Hello, my name is Ryder.

[clownbaby]

Hello, my name is Ryder, and I want to tell you about myself. 

I am seventeen, still a kid at heart, yet very excited to be an adult. A very, very childish and fun-loving adult. I love to be outside. I enjoy going outside. It can be very lonely, but in a kind way. There are many friends out in the woods. There are bugs to hold, snails to pet, frogs to watch, birds to hear, and clues to find. Beyond the fauna, there is always the flora. Here in the Pacific Northwest, there are wonderful trees. Douglas-firs, Ponderosa pines, bigleaf maples, red alders, western hemlocks, grand fir, amabilis fir, paper birch, Pacific dogwood, crab-apple and black hawthorn, and Pacific yews. I remember seeing the yew tree for the first time. I had passed it so many times and ignored its greatness, its uniqueness, its beauty, and, more than anything, its importance. I touched its bark, its peeling scarred bark revealing a purple cloud underneath its pure skin. I have been here for years and yet I have never been close. 

Pacific yew is a wonderful tree. It is extremely adaptable, it can be in great sunlight and reach into its shining sky. Or, more often, being ignored by the tall firs and breathtaking pines and those stunning maples–it stands small and alone, in the shade. Many people walk past, many trees grow higher, and many other shrubs are noticed. Saskatoon is remembered for its greatness, and snowbrush is admired for its evergreen leaves. But yet, Pacific yew has the same things, too. It can help cure cancer, and it is evergreen, with beautiful sprays of limber needles that have amazing reproductive capabilities. It bears fruits, helping butterflies and bees, and birds, and even squirrels. It is just as great as anything else the other hikers stop to appreciate. Pacific yew is beautiful and amazing. 

Pacific yew is a wonderful tree.

Well, the Pacific is a wonderful place. I love this place, it's wonderful. The Pacific Northwest is a beautiful rain-forest, and it is on my bucket list to visit many locations throughout the Amazonia rainforest and river basin. What else? The Congo river basin, the Zambezi river, Okavango delta, Onawe peninsula, Bogota wetlands, Wular lake, Deben estuary, Old crow flats... more and more and more! Discovering the world's beauty is something I will never be able to take for granted, but something I need to explore. 

I love aquariums, because I love all animals. I love learning and studying. I spend most of my free time "relaxing" - my mom says it isn't relaxing, but I enjoy it. Reading books, researching bugs and animals, going outside and learning about forestry all myself. I will be pursuing forestry, barely as a career but mostly as a joyful exploration. I love to learn.

The world is terrifying. It is horrifying. Sometimes I feel hopeless, and scared. Like all humans, really. Like all animals. Like my snail, Leroy, when my mom drops a copper pot and it bangs and rings and it is just so loud. How this animal, a small mystery snail, hears the sound and senses it as danger. And he doesn't have a brain. He doesn't even have a brain. And yet; he thinks, he enjoys, he feels. Fish do not have similar brains to us, but science shows they experience pain. In their own unique way, plants feel pain.

Oh, what a wonderful, yet horrifying, world I am blessed with. Sometimes I struggle a lot. Unfortunately, many teens and many people struggle. My social anxiety has been bad, and I have made mistakes on this forum. I will continue to grow and I am glad I get to experience all of you on here. And that you all help me. I appreciate all of you. I can be scared to go outside in the world - not because there are venomous frogs or deadly sharks or hippos with massive mouths, but because this world has other humans. Humans who talk to me, and often do not understand my own thoughts (albeit, I do not even understand my own thoughts.) "Don't be afraid of your fears. They're not there to scare you. They're there to let you know that something is worth it." I am afraid of the world. But the world is worth it. The world is wonderful.

 

I like bugs. I like bugs, a lot. I love trees, and plants, and fish, and mammals, and rocks and dirt and every little weird natural process this world does. 

Oh yeah, this is an aquarium forum. Not an online diary. 

I have a 30 gallon aquarium, stocked with a mystery snail, nine pygmy cories, and so many snails (malaysian trumpet snails, bladder snails, New Zealand mud snails... yes indeed, and they constantly multiply... oh well.) I plan to stock it with (even more) cories, a school of tetras (either green neons, neons, or cardinals; I am not sure which) and a few otocinclus. 

I have a 10 gallon tank currently being used as a quarantine tank for pygmy cories, but after my 30gal is stocked we will see what I shall do with this empty 30 gallon... hm...

I also have a water garden and my parents are requesting that I install a large pond for wildlife after we move (which is a year away, won't be till I graduate high school). So, yeah! I love a lot of stuff, and would love to chat about lots of stuff. ANYthing about nature, I love.

