Sharing breeding videos

You can share a short video of your fish breeding on its species page: courtship, spawning, eggs or fry. The site converts your clip, our team reviews it by hand, and if it's used you earn 75 bubbles and the video gets its own page with your name on it.

How do I submit a breeding video?

1. Sign in.
2. Open your fish's page from Fish Species.
3. Scroll to Keep [species]? Share yours. The video box says Submit a breeding video of your [species], or Filmed your [species] breeding? Be the first to share it if there are none yet.
4. Tap Submit a video. The form opens with the checklist.
5. Under What does it show?, pick one: Courtship, Spawning, Eggs or Fry.
6. Tap Choose a video and pick your clip. A preview appears with its file size and length. Tap Choose a different video to swap it.
7. Add a caption if you like (optional, up to 140 characters). Example: "pair laying on the slate, day one".
8. Tick the box: "I filmed this myself, in my own tank. I agree to the Terms, including that if it's used, Underground Aquarium owns it and can use it anywhere, with my name credited on the site."
9. Tap Send for review. The button shows Uploading… with a percentage and a progress bar. Keep the page open until it reaches 100%.
10. When the upload finishes you'll see "Uploaded. Converting it for the site now, usually under a minute. You can leave this page; you'll get a notification."
11. When conversion is done the form says "Sent for review. You'll get a notification either way." Tap Close.

What makes a breeding video get approved?

Only clear, steady clips are used. The form lists what we look for:

• Your own fish, filmed by you, in your own tank.
• Courtship, spawning, eggs or fry, with the fish in focus and the action easy to see.
• Up to 30 seconds. Film in the highest quality your phone has (1080p or 4K, 60 fps is great). Hold it steady, or rest it on the glass.
• No music, text, watermarks, filters or screen recordings.

Our team may correct which stage (Courtship, Spawning, Eggs or Fry) the video is filed under, and may choose a different still frame for its thumbnail.

How long and how big can a breeding video be?

• Length: 30 seconds or less. The form checks the length when you pick the clip if your browser can read it, and the site checks again during conversion. Trim longer clips on your phone first.
• File size: up to 200 MB. That fits a 30 second 4K clip. If your file is bigger, film at 1080p or trim it.

What video file types can I upload?

Normal phone and camera video files work, including iPhone .mov (HEVC), .mp4, .m4v, .webm and .3gp. The file must be a video; photos or other files are refused.

If the preview looks blank before you upload, that's normal in some browsers: "Preview blank? Some browsers can't show iPhone video before upload. It's fine; we convert it."

What happens to my video during conversion?

After the upload, the site makes its own copy of your clip for the website:

• Sound is removed. Pump noise, TVs and voices are never part of the final video.
• It's converted to a standard MP4 that plays in every browser.
• It's sized to full HD (1920 pixels on the long side). Smaller videos are never stretched up.
• It keeps up to 60 frames per second, so fast spawning action stays smooth.
• Hidden data phones store in videos, including location, is stripped out.
• Anything past 30 seconds is cut off.
• A still frame from about a third of the way in becomes the thumbnail.

Your original upload is deleted once conversion finishes (or fails). Conversion usually takes under a minute. You can leave the page while it runs; you'll get a notification if it fails.

Can I leave the page while my video uploads?

Not during the upload. Keep the page open until the progress bar reaches 100%. Big videos go up in pieces, so if your connection drops the upload retries on its own, and if you try again on the same device it picks up where it left off instead of starting over.

Once it says "Uploaded. Converting it for the site now...", you can leave. Conversion carries on without you.

How many breeding videos can a species have?

• Up to 3 videos per species. When all 3 spots are filled, the video box is replaced with "All 3 breeding video spots for this fish are filled by members."
• Up to 2 videos of the same species waiting at once, per member. Videos still converting count too. If you already have 2, the button reads 2 waiting already until one is reviewed. The box shows "You have [number] video(s) of this fish waiting for review."

A video that failed to convert doesn't count toward your 2.

What happens after my video is reviewed?

You get a notification (the bell) either way. They appear under the Trophies filter on your notifications page.

