why am i here?

just someone trying to pass the time, and hopefully discover new things along the way

[theearthiwalkon]

Hello to my few (but appreciated) followers! I've been debating for a couple weeks on what to do with this blog; I made my account several years ago when I felt very isolated and confused about the direction of my life. I mostly used it for private vents, a sort of e-diary, before I started posting my critters.

While a handy tool then, it's left a lotttt of rather dreary posts that are either privated or cluttering up my drafts, making it difficult for me to want to post sometimes. I'd debated just deleting them all, but have decided to leave them up on this account so I can look back on them whenever I need a reminder of how far I've come.

As a result, I've decided to move to @chasingthesunrise ! I'll continue to post about my little goobers, the shrimps and Pepsi, and may possibly share some more art in the future :)

[theearthiwalkon]

Lurking,,,,

[theearthiwalkon]

Pepsi posing under the tiger lotus during one of his many rounds through the tank! Serving a bold red lip and fin combo, my little diva 💕

[theearthiwalkon]

Shrimplet on some rotala I'm floating before planting :)

[theearthiwalkon]

The beginning of the 10 gal! I moved the tiger lotus to this one, as it was starting to grow into the lace plant in the shrimp tank. Now to wait for it to cycle and the plants to grow in :)

[theearthiwalkon]

The plants have definitely grown in, but so has the algae 🥲 I could very easily scrape it off, but I have a berried shrimp in this tank, so I'm hoping her babies will take care of it for me in a few weeks time

[theearthiwalkon]

How it started:

Versus now:

In preparation for my six shrimp children, I upped the time I left the light on for algae growth, and in the two weeks they've been in the tank they made short work of it 😭

I'm not exactly happy with the aesthetics of the scape, but my tank is too small to lay the cholla wood down, so shrimp tower of babel it is for the time being lol

[theearthiwalkon]

Nano chaos-tank, my beloved 🥰

It still blows my mind how much it's grown in this past year, but as the old adage goes: "there's no such thing as too many plants". (Although the frogbit definitely needs thinning lmao)

[theearthiwalkon]

Pepsi Koila in uncharacteristically perfect lighting! I love the blackwater setup, but getting photos that show his color is a sport in itself.

He was surrendered to the pet store I got him from, so I'm happy to see he's settling into his forever home well <3

[theearthiwalkon]

Meet Pepsi :)

[theearthiwalkon]

Eating pellets with Mama :)

[theearthiwalkon]

Clear full-tank photo without glare challenge, impossible edition

[theearthiwalkon]

[theearthiwalkon]

My new additions! The stripes squad :)

Two black crystal shrimp, and a bumblebee goby, who thankfully has avoided eating any baby shrimp (that I've noticed).

The goby settled in right away, eating as many scuds as he could, though I was a bit worried about the crystals. I'm pretty sure they were hiding in the cholla log the first day, but it seems they're more comfortable with me turning on the light in the morning now.

[theearthiwalkon]

They might not be for everyone, but I love these little guys! My favorite part of my morning routine is sitting down at my desk to turn on their light, and just taking a moment to watch them explore.

With the shrimplets rapidly approaching juvenile size, and yet ANOTHER berried shrimp, they'll be upgraded to a bigger tank hopefully in the next couple of months 🤞

[theearthiwalkon]

Let's clean biofilm with mama,,,

[theearthiwalkon]

[theearthiwalkon]

It'll never fail to impress me just how quickly these little guys DESTROYED the algae buildup; these pics were taken exactly 17 days apart. The fifty or so shrimplets may have also affected that lol

[theearthiwalkon]

The beginning of the 10 gal! I moved the tiger lotus to this one, as it was starting to grow into the lace plant in the shrimp tank. Now to wait for it to cycle and the plants to grow in :)