Recent content by WhistlingBadger

...but did she glow under black light?

Aw, thanks. :)

Added eight orange lemon tetras to the tank. The added tetras have made the remaining ones noticeably more active. Here's a quick vid of feeding time.

@MattW One weird thing I've noticed about these Sawbwa barbs: They only eat from the water column; they won't take food from the surface and very rarely off the bottom. That means there is a very narrow window of time for them to eat. I wonder if this contributes to their fragility. It is...

Thank for sharing, Gary. I hope you're having a most excellently wonderful time.

Yep, my guess is it's a lightly-stocked tank with a lot of plants, so you don't have any detectable nitrates. That's a good thing! As long as your plants are doing fine, that's great.

It's the modern addiction to novelty. It isn't just fish keeping. A company makes a running shoe or hiking boot that is absolutely perfect, then discontinue it, or worse, change it, to make room for the new year's model. (That one is a particular pet peeve of mine) Gotta keep selling fish...

It is windier than crudmuffins here. Indoor recess all day (I guess they're scared the kids might blow away and never be seen again...or maybe get hit by flying debris). Indoor recess days are not a ton of fun for anybody at an elementary school. Seems like pretty much everybody is either a...

Thanks, TTA. I have enough to get me by for now but I appreciate the offer.

This is exactly what I'm hoping for. Wild-caught fish often come in slightly sick, or at least vulnerable. Hopefully the rooibos will help. Thanks for this.

Our mountain water takes on a slight amber color in the summer, sometimes pretty strong. I think that's got to be from twigs, leaves, and pine needles falling in the water. Sort of a cold-water blackwater habitat?

Well, here's something I just learned: Caffeine will dissolve slowly in cool water, but it takes hours rather than minutes. Tannins are extremely reluctant to dissolve in cool water. That's why cold-brewed tea is generally considered smoother than hot-brewed. I also know from drinking a lot...

I also keep reading that rooibos contains a lot of antioxidants and polyphenols, which some people seen to think are good for fish. (Of course, a lot of people think aloe vera is good for fish too, which I'm far from sure about...) I put a couple tea bags in each tank and left them until the...

I was thinking about the similar problems @MattW and I have had with Sawbwa barbs. We were speculating about some sort of bacterial or parasitic infection. Tannins in the water can help with those, or so I'm told, so I was thinking about throwing in a rooibos tea bag to add some tannins and...

I used to keep fish tanks in my classrooms--a severely overstocked 10g in one, and a 2 gallon Betta bowl in the other. But since I work in two buildings on opposite ends of town, maintenance was a nightmare so I quit keeping them. If I ever get into a position where I only have one office, I...