Soothing,
Thank you very interesting your post, I ran out of "Liked this" or would have given you one . With my daughters I too had gerbils, 1 hamster, Bushy tail jirds , Duprasi , Southern Flying squirrels and zebra mice .
I imagine your male mice smelled the worse because regardless of how clean they give off a musky odor .
Decades later I find shrimp easier lol but I enjoy the tank hobby and fortunate that the water here is good so easy enough.
ctaylor,
I remember in the 70s think till early 80s , It was only bare bottom tank for discuss . They had slate bottom tanks than besides the tanks we have now so with slate bottoms it looked nice . Than Europeans who were more advanced began to keep them in planted tanks and via the only fish mag at the time , everyone learned that it could be done .
I never kept discus but friends did and one still does.