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Biotope Biologist

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Everything posted by Biotope Biologist

  1. Biotope Biologist
    That is a seed shrimp. They can have some pretty cool patterns. microscope shot credit: University of Florida
  2. Biotope Biologist
    I never see my springtails either unless I really really churn the soil. I’m in the process of relocating animals to the new terrarium. Also, yeah I’m drowning in powder oranges. I can’t keep up! Going to sell culture starts soon. I think the tank looks great and I’m sure the soil health is doing great! I have heard the blue and orange springtails are a bit more finicky about humidity but the white ones should be fine
  3. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah I was going to say attach a weight for now. Some woods have different absorbency rates. And this piece once it does absorb the water will be heavy! I have a small piece similar to this. It took 6 months to sink. And now it weighs like 20lbs. It’s about 8” tall. So it’s basically a watermelon at this point
  4. Biotope Biologist
    They may eat shrimplets if they can catch them, yes. Removal by hand is the only way. Anything that kills leeches kills shrimps and snails as well. They are mostly nocturnal so you may want to set a trap with some sort of sinking pellet and remove them that way? The leeches also make great fish food!
  5. Biotope Biologist
    Leeches have a suction cup foot and swim like an eel whereas most other aquatic worms swim like snakes. Don’t worry they are mostly harmless. They have a bad rep.
  6. Biotope Biologist
    Looks like a vial full of leeches
  7. Biotope Biologist
    If you don’t have barbed fittings you need to clamp the hose in some way shape or form. Check valves also but that’s already been covered The air pressure is enough to eventually push the tubing off. The only other thing that could have caused this is a bad seal on the canisters. But usually it’s pretty obvious when that happens
  8. Biotope Biologist
    It will likely slowly dissolve but why not give it a shot! I don’t see any harm in it. Might need to scrub it of algae to keep its luster but then again maybe not? I used to have volcanic glass in my tanks and it didn’t get algae on it as bad as regular glass. Perhaps the surface was too smooth even for algae to attach to anyway best of luck! And keep us posted
  9. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah bleach, no matter how dilute seems to kill all my attempts at moss starts. And tropical moss imported has gotten out of hand expensive, especially considering you still have to QT it. I would like to try liverworts next as I planted some toad lilies for my parents a few years back. And now the whole topsoil is coated in liverwort. This species does not seem to do well in QT.
  10. Biotope Biologist
    My attempts to RR some local terrestrial moss for use in my displays has worked and it’s been a week and the moss is still green. During the light phase tons of I assume CO2 bubbles were coming off the plant. I prepared the moss by rinsing it first with freshwater to get dirt and debris off. I do not have any microscope shots to see if it indeed worked in getting rid of pests but it at least worked in not completely frying the moss. And I will call that a success.
  11. Biotope Biologist
    In my experience, they prefer mature algae mats and will not generally eat the stuff growing on the side of the glass. They also eat a varied diet and need to be eating sinking pellets as well as algae wafers to supplement their diet In addition they are shy creatures and take some time to warm up to the tanks dynamic.
  12. Biotope Biologist
    Please post journals! Half the time I come to the forums to answer questions I go back and look at whoever has been posting their journals! We are a friendly lot! No need to defend your style of tank with “it’s my kids tank” or the like. The creativity that people express in this hobby is great and as a former petstore employee I love seeing what people can do with bright purple gravel and spongebob themed decor! Not everything needs to be an award winning aquascape! Thanks for the post @Guppysnail id say half my time now on this forum is lurking on peoples journals 👀
  13. Biotope Biologist
    I have found a topical ointment that is safe for all aquatic animals. It reduces redding and fin damage. My gobies are fairly aggressive diggers. And sometimes appear in the morning with torn fins or red heads. API fin and body care It was rather hard finding topical stuff that wouldn’t effect my shrimps or snails. Open sores can get infected especially from those fish who burrow or dig. So having this stuff on hand or something similar will help. I dose the main tank, doesn’t effect plants either. Also mulm is healthy. When it gets real bad I suck it into a watering pail to feed the garden.
  14. Biotope Biologist
    All I know is there is an X and something something money… If economy lessons weren’t so boring I might be able to retain some of it 😅
  15. Biotope Biologist
    Cory had them too when he started ACO. I used to get them often as well. I believe he stated the problem was two-fold. One the cultures would go bad fairly consistently. It was hard to source batches that wouldn’t foul the water something fierce. And 2 the culture never regenerated at a rate fast enough to replace the existing culture. Customer demand was high which drove prices down while making it impossible to sustain cultures which ultimately led to them discontinuing them. Also brine shrimp are just so easy to culture as well as other live food options.
