Hobbit

@Torrey haha that would actually work pretty well, though you’d have to subtract the weight of whatever you drink. 🤔 How much weight in carbon do you think we breathe out in an hour?

Whenever someone posts a new thread like this, I enjoy linking to old ones because they’re just so fun to read 😁

I believe it was 18 tacos. Which makes my intestines hurt just thinking about. 😆

You might be a nerm if, when a mosquito bites you, your reaction is “Oh good, maybe she’ll lay eggs in the fish tub!” You might be a nerm if your husband puts a dirty 10g tank on the counter right in front of the fridge in an attempt to get you to clean it.

The Taco Eating Contest is up! Entries are accepted starting July 10!

Hellooooo everyone! Nerm Week will soon be upon us, and that means it’s time to celebrate in the way @Cory likes best… eating tacos! 🌮 😋 🌮 @TheDukeAnumber1 created and ran this contest last year. I’m only slightly modifying the rules, so 99% credit for this wonderful event goes to him. The rules and guidelines for the contest are below. - Because they are wide spread Taco Bell crunchy tacos will be the "standard" for acceptable tacos allowed. Other options and home mades will be allowed, but you must weigh your tacos and give them a Taco Equivalent Score (TES). The internet says a Taco Bell crunchy taco weighs 2.9 oz. So to get your TES, weigh your tacos in oz and divide by 2.9. - To enter the contest, you must post both a before and after photo here in this thread, showing your tacos pre-consumption and one showing the aftermath. This is an on your honor contest that lives on the integrity of the forum members and the before and after photo will generally be accepted. If something seems off about your entry more "proof" may be requested which may include more photos. The only guaranteed proof is a full video which you can record if you wish and provide if needed but it should not be necessary. - The goal is to eat the most tacos in one sitting. A sitting will be defined as a maximum of 1 hour. - You can enter the contest any time during NERM week (July 10-16) with final submissions being accepted on July 16th and the winner crowned on the 17th. Questions? Just ask below! Happy NERM week! 😃

No worries! We can still run it without the trophy. Winner just gets bragging rights. 😁 I’m happy to organize it, esp since you put in the legwork last year.

@TheDukeAnumber1 how are we doing on the taco eating contest sign-ups??

I think one male and one female would be ideal! The males don’t bother the females tooo much. As long as there are some hiding spots where she can zip away if he gets too excited, a pair will do just fine. Unlike guppies where the males go to the female to try to fertilize her eggs, with honeys the male has to get the female to come to his nest. So even if a male starts out aggressive, he should eventually realize his methods aren’t working. 🙃 If you get two females, the females may spar a bit, and the dominant female may end up trying to chase the other female away. From what I’ve heard and observed, a pair is more peaceful than a threesome when it comes to honeys.

Putting a piece of glass (like an old window) or a piece of greenhouse paneling over top of the tub will help trap heat. Positioning the tub so it gets lots of sun and is protected from the wind will also help. I have a tub outside on my back steps, right against the house in a corner with walls facing south and east. I was able to run an air pump from inside the house, so there was warm air flowing into the tub all winter. Even with the protection of the walls, the glass, and the warm pump, it still froze over a few times, but I had ricefish out there and three of them survived! 😄 If the ice got too thick, I’d boil some water and pour it over the ice slowly to melt it.

Yaaay! Fingers crossed that the reviewers like it!

I recently got some smaller buckets (around 2g) and I LOVE them! I found mine in the paint isle at Ace Hardware. 😊

Ohhh maybe I need to borrow a CAE... 🤔

@eatyourpeas if you need to re-seed your tank I can mail you some! Mine seems shorter than what you’re going for, though. Mine’s just this squat black fuzz. It LOVES my driftwood but is also happily growing on glass, plastic, and plants. 🙃 It’s a tank that gets Easy Green but generally has almost 0 nitrates. Maybe part of the trick is to have algae eaters that eat the other kinds of algae? I’ve got two otos, two plecos, and a couple ramshorn snails that the loaches haven’t eaten yet.

The C.A.R.E. forum is turning 2 on July 14! Last year's celebrations were such a success that we're throwing a virtual party again this year. 🎉 You can look forward to these events during the week of July 14, which we've dubbed "NERM week." Instructions about how to participate will soon appear all around the forum. Search for the tags "nerm week" and "nerm week 2022" to find all the events, or follow this topic, since we'll be adding links in the comments. There should be something for everyone. We hope you'll join us! The Events: Aquascaping Competition: Similar to last year, @FlyingFishKeeper will be organizing a contest where you submit photos and people vote using the reaction emojis. Details will be forthcoming. What Did You Learn This Year? Tell us the most significant, important, or useful thing you learned about the fish hobby this year. After all, this forum is all about learning! @Beardedbillygoat1975 will be hosting this thread. Re-Written Directions Competition: Ever feel frustrated that some directions in this hobby are confusing or hard to remember? Here's your chance to re-write those directions in a way that's clearer and more entertaining. @Torrey is our host for this one! Ultimate Fish Room Design Contest: Fish keepers gone wild! @xXInkedPhoenixX is getting us all in trouble by asking us to imagine and sketch out our dream fish room. Your only limit is your imagination! Taco Eating Contest: Back by popular demand! @TheDukeAnumber1 is once again hosting and will print a trophy for the winner. If you can eat, you should participate in this contest because if we don't get at least 3 participants (NOT including TheDuke), there will be no trophy. 😲 Some of these events will require you to plan ahead, so be sure to watch this thread for links to each event's instruction post. Whether you've been here for one day or a full two years, we hope you'll join us in celebrating this amazing corner of the fishy internet. Happy Anniversary, C.A.R.E. Forum!

