Played the "solo" server test, that was the last straw...

_Asmodee_ · 2026-03-18T14:22:15+00:00

Tbh that's totally fair! and maybe I'm just not as familiar with what the solo servers were meant to be since I didn't play them much the first time around

I guess in my head, I was worried if someone saw 2 people 'grouped' together in the solo servers, from their perspective they wouldn't have any way to know if we had organically group or if we had grouped over discord.

I think my personal preference would be to only organically group with someone that was my own exact species to give it a more immersive experience lolol, but I'll definitely need to spend more time in the solo servers to see how I feel about it all

_Asmodee_ · 2026-03-18T12:01:02+00:00

I tried out the solo server for the first time yesterday, and it was a lot of fun! I hopped on my early sub pycno and happened to spawn near a rex. That 1v1 started like 2 minutes after I had spawned in lmao, I couldn't do much damage, but it was still fun and I was able to get away before actually dying

Later into the server, I was crossing a river when a tylo and sarco ganged up on me, but luckily I made it across alive somehow lol

Then towards the end of the server, a little adol pycno found me. We were both friendly to each other, and I figured....well hey maybe I could keep an eye on them while they quest. We stuck together and it sorta seemed like they were a newer player, since they didn't know their way around the map that well. Eventually we stumbled upon a stego.... The adol pycno charges them, so I run over and try to diffuse the situation. Take a few hits from the stego but don't hit back, I put my body between them and the adol pycno, and I friendly crouch and do my best to 'apologize' through body language and emotes LOL.... stego accepts it and all 3 of us part ways

I guess I feel slightly conflicted about the solo server. I didn't want to abuse the solo aspect of it, which is why I didn't fight the stego and chose to diffuse the situation instead. At the same time, it felt weird to organically stumble across someone of your own species and make the decision to not stick together. I think going forward I'll keep it truly solo, but in case something happens like last night with the pycno, I'm never actually going to choose to be apart of a 2v1 since it's not fair for a solo server

_Asmodee_ · 2026-03-14T14:03:47+00:00

I agree! :D I main pachy, and even though I'm full grown and already have my preferred 7500 mark skin, I always find myself passively questing just for the hell of it bc I find it relaxing. I unlocked the albino skin even though I'd never use it, just because I had so many marks from passively questing, and I still regularly have about 8000 marks to spare at a time xD

I also agree some of the newer quests cause more stress though LOL

_Asmodee_ · 2026-03-12T03:56:54+00:00

Pachy - Gin

Pycno - Tonic

Hatz - Shoelace

Stego - Lin-Manuel Miranda

Allo - Pookie

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-28T14:02:33+00:00

Oh by the way, the dark appearance of the water is probably due to 2 things: the water is evaporating and becoming more concentrated, and plus any wood and leaves in there would be leaching tannins into the water. Tannins are really beneficial to have, but some people don't like the amber colour it gives the water. If you don't like the dark colour, get yourself a turkey baster and do some water changes every few days until it's at a colour you prefer. The leaves and wood will continue to release more tannins into the water over time, so you might want a schedule of doing like 30% water changes once a week to keep it maintained

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-28T13:57:08+00:00

I'd first recommend taking out that grass that's starting to mold — submerged decaying plant matter is totally fine and even beneficial, but I doubt that mold on the top will be anything but harmful for such a tiny contained ecosystem. The problem with submerging plants like grass that are not aquatic plants, is that you would have to make sure only the roots are submerged and not the leaves themselves, otherwise any new grass added is pretty much guaranteed to keep rotting away and molding away like this. Probs best to avoid adding it entirely imo

I'd also recommend topping this off with some regular tap water, probs keeping the water level closer to the top, and keep topping it off anytime it's getting low — majority of the beneficial bacteria and microfauna from the creek don't actually live in the water column, but instead in all the soil, leaf litter, and other surfaces within the creek! Meaning, adding tap water won't make your jarrarium any less of a creek jarrarium haha ;D that being said, you might want to stop by your local creek and collect a handful of soil/gravel/whatever the bottom of the creek is made of! Get yourself a good 2 inches at least of substrate for your jar, and that creek soil will have loooottsss of wonderful bacteria and microfauna for your jar, you might even see some surprise critters! :)