  16. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah under the same name but it’s set to private. I have a bunch of rough edits I want to reshoot if I do take the plunge. There is also a lot of misinformation and marine biologists on social media that I don’t exactly approve of. And fighting my way through it seems a challenge. Even the myth that oarfish are incredibly rare creatures. These people have never been in the field. How would they know? Just about every deep sea sample I pulled I found some species of ribbonfish. The truly rare ones have never even been photographed and my dichotomous key is just a crude drawing. I digress. I have thick skin enough to survive detractors haha. Well anyway didn’t mean to tangent with self-promotion. I hope you find the above resources helpful! And if it hasn’t already been said welcome to the forums! It is one of the few genuinely safe spaces on the internet to express yourself.
  17. Biotope Biologist
    I want to say toad eggs tend to be in loose aggregates like that. But definitely amphibian eggs.
  18. Biotope Biologist
    I absolutely did. Didn’t feel safe, haha but the mud was perfect. I still have it sitting in a bucket with saltwater I refresh every month for when I attempt mangroves/brackish tank again. I keep it outside during the summer and the birds here…. Bathe in it?
  19. Biotope Biologist
    Yes hahaha. I believe that alot of scientists are too stuffy and rigid, I aim to have a more relaxed approach. And hopefully entertaining too. Anyway lots of good suggestions here. And since you are new here you will find that even the nerdiest of us all tend to take a similar approach to the hobby. This is a friendly open minded community. @nabokovfan87 yeah tbh I am not sure. I have oscillated multiple times on starting videos to explain more in depth ideas. And have multiple videos of myself talking at screens. It all feels so foreign and weird so haven’t taken the plunge to uploading any of it. It’s not popular. I mean even discussing that most leech interactions with vertebrates seem to be hitchhiking rather than parasitism is met with heavy backlash… But I digress. I think it would be good to have someone who can digest scientific articles, which let’s be honest are a slog. I just don’t know if that person is me.
  20. Biotope Biologist
    Glad you’ve joined the dark side. In all honesty things have only started getting easier as I have introduced diverse fauna and flora to my tanks. As far as information though, you aren’t going to find much in the form of digestible content. As you mentioned that content is geared towards beginners so it steers clear of the weeds so to speak. Unfortunately you will have to jump off the deep end. And by that I mean google scholar…. There are a couple Barons publishing company books that go into biotope scaping and microfauna but they are extremely limited in scope usually. I pretty much only watch Cory and Serpa design. I watch serpa for design ideas not so much knowledge and Cory has always been a big nerd so his insights regardless of your experience level always has been refreshing. [Not just saying that because these are his forums either]
  21. Biotope Biologist
    Yeah if you have less than hardy plants I would forego the salt. But most hardy species like; anubias, java, vals, all the mosses, will tolerate the pinch of salt But the endlers also will benefit from a pinch of salty every once in awhile. Marine salt not table salt. It has tons of things plants and animals love like magnesium.
  22. Biotope Biologist
    My dream 10 gallon is ‘The amazon, things that live under leaves’ and I would just have all those tiny cute anchor cats and pencilfish and a pair of black darter tetra! The males look like viperfish to me (see profile pic).
  23. Biotope Biologist
    They thrive with just a pinch of salt. Like the tiniest amount. But they do fine in harder full fresh water. They are often billed as ‘brackish’ but only really tolerate brackish to about 1.005-1.007. Fun little micro predators that squabble amongst eachother as gobies do. Make sure to feed frozen or live or be prepared to tong feed. They are eyesight predators meaning if it aint moving they usually won’t go for it.
  24. Biotope Biologist
    The unfortunate thing is I think marine worms have to be axed. That might be in a range where finding brackish habitants will be hard. Most marine worms are fine to about 1.008. There are some kelp copepods around online that live in the marginal region of the beach meaning they tolerate full freshwater for a time. Marginal tidepools are…. On the margins. They only get saltwater during high tide and often their only source of water is freshwater via rain or underground creeks. They are often sold as bait. Thats all I got. You could buy some live mangrove mud from Florida. They at least have brackish micro fauna living in there. Just be careful with it it’s expensive for no good reason so finding a trustworthy source can be hard. I got mine from 2 little fishies I think. And that felt sketchy, website still running on windows vista…
  25. Biotope Biologist
    They are pretty common in Lake Washington have a fun name that sounds like a harry potter spell Carpio carpio Or perhaps a love sonnet written about two carps forbidden from love by their families. Speaking of they seem to hybridize with goldfish and Koi that escape or are released into our waterways.
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