Thanks for reading, friend!

[Whitecloud09]

Wow, that is a good story! I know you have been here but welcome to the forum @clownbaby!

[Tony s]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:25 PM, clownbaby said:

Hello, my name is Ryder, and I want to tell you about myself. 

I am seventeen, still a kid at heart, yet very excited to be an adult

Hello Miss Ryder, pleased to meet you. And don’t be in that big of a hurry to be an adult yet. Take your time and enjoy what time you have left. Learn, grow, explore a bit first.

 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:25 PM, clownbaby said:

How this animal, a small mystery snail, hears the sound and senses it as danger. And he doesn't have a brain. He doesn't even have a brain. And yet; he thinks, he enjoys, he feels. Fish do not have similar brains to us, but science shows they experience pain. In their own unique way, plants feel pain.

He actually does have a brain, it’s not built anything like ours though. People make the mistake of trying to measure an animal’s intelligence by the standards of human intelligence. Most animals are vastly more intelligent than they get credit for. Some of it’s hard wired in. Insects and things like snails especially. They don’t have to think, hmm.. should I run from that. They just know. As far as learning behavior, most animals can be target trained. Getting them to respond to a target. When keepers want a Komodo dragon to shift pens. They ask. You’re not forcing animals to do anything that way. I’ve seen keepers working on training everything from larger animals down to small spiny tailed lizards. But the point is, a dog is very intelligent, but it’s not the same as a human and shouldn’t be. 

 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:25 PM, clownbaby said:

will be pursuing forestry, barely as a career but mostly as a joyful exploration

You say that. But that kind of career is absolutely the best kind. If you’re enjoying yourself, work becomes suddenly not like working at all. 

 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:25 PM, clownbaby said:

My social anxiety has been bad

In that thing, you should know that there are a lot of us here with that issue. So we absolutely understand. Like you, here we can function better than normal. 

 

On 5/29/2024 at 9:25 PM, clownbaby said:

I like bugs. I like bugs

I like this. 😀. You’ll never going to believe what my degree is actually in. Not kidding 😀

 

anyway, I wanted to circle back to your topic to say hi, and welcome!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

@clownbaby welcome!  Your post was a joy to read. Unlike other platforms, I’ve found this forum full of like-minded fish nerd humans to be a positive teaching/learning/sharing environment, for new and experienced aquarists alike. Some humans are difficult, but there are plenty that do have good intentions. Walk into a church for example, you’ll find a bunch of good humans: humans that are trying to improve themselves and the lives of others; to be less selfish, more generous, and more kind. Similarly, the folks at aquarium events like Aquashella have also been pretty darn cool.

Like you, I’m a snail lover. Land snail or aquatic snail, I think they are adorable and mesmerizing. I have had a number of mystery snails, having raised about 45 from a clutch. I do believe they have feelings. Why else would they repeatedly ride the bubbles up or jump to the bottom of the aquarium from the top? I can tell it’s for no other reason than they think it’s fun. @Guppysnail had one that would come up to the top of the tank to spend time with her during every tank maintenance. He would climb on her hand as well.

[clownbaby]

On 6/29/2024 at 9:22 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

@clownbaby welcome!  Your post was a joy to read. Unlike other platforms, I’ve found this forum full of like-minded fish nerd humans to be a positive teaching/learning/sharing environment, for new and experienced aquarists alike. Some humans are difficult, but there are plenty that do have good intentions. Walk into a church for example, you’ll find a bunch of good humans: humans that are trying to improve themselves and the lives of others; to be less selfish, more generous, and more kind. Similarly, the folks at aquarium events like Aquashella have also been pretty darn cool.

Like you, I’m a snail lover. Land snail or aquatic snail, I think they are adorable and mesmerizing. I have had a number of mystery snails, having raised about 45 from a clutch. I do believe they have feelings. Why else would they repeatedly ride the bubbles up or jump to the bottom of the aquarium from the top? I can tell it’s for no other reason than they think it’s fun. @Guppysnail had one that would come up to the top of the tank to spend time with her during every tank maintenance. He would climb on her hand as well.

Yes! I’ve held leroy a handful of times, he is very sweet! And he loves riding the bubbles on my sponge filter haha. I love the little critters so much.

I went on a picnic date with my boyfriend a few weeks back at a local wetland preserve, and while we were there I spotted a Puget Oregonian snail. So, of course the snail joined our picnic and got some bites of veggies! Haha