[what state do you live in?]

Central Florida. Too close to Orlando and The Villages and I work in a profession where I get to meet Florida Man and Florida Woman on a too frequent basis. By "too close" I mean that this was a very nice, small town, area of FL about 20 years ago. The more crowded it gets the less Florida it becomes. 🙁

[Dwarf Crayfish]

I love CPOs. I decided to get some because my community tank wouldn't be shrimp friendly, and these guys are small but big enough to not be snacks. They are great. Big personalities in a small pkg with a nice splash of color. I've seen mine breeding but have never seen babies, which may get picked off. I think I have a female holding eggs right now but she is being a bit secretive about it and hiding more than usual. I wasn't planning on breeding them on purpose but a few more would always be welcome. 

They are definitely keepers for me. 

[Back to Aquarium life]

Nice to see you getting back into aquariums. I too had to take a break due to health (a TBI 10 years ago made me get out of Marine Reef tanks) and I'm just getting back in more seriously. I've had a casual planted 29gal for a few years, and I'm currently cycling a 75 for a heavily planted tank. It's so nice to have fish and tanks to fiddle with and just watch again. 

 

Welcome! 

[Someone once told me...]

I wish I could find it in me to be tolerant of the eggs they leave all over because they really are great algae munchers.... but, no. Those little sesame seeds drive me nuts! 

[LFS support vs Online fish buying.]

On 3/1/2022 at 3:15 AM, Flumpweesel said:

I'd doubt they will lose money they will just have them included in their next delivery /trip to wholesalers.

They might refuse or take a deposit if they think you are the only person who would want that fish.

I have never mail ordered fish (I dislike mail order shopping in general). But I'm in the UK and everything is closer together here. If you have a good LFS I'd talk to them first they might have a very good reason for not stocking them that could be useful to know.

At the moment it's just some specific platys. They get in mixed batches, but never the more specific types I would prefer to have for this tank in particular. I suspect that most people are happy with the mixed bags/more color selection, and the price point is slightly lower. If they got in more than just the number of fish I want I can't imagine it being hard to sell the extras. Later on it will probably be some rosy loaches. Small, durable, not a hard sell, but less colorful than what a lot of people are looking for. 

I would not be opposed to a special order purchase fee at all. It would certainly be less expensive than shipping, and I wouldn't have to worry as much about delivery with my work hours. 12hr night shifts make things a little harder than normal. Hopefully I can work something out with them that is better for both of us. 

 

[LFS support vs Online fish buying.]

I'm curious what opinions you all have on purchasing fish that are not very easy to find at my LFS. I'm not able to stop buy and just have a look often enough due to work hours, and I want some specific fish because I'm setting up a new 75gal planted tank. There are some that I want that they get on a fairly regular basis that I'm willing to just get the next time they have them in stock, but others I've never seen in their tanks at all. I try to support the LFS as much as I can and avoid the big box pet stores.

So, my dilemma is would it be a better support for them to request that they special order some for me, or just order what I want online, and continue to get what I want that they regularly carry from them? Are special orders profitable for small LFS? 

[Aquashella Orlando]

I wanted to go so bad being only an hour from the venue. However, being understaffed at work got me. I had to sleep all day and work all night... maybe the next time something is close I'll be able to get time off. I'm glad to see so many got to get out and enjoy it though! 

[What are you currently reading?]

On 2/24/2022 at 4:42 PM, jwcarlson said:

Audio books count for sure 🙂

I want to read Disc World someday, I actually own two of the books... Where do you suggest starting?

The vast majority of my reading is physical copy, but I do try to listen to some audio books while walking the dogs.  I can't find my bluetooth ear buds now, but if I could I would be listening every night doing my discus water change.  I greatly enjoyed "re-reading" The Dark Tower Series last year in audio format.  Was a good way of revisiting the series for me, which I've re-read quite a bit over the years.

I can't really advise on a place to start, other than at the beginning because that's where I started. But even I admit that the first couple of books are not the best of the series. For me they establish the basis of the world enough that I find them very much worth reading. There are entire websites dedicated to the reading paths for the different series within the series. The Night Watch(main city police force shenanigans), Death, The Witches, etc. And there are what are essentially standalones, such as Small Gods. Google up "discworld reading order" and you'll find the maps and directions. I can't do it. Sometimes I get the urge to read from one storyline or another, but since I started reading them around middle school, they are kind of like family to me. 

This may not be a book nerd correct suggestion, but the original audio recordings are almost always available to listen to on youtube. I used to own those on tape, but they have long since given up the ghost, and I've bought so many copies of the books (paperbk and hard bk) over the years that I don't feel bad about it. I heard that Audible is doing the series soon as a cast performance which I think is great since the old audio versions are no longer available to buy. There are also some new hardback specialty editions available that are really lovely. I'm collecting them a couple at a time. 

Also, please don't watch any Discworld related visual media and judge the series by that. It simply does not translate well to that format. The narrative voice is where a lot of the story is. 

 

Happy Reading! 

[What are you currently reading?]

If we count audiobooks, I'm currently re-reading Terry Pratchett's Disc World series for the umpteenth time. On Interesting Times right now. I basically do this yearly, around this time as a comfort thing, and a break from heavier reading. 

I'm seeing lots of books here I've read and loved, and other that I will be adding to that ever growing TBR list. It's nice to see that there are lots of readers in the FW side of the hobby as I haven't been on any forums since I got out of Reef tanks about 10 years ago due to a TBI. There is nothing better than spending some time by the tanks with a good book IMO.