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OnlyGenusCaps

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  1. Today I got some snail mail. And I mean that literally! 🐌 I received an order of two snail species. The first will be going in this tank. I took out my rabbit snails when I had to medicate, or more accurately, because the medication was killing them. And now I have new plans for them. So, I needed something else in there. And because I don't have plants in that tank, I can add snails that... Well, would eat plants. I decided on "tiger spike" snails (Stenomelania acutospira). They have another common name, but it seems low-key... Not nice. So I've decided not to use that one. Thank goodness for Latin binomials!!! 🥳 And, and, though not going in this tank, I also got a snail I have wanted to a long time. I got 10 porcelain limpet nerite snails (Septaria porcellana)! These things are so, so cool! Sadly, 3 arrived dead, but that leaves me with 7 right now. They are happily munching on algae in that disgusting tank behind them in the photo. This does mean I want to try to breed them. Has anyone here successfully ever bred nertite snails? Maybe @Zenzo? He's got nerites and brackish tanks. I'll set up a brackish tank to breed these snails! Yes, they are that cool! Also, there are new Julie babies! Always new Julie babies. I need to BAP these!
  2. Sure, but no guarantee of that here. I mean, someone talented could pull it off. But, I'll be happy with whatever I can manage. 😁 It is Selaginella uncinata, a spikemoss with blue iridescence in the leaves. I like plants that have blue iridescence in their leaves and that one is easy to grow. I also am trying out a Microsorum steerei in there too, however; the success of that species in the viv is not a foregone conclusion.
  3. I have a quick second before a chain of meetings this afternoon. So... Quick update photos. Dart frog viv is complete. Well, still missing the frogs, but otherwise it is just waiting for them. I added a few tabs of root fert to get whatever plant I put in there growing well (lean towards val because I've seen it succeed in my water and terrible care). Sorry this photo is so blurry, but here is the rock and substrate combo for my Blue Grass tank. I think once I get the water and plants in, it'll look decently cool.
  4. First off, thank for the replied everyone! Especially because I've been swamped with so much going on that I haven't been on the forum much to be able to contribute. 😔 Although, in my case that might be a positive thing. That does look a bit like seaweed. Not exactly the look I am going for here, but as I have a bit of a tendency to do fake marine type scapes, I'm going to keep this one in the back pocket for sure! I'm already thinking about how I could use it. Wow, I have never heard of that form! 🤯 That's awesome! If I recall correctly, Java fern is an epiphyte though. I'm all set to plant into sand. But, that's the first Java fern that makes me think I need a Java fern! That's good to hear. Thanks! Sot on! I have been thinking about doing a wave maker pump in here. I'll evaluate the flow I can get from my Jet Lifters first though. The flow they can generate never ceases to amaze me. I'm even contemplating a river tank just using them. But, I'd better not get ahead of myself. Okay, so you are correct. I shouldn't have generalized to say that seagrass doesn't reach the surface. I can, and does in many places. I guess I was thinking more about the manatee/dugong gardens of it. As I type that, I'm realizing, I'll be trimming. Or maybe not. I'll look into this! I have grown it as a terrestrial before. But I am not familiar with its needs as a submerged aquatic. Interesting though! Thanks again everyone. This was really helpful, and I learned stuff for future projects too!
  5. The gobies went for another effort. Oddly, this time the eggs were molded by the time I could get to them. No luck on that front... Yet. 😎 The dart frog viv is coming along: I have also been making progress on the 75 gal with the blue background, which I am calling my "Blue Grass" tank. I'm hoping to get some feedback on a couple things about it. Given the photo in included a couple posts ago, what do people think of the rock placement here? I'll be placing my seagrass mimic plant in the are surrounded by rocks, as it is growing in the habitat photo. Remember that right now the tank is bare bottom. I like my rockwork to be stable without the substrate having to hold it in place. This reduces the likelihood of tumbles that could harm inhabitants and potentially break the glass. I'll be adding about 5cm of white, pool-filter sand in front of the rocks, and filling the space behind them with it as well. So the gaps at the bases won't be visible, nor will the flat support rocks at the base. So, thoughts on the layout? Feedback is welcome! The other thing I am hoping for advice on is which plant I should be adding as the "seagrass". My first thought was a val species. But, I do want to keep the plant from training across the top, which seagrasses tend not to do. Could mean a lot of trimming if I get something too large. That said, I don't want the blades to be to narrow. In addition to a val (but which one?!), I'm also contemplating dwarf sag, and crypt balansae. Remember my water is fairly hard with about 300+ppm out of the tap, most of that is KH. Any ideas about what I should use? Thanks in advance!
