Not sure why, but a huge number of loaches just decided this corner was interesting.
The tank hasn't been fed in a couple days, so they aren't attracted by a nugget of food.
How many loaches can you name! There's a few even I'm a bit ehhhh on, species wise.
I did a 50 percent water change, and I had measured the water to be this before the water change:
Ph 6.8
Gh 1~2 dGH
Kh 1~2 dKH
Ammo 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20ppm
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I figured I wanted to raise the gh a bit using SEACHEM EQUILIBRIUM so I used the sea chem calculator, which Said to put about 1/2 Table spoon per 5 gallons to raise it 2 dGH.
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I put definitely less that that, maybe about 1 teaspoon per 5 gallons.
I measured the GH and KH after the water change, and the KH didn't change (I only added equilibrium, no buffer) and the GH went all the way up to 5~6dGH.
I'm scared for my wormie loachies. Did I raise the GH too fast?
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The pH after the water change went up to around between 7~7.2.
Ammo 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate ~10ppm
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I think I added too much equilibrium
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And the equilibrium is still cloudy in the tank, meaning not fully dissolved, meaning the GH is probably still going up for some time.
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I really want to do some laser engraving of this circle. This is by far my favorite crop circle and I think about it all the time..
I used to work as a quantum physicist (lol who says that) and I think often about what this crop circle means. If we go with the idea that this is a 2d graphical representation of alien communication, how does it work? Is it ftl? Does it use entangled particles? Puts our satellites to shame.
What do you think this crop circle represents?
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Anyway I've been constructing the circle in CAD using Onshape. There are a couple attempts online, and they are close (some of them) but there are always some errors that bug me. Some won't have the right number of "dots" that trail the outside of the circle. Some won't have the angles of the fractal pattern correct. (I think its all 45 degrees). Most use fully filled in circles instead of concentric circles acting as an offset border.
I actually think mine isn't quite spot on, but is by far the closest I have seen. I don't really think I can get it any closer.
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The radiating groups of 3 "dots" in a line, some depictions have them not in a line, but on a curve. I have drawn them so they are on a line. I am not sure about this feature, maybe they are on a curve.
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Thus has already taken a tremendous amount of my time, but I'm willing to invest more to get it spot on.
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Are there any more pictures of this circle online?
Do you guys have any tips on where I should change my drawing to Increase accuracy? I'll post when I'm done, please don't steal it from me at this stage and sell it on etsy.
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This circle is my life at the moment.
A Hasselt's Sand loachie!
Derpiest looking fish I've ever seen I think. Looks kind of like a microscopic dojo loach.
It's about the girth of a well fed kuhli loach, and the length is about 1.5".
Sifts the sand but mostly surface sifts like a cute little vacuum, doesn't get deep into the substrate to forage like a kuhli or a horseface loach.
Extremely cute and weird!
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What do you feed your pangio loachies!?
I'll go first, and I mean list everything and how often you feed, and how it goes with your other food and any other notes you have? List your approximate population and species breakdown if you can!
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I have:
39 p.cuneovirgata
2 p. Shelfordii
10 smallish p.myersii
8 "p.kuhlii"
12 p.oblonga
7 p. Alternans
2 PAN02
26 p.doriae
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I was very fond of HIKARI FANCY GUPPY.
The pellet size was just right for my kuhli loaches. ( abour 0.4 to 0.5mm) They had no problem eating, and everyone got some.
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I also used to feed BUG BITES BOTTOM FEEDER a bunch, but my other tetras and stuff tried to eat them whole and would choke. And I never know how much of this stuff to put in.
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I feed frozen food maybe like 1 or 2 times a week, mostly it'll be hikari baby brine shrimp, but sometimes Hikari brine shrimp. I also feed Hikari CYCLOPODS but the kuhlis didn't really take it on super excitingly. They ate it all eventually, but ate it last.
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Recently I've been trying the AQUACOOP foods. Reason being was someone at my lfs showed me that the nutrient breakdown for aquacoop vs Hikari has the aquacoop winning by miles. And that Hikari FANCY GUPPY NUUUU MY FAVORITE FOOD! , actually has a ton of filler in it.
