Torrey

@KittenFishMom I am so sorry to hear your mom is in this stage. A year ago, we were in a similar situation. I hope you have a hospice crew as wonderful as we were blessed with, and that you and your mom are able to enjoy this time together despite everything. It's easy to end up with too many guppies, they are very prolific once they get going.

Okay, it took me 2 attempts to figure out @Katherine's word, lol. So actually, this is my 8th out of 6🤣 Wordle guessed in 2/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=wbleteo 🟨⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Here's the rest from the week: Wordle guessed in 4/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=cigsj ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 5/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=wzxdp ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟨🟩🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 5/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=poend ⬜⬜🟨⬜🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟩 ⬜⬜🟩⬜⬜ ⬜🟩🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Wordle guessed in 3/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=lzrqe 🟩⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle Thank you @FlyingFishKeeper, these are growing on me!!!

You know you can pick different length words, right?

Wordle guessed in 4/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=cigsj ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle That was fun! I keep getting "not found in dictionary" for @Katherine's Wordle, so I am obviously spelling something wrong. I'll keep playing though... haven't looked in the dictionary yet,

I have been going in every couple of weeks and wrapping the roots of my AR 'rosaeafolia' around a stick in my Scapes from Scraps tank. There's not a lot of room, making it a bit difficult. If I were to do it over again, I would grow the plants floating to get more root growth at each node, and *then* wrap longer stems plus roots around the stick. The AR 'rosaeafolia' is much more attractive with vibrant coloration the closer it gets to the light. I am microdosing ferts daily, because it is a pico tank with shrimp, that may also be contributing to the intense coloration. I am getting fresh stem growth from each node, I am not using CO2, and the light cycle is 4 on/ 3 off/ 4 on/3 off/3 on/7 off. [LEFT TANK} You can see the 'rosaeafolia' in the upper left corner, it is growing from the stick on the left. You can see the most lush growth is right at the top with the light, the bits growing on the bottom on the left have longer stems and a longer internodal length. The bunch in the front right corner is growing out of the substrate and being trained up another stick. It is growing much thicker due to the benefits of the light between the two tanks. You can also see Pogostemon stellatus growing out from behind the rock, and a piece being trained along the front center twig in the tank, with some pearlweed roots helping to hold it in place. Moss is wrapped along the back branches, and as it grows in will give the optical illusion of being much further back... helping to give the observer the perspective of a much larger, and deeper tank. [RIGHT TANK} you can see Java windelov, milfoil, moss, and cyperus helferi supporting spots of pink in the rosaeafolia, and a deeper red in the ludwigia repens. There is also pearlweed growing (and pearling) closest to the side light on the left. This tank has a dwarf frogbit, pearlweed, and duckweed floating at the top, as well as a few small pieces of more AR rosaeafolia tissue culture that are rooting... I'm waiting for some actual stem growth in addition to the roots growing out of the leaves, though.

Personally, I would not use anything smaller than a 5 gallon for chili rasbora, and wouldn't go any smaller than a school of 6, for their mental health. Smaller schools are actually more stressful than larger schools, it's part of their genetic programming. In a 1 gallon with no filter, amphopods (scuds) would be really cool to watch and provide hours of entertainment. Neocaridinia can do well in a 1 gallon, as long as you stay on top of the water chemistry.... meaning wait until it's well grown in and there's evidence of a good biofilm and a seasoned system and be diligent about testing and monitoring. Can't wait to see how this evolves!

@Dean’s Fishroom I am looking at plastic mesh? Plastic feeding "bowl" upside down and weighted? I most definitely want to learn how to do this....

I am so sorry..... How are you and the wife doing? How is your daughter doing with the guilt factor of an animal died under her care? I hope the frog and betta make full recovery, despite the toxic mistake, and you don't deal with any health repercussions down the line.... Not a fun smell to come home to.😢 I had this learning experience once, it pushed me harder into planted tanks that are prestocked with microfauna and flora, so fish/shrimp can be a little hungry when I get home, but tanks are overall stable even if I am gone for 2-3 weeks. Sorry for the loss of your nerite.

My favorite (and I have tested many due to microbrewing exes, reptile keeping, *and* aquarium keeping) has been the Pymeter. I haven't had any fail on me due to power outages causing complications as I have with a few other types. In fact, I haven't had one fail me yet. I like the wider tempterature control options, and I appreciated being able to set an alarm for when I had surgery (alarm let me know when the turtle pond heater faiiled). It protects against rapid toggling, as well. Lower cost for better reliability and verified accuracy works for me. Customer support for a not tech savvy person on my first one was also awesome.

Definitely changed my opinion about a lot of the the things we assume are healthcare in this country.... Especially when I found out that the more ultrasounds an OB has done, the less likely they are to get hit with a medical malpractice suit.... A year in Mexico taught me the difference between health care, and litigious based care, and suddenly the huge difference in health care expenditures for worse outcomes made sense...☹️

@Streetwise I am not seeing links to journals in people's signatures. I suspect it's due to massive lag in our internet due to the fires here having done some infrastructure damage. I was looking for Daniel's journal on his vintage tank, as it has some of the easiest to read information on the forum regarding the research he did behind the natural light? My UPS just kicked on, so I am logging off. Hope to see everyone later.

Next time I make it home, would you be up for coffee?

