[Sunstar]

Okay, here's the deal. I find myself googling this site too often... so I figured, why not join? Afterall I use the plant finder constantly. Good info there. It usually helps me decide IF I want to purchase a plant or not.

Then comes the frequent vists I make about shrimp or hydra.. or shrimp and hydra, add to it panacur and planaria and I am set.

So yeah, I may end up making myself a fixture here as I wish to learn all I can learn about Aquariums.

I have had fish all my life. Goldfish and the occasional community fish. Now I seem to be more wiser in fish handling and whatnot. So when my last goldfish died of dropsy, I decided to research what I have always wanted, a planted Aquarium.

So I started to cycle with amazon swords, added danio, got a few other plant species and so far, so good. Except the hydra.

I have One 25 gallon Aquarium Set up. it currently contains 6 Zebra Danio, one is a youngster I raised from a fry. 3 Adult Platy, two are Sunburst wags and one is rainbow platy. I have 4 baby sunbursts, 4 baby rainbow and a baby probably of mixed heritage. My sister dummped two young mollies on me so I have them... and a Zebra nerite. OH I keep forgetting my Thai Flying Fox.

I have several shrimp in the tank, including just born baby cherries, and some orange bees.

My plants are

"Coffee Leaf" Anubias (Anubias barteri 'coffeefolia' )
American Val (Vallisneria Americana)
Amazon Sword (Echinodorus amazonicus)
Tiger Lotus (Nymphaea Lotus (Zenkeri) 'RED' )
Sunset Hygro (Hygrophila polysperma 'Rosanervig' )
Glossostigma (Glossostigma elatinoides)
Dwarf Sagittaria (Sagittaria subulata)
Chinese Ivy (Cardamine Lyrata)
Java Moss (Vesicularia dubyana)
Weeping Moss (Vesicularia ferriei)
Pellia (Monosolenium Tenerum)
Riccia (Riccia fluitans)
Java Fern (Microsorum pteropus)
Windelove fern (Microsorum pteropus 'Windelov' )
Cryptocoryne (Possibly: wendtii 'Green Gecko' )
Cryptocoryne (Cryptocoryne cordata var. blassii)
Aponogeton ???
Water Lettuce (Pistia stratiotes)
Amazon frogbit (Limnobium laevigatum)



My 5.5 gallon has Java moss on a piece of driftwood and a peice of hygrophilia sunset. And a Mondograss in a pot hanging off the back.

The only occupant in this tank is a blue macro brachium philimanus "chamelon shrimp" She's a coward, but she likes being fed by hand.

Both those tanks have hydra issues.

the 3rd tank, a 5 gallon hexafun, is currently cycling and will be the home of my other cherry shrimp, which are currently living in bowls and jars until the hydra situation is resolved and that tank has cycled. Also in one of the jars is some baby ghost shrimp.

That tank has some javamoss, amazon swords and some Apongetons.

My other interests are Transformers, I am a collector of the character Starscream, Warhammer, and cycling.

My other pet is a pigeon, Chase, I raised from a hatchling. He's pretty sweet.

Any Questions?

 

[davemonkey]

Welcome aboard!

 

[JanS]

Welcome to APC! I'm glad you finally joined and introduced yourself.

It sounds like you have some nice tanks.

 

[trenac]

Welcome to APC :biggrin:

So what's the story behind Chase. Got any pics?

 

[Sunstar]

The story of Chase. 2006 we were informed we had to remove all our things off our balcony. A bit irksome as I had a pigeon cage with old Braindead (an ancient wild pigeon I had rescued after he was hit by a car. He was never normal, had a sort of twitch I think came from a head injury in said accident. I brought him home so he might at least die in peace. It wasn't until 8 years later, that year in 2006 did he finally pass on.

