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No but I might see spots vs stripes on the front legs. Kind of like having twin toddlers toddling around causing havoc. Whose name do you call? Or do you just play the 50-50 odds youll get it right?
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He has always preferred blankets that he can blend in with lol.
When the snow comes heāll be able to disappear too easily.
Thankfully heās a suck and doesnāt like cold weather.
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Happy doggo, sleepy doggo, woof woof woof.
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You get that rabbit. Dont let it get away!
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Here is a little look into my fish tank. Itās a 29 gal freshwater tank with a 10 gal sump below. I have 3 species of plants- cryptocoryne, vallisneria, and anubias. For the last few years, the cryptocoryne has taken over and carpeted the tank. The anubias is holding itās own in the back right corner and seems to have claimed that area for itself. I thought that the valisneria had died off, but it is starting to spread again. When I first started this tank, the vals were the dominant plant and would grow to the top and the raft of stems would block out the light.
The fish are a little lacking right now. I have several scissor tail rasboras, and another type of rasbora that I forget. There is a single neon tetra. I used to have more of each type, but they have slowly died off over that last 4-5 years. I think itās time to give the fish a proper school. There are also a few freshwater shrimp and snails in there, although I think the snail population is waning.
I donāt remember the last time I cleaned or trimmed the tank. I donāt do a lot of maintenance unless the water quality is off. The nitrates are in the 10-25 ppm range. I have cleaned out the filter in the sump a few times in recent memory. Sorry for the lack of framing and level.
Before - The little black dots are black beard algae. I use RO/DI water, so there are very few nutrients in the water, and the plants mostly out compete for them. That crypto carpet started from a single package and spread to the entire tank.
Sump - This 10 gal tank sits below the main tank. The water flows from left to right, and goes through the glass baffles, and through the gravel. I have a heater on the left side. The filter media is gravel that I clean out when the water starts to overflow the baffle. I want to recut the baffles so that there is a larger drop between the middle and right baffles so that I can use a finer filter medium. Iām trying to figure out a way to have a planted sump.
The pothos plant is about 20 years old and was saved from an office clipping. Itās roots are in a hang on back tank that Iām using as a planter.
Salad from my hydroponic garden.
After - Itās definitely not a massive trim. The plant volume helps to keep the nitrates down. I was quite pleased to see a line of valisneria propagating along the front of the tank. Itās the plant with the thin light green leaves. You can even see the little green runner that connects the stems. I have a bristle nose plecostomus in the lower left corner. He was on top of the large flat rock in the before picture.
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Neon Tetras are a schooling fish, something I did not realize after buying one for the first time (it died rather quickly because I was so new in the aquarium scene). I think it needs a school of about 10 other Neon Tetras or it will be stressed and go aggressive and attack other fishes.
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Yeah, just about all the fish I have are schooling fish. Itās time to get my accreditation back.
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I did get 3 more neon tetras. I was hoping to add 6-10, but the local fish store only had about 5. I also want to get a few more of the hetero rasboras since I only have 1 right now. It does school with the other rasboras, but I donāt want it to feel like the odd fish out.
Edit: also when setting up a new tank, it takes a while to establish the beneficial bacteria that help to digest the ammonia in the water that is a byproduct of fish poop. I think this is a common cause of death when starting a new tank.
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Yes. I was not aware of this and keep refilling the tank with purified mineral water. I did have small pebbles and driftwood in it. Unfortunately the driftwood seems to stain the water as well, like tea and it drove me really insane cleaning out the colorā¦ What I should have done was to let the water stand alone without fishes for about a month to stabilize the nitrogen fixing bacteria. I also think my lights were a bit too bright for the fish and it was really stressing them a lot.
I think Iāll do better next time. But that is another project for another day.
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Itās a catch-22 since you need some source of ammonia to get the beneficial bacteria to grow. Some people will āghost feedā the tank with fish food for a while, although I think can lead to algae. A healthy aquarium is balanced on a razorās edge!
With some of the driftwood, you have to boil or soak it for a long time to get the tannins out, otherwise, you end up with the tea staining. It does help to lower the pH/buffer the water. Some people even use it create blackwater tanks.
At some point, it is no longer a fish tank, but an ecological space with fish, plants, and bacterial; all living together in harmony.
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ahmagawd things happening outside and i cant get to them wooooof! 
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Lower picture cat has lighter color face.
Both very pretty makings
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I would like a little neon tetra tankā¦ such a nice little fish. I remember watching them in our tank when I was a kid.
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I have been meaning to give an update on Annabelle for a long while, but what I intended as an āend of summerā update blew well past Christmas. Part of it has been my own health, but no news is also good news in this case. Sorry I couldnāt get a better picture, I was holding a treat in my hand so I didnāt try for another.
When Annabelle was first diagnosed with a spine injury at the beginning of summer she was clearly in a lot of pain and none of the veterinarian professionals we saw could guarantee that she wouldnāt need euthanasia by the end of summer. I agreed and that scared me enough to decide to throw everything reasonable at it that I could. And it seems to have worked, at least as much as anyone could have hoped for considering the situation.
Weāre still doing acupuncture/physical therapy with a local specialist, but now itās once a month instead of every two weeks. It took a while, but as a result of the treatment (and diet change), her lower back flexibility has returned to normal and she regularly does a full lower body stretch when getting up. However she did recently start showing signs of lazy back legs despite the returned flexibility so I decided to start her on 100mg gabapentin twice a day. Ironically I also had to start the same drug for my own issues recently and it took more than six weeks to start to āworkā, but once it did it has made a huge difference with my ability to control and relax my muscles. Sheās a few weeks behind me on a much smaller dose, so I think itās still going to take just a little bit longer to see if it works or not.
The other big change from the beginning has been her diet, often times when she is feeling sick or having back pain it is because she needs to have bowel movement and once that happens she seems much better. The flip side is that I spend a non-insignificant amount of my day making and preparing dog food. It has become a process that I feel like Iāve made as efficient as possible, but it still takes minimum 20 minutes to prepare and cleanup from a single meal and she gets three meals a day. She also gets three bowls of āsoupā a day that is mostly watered down homemade stock or drippings and I add a tablespoon of coconut oil to try to stop her from dropping under 80lbs. Iām also still doing 10mg CBD with .5mg THC twice a day. The CBD is a bit pricey but Iāve only just opened my fourth bottle, so it does last a while if you keep the dose low.
As far as what she eats, thereās still the one can of the prescription multi-care variety, but Iāve also now added a couple tablespoons of a new biome gut health type along with a couple tablespoons of the original urinary care one she was on. Three types is a bit tedious (and costly), but even though she isnāt showing signs of bladder stones anymore Iām still reluctant to take anything away from the equation. Iām still adding in 3/4 teaspoon of miralax and a glucosamine tablet as well. And to buff it out Iām still doing the cauliflower vegtable mix with a few ounces of cooked chicken and white rice with a tablespoon of chicken fat for flavor.
Itās a āprocessā for sure, but I canāt complain too much if the results are showing and they definitely are. Sheās still a bit anxious from all the fireworks last night, but hopefully things will stay trending positive for both her and me going into the new year. Apologies for the lengthy and delayed update, but I appreciate being able to share this all with you.
Iāll finish off by wishing a happy and healthy new year to all the Level1Techers and their animal companion friends!
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Glad to hear that you two made progress. Iām sure that now that you have the process and routine down it is much easier on both of you.
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