Anita

What a gorgeous fish! 🤩

ORD 💜 Welcome to the forum @JoeM!

ORD 💜

ORD 💜. Especially the last bit, "Even at our best, we're a very poor imitation of nature." We do our best and pray for the rest! 😁

No worries! I am frequently guilty of the same. 🤓

Nothing was baked or cooked. 😎The banana leaves were air-dried outside, in the shade. The Repashy was prepared with boiling water and kept warm over low heat to keep it from setting up. The oven was set to the lowest heat setting (probably 150 degrees or less) and the door was kept ajar, to hasten the drying process. Once the Repashy is dry, it can be stored at room temperature.

I am with @Jungle Fan on this one. Analysis of recycled rubber tires shows they contain significant levels of heavy metals, such as cadmium, lead, and zinc. Washington State University Extension suggests that manufacturers are marketing rubber mulch as an environmentally friendly landscaping product, while downplaying or even disregarding the toxicity of recycled tires: The problem with trying to seal the rubber mulch is that a) it is very difficult to completely seal such an uneven surface and b) silicone or other sealants repel water but may still leach hydrophobic compounds (substances that are dissolvable in organic solvents).

I moved my Chopstick snails (Stenomelania spp.) into this tank. Stenomelania coarctata is on the far left. Now, all my oddball snails are together, so, it's official—this is the Snail Tank. They seem to enjoy the Repashy banana leaves. However, the dried Repashy did not hold together very well. Most of it crumbled and flaked off the banana leaf after a few hours. Fortunately, most of the dregs stayed in the dish. But, I either have to find a better binder, or I may abandon this experiment. Nothing like a post-meal siesta. Today's water test. #1 is the Snail Tank. The nitrates may have inched up in the last week, but only by a tiny bit. Perhaps because of the Repashy. Video from the last couple of days.

Haha, no worries. Thank YOU for adding to such an interesting conversation. And Welcome Back! 🤩

This article on blackwater photography has some amazing images! https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/30/science/blackwater-photography-fish-larvae.html Also had a laugh at a fish named, I kid you not, Bony-Eared Assfish (Acanthonus armatus). (see below)

I second this notion that this is normal for stem plants. In all those pretty aquascaping photos you see online, I would be willing to bet the roots were neatly trimmed before photos were taken. 💜

Oh dear. Apparently Cemex is being accused of removing sand from public beaches and damaging the coastal habitat with their mining operations. https://abc7news.com/monterey-bay-sand-mine-accused-of-damaging-coastline-in-scientists-say-removal-causing-major-erosion/1969078/

And from across the ocean! Shanghai School Edo School Kyoto School

ORD 💜 Personally and for me, successfully caring for living organisms requires both science (logic) and art (intuition). 🐟🐌🌿🦐

ORD 💜 Purely speculative on my part, but I feel as though fractals mathematicians were instrumental in getting scientists to start thinking more holistically about complex systems. E.g., ecology, Earth sciences, etc.

ORD 💜

As another former basic research life sciences lab tech, I believe we scientists are prone to falling into the trap of over-reductive thinking. A professional pitfall, so to speak. Here's what I mean by that. Let's say we are trying to improve the efficiency of the nitrogen cycle by boosting the anaerobic bacterial contribution. To produce credible results, an experiment must focus on some limited aspect of the anaerobic bacterial cycle, in order to create controlled conditions that eliminate as many variables as possible. Then tunnel vision kicks in and the tail starts wagging the dog. We start thinking that the BEST or ONLY solution for improving denitrification is via anaerobic bacteria, in fact, using one particular sub-species of bacteria! Haha! With our laser-sharp vision focused on revealing "the truth," we forget the larger goal, which is to improve the efficiency of the nitrogen cycle. We forget that in the real world, the anaerobic cycle never works in isolation. As we have seen from the many responses in the thread, the nitrogen cycle has many moving parts, aerobic and anaerobic. 😎

The Root in Root Beer is Sassafras

What awesome news! Good job Hugo! 🤩

Or check your local classifieds for used tanks. There are nearly always good deals on large volume tanks, e.g., 60 gallons and up. On smaller tanks, 20 gallons and under, people tend to have an overinflated idea of their value. 😎

What fun reading this has been! Thanks @Will Billy for starting this thread and @OnlyGenusCaps @Biotope Biologist for your expertise! And @gardenman for your perceptive eye. 🤓🥼⚛️🔬

ORD 💜 This is also great. Not fumbling at all. Thanks!

ORD 💜 I second this excellent explanation of why it is a bit of a Sisphytic task (not to mention potentially hazardous to your aquarium residents) trying establish an anaerobic nitrogen cycle in a home aquarium. Wastewater treatment does not include keeping a bunch of fish in the containment lagoons. 😎

Hmm, looking at your photos, especially the middle one, the branches do not appear to have been cut properly. I guess if these were my trees, the first thing I would do is to get an arborist to clean up all those cuts as soon as I could. To properly prune a Yoshino Flowering Cherry (or any type of cherry, flowering or fruiting), they should cut all the branches—even the skinny ones at the top—all the way to what is called the collar. I.e., they should not leave any stubs or half-branches. If they don't prune flush to the collar, the open wound will not heal up properly. The rest of the branch may die back until it reaches the trunk. The dieback could even invade the rest of the tree. Cutting too deep into the trunk is also a problem. Properly pruned, the collar will grow a nice callous of healthy wood and bark after a few years. Especially since your trees are really struggling, it would be important to find someone who knows how to diagnose what is wrong and what to do about it. I am so sorry to see your poor trees having a hard time. 🌸

I believe these are neither planaria (parasitic flatworms) or detritus worms (detritus-eating annelid worms), but annelid worms called Branchiobdellida, which naturally live on the crayfish's exoskeleton (shell). Biologists consider these hitchhikers "exosymbionts," meaning they coexist in a mutually beneficial relationship with the crayfish. The worms normally do not harm healthy crayfish. They do not penetrate the shell and feed mostly on microorganisms and detritus.