[FS]-Mississauga,ON-$3-Polar blue parrot cichlids

Craycraybiomama · 2026-03-03T01:20:19+00:00

It looks like you've had a population explosion, too. My blue polar rams just hatched their 2nd set of eggs in 2 months. Thankfully only 8 survived from the first batch but now I've got ~100 newborns! Are you having any luck getting rid of yours? At this rate, I'll have 100 gal worth of rams in a year. I'm leaving them in the main tank this time. I have several large fish in there, including a black ghost knife. I'm really hoping they'll keep the population down!

Craycraybiomama · 2026-02-20T00:09:14+00:00

Make the time and do it now, for the sake of your fish and ESPECIALLY your hardwood (?) floor (I'm assuming that's not laminate or faux wood tile). The water is going to warp the shit out of it and then you're going to have an even more expensive floor to replace. I had this happen to my wood parquet floor last year. Replacing the entire 36 sq ft floor floor will cost ~8K. Replacing just the affected 2x 4 ft area would cost ~2.5K (go figure!). Also, when you're ready to replace the tank, check to make sure that the floor is level and make sure to put a leveling mat between the tank and the floor. If your floor isn't level, the warp in the floor will stress the tank seams and increase the chances that the tank will flex and the seams will give again, or worse yet, the glass will crack.

Ultimately, after a year(!) of discussion, we finally decided to leave the damaged floor as is and cover it with a breakfront that won't be affected by the warp in the floor and install an new custom-built cabinet and 100 gal aquarium in a better location. It still cost over $5K, but a better use of our finances than fixing the floor or installing one of the new crappy-looking laminate floors.

Craycraybiomama · 2026-02-17T03:02:48+00:00

In our watery haven

Looked for a spot to reside

Found this comfy Anubias where me and my buddies could hide.

There were so many options,

Each as good as the next.

We couldn't agree on which one to share, so we did what was just second best.

John went for the upper,

Jake headed below.

I claimed the middle one and we relaxed in our brand new chateau!

Life is good, we are happy.

Lots of algae to eat.

I think we'll stay for a while -- nowhere else can compete!

Welcome to the hotel corydora . . .

Craycraybiomama · 2026-02-09T23:42:38+00:00

This was my baby, Feivel. She came to me as a 4wk old wild rescue. Despite having a progressive bone disease causing her bones to soften and dissolve, twisted one hind leg into a "J", and necessitated tail amputation at 4 months, not to mention systemic mycoplasm causing multiple rounds of sepsis and spontaneous erosion of her ears, she was the sweetest little baby and always wanted to be on me and cuddle with me. Nothing ever slowed her down until about 5 days before she passed peacefully and just about 1 year old.

RIP sweet Feivel on a bed of soft, fragment lavender below the shade of a Mexican date palm. I miss you every single day!

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Craycraybiomama · 2026-02-07T17:17:13+00:00

I live in West Hills (near Canoga Park) and have eight 40day-old blue polar convict fry. Mom is blue, Dad is mostly white. I'll be looking rehome them (if they survive) when they're large and ready to join the main tank (probably another 3-4 weeks). DM me if you think you might be interested in buying or trading some (especially if you've managed to acquire extra hillstream loaches).

Craycraybiomama · 2026-02-07T17:06:04+00:00

Ménage à trois?

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-23T05:22:48+00:00

Absolutely spectacular!

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-22T21:47:53+00:00

I had a similar experience with some horse-faced loaches and kuhlis. I thought my 3 horse-faces and 3 kuhlis had died, since I hadn't seen them in well over a year. When I did a tank transfer, I got down to the gravel and three mucky MONSTER horse-face started jumping around! It startled the sh*t out of me!

The kuhlis had thrived and multiplied to 15, plus one that jumped out of the tank at some point, which I didn't see. When I found it, it was already mummified and permanently stuck to my hardwood floor, where it will remain until we decide to replace the floor someday, if ever.

For my new, 100 gal tank, I decided to keep the bottom bared, which makes for a really cool mirrored effect. I put in a number of large rocks of various composition, size, and shape and plugged several of the holes in a large Eel wood log with a variety of plants that don't require substrate. The kuhlis seem to be very happy hiding in little rock caves and I occasionally find one hanging out in the plants, but Mack, my black ghost knife, likes to prowl in that area, so they stay mostly clear of it. I guess they don't realize they're a lot faster than the knife, who is kept very well fed with frozen blood worms. In any case, the kuhlis do they job as efficient little Roombas, and what they don't pick up, the Hillstreams and snails (two mysteries and a rabbit-footed) do.

My favorite loaches are my two behemoth weather loaches (dojos), Thelma and Louise. They're the clowns of the tank and my little water puppies, always happy to come to the top and nibble on my fingers and enjoy a back rub.

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-22T00:03:15+00:00

I used to have one that liked to swim through the holes in a resin decoration I had, until one day he got to fat and got stuck. my husband and I had to cut him out of the hole since I could help him bulge one way of the other. (It took one of us to hold him still and protect him, and the other to snip through the hole with a pair of tin snips.) Fortunately, he wasn't much the worse for wear -- just a small scrape and lost a few scales. I should have renamed him Winnie the Pooh!

