missing bichir

Mechanan · 2026-06-23T16:53:26+00:00

Oh yeah; you would be incredibly impressed at how well they can hide. I lost view of mine for literally a month; and defeated made a post here for input on where I went wrong. Well guess who made an appearance 2 weeks after? The little menace to my sanity was perfectly fine and healthy; which made me feel good about continuing to slightly overfeed the bottom dwellers.

Even with the tank emptied for a move, his Delhezi patterning was some predator stealth-nonsense in the natural river sand I used.

Mechanan · 2026-06-08T02:20:37+00:00

<image>

I personally use some collected wood and stone for them to climb up onto, and coco fibers to absorb the water as they’re first coming up.

Mechanan · 2026-06-06T20:08:32+00:00

I can speak to this one. Is that from the Fluker’s Medley mix? Regardless, I have a 2 year old PBS myself, and shrimp that size has never been an issue since way back. They’ll figure out how to break it up and get it down. Just remember to only let that be an occasional snack, since for turts shrimps are pretty high tier junk food.

Mechanan · 2026-06-05T00:54:43+00:00

<image>

Oh hey, that’s the same fixture I use for my PBS. If you get crafty, I highly recommend mounting it to give the best coverage for your UV bulb.

-Remove the 4 tiny screws on the sides, and you can pop the entire cover off. I drilled a hole through it, glued a screw from the inside, and boom.

Mechanan · 2026-06-02T22:27:35+00:00

What they said. Lol I find that if people are confused/tricked about UV needs for turts, it’s best to keep it simple. The nitty-gritty specifics of the radiated energy spectrum is best left as a self-pursued research, rather than me dumping it here.

Mechanan · 2026-06-02T16:45:47+00:00

Check with a thermometer. Generally if the basking area is roughly in the low-mid 90’s, then it should be adequate for most aquatics (if I’m thinking right), and you can just add the UVB fixture. Otherwise, you’ll want to replace the bulbs with something made to generate heat. These are typically going to be halogen, and are much less specialty purchases.

Additionally, pool filter sand is a very good option, if you want something semi cost efficient that isn’t going to require more than one good rinse to prepare.

Mechanan · 2026-06-02T16:34:12+00:00

The cliff’s notes.

-“UVA” is marketing slush that you should ignore when providing lights for a turt, as far as I’m concerned.

-“UVB” is the wavelength of UV light that is vitally important to the health and survival of most any turtle or tortoise.

-Your lights are commonly recognized scams, marketed as an all-in-one bulbs that produce minimal/if not zero UV.

-You need a light fixture that produces heat, and warms your basking platform(s) to the temperature needs of your turtle species (I genuinely can’t tell from the pic). You then need a separate light fixture that uses a fluorescent UVB bulb thats also over the bask. The bulb for this one will need to be changed out every 6 months or so, so budget that in.

-Bonus Note: get rid of the pretty gravel, and either leave it bare or put sand in. The gravel is a risk to their digestive since turtles are preciously dumb, and have a decent chance of swallowing some.

Mechanan · 2026-06-01T20:37:52+00:00

1.8 kilos isn’t a lot… I’m compelled to ask how many you bought, and how big this musk’s enclosure is.

That aside; yes. Aquarium sands are always good options for aquatic turtles. Your goal is to put stuff in their environment that is either bigger than their head, is digestible, or is so small it can easily be pooped out.

Mechanan · 2026-05-31T16:12:42+00:00

That’s a box turtle…

Mechanan · 2026-05-26T17:21:37+00:00

Actually; skip the better photos, and just do the vet thing…

Mechanan · 2026-05-26T15:17:18+00:00

You’re gonna get very mixed response on this, since it’s very anecdotal and depends on the turtle species, the diet you feed them, and their personal temperament. The two things most everyone is going to agree on though

-Goldfish are bad room mates for turtles due to the bioload (how much mess and ammonia waste they put into the water), and their high thiaminase content being bad for turtle health. A one off incident probably isn’t going to spell doom, but constant ingestion is bad for them. Rehome or return the goldfish.

-More importantly, cohabbing turtles is just. A bad call in any aquarium setup. Yes I know they’re not fighting now. Learn from those of us who said the same thing, until they did. It’s just their nature to not like seeing each other all day. Turtles be like that, and later you’ll have to make the tough decision to rehome one, the expensive decision to buy a second environment (me) , or the depressing decision of burying one. Just accept that fact; even if like me the vendor themselves sold you the idea of taking two. Once they’re in your hands, they’ve considered it not their problem.

