Recent content by Lakefish

When was the last time you rinsed out the canister media? That can become a sort of nitrate reservoir if it gets too packed with muck. I used to clean mine about twice a year, and write the date on a piece of tape on the top so I could easily check. Your schedule might need to differ though...

Hi! Late to the party, but I'm another woman (44). Got my first betta at age 10, and had fish ever since. Like many people, the first few years were pretty bad...I'm sorry, fishes! I've had a bunch of different fish over the years, up to four tanks, and finally settled at two 25 gallon tanks, a...

My guess is Pacific Tree Frog, assuming the salad comes from the west coast (California?). They change from green to brown as needed to blend in with their surroundings. Super cute. ETA, I think they go brown in the cold. Here is one I accidentally dug up in a garden in January last year. I...

I don't have any hard science to back up my opinion, but I think they would live a lot longer with temperatures much lower. My old lady gold barb is at least eleven years old now, and tank temperature varies from about 65 for most of the year, to a couple months of 70+ in summer. Plus the...

It's salmon spawning time again. The most wonderful and smelly time of the year. Unfortunately I don't have anything better than the phone camera, so I took a short video instead. They are chum.

I've had a 38? gallon Rubbermaid bin out on my front porch for a couple years now. Its main function is to grow duckweed for the goldfish pond. This past summer it acted as a quarantine for a couple of gold barbs, and then I put in the fish from a tank I needed to reseal. For them I put in a...

I doubt the gourami killed the barb, but who knows. It would just be an opportunistic act if so.

I think the 20 long is the place for her to be, she wouldn't have room to move around much in the 11. Also they are very intelligent fish, and will spend all day cruising slowly around inspecting the plants for things to eat (like bladder snails). I've kept them with gold barbs before in a 25...

I tried the three sisters at a different house years ago. It sort of worked...but I planted all three at the same time, so the beans far outpaced the corn and I had to put up strings for them. And it turned out that snake gourds are a bit  too vigorous for this purpose, they kind of swamped...

That white rose looks like a rugosa to me, from the texture of the leaves. Are you sure it is purely wild? Around here, the Nootka roses come in the regular medium pink and less often a dark pink. Are you growing Haida potatoes? I was happy to find some at a plant sale earlier this year, but I...

It's an iris of some kind.

I live in a 1973 single wide cabled to slabs. I've had two 25 G tanks in the living room for six years now. No issue. One is a little off level, but that could be the bookshelf it's on. If you have your tank across the joists rather than along one or two, I doubt you'd have a problem. Joists in...

You could get a kribensis. They are intelligent and beautiful. If you got a pair, you'd end up with 50. Lol.

I really think you need to talk to a mason about it. Or several! Concrete is not so easy (as I found out). Only useful thing I can tell you is that leaching won't be a problem in the longer term. It doesn't leach for too long. I have a small concrete pond, unsealed, with liner underneath "just...

I, too, have a Tronic heater that I got third hand about twenty years ago. It's not currently in use, but it still works perfectly.