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NoodleCats

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Oh, I thought you could get "some" real antibiotics. Probably like many things that used to be. I too have a stash of old fish drugs (people stuff too, lol) My husband's a retired pharma chemist & lets me know if he thinks they're still safe & effective long after they expire. Everything here must have an expiration date even ridiculous things. In my state everything come with a cancer warning too. As if "natural or herbal products" can't have issues, but no need to prove efficacy or even safety. OK, sorry, just 1 of my rants...

The rice worms look to have a softer outside than say, mealworms. The label says good for many critters; birds reptiles, fish...etc. I've been too busy to commit to opening even a sample package. My corys are likely the only fish I have now that would eat them & I don't know how long they might keep room temp or fridge. I hope they sink

My birds were not mealworm fans although the finches knew they were food. They'd squish out a bit of the "guts" & throw the "shells" on the almost mealworm colored carpet, eww! The lovebirds thought I was poisoning them & cackled at both me & the worms. They ate many foods but not wiggly 1s lol, little wimps. Pets are funny!
My old lovebirds acted like mealworms were fun, would specifically eat the heads off them. But the female also loved to eat grasshoppers :rolleyes:
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And yeah no antibiotics. Were supposed to go to an Aquatics vet, but they are few and far between in Canada. Closest to me is like a 4 hour drive. I understand theyre overused but they've really put Canadian fish owners in a bind when we really need them.
 

fishorama

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Whee, I never tried grasshoppers but I'm betting they would not be a hit with my old birds, lol. I guess it's what they get used to early on & mine didn't, no freaking way!!

My finches used to nibble along the mealworm length & hoped for "innards" to squish out. I'd find wounded mealworms, still alive sometimes, it was pretty pathetic & kinda gross. I only fed them a few times...Obviously your CAN birds were made of tougher stuff than my lovebirds, LOL!
 

NoodleCats

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Whee, I never tried grasshoppers but I'm betting they would not be a hit with my old birds, lol. I guess it's what they get used to early on & mine didn't, no freaking way!!

My finches used to nibble along the mealworm length & hoped for "innards" to squish out. I'd find wounded mealworms, still alive sometimes, it was pretty pathetic & kinda gross. I only fed them a few times...Obviously your CAN birds were made of tougher stuff than my lovebirds, LOL!
Ha! That lovebird, she was the meanest fiercest little turd I ever met. Loved her dearly but she was 100% t-rex attitude in a tiny 6" feathered body. She'd beat the tar out of toy cars, break out of her cage, destroy everything. She was a riot. Her cage was hers and she'd let you know it. Latch on and grind her beak until she hit bone and she would not let go, be dangling off your hand while all you tried to do was clean her cage haha she was a mean, mean thing, but she loved belly rubs.
 

fishorama

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Wow, she sounds very fierce & scary! I was give 2 lovebirds that had never been handled. They'd been allowed out to fly around & caught in a net each time. I was a bloody mess even through gloves to clip their wings until they learned the new house rules. They saw what my other birds did & that helped. They never got very tame, "step up" & "go to your cage" was as good as they got; no petting allowed but no biting, well, not too very often.
 

NoodleCats

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Wow, she sounds very fierce & scary! I was give 2 lovebirds that had never been handled. They'd been allowed out to fly around & caught in a net each time. I was a bloody mess even through gloves to clip their wings until they learned the new house rules. They saw what my other birds did & that helped. They never got very tame, "step up" & "go to your cage" was as good as they got; no petting allowed but no biting, well, not too very often.
Yeah that was a lot like our male. The female was handraised but not properly socialized so while she wasn't afraid of hands, she also didn't like them at first. It took 5 years before she realized she wanted to be pet and cuddled--on her terms still lol. The male would come to you if he wanted but he was very aloof and just wanted to play around. He'd come to your plate to steal your chicken strips though.
 

fishorama

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Our first lovebird was hand raised & a love bug in some ways. We got "her" 2 not tame youngsters & "she" chose the more gentle biter as her close friend...who can blame her? They all used walk down my arm when I was chopping veggies. No! I put some in their dishes & shooed them away. The "friend bird" got stepped on in a tragic accident & took almost a year to be able to fly again. It did make "her" very hand tame since she couldn't go anywhere on her own. I think all of them were male, they like to "play" on sweaty socks (ah hem), the fresher the better! My husband was very enthusiastically met at the door when he came home, lol.
 

NoodleCats

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Can I just say, before I start this post, that goldfish and plecos are nasty poopers?

Ugh, filter cleaning time and boy they're gross.

Bit stirred up as I had to clean the filters, but meh. Vals a bit tattered as Spotty likes to graze on them.
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Ugg has grown from 8.5" to 10" since I've had him, I measured him last week.
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and since I had to clean the filters, I took the opportunity to take pictures of how they're all setup. Run the tank off a couple of these and fill them with plants to help reduce nitrates since the vals alone aren't enough and goldfish are plant munchers.
20220827_230644.jpg20220827_230653.jpg
 
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fishorama

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Ugg is looking good!

What kind of filters are those? You may have said. It looks like it flows sideways is that right (well, really left to right, lol)?

I tried a houseplant in the top of my AC filter & the roots got tangled in the media. It made it hard to clean so I gave up.
 

NoodleCats

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Ugg is looking good!

What kind of filters are those? You may have said. It looks like it flows sideways is that right (well, really left to right, lol)?

I tried a houseplant in the top of my AC filter & the roots got tangled in the media. It made it hard to clean so I gave up.
They're diy planter box filters. Both flow from the right to the left, powered by internal pumps. The pumps are connected to vinyl hosing and sealed into the planter box, flows through the sponge, over the ceramic media, and then out an outlet pvc pipe on the other side. The outlet is placed lower than the intake so gravity drains it fast enough that it doesn't overflow.

Plants are free to grow without getting tangled in pumps because the pump is not located within the filter.

I'll draw up a pic...
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I run 3 tanks off of these types of filters, though the goldfish have more than one on their tank and theirs is the only one with plants.


Like you know those long plastic planters, the ones without holes in the bottom... fantastic potential lol
 
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fishorama

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Thank you for the drawing, I love it! I think I get it now! The last pic it looked to me like it was the outflow peeing slowly back into the tank. Now I know it was skinny tubing inflow. An interesting design.

Geez, I always need help with understanding what I'm seeing, thanks for your patient explanations as always. I hope I'm not the only 1 that needs extra help. Maybe we all understand better with my idiot questions...at least I do!

I may share this with my fish sitter friend that recently asked about growing green onions & maybe herbs out of his tank top. Would that be OK? I'm betting yes, this is similar to what I suggested to him but with pics & sponges, a better design! He was more worried about food safety. I said if he doesn't medicate his tank it should be fine for human consumption. He hasn't added new fish for years, just some plants from me. Really, I think he was just checking up on the old neighbors but with a mission too!
 
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