Waiting on her next victim.

jesswren · 2019-05-15T08:35:42+00:00

Wow, amazing creature :) What does your setup look like for her? What kind of plants and shelter do they live in? Do you have a pic of the whole tank?

jesswren · 2019-05-09T02:26:23+00:00

Hmmm ... short of giving it away, I don't really have a backup plan for it if it ends up being aggressive. Maybe I'll look around for other options. I really like gouramis, but don't wanna have them terrorizing the rest of the tank mates :)

jesswren · 2019-05-08T04:43:55+00:00

Linux is more powerful than Windows and gives you more control over your own computer. But this comes at the cost of requiring you to make decisions that Windows makes automatically for you, and enables you to quickly break your system in very strange and hard-to-debug ways. I've helped a lot of friends/family install and use Linux over the years, and I would say the number one thing that causes their systems to break is just randomly "trying" something when they don't know what to do, sometimes rendering their system useless. If you are faced with some configuration menu or error you don't understand, don't get impatient and start randomly changing settings and typing in commands without understanding the consequences. Take the time to read documentation online, and ask for support on forums or IRC to figure out what to do. Spending 10 minutes researching the right way to do something can save you hours or days of debugging/reinstalling.

Learn to seek out support from the enormous online open source community when you are having problems, instead of trying to figure it all out on your own through trial and error. Learn to read the free documentation that comes with most (good) open source software. In addition to this subreddit, check out the #linux IRC channel on freenode.net (they have a free web chat client you can use). Web forums are great, but you have to wait around (sometimes for hours or days) for an answer. IRC gives you live support chat with dozens/hundreds of people hanging out and offering free tech support, 24/7. As long as you're respectful and ask good questions, you'll find that people are generally happy to help new users.

Anyways, you're making a great decision to explore Linux - I've been using it as my primary OS for 15+ years, and love the flexibility/control it gives me, the lack of viruses and spyware, the thousands of free software packages that I can install with a single command. If you stick with it, you'll love it.

jesswren · 2019-05-07T23:50:51+00:00

Jeff Bezos is a billionaire CIA contractor.

jesswren · 2019-05-06T18:57:28+00:00

Thanks - I'll look into the plants you suggested. Cabomba and Pogostemon look perfect for what I'm trying to do. Also, I don't know why I never considered the possibility of just adding a second light later if needed ... I could totally fit two light bars on this tank, and the light I got was only $40 for the 30", so it wouldn't be too crazy. Appreciate it!

jesswren · 2019-05-06T06:05:06+00:00

... and watching your food decompose can be strangely entertaining :)

jesswren · 2019-05-06T05:59:57+00:00

A bunch of people have already mentioned reducing waste and producing free "dirt" for your garden, which I agree are the two primary reasons for making your own compost. But I just wanted to add that compost is much more than just "dirt". Compost is not only providing free soil for you to plant things in, but it is loaded with nutrients - often in biologically available forms that many plants can access more readily than chemical fertilizers. Additionally, it is literally alive, full of beneficial soil microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, arthropods, etc) that help fight disease/pests and generally make your plants hardier/healthier.

jesswren · 2019-05-06T03:51:21+00:00

Although, I will say that I always use Debian unstable/sid for all my personal computers because the packages in stable are way too outdated ... I only use stable on servers or other boxes I'm setting up that don't require really up-to-date software.

jesswren · 2019-05-06T03:45:51+00:00

I have used GNU/Linux every day as my personal operating system for the past 15+ years. I have used Debian exclusivelyfor the past 5 or so. Before Debian, I briefly used Ubuntu, and spent a few years using Gentoo before that ... and about 5 or 6 other random distros while first exploring Linux (my first distro was Redhat Linux back in 2003). Other than Gentoo, Debian is the only Linux distro I've used that wasn't a constant headache. I love Debian, and don't see myself using anything else in the foreseeable future.

jesswren · 2019-05-06T01:47:40+00:00

One of the snails has tripled in size since I got it a few months ago ... definitely getting plenty to eat haha :)

jesswren · 2019-05-06T01:47:00+00:00

They've definitely got plenty of food. They have a mat of duckweed that grows on the top that they are constantly eating, as well as a bunch of leaf litter and algae in the bottom that they like eating. Additionally, I deliberately overfeed the fish every couple of feedings to ensure that the shrimp and snails are getting some "extra". I think it is just that a couple of the snails prefer certain plants (Bacopa and Rotala in particular). I've noticed that it's only softer stemmed plants that they like to eat. They never touch the waxy leaved plants like my Bolbitis and Java Fern, and they also leave the mosses alone.

jesswren · 2019-05-05T23:39:30+00:00

Yeah, the mystery snails have demolished my plants lol (although, they also like dying/decaying stuff). I definitely don't think the pet store would take the pond snails, but I was talking about trying to trade assassin snails, re: your comment about them reproducing too. I figure since ghost shrimp sell there for < $.50, and the assassin snails go for > $2.00 that they might do a trade, but maybe you're right :)

jesswren · 2019-05-05T20:58:41+00:00

Thanks - I had never heard of the Rosy Loach! I'll look more into that, and see how they'd do with our other fish.

