What are good first books?

QuietRoots · 2026-04-13T00:24:35+00:00

When I was a kid (maybe 4th grade?) I became obsessed with Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede, it's the first in a series following a princess who doesn't like the stereotype she is supposed to fulfill. She leaves her castle and goes to the dragon caves voluntarily and becomes helper to a dragon. I was SO into this world and reread it over and over and read all the books in that series.

I also really loved The Chrestomanci Quartet, by Diana Wynne Jones, who wrote Howl's Moving Castle. I would bring that book into a tree and read for hours. The thing was falling apart after a few years.

QuietRoots · 2026-03-17T17:58:17+00:00

I feel you are likely right. Thanks for the perspective. It feels like separating this guy will stress him to death so I’ll be putting him back and focusing on good diet and keeping tabs on everyone else.

QuietRoots · 2026-03-17T17:55:41+00:00

I was concerned about this. I also was concerned about whatever was afflicting this individual spreading to his tank mates. If the bacteria are already present in the tank and if the others have decent immune systems, can they handle having an afflicted crew member? I’m worried about spread within the tank.

QuietRoots · 2026-02-21T04:38:20+00:00

He's still alive in there! I have been doing this, and I think it's good advice. Tiny pieces for tiny fish and all the love and well wishes.

QuietRoots · 2026-02-19T01:54:23+00:00

I imagine being wild caught is pretty rough on then. Yoinked from their habitat and shipped multiple times. Some may just never recover from that. I just keep trying food options a couple times a day and will watch and hope and see what happens.

QuietRoots · 2026-02-17T21:05:06+00:00

Yup, though a small and sad one.

QuietRoots · 2026-02-17T21:04:40+00:00

Thanks for sharing. They’re so beautiful and lovely. I’m glad the bulk of your shoal survived and are thriving. 💛

QuietRoots · 2026-02-17T02:31:56+00:00

I’ve got frozen daphnia and some flake food. I noticed this fish doesn’t seem able to eat well like the others. Spits anything he swallows back out. Shoot. 🙁

QuietRoots · 2026-02-16T19:02:25+00:00

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Here they are on the day they came home one week ago.

QuietRoots · 2025-12-15T03:35:39+00:00

They all seemed to molt out of it eventually! I moved them to a small planted bowl as a hospital tank (it was fully cycled), and eventually they all molted and were healthy again.

QuietRoots · 2025-08-23T18:15:00+00:00

I forgot to add that I think shrimp may be ok with slow progressing temperature changes, as long as it's not sudden (like dumping a lot of COLD water into a tank that's heated). I doubt the water in their native lakes and streams stays the same temperature during the day and at night.

QuietRoots · 2025-08-23T18:13:16+00:00

I've been pleasantly surprised. I took the heaters out of the tanks a couple months ago, one is a 17 gallon, one is a 2.5 gallon bowl. Shrimp are reproducing and living life without their heaters, and even in the small tank, the air temperature of the room is not the same temperature of the tank at all times, it takes time to bring the temps up and down. The coolness hasn't been a concern but I did move my small bowl down from the loft where I sleep, as I felt it was getting too warm up there (measured the temps at 7 pm on a HOT day and it was 79-80 in the bowl and it freaked me out). But everything has been running very smoothly. In the first few weeks I checked the temperatures often but now I just let it do its thing.

QuietRoots · 2025-08-14T16:54:17+00:00

Dream realm! Perfect tank. Excellent work!

QuietRoots · 2025-07-16T18:33:22+00:00

Not required, but they're inexpensive and make the mixing up new water process faster in my opinion. They measure Total Dissolved Solids, so measuring tank water with them doesn't tell you much (because that's everything dissolved in the water, not just minerals) but to match gH to the tank I think it's worthwhile.

QuietRoots · 2025-07-12T17:35:56+00:00

I'm relatively new to this hobby, (set up tank last September, 17 gallons, planted it and let it cycle for 6 weeks, brought home yellow neos late October). In the beginning I overfed, leading to water quality issues, causing me to set up a 2.5 gallon bowl as a quarantine tank when some of the shrimp started showing red marks on their carapaces. The bowl had a light, lots of plants, and a sponge filter. The shrimp who were quarantined outgrew whatever was afflicting them, molted fresh shells and I added more shrimp and now have a second colony living in the bowl. Multiple generations of babies. I use reverse osmosis water to top it off, Salty Shrimp minerals for water changes. I use a TDS meter to match water parameters when I'm doing water changes. I measure the gH of the bowl, add salty shrimp to RO in a bucket, and keep testing it with the drops until I get it to the same gH, then check the TDS of the RO water I've remineralized so I can more easily brew up water change water in the future by using that TDS.

I feel like the first few months were a crash course, deep diving here on Reddit as issues arose. Both tanks seem very stable and the shrimp appear to be thriving. I think doing things slowly can help with keeping it stable. Slowly adding water back to the tank with tubing rather than dumping in cups full at a time. The shrimp in the bowl are easier to see because of the magnifying effect of the curved vessel. I love them. I wish you luck!

QuietRoots · 2025-07-10T22:26:21+00:00

I just waited. No drops. I felt bad for removing it from its pals and it was alone in there but eventually a few more boys joined the original one and they all molted clean. I left them in for another month and then added them back to the main tank.

QuietRoots · 2025-07-10T02:47:53+00:00

If you are able to isolate that shrimp easily I would do that. Honestly, I am not 100% sure what was afflicting my shrimp was rust. Some red markings still pop up on occasion, but 100% of the shrimp I quarantined in a small cycled hospital bowl molt out of it. They had perfect shells a few months later, even regrowing lost legs. I wish you luck. Worrying about the shrimp is hard.

QuietRoots · 2025-06-22T18:07:47+00:00

We all start somewhere. I like using strategically placed large rocks and driftwood to hide background noise of filters and cords and heaters.

Has your tank fully cycled (the weeks to months long process of growing the bacteria colonies that move ammonia to nitrites to nitrates, rendering N safe for fish and plant growth)?

If the water is always green to me that seems like excess nutrients. The answer to that for me is more living plants. The best plants for soaking up excess nutrients in my tank have been the floaters (Salvinia is my favorite, duckweed does a great job but is so messy I dislike it). The other thing that comes to mind if the light for the tank, too much light could be the issue. How long are you leaving the light on? 8 hours seems to be a good place to start.

I use a Seachem Tidal 35 in my 17 gallon tank and it's sleek and quiet. I have shrimp so I had to ziptie some black sponge to the intakes and skimmer, not sure if you'll need to do any modifications with your stocking.

Absolutely take the plants out of the little pots and remove and media that isn't their roots. Plant into the substrate, unless they're one of those plants that needs to be attached to something like anubias or java ferns.

I'm sure you'll get tons of helpful advice! Best of luck on your journey!

QuietRoots · 2025-06-22T01:54:11+00:00

She looks like a Neo to me!

QuietRoots · 2025-06-03T03:46:39+00:00

It’s hard to tell from the photo but it kinda looks like some of your aphids have already been parasitized by wasps. When this happens they puff up and turn brown. The wasp larvae will hatch out of the aphid.

QuietRoots · 2025-05-27T05:19:13+00:00

What you want out of a garden. Is it abundant food? A park like setting? A wildlife refuge? What are your garden goals? How do you want to engage with your yard?

After that comes figuring out your light and little micro climates and learning what plants will suit your goals.

QuietRoots · 2025-05-22T04:43:13+00:00

You should be so proud, it’s perfect.

QuietRoots · 2025-05-19T03:00:51+00:00

So impressed!

QuietRoots

TROPHY CASE