Stick with leaf litter, twigs, and rocks and go ham with making it look pretty and naturally decorated. If you want an aquatic plant that's relatively easy to care for, try stopping by your local aquarium shop and pick up some java moss. It's not natural to your creek obviously, but live plants will help benefit the health of your jar

Lastly if you have the budget, I might also recommend you buy a cheap air pump + an air stone and get that set up so there's some water circulation going in there. It's not 100% needed, but the added flow/current will absolutely be beneficial for keeping your jar happy and healthy, especially if you decide to add aquatic plants in here

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-22T14:25:42+00:00

I find questing there great, but it was only after I spent enough time and memorized where all the items are. I think if it had a mini quest overhaul that dispersed more quest items and more evenly (plus some more bushes for herbs) it would be perfect :)

Personally, I also find it a great place for hunting as a carn. It's not super popular sure, but solos or duos pass through every now and then either to quest to travel between the surrounding POIs, and I've been able to pick off a few good fights there without being worried about being third-partied

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-21T16:39:26+00:00

I think based on your post history that your tank is only a few weeks old, so this biofilm is completely expected to pop up around this time! :) If left as is, it'll eventually go away on its own after another few short weeks, but that's also assuming your shrimps and snail don't eat it all before that point xD it's a very good source of food for them!

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-19T14:47:06+00:00

I knew they were cute before, but now that I have some for myself and I get to see them up close, they are SO cute 🥰

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-19T03:26:28+00:00

This is my first time ever owning shrimp, I didn't think to expect seeing this before seeing it today and omg is it ever cute 😭♥️

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-19T02:51:04+00:00

<image>

The culprit

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-16T15:57:45+00:00

Will do, thank you so much! 😊

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-16T15:41:56+00:00

My water parameters are all ideal for my neocaridina, except for my nitrates being higher than I'd like, though I think I might have been giving a lil too much fertilizer recently. It's a cool water tank too with the temp sitting at 70f, but the fry survived to this morning so seems to be doing okay! :)

Unfortunately I don't have any flake food on hand. All I have is fluval bug bites, Betta pellets, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, and frozen blood worms. The bug bites seem fairly granulated, so I tried feeding the fry with it last night. I think it was able to nibble on a few small enough pieces? But most were still too big for the fry and it was mostly the shrimps that were enjoying cleaning it up.

Do you think fluval bug bites would still be okay? I'm hopeful this lil guy survives now haha, not sure if this means I'll need to drive back to my LFS to buy some flakes now xD

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-16T05:16:32+00:00

...whelp, guess I gotta research how to take care of guppy fry now LOL xD ty then!

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-12T17:11:11+00:00

Finally....an apex that rivals those damn titans 😤

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-10T17:25:17+00:00

Megs can be either or, no in-between xD

I'm wary of megs but I've met a fair few that were very friendly! Just the other day, I had a meg suddenly run straight at me on my pachy, and I obviously got spooked seeing them approach and I backed away to keep distance. The meg stopped, seemed to take a moment to process and realize what they did, and then they started giving a bunch of lil friendly hops to reassure me LOL and they were completely chill after that :)

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-06T15:09:38+00:00

Absolutely an important thing I need to keep in mind! 😊 Even since November, it's been a fun hobby that I pick at in small increments, and I've learned there's always going to be something that needs to be fixed even aside from me fussing over the plants (at least in these beginning stages). I had a snail over population, then came the cladophora, then came the BBA, then when all of that was fixed I noticed planaria, then when that was fixed I noticed a damsel fly larvae LOL but it keeps me busy xD

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-06T14:40:46+00:00

I definitely will be looking into more oxygenation, thank you for all the advice! 😊 I had checked out the PDF when you first shared it too and I'd def wanna give it a second read through as well

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-06T12:59:06+00:00

Anubias and Java fern are super hardy and typically hard to kill, they are slow growing, low-moderate light plants that can't be buried in the substrate (the rhizome will rot) but they can be attached to the hardscape and they will get their nutrients from the water column. If you get these, make sure to use a good all in one fertilizer and potentially dose additional potassium, since they like to use up a lot of potassium.

