GailH
New Member
Good morning all, and Happy Labor Day. Hope everyone in the USA who is celebrating has a great day.
I'm Gail, and I've been keeping aquariums for over 50 years - everything from just planted tanks, to fish, to freshwater invertebrates to aquatic amphibians and reptiles. My first 'tank' was one of those absolutely horrible plastic bins with an island and a fake palm tree that housed a single slider turtle baby. Little did I understand at the age of 6 that it was truly a cruel thing to have a living creature kept like that. Needless to say, I have come a long way since then.
I left the hobby for quite a few years (life, ya know), went back to it for a few years, left again (life, ya know) and am starting back into the hobby as of the past year or so. I've recently caught the shrimp bug, need I say more? My preference is for a naturalistic, fairly self regulating tank set up. I work hard to get just the right balance in my little slices of biosphere to make maintenance a less burdensome task. Sponge filters preferred, lots of biodiversity. Most of my maintenance is just partial water changes as necessary and the occasional washing out of the sponge filters. I like simple inhabitants that don't need a lot of specialized equipment - none of my tanks have heaters at the moment, since Neocaridina shrimp really don't need them. Currently I just keep shrimp and snails, but am on the lookout for some small cool water fish that won't eat the shrimp but will help control the population of Detritus worms. Finding anything like that in my area that isn't infected with some disease that is plain to see in the pet store tanks is not easy. No, I don't like having to spend a month or more medicating new fish to be sure they are healthy. Yup, I know the worms are just a natural part of the ecosystem, but they still kind of creep me out lol. And as we all know, even without over feeding, those buggers just always seem to explode in planted tanks with cholla wood.
<drum roll and the big tada reveal> I love snails. All kinds of snails. Yup, I am one of those aquarium keepers who is on that side of the fence about them
There were no such things as fish forums - heck, there wasn't even an internet - when I was younger, so I am curious just how well an online community like this one works to help folks who have questions and to just share love of the hobby. Full disclosure, I was a member for many years of another online forum for a certain craft and sadly, saw that form turn into a political cesspool that made it unbearable to even be a part of anymore. I see that there are rules here to stay away from such volatile subjects so I hope to be able to find the online comradery of likeminded individuals which I once enjoyed at that other forum.
I'm Gail, and I've been keeping aquariums for over 50 years - everything from just planted tanks, to fish, to freshwater invertebrates to aquatic amphibians and reptiles. My first 'tank' was one of those absolutely horrible plastic bins with an island and a fake palm tree that housed a single slider turtle baby. Little did I understand at the age of 6 that it was truly a cruel thing to have a living creature kept like that. Needless to say, I have come a long way since then.
I left the hobby for quite a few years (life, ya know), went back to it for a few years, left again (life, ya know) and am starting back into the hobby as of the past year or so. I've recently caught the shrimp bug, need I say more? My preference is for a naturalistic, fairly self regulating tank set up. I work hard to get just the right balance in my little slices of biosphere to make maintenance a less burdensome task. Sponge filters preferred, lots of biodiversity. Most of my maintenance is just partial water changes as necessary and the occasional washing out of the sponge filters. I like simple inhabitants that don't need a lot of specialized equipment - none of my tanks have heaters at the moment, since Neocaridina shrimp really don't need them. Currently I just keep shrimp and snails, but am on the lookout for some small cool water fish that won't eat the shrimp but will help control the population of Detritus worms. Finding anything like that in my area that isn't infected with some disease that is plain to see in the pet store tanks is not easy. No, I don't like having to spend a month or more medicating new fish to be sure they are healthy. Yup, I know the worms are just a natural part of the ecosystem, but they still kind of creep me out lol. And as we all know, even without over feeding, those buggers just always seem to explode in planted tanks with cholla wood.
<drum roll and the big tada reveal> I love snails. All kinds of snails. Yup, I am one of those aquarium keepers who is on that side of the fence about them
There were no such things as fish forums - heck, there wasn't even an internet - when I was younger, so I am curious just how well an online community like this one works to help folks who have questions and to just share love of the hobby. Full disclosure, I was a member for many years of another online forum for a certain craft and sadly, saw that form turn into a political cesspool that made it unbearable to even be a part of anymore. I see that there are rules here to stay away from such volatile subjects so I hope to be able to find the online comradery of likeminded individuals which I once enjoyed at that other forum.
too !!!
