Showoff Your Other (Non-Rocket) Hobbies! *Eye Candy Please!*

Nice tank rbelknap. I've kept fish for years and have two tanks currently. Here is picture of the one my daughter and I keep. Not the best picture wise but the fish don't like to pose! Those are Red/ Blue Columbian Tetras (Hyphessobrycon colimbianus) and a Blue Paradise (Macropodus opercularis). Great to see your son making a commitment to the fish and learning about them. The Cardinal Tetras you have there aren't the easiest fish to keep. They need clean water so partial water changes are a good idea. Platty's are hardier and easier to keep. Hope it all works out well for you guys!

KenECoyote said:

Great looking tank rbelknap! I love the blue color! I used to be seriously into aquariums and I do miss it so.

Also great digi pics! I would even hang that watercolor pic up on my wall.

One thing of note is to be careful about overfeeding...especially if the water is cloudy. From what I recall, cloudy water means there is more waste product (including dissolved uneaten food) than the current filtering system can handle. Cloudy water is often a sign of overfeeding and can overtax the filtering system and stress the fish. My :2: and best luck with the tank!

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Thanks!

The cloudy tank was actually during the set-up, while we were getting it established. ("New Tank Syndrome") The tank has been clear since before we started populating it. Main issue for the tank right now is that the water in our area is very hard, and has a naturally high-ish pH. (tank is sitting right around 7.5) Something to keep an eye on. (I've learned almost as much about fish keeping as he has.)

I'd love to take credit for the tank decorations and layout, but that was all my son. Seems like he has a pretty good eye for it. (Although the blue background does sometimes make the tetras hard to spot.)

That's not even the best digital watercolor I've done of the tank so far.

Nice tank Derek! Love the sand...never had a chance to use sand since I often had gavel filters.

Just some background...
-My father loved aquarium fish, so I grew up having fish tanks as well
-I've had all sorts of tanks with the exception of brackish (never got around to it)
-In high school I had a cool tank full of all sorts of weird prehistoric looking fish including a giant pleco; African knife fish; loaches and various Polypteri (sp?) including a Polypterus Delhizi.
-Best freshwater tank I had was 55 gallon and I managed to breed Angelfish when articles said it can't be done.
-I eventually got a 55 gallon saltwater tank and had all sorts of marine fish including a porcupine pufferfish. The puff was very smart...would recognize me when I got home and act almost like a dog. It would see when I went to the fridge to get it's food and would spit water to knock the food out of my fingers waving it above the water. Unbelievable personality in a fish!

Gave up the tanks once I moved to a more rural area where there would often be power outages. Oh well, such is life.

mcderek said:

Nice tank rbelknap. I've kept fish for years and have two tanks currently. Here is picture of the one my daughter and I keep. Not the best picture wise but the fish don't like to pose! Those are Red/ Blue Columbian Tetras (Hyphessobrycon colimbianus) and a Blue Paradise (Macropodus opercularis). Great to see your son making a commitment to the fish and learning about them. The Cardinal Tetras you have there aren't the easiest fish to keep. They need clean water so partial water changes are a good idea. Platty's are hardier and easier to keep. Hope it all works out well for you guys!

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Thanks for the compliments. I'll pass them on to LittleKraken (my son) as well.

We've been doing partial water changes. (about 20% weekly) and we've been keeping an eye on water quality. So far no major issues, although the pH is still kind of high. Thinking about adding a piece of drift wood to the tank. I've heard that might help lower the pH.

So do people name their fish?

We've got Bob, Bob, and Bob; the tetras
Alicia; the Platy (this girl is on fire!)
and Gary; the snail.

Alternate names that have been considered:
"Larry, his brother Darryl and his other brother Darryl" for the tetras
Katnis for the platy (in keeping with the "girl on fire" theme)
and "Waldo" for the snail. (since we's spend a ot of time asking "Where's Waldo?" instead of "Where's Gary?")

JoeG said:

I wish I had more time and money to spend on other hobbies. You guys are making me think of other things I want to do!!

My 1/3 scale Fokker Triplane. 8' wing span. Zenoah G62cc gas engine. Built from plans.

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WOW!! That's VERY impressive!

KenECoyote said:

One of my former passions (currently taking a back seat to rocketry)...custom R/C car building...

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You do like to have FUN! Those look awesome, especially the full metal maxx!

rbelknap said:

Thanks!

The cloudy tank was actually during the set-up, while we were getting it established. ("New Tank Syndrome") The tank has been clear since before we started populating it. Main issue for the tank right now is that the water in our area is very hard, and has a naturally high-ish pH. (tank is sitting right around 7.5) Something to keep an eye on. (I've learned almost as much about fish keeping as he has.)

