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Torrey

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Everything posted by Torrey

  1. Torrey
    They have phenomenally good eyesight, and will clean you of ticks if you allow them... and are willing to be that vulnerable in your chicken coop! My daughter really worked with training the birds for 4-H shows (originally) and then just to see how much a chicken could leanr. One of her friends taught her 4-H bird to play the piano (used cracked corn and cat kibble as the original reward) until the chicken demonstrated an enjoyment of just hearing the different sounds. Our rotts worked as herding dogs, and kept the birds on the property and safe from predators. From mid-march until first frost, the dogs would lay down and let the birds, especially the baby chicks, ducklings and goslings, crawl over then and "preen" them. Better than chemicals any day! When we moved down to Albuquerque in '09, my kids and old man rott had to adjust to only having a backyard flock. Regularly I would come home from the hospital or school to find hens perched on the back of the couch watching TV with the kids. If they saw something worth eating, they would try to peck it out of the TV. Took one summer for them to learn the TV was like the windows: You could see through, but not touch, lol Apartment living doesn't allow for any birds, so only aquariums for now... and the trutle... and 2 dogs🤣 If the kids are patient, they can teach the birds to walk on a leash. Either a ferret harness or a cat's figure 8 harness, and one of the "spring leashes" that looks like an 80's telephone cord, to prevent the birds from harming themselves, and a few treats in their pocket, and chickens are bright enough to learn how to heal, how to follow directions on turning left or right, etc. Ducks and geese are even smarter, which requires more consistency from the kids. As soon as the waterfowl decide they are smarter than the kids, they will try the kid's patience, lol! 4-H judges get a kick out of the kids walking their poultry around the fair, acting as poultry ambassadors and educators.
  2. Torrey
    I skipped the work part. Never sieved.... First tank I did it in... was a mess🤣 But the growth and lack of algae? Totally sold me on the concept, just convinced me there had to be a less messy method. If anyone likes tannins, don't sieve. I let the tank establish for a month before adding plants: I really enjoyed the evolution of the tank over the course of the year. Just got tired of arguing with the malaysians regarding landscaping decisions.
  3. Torrey
    ORD😍
  4. Torrey
    Looks like they sold out, so the default is straight to the home page now... I'm sorry. There's a maxijet 1200 pond pump for only $29.95 listed. I personally have used the $9.99 version from Harbor Freight, lol
  5. Torrey
    ORD, thanks! The debate was Swainsons or Coopers, and I can/t remember why it was a debate? Bird was about (just under) 2' tall, if that helps. No recordings of the call because it stayed eerily silent the entire time it was with my daughter. Made what she called the bird equivalent of a purr when she rescued it from "far too many people trying to corral it at the church."
  6. Torrey
    ORD 🤣 @Ken Burke I agree on the three strand theory, and some people have fun in all 3, and some people don't, and all of the above is exactly perfect.
  7. Torrey
    That has been the subject of a lot of conjecture with no really established devices to reliably test. How big is the tank again? Do you have a 60 or larger to set up as a breeding tank for the two trying to pair off? Are you even interested in trying your hand at breeding discus?
  8. Torrey
    I just realized the similarities between this research and the TedTalk on Search for the Mother Tree.... @Ken Burke's frame around the plants made me see the parallel
  9. Torrey
    I see the benefit in starting a "science thread" where the research and deep detail can be bandied about, as it would expose young people to a new way of looking at research, and have a parallel thread that focuses on the fun aspect. Same information, catered to two different audiences. Can't wait to see what comes up next!
  10. Torrey
    ORD😍 And Bugs and I had nothing to do with it, they never even made it to Albuquerque🤣 I'm pretty sure that area of the Burroughs is attempting to recreate the Bermuda triangle... with a New York twist!
