For the near term I wanted all the animals in the tank to be from our creek.  So, I'm going to tell myself it came from there with the gravel.

 

Just dropped a deer tick in that I picked off myself, shiner ate it with great enthusiasm.

OK, that totally makes sense. I like the hyper local biotope idea.

I do like MTS - they aerate the substrate and they don't munch on plants.

You can try turning out the room lights.

Ok, this question sounds kind of dumb to me but I’m asking anyways. Is there some simple way, that I’m overlooking, to “hide” from my fish? When I’m sitting ten feet away I will see some kind of interesting behavior (maybe spawning) and if I try to get closer they quit. They don’t act frightened, just more curious about what the food man is fixing to do.

I used to sit on the opposite side of the room and watch through binoculars... seriously.

My aquarium is experiencing a population explosion of snails that is amazing to me.  I have the original rams horn type snail that seems to have stopped growing at about the diameter of a nickel.  Meanwhile,  the trumpet shaped snails seem to increase in size and number by the hour.  There are splotches on the glass that look suspiciously like eggs.  It's kind of interesting.  

It seems to be ok for now but there is a noticeable reduction of algae on the rocks and the two stone rollers seem to be taking more of an interest in the flake food.  I'm feeding Tetra Min and a Spiralina based flake food.

I explained to my wife about Assassin snails and she peers in and says we are going to need one of those. : )

Chasmodes needs to answer this question. He gets all kinds of great observations and videos and as near as I can tell, he's pretty darn close to the tanks. As for me I pretty much let myself revel in the interaction with the fishes (even if they're just begging for food) and consider anything natural a bonus if I actually get to see it...

Sorry, for some reason I missed these posts.  I've never had a problem with my 20g long tank.  The fish in that tank were all raised from juveniles, so they are very used to me.  They do beg for food somewhat, but if I don't feed them within a few minutes, they go back to doing what they do as if I'm not there.

But, when I kept fish in my 20g high (same species, blennies, gobies, skilletfish), they were all collected as adults.  Every time I approached and sat at the tank, all they would do is approach the front glass and beg for food relentlessly.  And this happened also even after I fed them!  So, to observe them, I had to find a way to hide so they wouldn't see much of me and forget that I was there.  So, I built a hide out of a blanket and towels, using bungie cords for support and closepins, and it worked.  I'd enter the room and sit next to the tank, and the fish would go nuts begging for food.  Then, I'd clip up the makeshift "hide", and within a few minutes, they'd forget that i was there.

Another thing that I've noticed is that my fish behave differently if the lights are on in the room.  If I turn out the room lights so only the tank is lit, then they seem to forget that I'm there (with my 20g long current oyster reef).  In my 20g high tank, same thing pretty much, but with the blind.  There was enough light from the tank illuminating me that they could still see me.  Behind the blind, it was darker.  However, if I moved, they'd beg again.

Very cool about the snails.  Free healthy food!

My photography continues to be truly awful.

Good looking tank, sir.

What did you decide on your snails?

They are interesting animals.  I still worry about whether or not I should cull some but have not made a decision to this point and have not removed any.

Yes, many of the Darters enjoy snails. Sunnies too.

The yellowfin shiners have spring fever today.  Stoneroller has at least quadrupled in size over the ten months I've had it.