Search results

Hang in there, buddy. I'm glad you're seeing the bright spots--that's a key to getting through something like this. That aquarium sounds like a blessing. As for me, I'm trying to get caffeinated enough to go deal with hordes of little kids, after a wonderful but extremely hard day yesterday...

OK, @Fishmanic , the photo you've been waiting for. But first, a story. It's amazing how quickly a lousy day can change into an amazing one. Yesterday was the last day of bow hunting. I had a terrible time locating any elk. It was hot, for one thing, and the heat waves off the desert made...

Decided to take a day off from hunting and regroup a bit: Sick family members, hunting gear in need of attention, and tanks that need some maintenance. Today I plan on getting the rifles sighted in, as firearm season starts Tuesday. I'll head back out Sunday afternoon, and I have Monday and...

Hang in there, all you east coast people. It's a good time to live in Wyoming. Our worst problem right now is unseasonably warm temps and forest fire smoke.

I wonder how fish see differently than us. Perhaps what stands out to us is invisible to them. But even to my eye, a tiger or leopard is strikingly bright, until you put it in its natural environment, remembering that most pray animals can't see orange or yellow: Fish seem able to see more...

Sounds like it's time for a Newfoundland biotope tank, Gary. We have some interesting aquatic plants here, but most of our fish need very cold water, and chillers are expensive. That's what has kept me from doing a local tank. It's on my ever-growing "someday" list.

Gives a new meaning to "feeding the fish."

I suspect it's because people who aren't optimistic tend not to stay here for long. :lol:

Well, I decided I'm tired of being sick so I'm going get better now. So that's all sorted out. :lol:

Yeah, if you could hollow out the base and jam a big rock into it, that might work. Epoxy always seems to come loose for me, but I keep trying. :lol: You could also tie the wood to a rock with some fishing line, though that might prove unwieldy.

Yeah, getting it to sink can be hard. For smaller pieces, I just buy a short but very thick, stainless steel lag bolt (sometimes it takes two) from the hardware store. Scrub it with soap and water to get off any residue, then drill a hole and insert the screw into the wood. The steel will...

Feeling sickly this morning. Trying to decide whether to go to work or stay home and get better. It's a downside of being a teacher: It's usually less trouble to just go in and tough it out rather than write sub plans and all that. Bleah.

Actually I was thinking of mascara barbs. Silly name for an amazing fish.

No, but they and their close relatives are definitely on my list of "someday" fish. @Boundava has kept some lipstick barbs (I think that's what they're called) that are closely related. Really gorgeous fish.

My great aunt (grandma's sister) owned a fish store way back in the day when things like water changes, hardness, and compatibility weren't really issues that anyone worried about. My grandma had a 10 gallon tank with a random assortment of completely incompatible fish that I inherited when she...

Back to singing with little kids today. Learning some songs from Australia, which should make @Colin_T happy. Kookaburra, Tie Me Kangaroo Down (which ends with a joke that is completely sick and wrong, and thus is a huge hit with my fourth graders), and we're just starting on "Waltzing...

I always go for real wood and real rocks if possible. Just use rocks that are clean and chemically inert (I usually look for granite around here; I'm sure you have something that would work in Maryland), and wood that has been dead long enough to be good and dry with no bark. If I get it out of...

I love your username. Elmo must die. :lol: I agree that you're planning to keep a lot of soft-water fish, and they might not thrive in your hard water. I always recommend choosing fish to suit the water you have, as it will save you and your fish a lot of trouble down the road. Soft-water...

Welcome to the forum. That's a nice looking tank.

Just came across this quote in a book by Bernard Cornwell, who I'm really into at the moment: "A man does not rid his home of the plague of wasps by swatting them one by one, but by finding the nest and burning it." Words to live by.

I don't know anything about saltwater fish, but it would seem reasonable to think that the scorpion must have released its venom in to the water when it died. But I just read that their venom only remains potent for about 48 hours. Weird. Possibly your single new fish died from something...

So sorry to hear this, my friend. Let us know how we can help.

It's possible, and I suspect I didn't feed my first batch enough. But wouldn't that make them feed more voraciously rather than less??? I feed my current ones a LOT of fruit flies. I'm really confused by all of this.

This tank is coldwater fish, so no heater. It stays in the low 70s year-round. So no trouble there. The mister just comes on periodically through the day, more for show than to really add any humidity. This is Wyoming, so the air is super-dry. I don't think too much humidity is the problem...

I do have a very tight, half glass, half screen lid, and a mister to maintain humidity (plus it's on top of an aquarium) so I don't think that's the problem either. The diet variety has been a challenge. Crickets simply bury themselves in the substrate and disappear. Might try the tiny...

This is why you shouldn't buy from a breeder located downstream from the nuclear reactor. :lol: Seriously, that's really interesting. I guess if the critter is doing alright, that's good enough. You have an animal with character. You should have a lot of fun naming him. I suggest Doc Oc.

Hello again! As many of you know, last winter I got four juvenile Firebelly toads for my bioactive, 55 gallon Paludarium. They were active, well-colored, eating enthusiastically on flightless fruit flies, which I dusted with Repashy calcium/vitamin supplement once a week. They had quite a large...

My kind of project! Will you be keeping any animals in this tank? Please keep us updated.

I have only kept imbellus. Here are some things I learned about them. They are relatively peaceful, but only relatively. I had a male/female pair in a custom 36" wide x 12" deep by 10" high tank, with tons of cover and plants and broken sight lines. The male picked on the female mercilessly...

A most excellent guitar riff, though. No idea about your wood smoke. Really, really weird.

The comparison with the ocean is right on: Wild, vast, isolated, wide-open but with great mysteries under the surface. Except out here, the hills don't move. Except sometimes, when the wind blows really hard. :lol: People think the desert is ugly, and it is through the windows of a car...

Sunset in the Great Divide Desert. ...and sunrise in the Beaver Creek foothills.

I think it just depends on the individual. As Emeraldking says, sometimes they are fine. But I had a B. splendens in an uncovered tank and it decided to go for a walk one night. I found it the next morning. Personally, I wouldn't chance it without a lid.

The usual deal is that if one partner scores and the other doesn't, the meat goes 50/50. But I'm still hopeful. We got our butts handed to us in the desert. :lol: 🌵 There were tons of elk, hundreds of them. And not one chance in God's earth of getting within a quarter mile of them. We...

Friday we were back after them. Part of the Badger ethos, I guess: Once I decide something is worth doing, I don't give up easily. We didn't see any elk Friday night, but heard a couple of distant bugles that told us where they were. Saturday morning, we spotted a bachelor herd at first...

Wondering about this weird scar on his hip, more likely. But yeah. You never think it will happen to you.

Updates. I have debated whether to include this story, but I think it's important to talk about the failures and low points, not just the successes. A couple weeks ago, I injured a small bull, and it got away. It was a textbook call-in, after a multi-mile, multi-thousand-foot hike to get...