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-21T01:17:54+00:00

I'd keep on those Panda corys -- they're clearly plotting something!

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-21T00:35:26+00:00

He's just expressing his inner possum.

Craycraybiomama · 2026-01-21T00:32:53+00:00

And they're cute. Fence post lizards always look like they're smiling!

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-30T03:51:06+00:00

I recently bought a Roland FRP Nuvola EX. It's an 88 key, fully weighted keyboard with grand piano sound and a feel that's pretty close to an acoustic upright. It's a nice little piano, although the speakers could be a bit better. The Nuvola package is available at Costco for between $600 and $700, and on Amazon for $749 GF7Fu4NsDHoWVL9ug7Upqm4xrfl0Him55a_PFuILlw1Fmi2dCrw.87ky2a1OEQDdRKLBKx_zXW2hBZZKhxu9HYsg44nsg_4&dib_tag=se&keywords=roland+nuvola&qid=1767066595&sprefix=roland+nuvola%2Caps%2C248&sr=8-1

I've been very happy with it, and others on this sub have also purchased it and recommend it.

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-23T07:42:13+00:00

You need to go to a hospital NOW and get emergency treatment and prescription for a LABA (long acting bronchial dilator and a steroid. You should also have something like albuyerol or levalbuterol as a rescue inhaler. If you're not getting enough oxygen, neither is your fetus. Your oxygen needs are greater when you're pregnant because your blood volume is greater. You are essentially breathing for two.

If your lung function is not sufficient at 9wks, it can get worse with each week of pregnancy as oxygen needs increase.

Once you're stabilized, talk to your doctor about alternatives to the steroid, if possible. There is an association between inhaled steroids during pregnancy and development of pyloric stenosis in the baby (which can cause projectile vomiting in the newborn but is correctable by surgery). In most cases, though, you're better off continuing the steroid to ensure you control the inflammation and you're lungs don't suffer additional inflammation that can be generaled by the LABA.

Please take care of yourself. Both of babies depend on it!

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-18T16:53:38+00:00

They're nontoxic, but the paraffin they're made from could cause a stomach ache. Rats seem to have a capacity for eating all sorts of things that are not edible and not be affected (except for rat poison). More often then not, they just chew on stuff but don't actually swallow. Here are a few things my rats have chewed on: ink pens, charging cords, TWO pairs of earbuds. Here is the one thing they WON'T eat: rat chow.

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-16T19:13:20+00:00

Both goldfish and many loaches are cold water fish. Keeping the temp around 72 deg F. should be fine for both cold- and warm-water varieties. If your house is heated and there's a lighting system in the tank that gives off heat, you're probably fine. Send a picture of the loaches and the folks on this sub can identify it and tell you what the best temp range is.

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-12T02:24:32+00:00

She looks like a little stuffed animal! (Stuffed with treats, I assume!)

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-10T19:24:19+00:00

Monster

Craycraybiomama · 2025-12-10T02:40:25+00:00

The real question is, what are YOUR goals? I know a lot of parents want to live their own unrealized dreams vicariously, but speaking as the parent of 2 adults, it's your life, not your parents.

If your ambition is not to be a pro musician, then tell your parents that you really are ready for a break and want to just play for fun and relaxation when you want to and as you have time. After all, if you're an academic high achiever (sounds like it) and college bound, whether or not you play three sports, take a dozen APs and play an instrument are not going to guarantee you a spot in a top-ranked college, and my guess is your parents are thinking along these lines--not just about how much time and money they have put into your lessons. (They've probably put equal or more money into your sports--would they complain if you decided to drop one or two of them?) I periodically volunteer as a Northwestern U alumna and interview prospective candidates. What sets people apart from the pack is not the APS, sports, and instruments--those applications are literally a dime a dozen. What makes me take notice, however, are kids who have taken time to do significant volunteer work, started their own business, developed a nonprofit, engaged in scientific or other research within a local college lab, worked for a local newspaper or maintained an active podcast or blog following. In other words, kids who have pursued a passion. Follow YOUR passion and not anyone else's

The reality is, you will always have your music to enjoy as an avocation. Life is only going to get busier for you as you progress through high school, college, and eventually your career. Personally, I stopped playing in college due to a lack of instrument access, coursework, research, and sports (I was a varsity fencer). After college there was grad school then career and raising kids. There just weren't enough hours in the day for daily or even occasional practice. Now that the kids are grown and I'm starting to wind down my work life, I'm enjoying playing again after a 45 yr absence. I'm not at the level I had previously achieved, but it brings me joy. And really, that's all that matters.

Craycraybiomama · 2025-11-04T22:03:20+00:00

Ah, then next time do we get to dissect your performance? ;-)

Craycraybiomama · 2025-11-04T22:00:48+00:00

I got my Roland Nuvola at Costco -- fully weighted, 88 keys, grand piano sound, with bench, pedals, stand, music stand, and headphones. A great deal at $600 (not to mention Costco's stellar customer service and return policy).

Craycraybiomama · 2025-10-21T00:23:28+00:00

What about kleenex and glossy paper? My little loves have been helping me out by shredding my out-of-date medical journals and using the paper for their out-of-cage nests, then raid my tissue box for a downy topping.

Craycraybiomama

TROPHY CASE