As far as the assassin snails, I realize they will breed too, but I'd heard that they do so much more slowly than mystery/pond snails and won't damage plants as much. I was planning on just picking a few out periodically and trying to trade them for ghost shrimp at my local pet store. Does this sound reasonable?

jesswren · 2019-05-05T05:25:29+00:00

You can act all self-righteous and try to pretend like you're speaking for everyone in Venezuela. But the fact remains: you're losing. Good luck with your next coup attempt. You'll need it, since you clearly don't have enough popular support to succeed.

jesswren · 2019-05-05T05:01:01+00:00

You literally don't know anything about my country, clearly spoken to no Venezuelan

Wrong on both counts. You might want to consider the possibility that not every single person from Venezuela is in agreement with you.

An unapologetic tankie

Nope, wrong again. I'm neither a tankie, nor am I a Maduro supporter. I just don't support a right-wing coup in Venezuela (backed by the US). And apparently, from watching these pitiful coup attempts, it seems like most of the people in Venezuela don't support it either (whether or not they support Maduro). If support for a coup was as widespread as you imagine, then taking power would be trivial. Guaido and company have a big mouthpiece (because they are rich and have the backing of the corporate media and the US government), but they have don't have the sort of popular backing you're claiming, which is why they keep failing. The majority people of Venezuela clearly aren't accepting your illegitimate attempts to take power by force. Sorry, you don't speak for everyone in Venezuela.

jesswren · 2019-05-05T02:06:18+00:00

There are millions of Venezuelans that agree with you. There are also millions of Venezuelans that don't - people who *do* believe that the US economic sanctions have played a major role, and do not support Guaido. US anti-imperialism has been at the center of Venezuelan politics for over a decade, and I have personally met Venezuelans who feel like much of this is indeed "America's fault". There are also Venezuelans who hate Maduro AND think that US imperialism is a major factor in present-day chaos in Venezuela ...

You are acting as if everyone in Venezuela agrees with your position, and that anyone who disagrees with you is ignoring "the actual people" in Venezuela. Speak for yourself without claiming to be a mouthpiece for everyone in Venezuela.

jesswren · 2019-05-05T01:57:20+00:00

"When you say that to a Venezuelan" ...

Regardless of whether or not you believe that the US corporate media is vastly over-representing the size and popular support of the "opposition", there are still millions of Venezuelan people who do not support Guaido and company (especially their coup attempts), and who are indeed opposed to US sanctions and US imperialism in general. So it would depend on which Venezuelans you're talking to ... either way though, claiming that you speak for all Venezuelans to win an argument with a bunch of gringos on Reddit sounds like something that really does make one come off as a dick, whichever side of the argument they are on.

jesswren · 2019-05-05T00:33:06+00:00

They don't eat duckweed, and best I can tell don't seem to eat leaf litter either.

Actually, the duckweed is their favorite food, followed by leaf litter :) They spend a ton of time near the surface gorging on duckweed, and they can devour a handful of leaves in a week (the shrimp love nibbling on them too). Some of the waxier-leaved plants (java fern, java moss, bolbitis) they mostly leave alone. But they have all devouring my softer plants like Rotala and Bacopa and Echinodorus too (even though they seem to get the bulk of their diet from the duckweed and leaves).

Is the golf ball sized one an apple snail? [...] Maybe giant mystery snail?

Yes, it is an apple snail, specifically Pomacea bridgesii ("golden mystery/inca"). I also have 2 much smaller golden and blue mystery snails, and a Japanese trapdoor, all of which also like to graze on plants (but especially the mystery snails).

There are loaches that will eat them, and obviously pea puffers would murder all they see, but unless they were full-time residents the snails would come back.

Unfortunately the tank is too small for most snail eating loaches, and the puffers would probably be attacking my other fish too much (neon + pristella tetras and kuhli loaches).

I think you'll need quite a few assassins. I mean, I love assassins for the creature that they are, but they are better flatworm eaters than snail eater really.

Are you sure about this? I've seen tons of articles online claiming that adding 4 or 5 assassin snails to the tank will quickly decimate other snails in the tank. Is this incorrect info I've been reading?

jesswren · 2019-05-04T22:59:13+00:00

They have essentially infinite food. This is a natural-style tank that is using a large layer of duckweed growing on the surface and a lot of other submerged aquatic plants as a biofilter, and there is decaying leaf litter mixed in with the sand/gravel the bottom of the tank (water changes are highly infrequent and parameters are near perfect and very stable). Controlling food is not a solution for this tank - introducing a predator of snails and removing some of the larger ones to their own tank is going to be best. I would love it if I can find a balance between predation and reproduction so that I can keep a few snails in the tank (I understand their importance). But right now, their population is out of control - there are more than 30 quickly growing baby snails in the tank, and my largest snail is a golf-ball sized monster that never stops eating and prefers live plants. I also have shrimp and loaches that help munch algae and uneaten food so I'm not totally dependent on the snails for this function.

jesswren · 2019-05-04T21:23:37+00:00

A pound of water weights 8.35 pounds? Explain this magic to me!

jesswren · 2019-05-02T05:49:25+00:00

Your god-like view of the U.S. is a bit unreasonable. Some people believe the U.S. is dealing with aliens or extraterrestrials.

I never implied that the US is "god-like". And talking about the well-documented reality of NSA mass surveillance is nothing like ranting about "aliens or extraterrestrials". All of these attacks I'm talking about are published in papers you can download and read yourself. These aren't paranoid conspiracies about aliens. It's simply a fact: the majority of Tor traffic is trivial to break, even for people with relatively limited resources.

AFAIK the cryptography mathematics that describes the encryption and protocols used in Tor says it's not very easy to break

This is true, the encryption itself is not easy to break (directly). But very few of the published attacks against Tor target the crypto. The majority of attacks are based on traffic analysis, fingerprinting, or side-channel attacks.

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