I'd love to take credit for the tank decorations and layout, but that was all my son. Seems like he has a pretty good eye for it. (Although the blue background does sometimes make the tetras hard to spot.)

That's not even the best digital watercolor I've done of the tank so far.

Click to expand...

Edit: Of course now that I'm looking more closely at that cloudy tank photo, you can see the 3 tetras in it... It did get cloudy a bit when we first added them, but cleared up pretty quickly (by the next morning IIRC)


Edit of the edit: why did I hit reply instead of edit? must be tired.

rbelknap said:

Here' a newish hobby that started around Christmas.

My youngest son has been enjoying "TANKED" on Hulu. He's been wanting to start a community tank of his own since last summer. He checked out beginner aquarium books from the library, asked us to take him to a fish/aquarium store so he could ask questions (and take notes!) We didn't really have room in our old apartment, but since we moved to a new house, he asked Santa for a fish tank.

He got a 10 gallon tank, and we set it up in the family room:
View attachment 280255

After letting the tank run for just over a week, he went to Petco and used the gift card he got in his stocking to buy 3 tetras.
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One of them got stuck in the filter the first night. It was dead by morning. So I fished it out (heh, see what I did there?) and tossed it. We went back to the store because he wanted to ask the aquatics guy if it would be okay to introduce another fish right away, or if he should wait a couple of weeks. The aquatics guy said it would be ok - so we picked a sunset fire platy. The aquatics guy also threw in another tetra and a baby snail.
View attachment 280258

View attachment 280259


Another hobby I sometimes indulge in is digital photography, and manipulation: The tank has provided several opportunities for both:

A digital watercolor:
View attachment 280260

Attack of the Tetras:
View attachment 280261

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Very nice, I love the Tetra Attack!

mcderek said:

Nice tank rbelknap. I've kept fish for years and have two tanks currently. Here is picture of the one my daughter and I keep. Not the best picture wise but the fish don't like to pose! Those are Red/ Blue Columbian Tetras (Hyphessobrycon colimbianus) and a Blue Paradise (Macropodus opercularis). Great to see your son making a commitment to the fish and learning about them. The Cardinal Tetras you have there aren't the easiest fish to keep. They need clean water so partial water changes are a good idea. Platty's are hardier and easier to keep. Hope it all works out well for you guys!

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I used to keep Columbian Tetras, they are great fish, especially when they school together.


I am really into aquariums, probably even more than I am into rockets...


This is my son testing out the new 220 about five years ago.



The finished tank.





An Oxydoras niger that outgrew his tank. He was on his way to the 11,000 gallon "Flooded Amazon" exhibit at the Oregon Zoo.



Spawning Geophagus steindachneri.



One of my favorite Cichlids, Gymnogeophagus balzanii.

WOW! We have some very creative and interesting people on here!

I'm in airport and airshow management, so my career is as much fun as my hobbies:

NDF helicopter at the airport.


My airport is one of the top soaring locations in the world because of the mountain wave. The Perlan II glider is based here preparing to go to 90,000' (yes, 90,000 feet!).


At the airshow this year we hosted the Thunderbirds.


You cannot have enough photos of the Thunderbirds.


And yes, more Thunderbirds.


By the way....the Thunderbirds will be back in 2017 for our airshow.

But I enjoy my hobbies also....rocketry being one of my favorites!

Flying. There is nothing better than flying.


Astrophotography in my observatory. I also do astronomy outreach and star parties for the community.


Scuba diving. I was terrified of lakes & oceans, so in 2006 I took up scuba diving to conquer the fear. I'm a Master Scuba Diver now, and love diving!!!


Shooting. I was a Combat Engineer in the Army for 10 years, and an armorer for a couple of those years, so I prefer the AR platform.


And of course, my V-Rod. Riding the Harley is what I call "2-wheeled meditation."


I didn't post any rocketry photos, but that is my most extensive hobby. I have a room in my house dedicated to the rockets. :eyeroll:

rbelknap said:

Edit: Of course now that I'm looking more closely at that cloudy tank photo, you can see the 3 tetras in it... It did get cloudy a bit when we first added them, but cleared up pretty quickly (by the next morning IIRC)


Edit of the edit: why did I hit reply instead of edit? must be tired.