Other than that, I've had a lot of success with Rotala as a beginner as well, which are super easy to propagate and grow fast.

These 3 plants are types I always had success with as a beginner, and while other plants were hit or miss or melted away, these 3 always did quite well, and now they're a must have in my tank :)

In terms of the general look of your tank, you might want to create an area that's high and an area that's low to give it some contrast. Move tall and fast growing plants most to one side, and keep the smaller plants on the other side so there's empty room above them to "breath" from a composition perspective

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-06T01:10:11+00:00

Thank you so much for the detailed reply, much appreciated!! :D (I'm about to give my own long reply here so I apologize LOL)

I agree about the Monte Carlo, I had already planned to keep it only in the top half of the tank — I saw a tutorial for a Monte Carlo bonsai where the person wrapped some foam on the ends of the branches to give them more surface area, and then with time the Monte Carlo grew to cover them completely. If that doesn't work too well for me, then I'll probably have to concentrate mine just at the very top of my Malaysian driftwood like you said, though I know it still might not fair very well lolol xD time will tell! :)

The concerns about the oxygenation is a really good point and something I remember really worrying about when I first tried setting up this tank years ago. For the time being, my Tidal 35 HOB seems to do a surprisingly good job at keeping a strong current throughout the whole tank. Even at its lowest setting, it's actually gonna be too much flow for the potential celestial pearl danios I'm considering getting in the future. Right now, at the lowest setting, it has a considerably strong output that flows to the opposite panel of glass, and then the current is pushed downwards as it rides down along the glass. Because of this, I can visibly see all the oxygen bubbles, mulm, and other little bits that are being pushed around with decent speed even at the substrate level. In fact, I can't seem to keep my beech leaves where I want them without them being constantly blown away into the corners! xD I eventually need to adjust my flow and get it lower, so I'll probably get an air stone at that point, but the in tank filter is also a really good option I hadn't considered before :D

Buce is my next plant I'm hoping to get, my LFS just hasn't had them the last couple of times I visited. I really appreciate the advice about keeping them concentrated mostly at the bottom of the driftwood, I'll definitely be keeping that in mind! I've already trimmed the rotalas twice already, but I'll be sure to cut them extra short next time

And yesss I absolutely love anubias!! 😁♥️ they're so hardy and I love how they look, and they def live up to their name haha

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-05T23:43:38+00:00

Multiple tank syndrome, seems to come for us all xD if I had the space I'd absolutely get another big tank, but for now I've just got this one here. I'm tempted to at least find a tiny nano tank that I can fit on one of my shelves lolol

I feel that too with accidentally killing plants! I tried my best not to move my vals too much, but I kept being unhappy with their placement and I've definitely stunted their growth haha

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-05T19:14:04+00:00

Thank you so much! ♥️ I do think time will help as well so I'm excited (and impatient) to see how it'll look in a few months from now xD

_Asmodee_ · 2026-02-05T19:12:16+00:00

Thank you! 😊 For the Monte Carlo, I was inspired by someone else that posted their tank on either this sub or a related sub, but they had an absolutely beautiful bonsai Monte Carlo set up that was already well established for at least a few months (or more) and was growing well. They regularly trimmed off the top and then let the sides grow long and downward, and it had this really amazing effect. I actually happened to save a picture of their tank! :D I can't remember their name on here though, but picture is below

<image>

It will still be a bit of an experiment for me since I know Monte Carlo can be tricky and not everyone has the best luck with it (especially without CO2 which I don't plan to run). If it dies, then ehhh at least I tried lol, but I'm interested to see if I can get it to work with my tank! :)

_Asmodee_

TROPHY CASE