, like it is for mankind, a very important way to defend itself against pathogens, microbes, viruses. And that the food is an important part in helping to stimulate the immune system. Of course, you have to avoid the stress, but the food and the way of life of the fish and the healthy environment is important for the immune system. So the fish has a better immune system. So that's why we developed a product with natural ingredients which are suitable for freshwater and marine fish. And particularly, we made it that it had a balanced blend of ingredients so the fish would be staying much healthier and grow better. And we use therefore specifically ingredients of Scandinavian wild marine fish which are sustainably caught in a way that we don't damage the environment. It's under control, and we use for our ornamental fish food the leftovers which are not consumed by humans. So it's maximally used, and in this case, we combine it also with krill, seaweed, cereals, vegetables, vitamins, phytobiotics, probiotics, and prebiotics. It's For us, it's a good food. We, we believed in because we had a good success in our, in our, in our fish facilities. And why did we choose granulates? People ask me that often. Gerald, why do you use granulates? Why? Because it contains, uh, much more quality than the flake food can contain, much, uh, better ingredients than the most of the frozen fish feed. live fish feed. And the granulates, a big advantage, we can select different sizes appropriate for each mouth of the fish and for all the different levels where the fish are living in the aquarium. And on the granulates, we can easily coat probiotics and phytobiotics and prebiotics after the production of the pellet, after the cooling down of the pellet. So we have maximized the quality of the extra nutrients we're adding on. And we learn lessons from aquaculture because aquaculture only uses granulates because it's guaranteed that it's free of germs. So feeding granulates teaches lessons like here we can keep rainbowfish together with the clown loaches as long as the food, the food is floating and sinking Otherwise, the clown loach would have a hard competition with the rainbowfish. You need more information about my work? Well, we collected all these details in a fish nutrition brochure which was made together with my son Bernd Bassleer, who is also a biologist and helped me out to, to make the second edition a better quality brochure. And the fish food can be more than good, it can also be functional, and that's what I explain in the brochure. Because a functional feed have a healthy promoting factors that prevents diseases with the additional vitamins. And what do we have? Well, we adding on plant extracts or algae extracts like garlic, matrine, thymus, grapefruit seed extract. Well, you can all learn that in our brochures and on our website. We have probiotics, which is the bacterium Pediococcus acidilactici that improves the intestinal flora, which is a good and important defense system. When the gut flora is in perfect health, your fish will have a much lesser chance to become sick. And the prebiotics are substances that help to stimulate the immune system and also the bacterial flora in the gut. Extracts like chlorella, aloe vera, and yeast extracts, betaglucans, are all these kind of important substances. Like I explained in my lessons on ich or other fish diseases, here we explain clearly that our biofish food Matrine is a very great help in the control and sometimes in the prevention of ich. Therefore, we called it the Bassleer Anti-Ich Method, and this is for marine and freshwater. We can apply a fish food that helps the mucus of the fish to defend itself against parasitic infections like white spot and Oodinium. Well, I have an example here, my home tank. Here, my 12-year-old cardinal, which have only been gotten during those 12 years on Dr. Bassleer Biofish Food. You can see our food available in the shops and our distributors, which are growing every year. with a lot of interest thanks to you, the hobbyist who is interested in a different quality food. And together with my wife, we developed our food for 25 years, and we were happy to announce this last year. So already 25 years our Biofish food is on the markets. You need more info? Well, I recommend you to study my books on fish diseases, which are available on our website on freshwater and marine fish diseases. Are you looking for more info? Well, look at the links here I supply on the— well, on this slide here from my PowerPoint. The food for different fish species, our brochure, and you can follow me on Facebook where I give regular updates also on fish diseases. So this is the info I, I can explain you why Dr. Bassleer Biofish Food and how Gerald became a fish pathologist by starting working as a young biologist in the aquarium industry. So this was my fortune to have a good experience in life during these 44 years and to share that with you. And I, I hope you can enjoy learning more from the works I produce on my YouTube channel. Thank you for listening, and I wish you good luck in your hobby and in your fish keeping. Bye-bye.