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Nice looking tank, Robert. Be careful about Gary the snail. Some snail species reproduce like nothing you've ever seen. I think there are some loaches that eat snails, should you ever have the problem.

ckjohnson said:

Astrophotography in my observatory. I also do astronomy outreach and star parties for the community.
View attachment 280309

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Nice looking roll-off roof observatory...what kind of scope lives there?

o1d_dude said:

Nice looking roll-off roof observatory...what kind of scope lives there?

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It's a 10" Meade LX-200R on a 10" concrete pier. I've got an Orion ST80 piggybacked as a guidescope, with an Orion Starfinder autoguider.

I can't really call it an observatory because it's too small to get around the scope for observing. It's an astrophotographyatory.

Built a few more cars to add to my slot car fleet. Having a lot of fun with the Friday night drag racers. There is a lot of good competition females included.

had a decent arcade for a while, pinball focused, but it has seen better days



Ingress keeps me busy



we are LEGO crazy



Wife XMAX gift was a custom Poe's X-Wing in purple

One of my other hobbies.
1967 Camaro
540 BBC built by Mike Moran
Last year it ran low 9's in the quarter . Later this year I am hoping to get it into the high 8's

One of my hobbies is ice racing. I have a 1982 IROC Camaro that I rebuilt in highschool for a new lease on life as an ice oval track racer.









Here are some of the tires we use:





Been a few years since I've been in town to do it though.

I enjoy making and using "Bushcraft" style knives. I was into it for a couple of years and was set up to anneal, harden and temper steel, but usually worked in 1075 or 1095 from Jantz Knifemaking Supply.
I made knives from files, older chainsaw bars and even from tines from old timey farm equipment/implements as found in sheds and local barns.
I miss it, but it was messy work and took up my livingroom worse than my rockets did, so I had to come back to reality.

WILDMANRS said:

View attachment 282015
View attachment 282016
One of my other hobbies.
1967 Camaro
540 BBC built by Mike Moran
Last year it ran low 9's in the quarter . Later this year I am hoping to get it into the high 8's

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Sweet! I had a 68 big block Camaro in 1970 that ran in the 12's. Not as radical as yours but thanks for the memories Tim.

These are all WIP, I never did get around to taking finished shots.


1950s Kit Master Coronation Class I'm building for the grandson.


Big Boy,for the grandson

I perform in fursuit at local parades on behalf of Civil Air Patrol units. Also getting into morning formation at CAP Summer Encampment for flag-raising ceremonies--I salute and return salutes too.

looking at all of this we're all little boys at heart still.

[video=youtube;hHVdJVJJJ94]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVdJVJJJ94&list=PLGUHlCAilJxQXPYNRyzlbkd7 u0gL5G3Aw&index=2[/video]

mbecks said:

looking at all of this we're all little boys at heart still.

[video=youtube;hHVdJVJJJ94]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHVdJVJJJ94&list=PLGUHlCAilJxQXPYNRyzlbkd7 u0gL5G3Aw&index=2[/video]

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I was going to reply to your hobby but I forgot it by now because I got stuck looking at other videos on YouTube autoplay.

Lol you got lost on the YouTube train.

Astronomy, Gunsmithing/defensive pistol shooting, Scale modeling of 1/48 Cold War USAF, HO scale trains, Trek/SW ships.

Eclipse27SEP2015 by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Turd said:

Astronomy, Gunsmithing/defensive pistol shooting, Scale modeling of 1/48 Cold War USAF, HO scale trains, Trek/SW ships.

Eclipse27SEP2015 by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

Untitled by Kris Flory, on Flickr

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Very nice, one the guns looks like the Mauser C96 from Star Wars.

RocketryBill said:

Very nice, one the guns looks like the Mauser C96 from Star Wars.

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That's almost exactly what it is. I need a metal shop to make a few final changes for it to be accurate to the screen prop.

[video=youtube;-cbtpQyXSYg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cbtpQyXSYg[/video]

In no particular order...


Admittedly, the "Slightly Chewie" suit was a store-bought contrivance, but I was the only one to do it, so Win.

I have an inexplicable obsession with cooking and taking photos of it. Like, 20-30,000 photos obsession.




Like many others, I'll point a camera at the sky every now and again. I'm quite terrible at this of course, but I still like it. Grabbed this of jupiter once....
And the obligatory moon shot...


I enjoy all things that take trees apart....





And of course....this


Little bit of riding....



little bit of sailing....

My new creation of a 40 Willy's truck. Drag racing slot cars has become very enjoyable and fun to build.

Since I can't build a Terrordactyl right now, I built a dimorphodon. Pattern is my own creation.





I plan on adding teeth as soon as I can