  6. This Thursday is the MAS meeting. It is fully online. Register here. The guy, Lawrence Kent, who is speaking is from Seattle, so some of you might already know him! Title: "Seeking African Friends and Holy Grail Fish: Stories from Mauritania and Nigeria" Description: "The presentation will cover Lawrence Kent's 2019 trip to the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and other forays into the wild world of Nigeria. He has found some interesting fish in both of these strange and rarely visited African countries, including cichlids, killies, alestids, mormyrids, and catfish." As always, the meeting is open to everyone. You do not need to be a member. Please join us! I hope to see you there.
  7. I won't tell you what I have paid to put appropriate outlets, on appropriate breakers, in appropriate locations. 🤑
  8. Sounds like you are having particulate issues not nitrogen oxidation issues, if I understand you correctly. That Ziss filter will work well for converting ammonia->nitrite->nitrate, i.e. biofiltration. However, it doesn't look like it will have good fine particulate filtration. So, I would concur with @Kathy F, that finding a finer particulate filter media might be your next move (assuming it isn't the substrate disturbance issue she mentioned).
  9. I've been a bit absent on the forum of late. The little time I have right now, I am trying to use to get this retreat within my home completed. It seems to be the project that never ends, and I'll admit to burning out on it for a few days. But, I'm getting back on track. Slowly. The weather here sure isn't helping - near freezing with heavy wet snow/rain mix. Ugh. 🤮 But, I was able to get the matten filters mostly installed. Well, in the black backed 75 at least. I'll explain why not on the blue one in a second. It seems that matten filters are now as well known as some of the other types used the the hobby. So, I wanted to go through how I am installing them as a means to show them to folks who might not yet be familiar with this style of filter. Plus, I do mine a bit differently. First off I cut a block of foam to the size needed. Then, running the drill mostly in reverse, I use a hole saw to put the hole in the filter for the return from the Jet Lifter. Sometimes I have to run the drill forward for a second if it begins to bind. If you keep running it while it is bound, it has a tendency to tear a large chunk out of the foam. Trust me! With the hole drilled, I can put in the Jet Lifter. Here it is from the back. And the front part which will stick through. I like to attach the Jet Lifter tube to the bottom of the foam. Without this, I have found the tube can get turned in weird ways. This little step just holds everything in place nicely. I use a cable tie, but I am careful not to pull it too snuggly so that I leave space for the airline tubing to get tucked through later. So, for most folks, that would be the end of the process. They'd attach an airline and pop it into the braces. Here is where I do something a bit different. I like to make what I call a "divided matten" filter. So, what I do is simply cut the bottom few inches of foam off, like so. This allows me to put just the bottom of the filter in first and keep the business end of the filter easily removable. I like this because the biggest drawback to the matten filter is that they are awful to clean. Typically people leave them in for months if not years, in which time they gunk up severely. Then when it comes time to clean the filter, the entire tank is a mass of mulm. You can see this on some of Rachel O'Leary's videos when she takes them out. I hate this aspect of them, so by cutting the bottom few inches off, I make it possible to pull the majority of the filter out, while the base acts as a substrate dam to prevent having to push that back. It's a simple fix to the main matten problem. Here you can see the base installed. The other thing you can see in that photo is the ugly overflow for the AWC system. Well, soon enough that won't be visible. The last thing I do is to add one more loose cable tie around the top of the JetLifter to hold the airline in place. Again, this just keeps everything neat behind the filter. Well, and I suppose when I take the top section out to clean everything, it helps with holding it all together as well. On that last photo, you can also clearly see the notch I cut into the foam to make it easier to get it installed against that overflow drain. It can be done without that notch, but it's easier like this. Okay, so here it is installed - the "divided matten" filter. Yes, you can see the division a little bit. So there is that. But once everything is in the tank, it's not so obvious. Neither is the cable tie. Which reminds me, the reason I don't have the blue mattens in yet is that I am waiting on blue cable ties to be delivered. I mean, if I am going to try to obscure the infrastructure, why have a weird black tie visible. Right? That really only leaves the tube ends visible in both tanks. For now, I am going to leave them. The Jet Lifters come apart, so if those start to bother me, then I can pull just the ends and color them later, without having to shut the tank down. That's all for now folks.