  11. Torrey
    I required the kids to wear safety glasses (wrap around style) or the child sized swim goggles, until they developed a healthy respect for what beaks and claws are capable of doing, even on accident. A few goggles had gouges in them, and the children respected the heck out of beaks after that! Your coop is lovely, and I am ORD😍
  12. Torrey
    Try getting a feeding cone. It's designed for worms, but works to keep food more localized and not drifting. You can also get a shrimp plate (or an old glass ashtray works well, as well as terra cotta plates that go under terra cotta plant pots, their are tiny ones only 1.5" across, up to 6" aross if you end up getting more bottom feeders) Use a tube or planting tweezers to place food on the shrimp plate, and clean up any remaining food the next feeding (typically evening and night). Offer the shrimp veggies, too. See @Guppysnail's recommendations on using bamboo skewers for Repashy in her journal, and by targeting where the food goes, and probably feeding half of what you are currently feeding at a time, your water parameters will stabilize and maintenance will get easier.
  13. Torrey
    Crushed coral alone can only raise pH so high, as the acidic water that dissolves the crushed coral (or in my tanks crushed oyster shell) is no longer acidic at 7.0 pH, slowing the process greatly. The higher the pH, the less the crushed coral (or oyster shell) dissolves. Most tnks stabilize between 7.2 pH and 7.8 pH, unless there are other factors impacting water pH.
  14. Torrey
    You are not at all ignorant! One, YouTube constantly does updates, so notifications don't always work as well as desired (I manage the YouTube channel and do the editing for a free mental health support service. If it didn't help a lot of people... I would have quit when an update created far more headaches than I had the spoons to deal with, lol. Didn't even post last Monday due to the update creating more issues than I was technically capable of dealing with, I have mad respect for Jimmy, Cory and Zenzo, plu Streetwise and Candi for their help in the forum/customer service) Second, there is a text subscribe option, @Candi I can't find the link to sign up for text alerts? Third, due to the above referenced issue with tech updates and technology only being as good and reliable as the most recent update was programmed to be, I *strongly* recommend going to the Co-Op channel directly, scroll over to "Members", then scroll down and look for the videos (most are currently already scheduled with a link up), click on the video, click on "Set Reminder", and then program your Google or iPhone calendar with the date and time. I include a link for the video in the calendar (click on "share" under the video, click on "Copy Link", and then paste it in your calendar) so I don't have to waste time looking for it if I don't get the text notification and the YouTube notification don't work. I have to do the same thing for the channel I manage, too, so it's absolutely not a *you* problem, it's the joy of technology: the tech is as good or bad as we choose to perceive it. My daughter says tech is how we train future parents to have patience, lol
  15. Torrey
    Willing to bet the fluctuations help keep your cultures more robust, actually
  16. Torrey
    @Fish Folk here you go, from Doña Ana county, NM You can see the far wing was damaged, either clipped by a car or bounced off the power lines in pursuit of prey, according to the rehab. A decade spent convincing free-range poultry to allow strangers in white hazamat suits (USDA inspectors) to swab their throats and cloacas made capturing a single hawk fairly easy, according to my daughter.
  17. Torrey
    ORD🤣 It's my fish' favorite dry flake from the Co-op, lol!
  18. Torrey
    Long before I found the forum, my response to a fellow aquarist who asked how to eliminate duckweed from their tanks (they had the tiny stuff that not even good surface agitation will eliminate) was to go ask one of our local drag queens how to clean up all the glitter. It had been 2 years since the theater that occasionally hires me for lighting design had done a TGLA Drag Review as a fundraiser for their school club, and we still hadn't gotten all of the glitter cleaned up, lol. Once it's there, it's there to stay.🌈🌟
  19. Torrey
    I even use 2 smaller heaters in my 10 gallon growout tanks, both connected to a Pymeter dual controller, when I have exceptionally sensitive fry. I'm also a big believr in double redundancy preventing a lot of avoidable problems.