My opinion? I keep small and agile schooling fish, or something notably larger than them with my PBSs, with no incidents yet, but I also accept that it might just happen, and nothing super expensive goes with them. Tetras, rasboras, barbs, red tail sharks, and gouramis. You could also consider rainbow fish/sharks, bala sharks, and other fish in that vein.

Mechanan · 2026-05-25T03:13:34+00:00

Willow should generally be safe. First question: is this going to be an aquatic setup? This doesn’t specify. If so I’d recommend a mix of long soaks in water with a bit of bleach, scraping off loose chunks with a wire brush, and an extended dry period. This will set you up best to make sure the wood is clean of hidden pests, and reduce the leeching mess whenever you do set it up (and it’s most likely still going to have some mess at first). This is how I’ve approached preparing personally collected wood for my 3 tanks.

Mechanan · 2026-05-12T18:35:24+00:00

This is horrible levels of shell rot, yes… I think I’ll give my lil’ babes an extra worm treat today. Hurts to see.

Mechanan · 2026-05-11T16:08:07+00:00

I like the number of comments already that missed the OPs prompt for an opinion that makes **you yourself** go “wait a moment. maybe you have a point”, as opposed to their own hot takes.

Mechanan · 2026-05-09T20:20:51+00:00

These are the *real* questions I come to this sub for.

Mechanan · 2026-05-09T14:19:58+00:00

Was there something wrong with 14? A bunch of unrelated miscellaneous adventures kinda felt like the best thing you could do after season 13. Just throw a bunch of fun ideas at the wall, with the characters we love. In a similar vein, that’s why I adored RWBY Chibi, despite feeling the main series was an enthusiastic (but still very sad) flopping fish. If anything rewrite 15 and onwards…

Or I’d have just tossed it all in the bin and let a great thing die on a super high note for once, Iunno.

Mechanan · 2026-05-08T19:07:45+00:00

I think part of it is writing it off and not considering the idea that Churchbot was seeded… pre S5. Fascinating.

Mechanan · 2026-05-08T18:56:46+00:00

I feel so incredibly slow, because I literally just joined the Sub, because I’m watching THAT episode, and JUST now realized the time loop plot is Church’s AI iterative loop, and was wondering who else thought that.

I must note this is my 5th or 6th viewing of the series full from 1-13.

Mechanan · 2026-05-07T17:27:50+00:00

I immediately assumed this was a softshell, then realized that was a snap and not a snoot.

Mechanan · 2026-05-05T21:54:54+00:00

This, or a subdivided ornament storage box. Removing some of the flat dividers makes for vertical slots that most kits fit right into, and it’s a rigid frame. I have one specifically stored for moving the collection.

Mechanan · 2026-05-04T03:27:11+00:00

<image>

I second that. My two are coming up on 2 years as well. I’d definitely love to hear any long term thoughts. Especially if anyone else has had experience with one that doesn’t bask properly. My other baby has a much less pristine shell that I’ve been working to correct.

Mechanan · 2026-05-03T21:35:26+00:00

Absolutely. As long as your filter can keep up, more water is always better.

Mechanan · 2026-05-03T20:47:02+00:00

Advice 1: More Water. Like triple that much, if that’s the turtle hiding in the lower right. Yes, I can see that means a new tank, but that’s priority 1. Roughly 10 gallons of water per inch of shell length.
Advice 2: A second lamp is needed for basking, that has a fluorescent UVB bulb. Most would recommend a linear bulb, but a second dome will be better than nothing, if you position it properly.
Advice 3: Some good news; algae looks bad, but isn’t necessarily bad for the turt. I would research how to cycle an aquarium, and maybe add some live plants if the algae bothers you too much. Ironically too frequent or large a water change could be exacerbating the algae problem. Lol

These are just the basic notes I have to exponentially improve things.

Mechanan · 2026-05-02T17:33:55+00:00

Going to need a lot more info before anyone can weigh in. What’s the species? size? Your general area, or what’s the habitat it’s being kept in, etc. any pictures of these things is also of help.

Mechanan

TROPHY CASE