Rectangular Acrylic. Canister filtration. Sand is from Lake Tanganyika. Rock is petrified wood. Anubia for plants in one.
LED lighting. Cats in one tank (adults), Tropheus and Comps in the other (juveniles).
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How do you relax?
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Rectangular Acrylic. Canister filtration. Sand is from Lake Tanganyika. Rock is petrified wood. Anubia for plants in one.
LED lighting. Cats in one tank (adults), Tropheus and Comps in the other (juveniles).
What variety of catfish is that? I don't recall anything that small when I kept fish. The closest fish I can remember available were plecos.
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Has to do with what you have and how your filtration is set up.
If you have the right setup and equipment they are generally easy to care for.
I have learned to stay away from standard tropical fish like guppies and similar types.
I also try where possible to procure F1/F2 fish to minimize inbreeding issues.
And a good breeder is a must.
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The bigger ones are Upside Down Catfish - Congo River variety. They can grow very large but generally stop at a size based on the tank they are in.
The smaller ones are called Cuckoo Catfish (synodontis) from Lake Tankanyika. They get to about 4" or so. A rare schooling catfish.
Both are very hardy.
Plecos are kind of neat. Finding smaller varieties can be challenging. Have had a few but not at present.
@BigMcGuire - it comes down a good bit to the pump / filtration system. Don't be stingy.
Here is a backup I have in case one of the others fail.
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Regarding the thread topic:
My wife and I like taking the convertible out for a spin, when the weather is cooperating. We like walking on the beach, Gulf of Mexico when it is not boiling hot, but would take a beach just about anywhere. However, if I had to choose beach, or the mountains, as a single place to go, it would be the mountains hands down!
We’ve had some outstanding relaxation on both river and ocean cruises, while emphasizing that not all cruises are equal.
I like working in the yard and (flower) garden when it’s not stinking hot and not swarmed by mosquitos, followed by jumping in the pool and relaxing while nursing a beer.
I also read and watch a variety of content on the TV. Some of my favorites, besides adventure, historical dramas, science fiction, are good documentaries, and Nature shows like Blue Planet.
One activity I used to do, but can no longer, that provided the single most relaxing, spiritual experience for me was running outside, preferably in a natural setting. I can’t say it was communing with nature, but I was able to repeatedly look at the woods or any rural setting with an entirely new perspective, as if I was seeing it for the first time, and feeling a sense of wonder. Of possible interest, running is something I discovered by accident. The first time I ran was under the whip, when I joined my high school football team, and I hated it. But something happened and all of a sudden, my eyes opened and I was hooked.
Forty years later, when I walked through the green belts of my neighborhood, I could to a lesser degree, achieve the same thing, it was like meditating while exercising. Now, I rarely walk because my back hurts, and due to necessity, the majority of my exercise is in the pool or the gym. I am thankful, that I can still go exert myself for 1.5 hrs without hurting.
One other thing I do which is escapist, entertainment, and relaxation is play games on my computer, not infrequently, a couple hours a day. And coincidentally, some of my favorite games are survival sandboxes where you find yourself in a natural setting and have the ability to interact with the environment, building the equivalent of a nice base/house, in the biosystem of your choosing, overlooking the ocean, a waterfall, up in the mountains, in the desert or jungle, and there are enough activities to keep me busy for quite a while.
One of my favorite games features dinosaurs and taming them (ARK:Survival Evolved). Currently, I am working on a base in a redwood forest, expanding it up onto large tree platforms. I have a snowy mountainous biome on one side across the river, and a swamp and a volcano on the other side. There are many dangerous critters about, hence the tamed Dino’s serve as my transportation and personal security force.
ARK: Survival Evolved (not my image)
These games have a multiplayer element so you can be on a voice channel with friends or you can go solo if you prefer solitude. Social is better, but this typically is on a server, and my biggest beef with online servers is their perishable nature. I hate investing a hundred hours in building the equivalent of a get-away chateau, to see it go poof, hence I have some long running solo builds, I fall back on.
One other huge aspect of computer gaming and simulation is virtual reality which is still being developed. The ability to transport you inside a virtual space where you are surrounded by it, and can interact with the environment using your virtual hands is nothing less than amazing! These two images are from The Climb.
The Climb (Virtual Reality game, not my images)
My wife and I like taking the convertible out for a spin, when the weather is cooperating. We like walking on the beach, Gulf of Mexico when it is not boiling hot, but would take a beach just about anywhere. However, if I had to choose beach, or the mountains, as a single place to go, it would be the mountains hands down!