@JessLynne7 keeping bettas stable can be a full time job, all on its own, if we don't live in FL, the Philippines, Malaysia, or some other country they are native to. It is obvious you are trying, very hard. I used to breed bettas, and I *still* learned a ton from Gianne Souza, including the fact that I unintentionally shortened their life span after I moved to high desert. I kept them at the 82 F they needed.... I didn't keep them at the humidity they needed for their labyrinth organ. And I was a breeder. My point is, please don't beat yourself up for what you don't know, and what you didn't know when you got started. You are doing the more important thing of being vulnerable, honest, and willing to learn. By the way, I killed windelov for years before I learned how to have success at it, so consider yourself ahead of the learning curve, lol. You have seen the difference sunlight makes in Cory's big breeder tubs on his videos, and you have seen the difference in fish health and coloration when they are outside in the tubs. So you have another advantage there, with the windows you have. Eventually, you may need to add a more high tech light as your tank grows more plants, and at the same time I have seen Dr Diana Walstad's tanks and many of them are dirt, plants, indirect sunlight, and an airstone. Some didn't even have airstones back in 2013. I'm going to look for a thread for you to follow, on a vintage tank in a vintage house. I think it will help a bit. The betta will need a heater, plenty of air, and solid biological filtration. Most bettas are used to a fair amount of silt being suspended in the water, that's why they evolved their labyrinth organ. They reap a lot of health benefits from heavy tannin water, and sometimes our desire for a specific appearance has to tke a backseat for what *they* communicate they need for a living environment. BRB, I need to go find a journal.

PS- Wait until you test out Roy's recommendations for 2 weeks before adding a new variable with a siesta (split photo-period). It makes it easier to understand how each change impacts growth. @JoeQ & @Streetwise I believe it's so only one or two variables get changed every two weeks to recognize what makes the change.

@Lucid_Reese I was going to tag Roy, but he already chimed in while I was busy blowing up your image of your tank so I could see better. He has taught me more about iron absorption at higher pH than the dozens of books I have read over the decades, and more importantly explained it in a way that made sense to my brain. Streetwise and Mmiller are the other two who help me do better at planted tanks. The only thing I would add to what Roy said, from my personal experience, is to split the photoperiod in two since you aren't running CO2. I can get you some research if you are interested in going full geek on the data. However, I am autistic, and not everyone appreciates an info dump, so I will leave it at: You have gotten great advice already, and if you make the changes Roy recommended and take pictures now and pictures in two weeks to compare to the ones today, and you will see a difference. We chatted in the Member's live stream yesterday, and if you want more data/peer-reviewed data to see the results in research and then follow how that research plays out in your tank, I am more than happy to share.

Those who enjoy the binomial nomenclature, I think I finally (and legitimately) identified Pebbles! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radix_auricularia What does everyone think?

Especially now that you got me hooked, lol! Here's the random I was just assigned, and it (kind of?) fits the theme If I never make it to bed...... Wordle guessed in 6/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=bwqcj ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜⬜ ⬜🟩⬜⬜🟩 ⬜🟩🟨⬜🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle

I figured I owed you a challenge!

Makes sense, light is a wave after all. When we were studying risks versus benefits for ultrasounds during pregnancy, one of the studies that really stood out to me and made me a lot more critical about how research is conducted, was the review on the *increase* in birth defects and low birth weights in highly monitored pregnancies. The original research was showing the benefits of ultrasound (again, waves hitting newly developing cells) by highlighting all the interventions they were able to do to.... but when the studied pregnancies were matched against other pregnancies with same risk factors, they discovered the more ultrasounds conducted during pregnancy correlated with higher incidences of defects. I believe it was either Australia or NHS that was planning an additional study to review if the timing of the ultrasounds (specific fetal developmental periods may be at higher risk than others) impacted specific organ development, but it hadn't received funding yet by the time I left school (and lost access to a lot of peer-reviewed research).

I have one for you to try, @FlyingFishKeeper https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=weld Hate for you to be doing all the work giving us puzzles, and not having any fun yourself! I finished it! Thank you, these are great brain exercises!!! Wordle guessed in 2/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=obrlw ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle

I still have it in the bucket, lol. I might play with it, see what use i can come up with😁😁

For more information on Bettas, here's the link to the Member's Talk with Gianne Souza

Fabulous images of the spawning!!!! That last sentence though "I wish he was smart and not just good looking"🤣🤣🤣 He's a teenager, he can't help it. lol Give him some time, they get better. Took most of my discus dads at least 3 spawns before they had half a clue, and if I artificially raised a spawn, those males were in desperate need of a remedial class to learn not just how to properly fertilize (that still took 3 to 4 spawns) but learning to care for the brood/care for the eggs tookthem *way* longer than the males who got to grow up with poppa. Parenting is modeled behavior.

Whoot!!! Wordle guessed in 2/6! Can you do better? Try this wordle: https://mywordle.strivemath.com/?word=xskwl ⬜🟨🟩🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 #mywordle

I second Fish Folk. Most likely an internal, and there wasn't anything you could do. Feeding live foods, especially if cultured outside your home and purchased by you to feed, there's always a risk of potential parasites with live (and even some frozen) bloodworms and blackworms, and **especially** if feeder fish or snails are used (which is why I would Q/T feeders, medicate, then gut feed for 2 months before feeding/breeding my own). Even so, it's almost never a "sudden" death, there's wasting/bloating and changed behavior. Impaction? Especially if they ate something sharp that could damage on the inside? That can happen fast. I am so sorry for your loss, they may be fish and they can still be family.