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Torrey

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Everything posted by Torrey

  1. @Minanora did I ever tell you why I became such a big duckweed fan? (and I think your fish are going to be fine!)
  2. When you marry someone more autistic than you are, all the directions have to followed exactly. So, we just bought Taco Bell for Saturday night Netflix date night. We started eating at 5 pm mountain, and by 5:32 MST neither of us could take another bite. We watched Puff, to keep the Taco Eating Contest Date Night in theme. "It's all for the Loaf" 1. (Me) I was coming in to post: Before I started eating the dozen soft tacos (can't do the hard shell ever since covid), the box weighed 69.3 oz (4.32 lbs on my scale). After eating 5.75 soft tacos, the box weighed in at 1.84 lbs (29.44 oz) and I accepted defeat as I could not eat another bite. Math: 69.30 - 29.44 = 39.86 oz of tacos/5.75 tacos = 6.93 oz/soft taco 2. For the Patient Spouse™ (who selected the movie "Puff" for the evening, and kept eating despite the "w" word being used in the film because "I didn't know worms could be so pretty"), a solid 12.5 tacos were consumed. To make math easier, I just weighed 10 tacos to assist @Hobbit with the contest. 10 tacos weighed 1.8 lbs = 28.8 oz =2.88 oz/taco So, Patient Spouse™ just ate 12.5 tacos @ 2.88 oz/taco = 36 oz of tacos Apparently, I ate more😲 than my Patient Spouse by 3.86 oz! Luckily, we really aren't very competitive, lol😂 Setting up for the carnage: The Movie: Following images are Patient Spouse's™ before & after: (before) (After: 12.5 tacos for a total of 36 oz of tacos) Torrey's Before & After: (Before) (After 5.75 tacos @ 6.93 oz/taco for a total of 39.86 oz of tacos) Have a Nermy Weekend everyone! ** Edit: Spouse ate hardshell tacos!!!
  3. I'm going to add to Fish Folk: When I introduce new females, I keep them separated and then *separate their fry* because they will have fry. It will be the female fry of the newly bought females that I will introduce to a specific male, to test what the offspring look like, before adding to colony breeding. Also, for line breeding: You can take 6 brothers (this is a hypothetical breeding situation) Put one brother each in his own tank (6 tanks) Add the new female fry, 2 or 3 females, to 2 of the brothers. Add established females to the other 4 brothers. Every 3 months, evaluate your fry. 1. Are they healthy? 2. Are they true to your selected phenotype? 3. Have you been culling any who don't meet expectations? 4. Separate the fry into a female tank, a male tank, a yet to be determined tank, and get rid of your culls. In a perfect world, you will be able to have a daughter tank and a son tank for each of your original 6 brothers (this is where huge breeding fish rooms come into play). If you can't, then put the sons from the 4 tanks that have established phenotype in a tank together/daughters from established phenotype together, and have a separate daughter/son set up for the two brothers who have "new blood" so you can evaluate how they grow, develop, and if they breed true. Next, you can "retire" a set of established breeders, and put a "new blood male" in with 2 to 3 established phenotype females. This is how you get to test how solidly your livebearers are breeding true. A solid line is when greater than 8 out of 10 replicate their parent's phenotype. Alternatively, You can keep males altogether in a bachelor tank, and keep females spread out over several community breeding tanks. This uses the fewest tanks, and is effective if you are breeding for a specific, singular look. You remove males as they develop gonopodiums, and when the females stop having fry, take your best looking male(s) and add them into the tank. You can take a picture of the males you put in, and see how many of the offspring breed true. This is also a good way to test a single male at a time: throw him in with females who haven't had fry in 3 months, and see if he breeds true/breeds closer to the phenotype you are aiming for. After 3 months, separate males from females again, and keep pulling male fry until you go 3 months with no fry, then breed a bachelor in again.
  4. @lefty o and @Patrick_G y'all come out to Tiwa Lands, and eat Navajo Tacos with us!😁
  5. @dan12boy here are my 2 DAL from the Co-op. They were a little slow to start (not surprising, our house stays cool and they are not in a heated tank) but once they committed to sprouting they committed 100% As Patrick said, even more red in person.
  6. Make your own and weigh them, that was going to be my approach until Patient Spouse™ said they would eat taco bell for Murphy😂
  7. Reluctant Nerm™ (my Patient Spouse™) said for The Loaf™ they would be willing to eat 18 Taco Bell tacos, lol. Then asked if the 3D print @TheDukeAnumber1 had talked about was of Murphy. I had to catch them up on the week, and we both hope everything is going okay for TheDukeAnumber1, and whatever came up is easily resolved. A trip to WA is obviously going to have to include introducing Spouse to Murphy, lol!
  8. It's okay to take the time to fully explore all the options. Slow really is the fastest way to sustainable. Most importantly, with a bit of planning, dedication, and good communication regarding clear expectations, it *is* possible to have a healthy online forum!
