Info AquaScape

There's an art to making friends as an adult. Many studies and articles have been written about how easy it is to make friends in school because you're in constant proximity, but as adults we get busy with life – work, travel, the kids' soccer games, family commitments, etc. Our social circle (I'm talking about real friends, not social media followers) get smaller and smaller, and before you know it, your life has somehow become more isolated and, well, boring. Starting from Square One When Mr. Gamer and I moved to another state to be closer to family, I was suddenly dropped into a world where I worked from home and knew no one except my husband and parents-in-law. Video chats with my old friends back home weren't cutting it; I was painfully lonely and desperate to meet new people. Over the course of three years, I developed a systematic method for finding and making friends when you're starting from zero. Obviously, this technique may not be for ever...

This is a hard lesson to learn. When you first begin the hobby, it's so exciting and you just want beautiful fish in your aquarium now now now. You already went through the trouble of cycling your tank , so finally it's time to go on a huge fish shopping spree, right? Right? Patience is key. Don't rush things. You hear that over and over again on the forums, but... I don't think there's really any way to comprehend how much waiting fish keeping requires until you kill a buncha fish and walk through that depression. Here are three real-life stories how I inadvertently killed my fish with impatience: 1) Quarantining multiple fish from different sources "Hobbyist mediated pandemic" was a phrase I first heard from this quarantining new fish , but like many excited newbies, I was buying fish from multiple stores and quarantining them all together... For example, I once purchased some marbled hatchetfish and put them into quarantine. A week later I decid...

Don't Panic About Aquarium Cycling! Despite being a habitual researcher, I balked at learning about the aquarium cycle. It's because everyone made it sound so tedius! They would immediately dive into complex chemical terms and scientific names, and it made my eyes roll into my head in boredom. Here's the very simple, "Cycling for Dummies" explanation... What Does Cycling an Aquarium Mean? It means your fish or other aquatic animals have the ability to live in an aquarium without dying in their own waste (like ammonia and urea). This can be accomplished in several ways: Do frequent water changes to manually remove the waste.  Grow beneficial bacteria that will convert the fish waste into a less toxic chemical, which buys you more time between water changes. Use live plants (or algae) that will directly uptake ammonia and convert it into new leaves and plant growth. Note: That means that putting water in your tank and letting it sit without fish for a week wi...

Sticking by my soulmate "for richer or for poorer" (Source: Christopher Michel ) I always imagined my husband would be someone like my dad – tall, gangling, wears glasses, has a solid job as an engineer. Mr. Gamer is tall with a sense of humor, but that's where the similarities end. He's barrel-chested, has perfect eyesight, and holds an insanely unstable career as a video game developer. In the first four years we were married, he worked at four different game studios. Let me tell you how each of his jobs ended: Game got canceled Studio got bought out Studio closed Game got canceled  As you can see, the success rate of video game studios and their products is not great. Why does this perpetual cycle of job loss happen? This guy answered it better than me (pardon my paraphrasing): Since the industry is project-based, job length tends to be directly associated with product development cycles. Companies tend to dump staff once a project ships since they d...

This advice may sound obvious, but buy the healthiest fish you can. When you go to the pet store, don't let the employee choose any ol' fish that ends up in the net. I used to stand in front of the shop tanks and stare at the fish forever until I was sure of which ones I wanted... the most lively, engaging, beautiful creatures possible! What Are the Signs of a Healthy Fish? (aka How Can I Tell If My Fish Is Sick?) It can really depend on the species, but here are some general guidelines of what to look for: Appetite: Healthy fish are always looking for food, so loss of appetite is one of the first telltales that something's wrong. Don't be afraid to ask an employee to feed the fish as proof of their hunger. This is especially useful for species that are notoriously picky eaters. Swimming Ability: You should be able to immediately spot any fish that are having difficulty swimming, can't stay upright, or keep bumping into things. Energy Level: Lethargic f...