@Beardedbillygoat1975 I would love it if you posted the Most Useful Thing You Learned This Year thread. I'm more than happy to just focus on organizing! Here are our images. (If an actual artist wants to take this over next year, please do! 😅) And remember to tag all posts with "nerm week" and "nerm week 2022"!

I’m going to work on a graphic for Nerm week 2022 and hopefully post the schedule today! I also think I’m going to change which event I’m hosting. We have a lot of contests and design challenges on the schedule already, so I don’t want to be too repetitive. Instead, I’ll host a thread with the most useful/best thing you’ve learned in the last year about the hobby. If @Beardedbillygoat1975 wants to take it over (since it was his idea) that’s totally fine! But it’s such a good and accessible event, and so on-theme with what the forum’s about, that I want to make sure it happens. 🙂 So far we have: Aquascaping competitions: @FlyingFishKeeper Dream fish room design contest: @xXInkedPhoenixX Taco eating contest: @TheDukeAnumber1 Re-writing directions: @Torrey Most useful thing you learned this year: @Hobbit If anyone else wants to add anything, just let me know! 😃

@Anjum that would probably work! From what I know, infusoria aren’t picky about what microbes they eat, so whatever it is they’ll probably love it!

Just a quick update! I’m bringing 60+ platys and my medaka broodstock to my LFS this afternoon. After I raise the remaining fry from my medaka, I’ll be done with them for the time being. (Well, except for those that will live perpetually in my outdoor tub. 😄) I need space and energy to focus on trying to raise honey gouramis again! Boy Fish and Girl Fish are starting to mess around with flirting and bubble nesting, which is a great sign! The platy breeding setup is still going, though I pared down my platy broodstock to make room for some goodeids that I’m hoping to buy from Greg Sage as soon as he has them up for sale. 😍 Unfortunately, I haven’t been getting many fry out of the females now that everyone’s on the left hand side of the tank. I’m not sure if it’s just because they’re eating the fry, or if it’s a temperature thing, or what. I’ve been hatching BBS again to see if some live food will encourage them to grow some babies. I’ve got two males in there, one blue and one orange, so everyone *should* be pregnant… 🤷🏼‍♀️ As soon as the weather warmed and the sun came out, I started getting THE BEST green water in my outdoor tub! I just used maybe two gallons of it for a water change in this 10 gal and LOOK 🤩 This is where I’ll be raising the remainder of my medaka fry. I guess the secret is just throwing a bunch of decaying plant matter in the bottom of a bucket and putting it out in the sun. Speaking of which, I had several medaka last through the winter in this tub on my step. I gave the three adult survivors to a neighbor for her 100g pond (along with several fry) and I’ve been letting their fry grow up in here. They’re (hopefully) eating the mosquito larvae. They didn’t come from my choice broodstock so I haven’t been selling them to my LFS. Not sure what to do with them yet! (The branches are my attempt to shade the tub from the morning sun.) I also have some sad news… Swirly Snail has passed on. They were looking slow for months now, so it wasn’t a surprise. Still no swirly babies, unfortunately, so I never got the opportunity to line breed them. Oh well. I enjoyed them while they were with me! ❤️ What a unique little creature.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea As long as it wasn’t in a dark closet, I doubt the light would be an issue. I’m not sure though. I’d guess the lack of splitting the culture/giving it new food was the problem. And/or not stirring it. If I don’t stir it, it looks like there’s absolutely nothing in the water. Getting that tip to stir the culture to get the infusoria off the sides/bottom was a game changer for me! So you may have had development but just not seen it. The other thing is if you had a predator in the tank water/mulm (which is likely) then the predator will keep the population of infusoria too low to observe. Perhaps try again with a really small amount of mulm so you reduce your chances of getting a predator?

OMG @Sal 😂 I love these. They hold up REALLY well! Basically daily use for 3+ years now and they’re still waterproof! 😍

@Anjum yep! I’m feeding the yeast granules to the infusoria. I wondered if I could feed straight starter culture to them, too! I think it’s worth a try if you have it around. My concern would be the flour (or whatever you’re feeding the yeast) would pollute the water too much, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you could figure out an amount to feed that would be safe. You only need a tiny amount!

I think so too!

They are SOOO pretty and adorable! Their coop and run is seriously the prettiest one I’ve ever seen. 😍 Just don’t let them peck you in the eye when they’re sitting on your shoulder! I know from experience that glasses don’t guarantee protection. 😛

In the mid-70’s, but they’re by a south-facing window over an air conditioning vent, so there’s a lot of fluctuation. 😄 I’m sure keeping them in a warm spot would speed up their growth (and vice versa).