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So I tried the aqua coop nano feed/small fish feed. If you pipette it right to the bottom you can somewhat reduce the mess. The loaches still splash it everywhere and into thr water column, bur if you get the bulk of it down to the substrate quickly, it's alright, and the loaches seem to enjoy it. Putting it in from the top is impossible. And goes without saying filter needs to be off, otherwise this food just goes absolutely everywhere and is hardly consumed by the fish.
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Aqua coop released a "nugget" Size with the same nutrient breakdown as the nano feed, but the nugget size is far too large for kuhli loaches. It's about 2 to 2.5mm in diameter. They recommend you can crush them and put it in too, and that way about half of it just acts like nano feed. My rainbow fish and tetras choke on this food, it's the perfect size for them to attempt it, while still being way too big.
And another complaint is that when you crush the nuggets, it becomes so fine even finer than the nano powder, and there's no chance a bunch of it gets eaten, so it just clouds the water.
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GOOD NEWS IS that aqua coop is releasing a 0.5mm pellet size of this food, and I am really excited for it. I think it might really be a godsend in the form of a High protein food for the pangio loaches. I want to dump in loads of HIKARI FANCY GUPPY because it's the perfect size, but it isn't great food.
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I also feed repashy, and the loaches do seem to like it, but I have issues with keeping the food steady while they eat. Usually I have to spear it with a chopstick and poke it in the sand so they can get to it. Otherwise the peice of repashy just flies off somewhere.
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For dried food I also feed HIKARI VIBRABITES maybe 1 time every 3 weeks, not often. I used to feed high quality flake food, but pellets are just way better.
I messed up and I got blue tack stuck in a bunch of rings. There was a groove where I wanted to protect the finish in the ring during turning and lapping, so I covered it with blue tack into the groove. It seemed like a good idea, and when the blue tak was fresh, it came our easily.
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But now after my turning, the Blu tak does not want to come out. Even using the steam cleaner the Blu tak really wants to stay in. (The groove is sand blasted so thus is really not helping)
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I've tried overnight in iPa 99%, and I'm currently trying acetone 100%.
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Do you guys and gals have any ideas what I can use to fully dissolve away this blue tack or otherwise remove it? I really thought steam would take it out, but it's not coming out :(
I'm looking to make some jewelry of this crop circle. I'm looking to find a high quality graphic of this crop circle, in a flat perspective. I guess I could draw it in some program, but I was hoping someone has already seen one. Basically I need what I have in picture 2 but bigger and cleaner and not all blurry?
Many thanks if you have seen one before.
Wtf was that? The two kuhlis swimming together like that, it almost looked like they were physically attached? Could they accidentally barb each other? They looked a but frantic, but I'm not sure if they were actually stuck together or just shadowing each other.
I've seen a hovering zebra loach aggressively shadow other fish before as well.
I just got this 60 gallon breeder, currently have about 100 kuhli loaches from other tanks just swimming in those 30 gallon totes you see left and right of the set up. They are safe but they want their sand back.
The first pic is my new tank, and the second pic is some tank I saw online I'm a but inspired by,
I had this dream of making it a kuhli world, still my plan, but I'm having trouble executing. I've torn down the other tanks, so all the kuhlis will be going into this tank (I'm combining the bio media from a few tanks into this new tank, and I've been keeping the feeding super light so hopefully not much of a cycle, since all the original media that supported the bioload is going back in.)
I really want a tall area on the right side, like stratified in a sense, so the kuhlis have vertical height to go up and down and explore too, a kuhli castle of sorts. (Like the second picture) Then leave all the left side with open sand and val plants.
I bought a bunch of dragon stone thinking it would be cool, and it is, but I have changed my mind, I'm not sure it is the ideal rock for kuhlis. There are many sharp edges and points, and the Intricate tunnels although might seem ideal at first, I don't think is good for my 100 kuhli setup.
I'm looking to really make this kuhli paradise, and I really need help! What kind of rock can I stack to make the kuhli castle that won't effect the water parameters? I was drawn to dragonstone because it claims to be inert.
The second picture is something I'm quite inspired by, big castle like object where I'm sure the kuhlis can hang all up and down. What kind of rock is that?