What are you doing today?

[Alice B]

you know goldfish and koi can crossbreed, and when they do most of the offspring will be black, will get larger than goldfish, but not have whiskers.

 

[JuiceBox52]

Today I decided to bite the bullet and shave the rest of my head. Too much hair was falling out, and the balding (alopecia) was no longer able to be hidden. Thankfully I can hide my lashes and eyebrows but my scalp? Nah

I’m feeling pretty good about it actually

 

[GaryE]

I bought a couple of bags of pool filter sand, and today I'll start adding deeper substrates to a bunch of 10 gallon tanks so I can plant them better.By this time next year, I want slow growing but attractive plants along the backs of all my killie 10 gallon tanks, to push out the scraggly Valls I have now. I'm aiming for a sea of Cryptocorynes. The ones I bought last year are spreading now, and I can soon start harvesting them for the smaller tanks. If the tissue culture ones I bought last week also take off, I should be able to gradually get things to what I want to see.

These things take time and patience. I have gone out and bought bunches of stem plants too many times to expect that to always work.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

I bought a couple of bags of pool filter sand, and today I'll start adding deeper substrates to a bunch of 10 gallon tanks so I can plant them better.By this time next year, I want slow growing but attractive plants along the backs of all my killie 10 gallon tanks, to push out the scraggly Valls I have now. I'm aiming for a sea of Cryptocorynes. The ones I bought last year are spreading now, and I can soon start harvesting them for the smaller tanks. If the tissue culture ones I bought last week also take off, I should be able to gradually get things to what I want to see.

These things take time and patience. I have gone out and bought bunches of stem plants too many times to expect that to always work.

Are there any crypt-like plants, slow-growing but attractive rooted ones, that are native to west Africa? I don't know of too many. Bolbiltus fern, tiger lotus, and anubias, but none of those really fit the bill.

 

[Alice B]

I had plans and then customers had pond emergencies. going to be 100 here today, trying to get home before noon. I put my hex tank, water, filter, gravel, air pump, sponge filter heater and all including live anubias and some guppies, up for sale. I would not have moved my albino BN but he is gone, and I don't have room and the tank is still running 86 degrees from being next to the portable ac in my office. I asked 150. It's 20 years old but pretty immaculate for its age and that was a high end Oceanic cabinet. Oceanic tank too

 

[gwand]

It’s been around 100F all week. I will stream another opera during the hottest part of the day. Today it’s Handel’s Bajazet.

 

[gwand]

It’s been around 100F all week. I will stream another opera during the hottest part of the day. Today it’s Handel’s Bajazet.

Oops. Bajazet was composed by Vivaldi.

 

[GaryE]

Are there any crypt-like plants, slow-growing but attractive rooted ones, that are native to west Africa? I don't know of too many. Bolbiltus fern, tiger lotus, and anubias, but none of those really fit the bill.

None that I saw. The rivers and streams had almost no aquatic plants. I saw one stand of three little Anubias sp, in 8 days of looking. There was a floater like Riccia, and some reedlike grassy plants that were rooted. That was it.
A fisherman told me there a couple of other Anubias spp around, and Bolbitis along with lotus plants. That was all he knew of.

 

[WhistlingBadger]

None that I saw. The rivers and streams had almost no aquatic plants. I saw one stand of three little Anubias sp, in 8 days of looking. There was a floater like Riccia, and some reedlike grassy plants that were rooted. That was it.
A fisherman told me there a couple of other Anubias spp around, and Bolbitis along with lotus plants. That was all he knew of.

Maybe that's why we don't see too many biotope tanks from west Africa. To stay true to the region you would almost have to use marginal plants growing out the back, or something.

 

[GaryE]

I am untrue, but I have set up a line of peace lilies, roots in, all along the back of my 40 long with Epiplatys huberi and Chromidotilapia nana. The leaves overhang. The fish seem more visible than in a traditional set up, but that's very subjective.

A biotope would be a soft substrate, with not very deep, moving water.

 

[GaryE]

Out of solidarity with you lot, I just stood in my greenhouse, where it was 37.8c, or 100f. Humid too. I worked in there and lasted, oh, 5 minutes. The peppers really like that heat, as do the zuccini that I'm growing for fish food. I didn't like it. That is hot.

 

[Alice B]

I saw 2 ponds, my truck alignment feels loose, I parked the truck. It hit 104 in Fort Worth today, plus humidity

 

[jaylach]

I saw 2 ponds, my truck alignment feels loose, I parked the truck. It hit 104 in Fort Worth today, plus humidity

Ya, people don't understand the Dallas/Ft Worth area in Texas as they normally just think of it as pretty much desert. I lived in Ft Worth for something like seven years and it is every bit as humid as North East Florida. Going outside with it being 100+ F and 99% humidity is like being punched in the face. During that time I rode a motorcycle and being stuck at a stop light was like being in a pressure cooker.

 

[Alice B]

I technically know how to shift a motorcycle. Been almost 50 years since I drove one myself, but even without the heat, in Dallas Fort Worth, it's dangerous enough in a solid metal pickup. And yes the humidity today is horrible, it got to 104 in Fort Worth and the Temperature Humidity index was probably 112. Central Air is supposed to be installed saturday. I can't get the living room below 84 right now on a large portable ac, but with the fan from my window unit bedroom I can house humidity down to about 55%. On the portable alone it was 77% humidity in the living room when I got home from pond service calls.

 

[JackGulley]

Just watched Grave of the Fireflies, lauded as the saddest Ghibli movie. It was so sad that in Japan, they actually billed it as a double feature with My Neighbor Totoro so that people could cheer themselves up afterwards. In America, it was dubbed at some point, but never got a substantial release so you have to pirate it.