We’ve had some outstanding relaxation on both river and ocean cruises, while emphasizing that not all cruises are equal.
I like working in the yard and (flower) garden when it’s not stinking hot and not swarmed by mosquitos, followed by jumping in the pool and relaxing while nursing a beer.
I also read and watch a variety of content on the TV. Some of my favorites, besides adventure, historical dramas, science fiction, are good documentaries, and Nature shows like Blue Planet.
One activity I used to do, but can no longer, that provided the single most relaxing, spiritual experience for me was running outside, preferably in a natural setting. I can’t say it was communing with nature, but I was able to repeatedly look at the woods or any rural setting with an entirely new perspective, as if I was seeing it for the first time, and feeling a sense of wonder. Of possible interest, running is something I discovered by accident. The first time I ran was under the whip, when I joined my high school football team, and I hated it. But something happened and all of a sudden, my eyes opened and I was hooked.
Forty years later, when I walked through the green belts of my neighborhood, I could to a lesser degree, achieve the same thing, it was like meditating while exercising. Now, I rarely walk because my back hurts, and due to necessity, the majority of my exercise is in the pool or the gym. I am thankful, that I can still go exert myself for 1.5 hrs without hurting.
One other thing I do which is escapist, entertainment, and relaxation is play games on my computer, not infrequently, a couple hours a day. And coincidentally, some of my favorite games are survival sandboxes where you find yourself in a natural setting and have the ability to interact with the environment, building the equivalent of a nice base/house, in the biosystem of your choosing, overlooking the ocean, a waterfall, up in the mountains, in the desert or jungle, and there are enough activities to keep me busy for quite a while.
One of my favorite games features dinosaurs and taming them (ARK:Survival Evolved). Currently, I am working on a base in a redwood forest, expanding it up onto large tree platforms. I have a snowy mountainous biome on one side across the river, and a swamp and a volcano on the other side. There are many dangerous critters about, hence the tamed Dino’s serve as my transportation and personal security force.
ARK: Survival Evolved (not my image)
These games have a multiplayer element so you can be on a voice channel with friends or you can go solo if you prefer solitude. Social is better, but this typically is on a server, and my biggest beef with online servers is their perishable nature. I hate investing a hundred hours in building the equivalent of a get-away chateau, to see it go poof, hence I have some long running solo builds, I fall back on.
One other huge aspect of computer gaming and simulation is virtual reality which is still being developed. The ability to transport you inside a virtual space where you are surrounded by it, and can interact with the environment using your virtual hands is nothing less than amazing! These two images are from The Climb.
The Climb (Virtual Reality game, not my images)
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It's been constantly changing how do I relax. Depends on age, health and other circumstances (country where you stay etc.).
Fifteen years ago: martial arts (Ju Jitsu, Kobudo), skating, cycling, reading, movies, World of Warcraft (hardcore player), travelling to countries with a warm climate.
Ten years ago: martial arts (Ju Jitsu, Kobudo), reading, movies, theatre-going, World of Warcraft, wellness tours.
Present: reading, movies, theatre-going, workout (fitness centre), cycling, wellness tours.
Fifteen years ago: martial arts (Ju Jitsu, Kobudo), skating, cycling, reading, movies, World of Warcraft (hardcore player), travelling to countries with a warm climate.
Ten years ago: martial arts (Ju Jitsu, Kobudo), reading, movies, theatre-going, World of Warcraft, wellness tours.
Present: reading, movies, theatre-going, workout (fitness centre), cycling, wellness tours.
ROTFLMAO, Plutonius.I spend time in the PRSI forum section
Don't forget to look through this thread with beat-a-dead-horse-topic.
Playing music is one of the healthiest ways to "unload" your anxiety, stress, physical pain, emotion, frustration, you know, everyday living for most of us. I've been playing for 51 years. The very second I begin playing, all my stress, tension, and physical pain disappears, and I land in that other world, free from these earthly chains. Art is just cathartic expression, and who doesn't need a good "cathart," now and then, lol?
Spoiler, lol. To avoid @Hieveryone opposite results of creating stress instead of dumping it, EVERY first time guitarist should have their guitar "set up," so it plays easily and doesn't make your fingers bleed and hurt. Biggest mistake every music store still makes today. That's why 99% of first time guitarists quit. It's supposed to rewarding, not an exercise in masochism.
