Bart (Necturus maculosus) 2 yr update

[Ryan]

Hey everyone, it's now been officially 2 years since I got my mudpuppy, Bart. Based on her size right now (about 11 inches) I'm guessing she is in the 7-8 year old range. Everything has been going fine this past year except for a few temperature spikes that were experienced while I was away in the summer. She has been recently relocated to a new and larger tank, from a 20 gallon tall to a 30 gallon long. The new tank is not completely finished being setup, more water needs to be added and possibly more hides (there are 3 currently). I tried planting the elodea, but the mudpuppy either digs it up or it floats up. I figure that even if I managed to anchor it, it would still grow in a large clump at the extremely fast rate that it grows in my tank. The temp lately has been in the mid to high 50s and all seems well. In the old tank Bart tended to swim when she should be hiding quite a bit sometimes. This could have meant a number of things but in this new tank I created a new hide that she spends all her time in, this is very releiving to me as perhaps she just didn't feel as protected in her past hides and tried searching for new ones by swimming about worrying me. Here are some pictures of the new tank and a bad shot of her (hiding in her new favorite spot), and her "lean-to" I made. Tomorrow when I feed her maybe I'll be able to get a better shot. Let me know what you think.

[Otterwoman]

I wish I could get my elodea to grow like that! Two years already? where does the time go. She looks great (what I can see of her) and I'm sure she'll love all that space.