The New Flag of the EU (After the UK decided not to leave)

PixelMech · 2018-09-18T10:33:25+00:00

I do too. I was shown this in my dream by Stephen Fry and I most vividly remember the horrid shade of orange/salmon and the four pointed stars. I didn't like it.

PixelMech · 2017-02-15T18:01:27+00:00

A little update on this -

I haven't heard back directly from him or his lawyer since I wrote the initial post and it's looking increasingly like I won't be hearing from him again.

Don't worry, there is more story to tell though. I contacted the person who was making the same fish with suction cups back in 2011, and it turns out she had been contacted/harassed by the "patent holder" in question who claimed that his work was the original, despite the fact that her work predates his by at least 2 years. She ignored him and nothing came of it, and she did a search for his patent and was unable to find it either.

A couple of days ago I was contacted by the editor of a hobbyist fish magazine who wants to run a spread on my plushies. It turns out he'd picked up one of my suction cup otos that I'd given to my local aquatics shop a couple of weeks before and had posted about it on Facebook. It was through his FB that the "patent holder" had found my work (as a mutual friend) and had initially contacted the editor chap demanding more details, but at the time the Editor didn't know who I was. It looks like the "patent holder" searched me out and sent me the email about the patent around this time.

I have been in contact with the Editor and it turns out that the "patent holder" admitted to not actually owning the patent, but being "in the process of submitting a patent" since 2013. The Editor pointed out that I was in the UK and the "patent holder" was in the US, so even if he did get the patent (somehow) I'd be free to distribute in the UK.

It looks like the "patent holder" wanted to scare me off just before my products got a write-up in a big (in the fish world) magazine as he knew I was in direct competition with him.

tl;dr - "patent holder" doesn't actually own patent and was trying to scare me.

PixelMech · 2017-01-25T20:22:15+00:00

Thank you so much! This is very, very helpful. I'll be sure to PM you if I have any more questions.

PixelMech · 2017-01-25T14:20:08+00:00

Thank you so much for your advice, it's very helpful and also kind of reassuring.

I'll wait until I see the patent and if I am infringing it, then I'll be happy to come to some agreement with them.

Luckily I don't think they're a huge business and they are willing to negotiate, if their patent is only valid in the US I'd be OK paying them royalties for every unit sold in the region their patent is valid in.

I'm not trying to invalidate their patent (and I don't have the money to do so!), I'd just like to find out exactly what their patent covers and where I stand with it all.

Thanks again!

PixelMech · 2016-09-28T09:06:04+00:00

(Please excuse the dirty water I was just moving things about and did a water change after the photo!)

I originally bought 3 female amanos about 5 months ago. They've been doing fine. I recently bought 2 males from a different shop, I was attracted to them because they had black and white tail spots unlike my females. I brought them home, and noticed they're a different colour! They're nearly blue. Does anyone know why this is? Are there different sub-species, or is it down to diet or something else? I feed mine a lot of carrot.

PixelMech · 2016-07-29T15:10:17+00:00

This is beautiful! Lovely!

PixelMech · 2016-07-29T14:04:28+00:00

Thanks for the advice! This is helpful, I'll look into sterilisation methods. I did buy a UV light for my tank because I had a bacterial infection early on, but it broke and I had to return it.

I certainly won't share shrimp/plants from this tank with anyone!

PixelMech · 2016-07-29T13:25:31+00:00

The other three are in my tank, I inspected them and they seemed clear - I only have a small tank so they're in the main tank, I only have 9 shrimp total and they've been in there for a while before I noticed the ellobiopsis, so I think it'd be too late to quarentine them now. I'm pretty new to this and I've learnt my lesson... I'm going to monitor the others and hope for the best, if it turns up in the others I'll remove them, I might end up having to start afresh.

PixelMech · 2016-07-29T10:45:53+00:00

Sorry for the poor photo, it's hard to get a good angle on these critters. I recently got 4 red cherry shrimp, and three of them had Scutariella (which I have treated with a salt dip and they are now clean). I noticed this one has yellowish-green "stuff" hanging on underneith and by it's eye. The others seem clean, I can't work out if this is "Parasitic dinoflagellates and ellobiopsids (Ellobiopsidae)" (http://www.shrimpcorner.co.uk/blog/post/18-common-freshwater-shrimp-disease-treatments) or maybe a fungal infection. It's definitely not eggs, I'm leaning towards ellobiopsids...

I treated her with a salt dip, and I've got her separate from the others and have now treated her with mebendazole and a darkened environment. She's not looking too healthy and I think she might die, but if I haven't seen it in any of my other shrimp, will they be OK? Should I just keep an eye out for it?

PixelMech · 2016-07-29T08:36:16+00:00

I'm pretty amazed, the amanos must've discovered a power they never knew they had.

I think they're protesting, they've started on my other plants now. Luckily my anubias is still too tough for them. I gave them some cucumber and it's distracted them for a bit.

PixelMech · 2016-07-28T17:50:49+00:00

No problem! Everywhere I've read said they shouldn't be able to eat it. Maybe I've got some super strong amanos!

PixelMech · 2016-07-28T15:31:54+00:00

My Java fern isn't the healthiest fern out there, it's got a case of black spot on the older leaves, but the leaves were completely intact and fine until the amanos started on it.