• If it's used: the notification names the fish, links to your video and mentions your bubbles. The video appears on the species page under [Species] breeding videos and gets its own page.
• If it isn't used: the notification gives the reason, and the video is deleted from our storage.
• If it couldn't be converted: you get a notification titled "We couldn't use your [species] video" with the reason. See Common problems below.

What does a breeding video's own page show?

Every approved video has its own page, reached by tapping its card on the species page. It shows:

• The stage tag (Courtship, Spawning, Eggs or Fry) and a heading like "Angelfish spawning", with the scientific name
• The video player (portrait videos are shown narrower)
• Filmed by your name, linked to your profile, "in their own tank" and the length
• Your caption
• About the [species]: a short summary with Full care guide: water, tank size, tankmates →
• More [species] videos: the other approved videos for the species
• Back to [species]

The page address can be shared with anyone. No account is needed to watch.

What do I get if my breeding video is used?

• 75 bubbles, once per approved video. See Bubbles.
• Its own page with your name on it, linked from the species page.
• Progress toward the Videographer trophies (in the Library & Glossary section of your trophy cabinet). See Trophies.

If the bubbles push you into a new tier, you'll also get a tier-up notification and email.

Who owns my breeding video?

Under the Terms, if your video is accepted for the library you assign it to Underground Aquarium:

• It then belongs to Underground Aquarium, which can use, change, license, sell or remove it however it chooses, without paying you or asking again.
• You keep a personal right to keep your own original file and share it on your own personal accounts.
• You can't license or sell that video to anyone else after it's accepted.
• We may credit you by name where we show it, and we decide how it's shown.
• Once it's accepted and live you can't withdraw it, though we'll consider any request.
• Videos we turn down are deleted and stay yours.

By ticking the box you also promise you filmed it yourself, of your own animals, and that anyone recognizable in it agreed to be shown.

Can I edit or delete a video I submitted?

There's no way to change the caption or stage, cancel a video waiting for review, or remove an approved video yourself. Email support@undergroundaquarium.com with the species name and what you'd like changed.

Common problems

"That clip is [number] seconds. Trim it to 30 seconds or less." Trim the clip on your phone (most phones' photo apps have a trim tool) and pick the trimmed version. This can appear on the form or in a notification after conversion.

"That file is [number] MB. The limit is 200 MB, which fits 30 seconds of 4K. Trim it and try again." Trim the clip, or film at 1080p instead of 4K.

"That file is too big to upload. Set your camera to 1080p, or trim the clip, and try again." Same fix: a shorter clip or a lower resolution.

"That isn't a video file." You picked a photo or another kind of file. Choose a video from your camera roll.

"Pick what the video shows." Tap Courtship, Spawning, Eggs or Fry under What does it show?, then send again.

"Tick the box to confirm you filmed this and agree to the upload terms." Tick the confirmation box above Send for review.

"The upload didn't finish. Check your connection and try again." Your connection dropped. Tap Send for review again on the same device; it resumes where it stopped.

"Your sign-in expired. Sign in again and retry." Sign in again, reopen the species page and send the video again.

A message ending "Your video is saved, so pressing Send again won't re-upload it." The upload worked but the last step didn't. Tap Send for review again without closing the form; it won't upload the whole file again.

"Couldn't start converting that video." Try again later. If it keeps happening, email support@undergroundaquarium.com.

"Video uploads aren't switched on yet. Try again later." Video submissions are temporarily unavailable. Try again later.

Notification: "We couldn't read the file you uploaded." or "That file doesn't look like a video." The file was damaged or isn't a real video. Export it again from your phone and submit it again.

Notification: "Something went wrong converting that video. Try exporting it again from your phone." Re-export or re-save the clip from your phone's photo app (for example as a new trimmed copy) and submit that.

My video has no sound. That's intentional. Sound is removed from every breeding video.

The button says "2 waiting already" but I only remember sending one. Videos still converting count as waiting. If one seems stuck for a long time and you never got a notification, email support@undergroundaquarium.com with the species name.