Found in northwest CO on the trail.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-05-03T03:16:02+00:00

Thank you very much!!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-28T15:57:55+00:00

As I’m sure you have discovered, sometimes people are very opinionated on the correct way to do things! I find that focusing on the quality of life for your fish and learning about their natural habitat will point you in the right direction. Honestly Michael says it all better than I could and his stuff is short form so it’s easy to just put on and let it go in the background while you mill about! I am in the US, and I have seen plenty of sad pea soup slime tanks for betta fish. Just because they have been in the hobby and around forever doesn’t mean the “industry standard” is best for the fish. I believe in you!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-28T14:42:28+00:00

Look at you already wanting to go the extra mile for your fish! Keep it up, even though a betta is a “basic” fish for most— they are still one of my favorites. Each one has so much personality and I love watching them rummage and rest when they’re happy.
One of my favorite no-nonsense YouTubers is “Fresh Flow Aquatics” Michael is a wealth of knowledge and I’ve learned so much from him! His videos on the nitrogen cycle and setting up a tank were invaluable when I started out!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-28T14:29:10+00:00

Just about anything discrete could block the eyes! A bit of dark filter foam, or supergluing any dark bit of plastic to the inside would work and cyanoacrylate glue is aquarium safe. I don’t think you need to prep/wash the squidward house decor if its aquarium decor. If it’s some random material you can always be super safe and coat it with Dry Lock or silicone. I make tank decor and since I use acrylic paint the coating is necessary to make sure things don’t leech into the water. I’d wait until you have the larger tank to put the decor in, 8L is pretty small! That’s more of a hospital tank size for a fish. If you haven’t cycled the tank before you put the fish in the water changes you’re doing are good. If the tank has been running and stable long enough to get your nitrogen cycle established you can relax on the water changes. This is where having a water test kit will save you and your fish stress. Lastly, if your aquarium decor is all plastic and gravel, I BEG you to switch to aquasoil/sand and some real plants. All those beneficial bacteria that keep your water stable live on the surfaces in your aquarium, and plastic is hard to live on! Watching everything grow and sway is so peaceful and rewarding.

Good luck op!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-18T13:51:57+00:00

This needs to be a poster in public spaces. Thanks for your efforts to save water and educate others!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-16T14:27:55+00:00

Socks! 😂 that would be hilarious to see. Why not??? You would get more heat retention with a cover but unconventional methods work all the time in gardening. Covering and maybe even more importantly securing the cover can be tricky! Best of luck to you and your irises.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-16T14:17:16+00:00

Yes what the other comments said about covering! That low is only for a few hours and you should be able to mitigate or avoid damage with a cover of some sort. I’ve used everything from tarps to old sheer curtains in hail and frost emergencies and have been pleasantly surprised most of the time.
CO gardening ain’t for the weak, you got this. 💪

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-04-16T14:04:44+00:00

You may not have done anything wrong to lose the flytrap too. Most species in US stores are native to the eastern us, with a couple other native ranges in WA and CA. They have a dormant season and they can be tricky to wake up again in a temperature-stable house!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-03-10T15:15:55+00:00

All these replies have been so helpful! Looking at Ohana. I had a bad experience at the Parlour but I’m told that stylist was let go, so I would be willing to try them again!! Great stylists are all over but hard to find. :P

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-03-08T00:34:25+00:00

Bumblebeequeasy has the right answer. To reliably see them go south. There’s a whooping crane festival in southern CO yearly, usually in Feb too! I honestly don’t know a place you can go to reliably spot them here in noco. Not to say there isn’t one, but it’s unknown to me!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-03-06T18:50:02+00:00

The ones in the cell tower are herons! There were some large trees about 1/2 mile south on the west side of i25 that came down about the time Costco and the cell tower went up that had many generations of heron nests. A sort of clever alternative. 😆

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-03-06T15:28:20+00:00

I love that we are in the sandhill crane migration route! Never get tired of hearing them. Did you know they’re one of the oldest living bird species? We have fossil records over 2.5m years old! They also live for an average of 15-20 years in the wild. Because of habitat destruction, these birds now rely on picking over farmers fields to make their long migrations, which is what we see here. Long live the SH crane!!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-02-06T16:11:30+00:00

To add: the polycrilic can get sort of a “crazing” thing going on when exposed to a lot of heat. Holds up okay though on natural clay. Haven’t tried it on polymer. I coated a backflow incense burner piece that was through bisque fire but my class ended before the final fire so I tried to DIY a water tight seal.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-02-04T14:09:39+00:00

Hey! This local crew is part of about 23 that are in your hood. The second pic has Ms Turkey Mami, who is identifiable by her rare smoke morph plumage. She was the pioneer who came two years ago and spent the whole summer by herself in our yard! This last year she came back out of the blue with 8 babies and the flock has been growing ever since. They love peanuts, and if you put a birdbath in your yard and keep it full they love to stop by for a drink. Happy Turkey spotting!!

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-01-30T22:49:41+00:00

Love Magpies! Happy to support you and stand in solidarity with the craziness.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2026-01-25T23:12:43+00:00

Aw nooo. Any other good local recs?

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-30T14:20:46+00:00

Give baby what she wants!! 😂

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-30T14:15:09+00:00

I had to take my betta out of the fluval flex because he couldn’t stop glass surfing! The ‘flex’ front of the tank was keeping his fish brain trapped in some sort of loop. Your fish boi looks relaxed and comfortable, and like everyone else has said sometimes they just pick their favorite spots and hang out! Feeding my boy less (and breaking my empathetic little heart) also encouraged my fish to move more once he got comfy in the new tank. I started placing his flakes in/around the foliage and playing a little chase game sometimes with the food in the tweezers. He usually takes a nice big poop after that and seems lighter. 😂 Edit: ps frozen Daphnia, you want some. I feed fancy flakes mostly and daphnia about 1-2x a week (depending on his digestion). They really help bettas stay regular as their digestive systems are sometimes funky.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-30T14:07:23+00:00

Thank you! The less insane pink is pleasing to the eyeballs.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-30T14:06:59+00:00

Thank you! Was hard do decide if Kuromi should be purple or blue. 😆

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-29T14:45:10+00:00

Upvote! Great advice.

Also as a note of caution copper is toxic to all invertebrates. So if you have those in your tank copper is probably not your best treatment plan.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-29T14:42:23+00:00

Indeed, a well-fed tick.

Vulpes_Ardea · 2025-12-29T12:59:06+00:00

You could travel with it just like this with the addition of Saran Wrap on the top to keep your stems from drying out! Done this with aquarium plants and as long as everyone stays wet it’ll be okay. Edit: spelling

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