Where I have the cage, which is a rabbit cage, is quite sheltered and other wild pigeons, who visited Braindead, decided they would nest. Pigeons seem to enjoy company. So these two nested and I was aware of construction pending. Their first clutch hatched and matured and then they laid a second clutch. Two eggs. I was torn. Do I remove and destroy these? Or wait and see if we can get them to hatch and I can take over the rearing of the young if necessary?

Friday in June, I was told that everything had to be removed. That night the chick hatched. The other egg failed. It went black. By Sunday I had torn apart the nesting area and brought the tiny super ugly bird inside.

I had to crash course in feeding pigeons. I Had fed robins and sparrows who are almost always eager to have food shoved down their throats, but this fellow was very different. He wanted to shove his beak down his parent's throat. I learned that you need to get a very fat syringe tube and cut the end off and put some cloth over the end with a hole in it. You fill the tube with mash, I made a blend of bird seed in the blender and boiled it to feed the squab.

This worked like a charm and he was more than eager to feed. I kept him in a box at the side of the bed and I woke up frequently at night just to poke him to make sure he was still alive. He was, to my surprise, the beasty made it to adulthood. He had some nutrient issues that was quickly solved by the addition of some multi vitamin I crushed and added to his food as well as baked, powered eggshells.

After a while I gave him boiled red river cereal and I fed it by hand. He'd stick his beak in my fist and I'd shove food into his mouth with my other hand.

Hand feeding.

Chase is an odd animal. He bathes once a week and will let me know if he wants one.

Do you mind?

He terrorises your feet. He'll either attack them, or try to couple with them. Depends on his mood.

Occasionally he wants to build a nest. He did it twice this year and both times he spent about 25 days incubating a pair of mouse balls from ball most controllers. He protected them and was extremely dedicated.

Don't ask, I have no idea what he is up to, but he does this any time he's on my shoulder. I think he's after my brains.

Handsome.

 

[davemonkey]

That is very cool.

 

[xavierj123]

Thanks for sharing chase with us. You have the patience of a saint to take care of a baby hatching like that.

 

[Sunstar]

You're welcome. When it comes to a life, I tend to work hard to preserve it. Chase was no exception. He's not the most affectionate bird, but he sleeps in a box beside my bed. He follows me everywhere. If I go take a nap, he follows me and also takes a nap. If I take a shower, he flies into the bathroom and sits on the towel rail and watches me (disturbing). I think he likes the mist. he loves safflower seeds as treats and will obey simple voice commands, failing GET DOWN OFF THE SOFA! my green laser Mr. Spot chases him off.

He's pretty timid of the outside world or anywhere not in the appartment. I often have him on my shoulder when I get the mail and he gets a bit upset if anyone he doesn't know comes near him.

His favourite sitting spots I got catch mats under. WHich is why chase isn't permitted in some places.

He learned early on to not get in my way, especially in the kitchen where the little turkey almost turned himself into soup. He was really young at the time too. As a flier, he doesn't have his wings clipped, he's really agile and doesn't usually crash into anything other than a human if he decides he wants to go where we go.

If I shut him out the bedroom, he'll repeatedly fly into the door until it opens.

He loves toilet paper, white socks, white towels. He wrapps himself up in Toilet paper and coos for hours. Not sure why, but he loves it. Strange animal.

 

[trenac]

Thanks for sharing his story... He is handsome, love the color on his chest feathers. I bet there is never a boring moment with Chase around.

 

[Sunstar]

Thank you. Pigeons are quite nice actually. They seem sort of intellegent too. Not bright intellgent but they can be taught things. I love him dearaly. I haven't had a pet I am close to since my iguana died about 6 years ago. that broke my spark. I am glad I have chase because he is company.

His chest and neck feathers also get this lovely purple-plum colour too. He's looking a little tacky at the moment, but he is in the middle of a moult. He never looks pretty then.

 

[Sunstar]

I just rescued an injured pigeon. I've got him in a cage outside and is feeding it.

 

[JanS]

Aww, what a sweet story. Hat's off to you for giving him and other birds a new lease on life.

 

[skg22086]

nice pigeon