  10. And, and, and! @dasaltemelosguy, Rosario has apparently been preaching using "pholodendron" in aquariums to suck up nitrates in aquariums since the 1960's. But he says that one species is better than the rest, which I thought might interest you - Costus fissiligulatus. I'm intrigued!
  11. Currently enjoying a program by the BAP group at MAS by Rosario LaCorte. He is 93yo and have been in the hobby for 70+ years. He is telling personal stories about the folks fish were named after. It's an incredible experience! I just wanted to let everyone know: 1) Because he has books available, including "An Aquarist's Journey" his personal story. 2) And, I want to encourage people to join your local clubs. They have some amazing resources and wonderful experiences. Connecting to other fish keepers is a really incredible experience! Here and more locally as well.
  12. I've got the two 75 gals on the rack. Didn't tank a photo. They aren't full and there really isn't anything new to see. I do want to talk about my approach to tanks and also solicit some advice. These days, when I put together an aquarium, I think about is like a diorama. It needs to be a slice of something, or evoke a scene. This is what I went for with my Pseudo Saltwater tank and what I will be working towards with my Deep Reef tank as well. As I build out my tank rack, I am trying to each tank the same way. I have a pretty good idea for one, but the other currently eludes me. The blue backed aquarium is going to be my "Ocean Lawn" tank where I am going to try to replicate a sea grass bed. My plan is to move my pagoda snails there, put in some Tang Killis (Lamprichthys tanganicanus), and plant either dwarf sag or val as seagrass. Here is my inspiration photo from a seagrass bed in Western Australia: I think I can land that seagrass one. Here is my dilemma. The black backed 75... For this tank, I am taking a second stab at some pupfish. I'll put my rabbit snails in there. But I'll need to load it with plants, to reduce aggression and provide hides, which is not my style. The hard part is I have no vision for this currently. When I tried to create a simulated environment like the one they are found in, it failed. So now I need a new vision. But what is it?! What is the scene I am trying to make???
  13. Thank you for taking the time to explain this in more detail to me! I think I better understand now. You certainly raise a number of interesting questions! There is a lot to think about there with surface killing, or ballast killing. Residue. Time of contact vs. efficacy of kill. Does it need to be chemically neutralized after. And then there is the issue of compliance (impinging upon convenience in America can be dramatized as "tyranny" - silly, but it happens all the time!). Given the number of unknowns inherent with your suggestion, may I offer an unsolicited suggestion? You might try contacting a lab that researches invasive mussels rather than an agency. They might either have insights into the answers to your questions (which I do not even pretend to have), or be interested in exploring them. Once those questions become known, then agencies would be more likely to be responsive, I suspect. Just a thought. If you want to try that route, and are having trouble identifying a lab, DM me and I'd be happy to try to help in your search.
  14. Ecologist here. While I applaud your zeal for protecting the environment, @Minanora, the mass use of something known to broadly kill large groups of organisms being released into habitats would likely create loads of collateral damage. Even if it was effective in poisoning the invasive mussels, it would take out all the flatworms, and probably more we don't even know about. This would potentially be more destructive than the mussels themselves. Plus, if it hit the invasives, it would likely take out the often highly endangered (and behaviorally really cool!) native mussels, too. This would be my concern. A bit like burning your house down to get rid of termites. It could work, but at what cost? Agencies would have to do massive amounts of testing to check out the impacts, and even with the already known impacts, it would probably garner an immediate "no" from them. @lefty o is correct that invasives are super hard to get rid of. Most ecologists even, at this point, are shifting over to the idea that the approach should focus on reducing introductions (those are mostly hitchhikers as a byproduct of global trade, so... tricky), aggressive suppression if caught early, mitigation of impacts if established, and some acceptance of the changes once the species are entrenched. For zebra mussels, slowing their spread is really all we have left. And the truth is they haven't been as bad for the native habitats as we'd originally feared. Which is good news!