  9. @Mark C. it took me a while to find, but this is what the water looks like where otos grow in the wild:
  10. If you can pick up some Dr Bronner's peppermint soap, you might be able to save your roses. I used to put the soap in my Miracle Grow applicator (bought specifically for soap application, lol) and spray your roses down in the evening. If possible, sprinkle lady bugs and/or indigenous praying mantii on your rose bushes after spraying down. The predator bugs will take care of any juvenile offenders, and spraying the adults off at night with a glycerin based soap will keep most of the adults off. I posted a video on plants natural responses to various insect attacks on my "Argument" post. I suspect that's the secret behind using glycerin based soaps. The peppermint oil residue will deter new attacks. Good luck!
  11. Me too! I could fall asleep watching them for extended time periods, they are so entertaining! All adults have successfully molted at least once now, and the 2 smallest appear to have molted twice, plus the babies surviving past the 24 hour mark screams success so far (to me)
  12. If you can't find a LFS to purchase, you can find some online buyers. Your line of assassins have excellent coloration, good shell development, and I am willing to bet (based on your substrate) they eat more than just 'pest snails'. Bet you never see detritus worm or any other 'pests' in your tank. My tank with breeding assassins (have you seen their egg sacs? So cute!!!) may be one of the healthiest tanks I have ever maintained with healthy plants, a balance between plants/snails/fish/blackworms, and (knock on wood) has been doing a pretty good job of the critters keeping things in proportion.
  13. It's a sustainable approach, if you take it slow. Also, Guppysnail's Reverse Respiration *seems* to do something that makes the plants more resistant to the cyanobacteria? If there are any plnats you can remove and soak overnight in seltzer water (fully submerged, in full dark), that appears to have stopped it coming back in my T4' (windelov kept growing BGA, my test plant is not growing it back. Getting ready to test on more... trying to get a better microscope to get before and after pics).
  14. @Fish Folk I can't tell you thank you enough for posting all the information here, and the videos. Finally got full (enthusiastic) consent, and started the dining room build! Palaemonetes paludosus are already breeding in their Q/T, and shrimplette (zooeys) are munching on the biofilm on the tree branches. Should have the 4' tank ready for inhabitants once it's safer to ship in the fall.
  15. @dasaltemelosguy, @Zenzo and any other cichlid lovers out there: Who has experience with dwarf cichlids from the cool mountain streams of Bolivia, Peru, etc? I am looking for dwarfs that have pretty colors (still need to appeal to my Patient Spouse™, the Reluctant Nerm™) and naturally occur in the cooler 65 F to 74 F stream waters (18 C to 23 C) so I don't need to add a heater. I *want* them to have enough prey drive to decrease the endler population, as well (or at least limit growth explosions). I'm open to recommendations! Need to stay under 4", as this is a 4' tank that can't be filled all the way, and the plants are already incredibly well established.
  16. It's been a bit, and things have been busy in our place! Finally committed: the T4' is going to be a "biotopish" tank with the endlers and a yet to be determined dwarf cichlid to keep the population under control, panda corydoras, and the current snails. The dining room tank is not going to be set up for any of the aquascape contests, as that is more work than I have spoons for. Instead, I'm currently doing a lot of research into NANF, and have already started breeding Palaemonetes paludosus for the tank. It's not going to be a strict biotope, because again: limitation on resources (my energy being the biggest limiting factor). It will be heavily planted and the plants will be established and successfully reproducing before I add fish (or shrimp, which are currently breeding in a 10 gallon Q/T below the show tank). Purple arrows show baby shrimp Dwarf lily bulbs from ACO "woke up", baby shrimp are eating the film on the wood, Palaemonetes paludosus hiding in the plants and moss Q/T below the show tank in the dining room Berried Female on lava rock, molt in moss I am finally getting my rack, so the rest of the tanks will be consolidated in one area, and I will be able to get the industrial air pump😁 Outside pond is doing well, endler males were finally introduced today (single "rapier" sword on the bottom). Should have babies ramping up in time for anyone who wants some hardy, phenotypically accurate, endlers this fall. Adding blanched vegetables every other day at the minimum, plus increasing ferts, has allowed most plants to recover. Found a fabulous video that explains why we don't see Guppysnail's snails or shrimp terrorizing her plants, and why my plants fell victim to the clean-up crew: Stay tuned!
  17. Happy Birthday, and I think either Charlie Brown or The Great Pumpkin would work! He's gorgeous!
  18. I am setting up our 4' dining room tank for NANF. I already started breeding Palaemonetes paludosus to have established in the tank before I order the fish. I prefer as balanced of an ecosystem as possible, to set the foundation for success, and my first ever NANF tank is no exception. @Fish Folk has several excellent posts, and videos, on NANF.
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