- Skipper hanging out in some baby water lettuce. It's transplanted from another tank; she eats it way faster than it can grow.
She likes to eat all kinds of things now, she's not a picky baby anymore. From time to time I throw in some Malaysian Trumpet Snails from another tank because they're becoming a Problem over there, and with her big strong jaw she can crunch their very hard shells. This information makes me fear for my the safety of my flesh whenever I do maintenance.
She has never laid eggs, even though I was convinced that she would. I had several different sand bins for her over the years when I thought she was gravid but she just never was I guess :P
- Skipper in her 75g, feat. my DIY basking platform.
She lives in a 75 gallon aquarium, which feels right on the verge of being too small. I'm lucky that she seems to have stopped growing at around 9".
She really likes this random drawer organizer shelf thing I put in the tank!! She likes to rest on the rocks I put on top of it and poke her head out of the water, as well as hang out in the lower sections. As a bonus, it forces her to slow down when coming off of her ramp instead of slamming into the glass, which has become very nerve-wracking as she's gotten heavier!
Also she loves to scratch her shell on the filter intake (the same fluval 406 from 2015 lmao - JUST replaced the O ring for the first time today, as well as the aquastop valve) and it's very cute but I can never get a photo of it smh
Last spring I set up a 150g stock tank in the yard for a few goldfish, and it went very well. My dad suggested that I should get a second one and do the same for Skipper in the summer. I think it's a good idea but also it seems scary to leave my child outside unsupervised.
- My 150g stock tank goldfish pond. By September, the plants had grown a lot, but the water lily never bloomed. It sent up exactly one bud in late fall, but then got too cold and went dormant before it ever opened. The NERVE!!!
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Mainly I'm just posting here because I appreciate that I was able to be a part of this community as a kid. I was never super active, but the experiences I've had on here are important to me, even though 75% of the time it was just me embarrassing myself. It makes me happy that this forum is still around.