  15. That is BBA for sure on the bottom photo!!!
  16. Fair point. I have no idea about the rot resistance. That is dramatically unexpected!!! I would have banked on it rotting out in either condition. Those things don't normally even like to be transplanted. You must have quite the green thumb! I wouldn't worry ab out it. First - see my previous comment above. Secondly, this place is nothing if not supportive of folks taking big risks whether they succeed or fail. It foster exploration that way. Part of why I am here. 🤓
  17. Actually, in terms of known toxicity, I suspect the kudzu would make a better candidate. I have no idea how the stems look, or if they are of visual interest. But I'd be more likely to try that vine than wisteria. I realized I had meant to reply to this as well, but missed it. That plant is Diphasiastrum digitatum, and sadly, I strongly suspect it would not do well in an aquarium. I will say though, I love that plant. You have a really nice bit of land! Also, those photos make me want a tractor. I'm not sure what I would do with one here in the burbs of the Twin Cites, but it looks so cool to do! And that stump is just art. This is going to be such a nice tank!
  18. I would not try wisteria. The members of the genus contain saponin, which is a class of toxins that are often particularly toxic to aquatic life. It is saponins that people traditionally use to stun or kill fish in entire creeks. Maybe the old wood could be used if well aged and rotted, but I just think it might be risky. My 2¢.
  19. I'm told that is the state with the highest number of local fish clubs per capita. I always knew something was fishy about Ohio. In a good way, of course.
  20. Well, you just put her on the horn with me when she's going on for longer than you'd like. I don't think I could get too much dart talk. 😉 I kept and bred three morphs in high school - along with other assorted amphibians. Amphibians are actually what led me to fish. Sort of the reason I am here doing the rest of it. Finally, I get to merge both interests on one place!
  21. I was able to get the next rack up. I ordered the thing a month ago, but it finally arrived yesterday, so I got on that right away. This set of tanks will be a bit different. They will house dart frogs. I know, I know. This is an aquarium forum, so I hope no one minds if I also include updates about the dart frogs here too. They will be sandwiched between two racks of aquariums. Plus, the main dart frog forum is one of the most toxic places I've had the misfortune of logging on to. Sort of the opposite of this place. Anyhow, here is the start to the dart rack:
  22. Just for reference, I took a photo of one of my pots of VFT today. These haven't seen light since October. Still dormant. Still happy. They will bound back with warm weather and loads of light to have 1.5" traps this summer (this is a large clone).
  23. Avert your eyes! This is a family friendly forum, madam!
  24. Definitely not beginner stuff - despite those being the place almost all CP growers begin! In that way it reminds me of goldfish. A common entry point, but not something that is necessarily easy to maintain long-term. I'll echo the advice that @brandonnaturally kindly provided. When I talk to people here about growing VFT's, I tell them that they like "tomato heat and sun in the summer" and that they aren't tropical so they need a cool, though not cold, winter dormancy. Dark helps too. We are on the other side of the equinox as of today, so I am sure you can just continue growing it and worry about dormancy next year. It's almost certainly on its first summer out of tissue culture, which gives wiggle room. I would keep the top off the container though. Fewer potential problems that way. VFT's are kind of a pain to grow. My few live with my Sarrs. They go outside in their tubs in the summer, and then sit on a dark, hopefully not frozen, shelf in my garage through the winter. Actually, as I think about it, it's getting time for me to start doing the shoulder season shuffle (move them out in the day, and back during the freezing night). Such a pain! If, you are looking to add species, might I suggest the Cape sundew (Drosera capensis)? You can grow it from seed, it's big and showy, it moves (not as fast as a VFT but does), is happy on a bright windowsill, and best of all for someone who seems to have a number of house plants - it devours fungus gnats!
  25. I'll second @Patrick_G. I assume you got the same brand of tanks from the same place as I have for my 75 gallon tanks when on sale (the sale here right now is screaming good!). Mine came in with sloppy silicone, and somewhat misaligned glass. No problem on the water test. And my first one was up for months with no issues, though I was so paranoid about it leaking I did the water test for a week first. 🤪 Glad to see you went with the upgrade, @Jawjagrrl!
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