As a Fender silver certified guitar tech and musician (bassist) for the past 51 years, it is literal idiocy to image selling a guitar to someone without spending 20 mins or less turning a blistering 2"x 4" into a comfy lifelong companion. You don't run a marathon, barefoot on a blistering summer day with 20lb weights in each hand the very first time you run...FOR FUN...do you? Point made.
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I spend time in the PRSI forum section
Me too, making friends
...
I draw...
Learning to let go and enjoy some drawings that do not match the photo reference. The process allows me to forget about things.
@Kevbasscat wish you were in the music stores when I attempted to learn guitar and bass.
Learning to let go and enjoy some drawings that do not match the photo reference. The process allows me to forget about things.
@Kevbasscat wish you were in the music stores when I attempted to learn guitar and bass.
Yah I homed in on my quiltmaking avocation a long time ago, while still working in infotech, realizing I was never going to be happy in retirement if I didn't have something to make me appreciate the difference between "on duty" and "off duty", or a work week and a weekend.
The appreciation that I also needed more sheerly physical activity came later for me. I'd get angry over some sewing or cutting error and finally discovered that only physical exercise would really let me blow off some steam and get back to remembering I'm just human. I was more naturally attuned to physical exercise in the city really, without regarding it as such: I didn't use my car during the week and so easily walked a few miles on most days just running errands and covering the gaps between public transportation and my actual points of departure and destination.
Up here in retirement I manage to relax every night for seven or eight hours, while sleeping.
When I was working I used to unwind from the week sometimes --while heading back up here to the mountains and finally running out of traffic distractions when I got to the back roads-- by cranking some good driving music out the window to whatever wildlife was otherwise only perhaps getting bored by the sound of dew falling onto leaves, or that perhaps not just mythical sound of starlight.
After I got home up here I'd park the car and sometimes walk up into the meadow to listen for that faint "sound of starlight" myself, or for the small noises of little critters settling into shelter for the night. Took a walking stick along in case something else was up there too and also listening for those little voles or rabbits. Awesome to see an owl strike by the pale light of a quarter moon. Somewhat less awesome and certainly not relaxing to realize that coyotes don't always realize that guidebooks say they are usually quite wary of humans...
Now in retirement I do seek relaxation by going for a brisk walk when it's not raining or snowing. I've been known to do dance workouts in the kitchen when outdoor adventures are impossible but getting out in the fresh air on a nice day is more fun.
Funny how our experiences are almost polar opposites. We still get here though, that's the encouraging part.
I would think with the age of tech,, everyone can't really relax for long, because they get the 'tech syndrome' of going back to their iPhone..
There is no cure for 'that'
For me, peace and quiet.... I can easily spend half a day or more without TV. I have thought of skydiving or abseiling, but no point in thinking the impossible.
I sit in my quiet (thank the Lawd I live in a quiet neighborhood) backyard and listen to the sound of the wind or the rain. Very relaxing.
I've been taking a beginner's course in cross stitching, because...
) backyard and listen to the sound of the wind or the rain. Very relaxing.I've been taking a beginner's course in cross stitching, because...
Personally, I enjoy relaxing by driving down Wall Street in my E-class and seeing how many women throw themselves at me.
I enjoy relaxing out on my deck in nice weather watching the ducks, geese and Great Blue Heron and listening for frogsong. Unfortunately this year our frog population seems to have pretty much disappeared, though. I usually like to have a cold glass of something to drink while out there, and also have my iPad with me so I can also relax by catching up with my forums. Sometimes I play Solitaire on the iPad, too.
Reading is definitely one of my major ways of relaxing, and I always read before going to sleep at night.
Photography is also another way I like to relax, especially when I get really involved in shooting something, not just casual snapshots.
Reading is definitely one of my major ways of relaxing, and I always read before going to sleep at night.
Photography is also another way I like to relax, especially when I get really involved in shooting something, not just casual snapshots.
Pfft. They're just looking for that sweet insurance and lawsuit money, Bunnie.
Cool... You seem to treat your fish tank, as good as you probably treat Apple products
Depending on the time of day, access to money and place the things I do to relax when I NEED to relax are in no particular order:
Food (of the "not good for you" variety) with movie or tv series I enjoy, sex (more often than not solo), video games.
Other things that I enjoy, but do not work for me are music (listening), and reading books. Drinking also doesn't work for me as I rarely drink to begin with.
Drugs I do not do at all.
Food (of the "not good for you" variety) with movie or tv series I enjoy, sex (more often than not solo), video games.
Other things that I enjoy, but do not work for me are music (listening), and reading books. Drinking also doesn't work for me as I rarely drink to begin with.
Drugs I do not do at all.
