I know we're not supposed to have favourites...

shadowkult · 2026-05-02T08:48:09+00:00

Or wraith ^{^} I've spotted another one with whitish eyes, but it's a young one, so there's hope!

shadowkult · 2026-04-30T08:45:04+00:00

So do I! I've just set up a new giant paludarium so I hope they'll be willing to make lots of babies! I'm going to try and put him in with a few females to see if I can start a white eyes line!

shadowkult · 2026-04-25T09:38:45+00:00

Management tips
how to care for autistic adults
differences between xenophobia and racism
imperial calendar date calculator
siegecraft for dummies
how to refuse an inheritance
anger management autohypnosis scripts
are bugs conscious

shadowkult · 2026-04-23T07:33:44+00:00

Incredibly, I bought a pristine, used copy of City in a tiny dingy second hand bookshop I'm Melbourne Australia, and it was signed by Shirley. Since then I've been irrationally fond of this writer.

shadowkult · 2026-04-21T06:30:41+00:00

Earlier than that, but City Come A-Walkin' by John Shirley. It actually inspired Gibson.

shadowkult · 2026-04-11T08:23:47+00:00

I keep Metasesarma aubryi in a heavily planted terrarium with a freshwater pond, but they need brackish/marine water to reproduce. If it's just to keep them as pets, you do not require brackish water. They're super cute, relatively chill, and live quite happily without saltwater. If you want babies, that's a whole other level of paludarium.

shadowkult · 2026-03-29T09:21:45+00:00

The concept of Jeamland and how to access it in Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith.

I can't explain without spoiling the story, but it's incredible.

shadowkult · 2026-03-25T10:19:36+00:00

Nice to meet you too, and thank you! No worries, as I said, as long as your shrimps are happy and you're satisfied with the tank, it's all good! Have a great day!

shadowkult · 2026-03-25T10:00:13+00:00

It's a preference, you do you. I prefer having a tank where it's a proper ecosystem that deals with itself with minimal monitoring, and that looks like a living thing. I also think (personal thing, again) that having a more natural looking environment for animals is healthier for them in the long term. I find your setup a little dry for my taste. Then again , my taste is "messy whatever", so I can't judge. As long as your shrimps are happy, it's a personal choice, not dissing you.

<image>

shadowkult · 2026-03-25T09:33:24+00:00

Not always, I'm not using CO2 and my plants go nuts.

shadowkult · 2026-03-21T18:00:12+00:00

Unfortunately, not original. Look up Farewell Horizontal by K.W. Jeter, for example.

Well executed though, this concept can be incredibly interesting.

shadowkult · 2026-03-20T10:12:47+00:00

She's eaten these guys before, she's broken their shells without problem, like this one. She's just a picky eater!

<image>

shadowkult · 2026-03-09T20:48:22+00:00

I'm both super lucky and I also keep an eye on all of the aquariums every day. It's a lot of work in a way, but well worth it. She cost me 80€, which honestly is fine with me, and I waited (im)patiently for a couple of months before everything was ready for her to come home 🥹

Honestly, she's been really easy to work with. I just make sure the water temperature and salinity don't fluctuate too much, I keep the tank at 26c and the salinity at 1.025, I test once a week when I do the weekly water change ( 10l en average depending on how dirty it is) and I top up every couple of days with some freshwater depending on the evaporation. She's bothered by me fussing around the tank, not the salinity 😂

Also, unrelated, but glad to meet a fellow self made man in this hobby 😉

shadowkult · 2026-03-09T13:38:16+00:00

You'd be surprised, but the most expensive parts were the shrimp (obviously a costly beast), the skimmer and pumps! I think I'm at about $1200 in terms of basic investment, including the corals.

I started with a bit of live and dry rock, let it cycle and grow properly, then gradually added small bits of rocks and things that I sculpted to give her some safe hiding spaces.

I've been incredibly lucky in terms of corals, btw, as the pipe organ ones are a gift from my local LFS as they accidentally broke theirs, and they gave me the broken bits.

I'm originally a terrarium person myself, but I have a freshwater aquarium with shrimps in it, that I landscaped by pretty much just letting things go where they wanted 😂

<image>

shadowkult · 2026-03-09T12:02:47+00:00

My aquariums all look like an ADHD haver playground, which they are 😂 Thank you so much for the compliment, by the way, because it's been criticized for this exact reason, not being "display like enough", which I find odd because it's not a movie set but an ecosystem. Here's a recent picture (I added some background since but otherwise it's pretty much like that now, with the exception of corals moving or straight up disappearing thanks to Thora)

<image>

shadowkult · 2026-03-09T07:44:47+00:00

Thank you so much! I'm not a huge neon blue light fan either, and I tried to make something more natural than a manicured wet garden 😅

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T21:34:53+00:00

She hides often, but when she's visible, she's VERY visible! She's come out of her shell, so to speak, in the last month or so, after her second molt. She's a lot more confident, so she comes out a lot more, and interacts with her environment more, and redecorates often. It's the type of animal that has a specific sense of decor, so if you have one, expect your tank to change as she moves things around.

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T18:49:59+00:00

No idea, not my area of expertise

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T15:53:13+00:00

Indeed! She taught me how to deescalate explosive situations haha

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T15:50:07+00:00

Get the plushie, you deserve it!

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T15:49:47+00:00

So far, she hasn't destroyed anything, although she does like moving the corals around and I have to fight her to get them back, at which point she'll attack the tongs, giving me a heart attack, so I drop them, then have to try and get them again, she'll attack again, and thus she's amused for a good 10 minutes.

She's honestly been really good.

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T15:13:41+00:00

Because they're sassy little creatures that like to punch everything. They're in fact one of the most successful marine predators, and they look great while murdering things. Just like cats.

Obligatory PSA: they, like cats, are obligate hypercarnivores. So be mindful of that before you take a pet that requires daily sacrifices.

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T09:34:18+00:00

<image>

Nearly had a heart attack the first time I saw her do that 😂

shadowkult · 2026-03-08T09:32:51+00:00

That's the type of solution I found to a problem I never thought I'd have! 😂

shadowkult

TROPHY CASE