  20. Torrey
    😭😭😭 I don't trust Google translate, and my brain hasn't remembered my spanish or Hichol(sp?) yet since my stroke (it's why my typing isn't always great and I sometimes use wrong words). If I'm remembering my geography right, Dos Hermanos was in Guadalajara? In the mountains? It's been 30 years, and I wonder how the kids I fed are now doing as adults, and how their kids are doing. They thought I was weird, and weren't sure if they could trust food from a skinny cook (first taste always won them over) and I am positive there are still jokes told about the crazy lady who told the kids to get out of her pig (I thought I said "get out of my kitchen" which was an outside tented area when we set up camp, and I'd chase the kids out if I caught them sneaking food before the meal was done... never did understand why it turned into a game with squeals of laughter until a few years ago, and we realized sometimes I replaced "c" with "ch" 👀) In case you couldn't tell, I really miss Mexico.... I miss village celebrations and pulque and being adopted into family and Sundays at the ruins.... and swimming in cenotes, and hiking Agua Azul to Palenqui. No, I didn't attach anything. Gravel in the bottom, plants (lots of plants, like the Co-op video of the fish store that doesn't do water changes) and when we got to McAllen I delivered the fish I had bred for Santiago's because no permit for cross-country travel for the fish. Once we got to my friend in Merida, we helped with some research collecting and got permission to travel with some fish samples to deliver for her to a researcher closer to Tulum. Got plants from the same waters as the fish, and literally saran wrapped the tops of various containers (street vendor drink dispensers weren't an option and seal on our tank had utterly failed long before we got to Merida... styrofoam and a couple of coolers held the containers so fish didn't overheat) so nothing sloshed out and no fish got yeeted out. We were probably the most eclectic set of travelers meandering across Mexico, but it made for great stories and led to great friendships. I never did follow up with the professor or my friend to find out about their breeding project, I do know water quality tests led to better sewage treatment in Acapulco and Cancun... but we had to leave as we experienced the gov. response to the Zapatistas a little more directly than we felt comfortable with... So, leanred experience was in the absence of A/C overheating can be ameliorated by storing containers in coolers, don't store the tanks over the engine, seal the lid and as long as there are sufficient plants and at least 2" of airspace at the top the sloshing will keep the water aerated. Uncover as soon as parked and level to allow gas exchange, and cheesecloth will keep mosquitoes from laying eggs in the tanks. Oh, and keep the fish food cool and dry... but wildcaught won't eat it so park near bodies of water so it's easy to do water changes and catch food for the fish.😅 Somehow, I'm willing to bet there are a lot more regulations now, lol
  21. Torrey
    I'm ORD (out of reactions for the day), I love that piece of wood! Fellow TBI survivor that wasn't helped any by a covid stroke last year. I can't imagine having to run meds through a tank that size, I used to keep a UV filter for the big tanks. I don't have any more big tanks, and don't have the UV filter. And... looking at how gorgeous this tank is, I miss my big tanks lol Keep doing whatever brings you joy, that's the point, right?
  22. Torrey
    ORD😍
  23. Torrey
    I've taken the biomed ethics, the research ethics, and am surrounded by people who take Stewardship very, very seriously. Your nephew is the reason I support GloFish. I will continue to criticize the greed and entitlement of a CEO who thinks a company can "own" DNA, but that lack of ethics is on the CEO and the board members. Not a healthy fish in a kid's tank, and definitely not on the kid. I'm 100% with Cory on this one: We have a responsibility to be better stewards, and the first step to being better stewards is centering the needs of the next generation. Otherwise, what's the point? We don't actually "own" anything, we are stewards for the next 7 generations. If the secret to get the next generation to see all of nature as a relative is a GloFish in a tank as a nightlight? I will find people who will help that happen. I was getting discouraged, long-covid wears us down. Cory helped me remember why any of us are here. "If I can choose anything, I choose to be kind"
  24. Torrey
    😍
  25. Torrey
    I;m ORD😍😍😍 Zoom, zoom, zoom! I take out dead snails, wash in H2O2 until all soft tissue is gone and shell is clean, then I return to tank. I have also discovered my snails like to clean/eat crushed oyster shells, anytime they need a mineral boost.
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