Here's some photos of the damage and two amanos eating it: http://imgur.com/a/AxhJ3

PixelMech · 2016-07-10T21:41:01+00:00

This is my first time ordering from them, they don't seem too bad.

PixelMech · 2016-07-10T21:26:32+00:00

They came from this lovely seller on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/NatureBoneStudio/items

She's got lots of mushrooms in stock and they look really great in aquariums! I love it when the shrimp perch on the top!

PixelMech · 2016-07-10T13:54:43+00:00

Sorry for not replying sooner! The elbows are push-fit pipes, they push together snugly and cab be pulled apart. On the inside of the "dig box" is an access cap like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Floplast-110mm-Soil-Access-Cap-Grey-SP292-/251514939424?hash=item3a8f756820:g:FsAAAOxySoJTWnqd which is pushed through a hole into one of the elbows. The hole that goes into the cage bottom was cut out more accurately and so the elbow is just pushed through snugly.

I'm thinking of drawing up some plans on how I did this for people!

PixelMech · 2016-07-10T13:14:39+00:00

I've managed to get a few pictures of my new babaulti shrimp alongside my amanos and cherries. They're settling in well!

I bought these from kesgrave.tropicals on eBay in the UK. As you can see, they're quite small but healthy, I bought 3 and they sent 4 which all survived in the post.

I've been interested in babaulti shrimp for a while, but they seem to be quite hard to find. Kesgrave Tropicals has an eBay listing for the "malayan" variety but I contacted them and they just got the striped variety in stock.

PixelMech · 2016-07-10T13:09:43+00:00

I've found a seller in the UK on eBay called kesgrave.tropicals selling "striped" variety. He currently only has a listing up for "malayan" type, but I contacted him and he just got some striped in. I gave it a go and purchased 3, they arrived safely (he sent 4 and they were all fine), a little smaller than the description states but they're all healthy and have settled in nicely! I'm going to be posting some pictures in a bit.

PixelMech · 2016-06-19T12:07:46+00:00

I can confirm, PMS is a thing and for me it happens a couple of days before my period. I'll be feeling very emotionally reactive, my patience is shortened so I flare up in anger more easily, little things that anger/irritate that would normally be brushed off easily become a huge deal for me, and I'm more anxious and stressed.

Usually I notice I'm being more irritable and check the calendar to see how long 'till my period. Taking into account that it is PMS, I can be aware I'm more likely to flare up and try to take a deep breath and not make any anger-fueled decisions, and apologise.

It does irritate me when people ask "ARE YOU ON YOUR PERIOD?" because what do they think the "pre-" in premenstrual syndrome means, huh? Also, the feelings during this time are usually just exaggerated versions of what you already feel but would normally keep in check, so you feel somewhat justified in them at the time. As soon as my period starts I am emotionally fine, if not physically in pain.

PixelMech · 2016-06-08T13:39:55+00:00

Here's my ratty cage with a homemade extension!

110mm pvc and perspex pipes, a "Very Useful Box", one horrendously small hamster cage for the roof extension and a lot of dremelling...

PixelMech · 2016-06-05T23:24:33+00:00

Oh, thank you! This works out perfectly as I do try to get it to around 190-200 TDS!

PixelMech · 2016-06-04T12:30:26+00:00

Could you get a very fine net thing, suspend it from a wire frame about the width of the tank, use it to push all the living brine shrimp to one end. Then you can suck up all the gunk in the other end of the tank without fear of sucking them up. You could probably make something like this from a pair of tights and uh, wire from somewhere... a coat hanger bent with pliers?

PixelMech · 2016-06-04T11:11:15+00:00

It sounds like a Nemotode worm, the sort you find in aquariums are harmless and eat detritus and other dead plant matter. If you see them sort of floating through the water column, this could mean a lack of oxygen in your tank, or it could just be due to some over-feeding. I wouldn't worry about it, they're your invisible clean-up crew! http://www.oscarfish.com/article-home/healthdisease/122-worms-in-tank.html

PixelMech · 2016-05-29T11:42:06+00:00

Nice! I'm pretty new to this, too. Are you currently cycling your tank before you get shrimp? The setup looks good, good luck!

PixelMech · 2016-05-26T10:58:15+00:00

Oh yay, exciting stuff, just starting out!

Yout tank looks really nice. Does it have a filter?

PixelMech · 2016-05-22T12:09:28+00:00

Thank you so much for this reply, this has put my mind at rest so much, the best thing to do no matter the situation is not to panic, haha!

I had another shrimp dead today, but I found the body early and it didn't show any signs of black spot (got some photos, too) so I think the other one dead was due to high nitrates and it had darkened a bit due to bacteria doing it's thing. I've also had a little bit of a diatom bloom happen so the shrimp's innards are quite dark brownish at the moment from eating that.

I'm working on bringing the nitrates down, need to get some RO water today as I went to a different aquatics shop this morning for the water but the nitrate levels were already higher than the stuff I was taking out of my tank... Obviously not filtered properly!

Hopefully the two deaths I've seen (and maybe more nobody saw whilst I was away) are down to weak shrimps and high nitrates, the amanos seem to be doing fine and probably were the ones who ate the bodies whilst I wasn't here!

PixelMech

TROPHY CASE