As for feeling guilty, keeping fish is no different than a cat or dog. Most fish are farm raised. Very few are wild caught. "Most" fish sold now are hybrids and are a little more colorful than their wild cousins. Also, in a properly maintained and established tank, the fish usually outlive the wild ones. A far as low maintainance, it depends on your water chemistry and quality. Not meaning your tap water is safe to drink and has no bacteria, just pH,nutrients and hardness. For example tap water that is hard and higher in pH is going to be more work for the fish that require a more acidic environment, also the type of plants that will do well in it. This can be reversed for acidic water for the needs of hard water fish. Any way you can save alot of money by building your own tankstand. They usually cost as much as an aquarium kit. For live planted tanks with the "red" plants you like (my favorite also), you need a high amount of light. A few plants do well in the low light that is usually provided in "complete" kits. I can go on and on (I normally do), so I'll post a few sites for you that I found usefull. This first is all around the best IMO. P.S. Goldfish only become a problem if the tank and filtration isn't sufficient. A bowl is way too small for them. When they grow they emit more ammonia and poison them selfs. Also they can grow to 12"+, a min 30 gallon tank with good filtration will work great. Here is a link that might be useful: Best info IMO

"If my reward for that kindness is to have to deal with unscrupulous creeps who feel entitled to do as they please with my work, then something needs to change." But, it really is the bad percentage that we often react to, isn't it. I'm sure you've had a ton of profiteers stealing your work, but are they really the majority of people using your work? (and by using, I mean, visiting your site, reading your site, looking at your photos.) I would guess the majority, were people who -didn't- take your stuff, and just really enjoy your website. (How many hits does your site get and how many instances of copyright violation are there?) I can totally see how you'd get tired and frustrated from having to protect your copyright. Your site was one of the first that I found when I was looking for more information on Old Roses. (Google quite likes you as I'm sure you know.) And it's your choice. So please don't think I'm blaming you. But something doesn't necessarily "need to change". It has to change for you because that's where you're personal line of "enough is enough" is, but it's a choice. All the emails I've gotten over the years, and the friends I've made from being online and the unusual opportunities,... those to me outweigh my personal profiteers. Everyone has to make their own choices as to where that "worth it" line is. Like I said before, I have friends (who are artists) who don't post their work online for these reasons. campanula - I think if someone owns the copyright to something, it should not be stolen, according to the legal rules of copyright (whatever that is in each instance). I don't think that it's related to how famous or even how talented the owner of the copyright is. I don't really understand why we even have to argue the worth or how "professional" something is. If you create a work of art, you own the copyright. Even if it is hideous or amateurish. on the notion of taking photos of people's private gardens without permission. I must admit that over the past few months, when I drive by a house with a particularly beautiful garden, I stop and quickly take a photo. I've been saving these photos in a private folder on my computer. At one point, I'd thought about posting a thread sharing the photos so that other people could admire or be inspired by them, but then, I was also worried that perhaps by chance, one of the garden owners might see the thread and somehow be annoyed that I'd posted a photo of their garden without permission. So I haven't, and probably wont.

Steve, Please forgive the few hiccups that are bound to happen with changing of the gaurd. The guy we usually depend on to take photos had his sons wedding to deal with this past Spring. Rebecca, has always done a wonderful job with the websight and has done such at her own cost. Jeff has been the director for the past few years and always had it together. These are all wonderful, dependable, giving people. Now you have me as a director, for the time being anyway. So I take the blame for any info that has not flowed as quickly as it should. Our next swap will be Oct 17 and will be posted as such. If you have any pictures you would like to see added to the volunteer websight please send them to Rebecca. If you would prefer a more non technical approach then I could always use a hand setting up food tables, pouring drinks, prepping the food, tearing down and loading tables, or picking up trash. We are more than three months away from the Fall swap. As it more closely approaches I will line up volunteers for the less technical stuff. Again please forgive the kinks that come up as I adjust to this position. See you at the swap! Rhonda

I agree with Joe; the extraordinarily good info and wonderful people here make every other website I've looked at seem boring; besides, the info in other places often tends to be redundant or (more troubling) wrong! (Even the much-loved Worms Eat My Garbage book has a fair amount of somewhat misleading info in it.) Reading this website regularly not only answers all your questions, but demonstrates quite decisively that there are lots and lots of perfectly successful ways to pursue this fun hobby; that so long as the basics are met, the details are quite flexible; and that you can tweak your set up to enhance your own personal goals from the system (whether it's worm breeding, compost-producing, waste recycling, or a combination of all three). And the absolute absence of flamers is so refreshing! We couldn't even get a good fight going over the dog poop issue! That said, I have found the photographs in other websites useful; especially since Cass stopped posting her pictures (where did you go, Cass?) we've had kind of a dearth of good close-ups, and they can be very helpful. Maybe we should try to start a Photo Gallery?