# Musings on a Stormy Night



## Fenghuang

Alright, so, it's not really a stormy night. There is still light outside and the faint aroma of burnt wood and smoke in the air (one of my neighbor's having a barbeque or something, I guess). But I used to go by Stormy on a number of forums and I do most of my deep, epiphanic thinking at night. You know... About the meaning of life and what goes on in my cat's head and complex stuff like that. And it did rain pretty heavily a couple of nights ago. That counts for something right? 

Fine. I couldn't think of anything else, okay?

Enough of intros. I suck at intros, anyway. I don't think it is really necessary for me to ramble on for another page and a half to tell you that this is the place where I will stick all my ramblings from now on. So... Yeah. That's it for now.


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## Fenghuang

_Give me hope in silence
It's easier, it's kinder
Tell me not of heartbreak
It plagues my soul, it plagues my soul
We will meet back on this road
Nothing gained, truth be told
But I'm not the enemy
It isn't me, the enemy_

Mumford and Sons - "The Enemy"​

I started a journal today. Yes. I'm journaling about journaling. Laaaame.

See? This is why all my past journals failed. Not just failed either. Fricking crashed and _burned._ 

Yet, here I am again. 

_You know what they say about insanity..._ "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Or, at least, Einstein allegedly did.

Hmm. *rummages through the recesses of her brain for something to write about*

I did a bad thing, guys. Seriously, I am ashamed. I neglected my drawing requests and instead, committed mass brain cell genocide by reality TV. Bridezilla. It is not even remotely enjoyable to watch.

I buried Scar this morning. Cleaned out the new tank that I purchased and set up for him just yesterday. Moved Fang into it so he would have a little more room to swim. Broke down Fang's tank. Swapped out half of Tilli's Dalmatian's water for new water. Fed everyone. Did a sketch of what I have planned for littelboyblu's drawing. Then, I proceeded to waste away hours in front of the TV. 

I think, subconsciously, I created this journal out of guilt over my failed day. Which means, it's not so subconscious anymore. 'Cuz, I identified it and everything. Yeah, I really do ramble too much.


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## Pandoras

This. This reminds me of why I fell in love with you. <3

No. I won't explain. XD 


To those others who see this, just keep in mind I /always/ know why I fell in love with her. This is just a warm reminder, ^^


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## Skyewillow

It's not a failed day, except the Bridezillas part. I always want to slap those women.

We all allowed our non-productive day, including you, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think it helps to keep us sane (except for the Bridezillas part lol).

Hopefully your brain cells can rebuild after all of that! lol

Have a great night, Feng. ^_^


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## Fenghuang

^ Obviously, Pan's the romantic one. xD

I think the draw of reality TV is the same one as watching a car crash. It is like morbid curiosity. It's so bad, you can't not watch.

Gah, why am I justifying awful programming?


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## Pandoras

I dunno 'bout that, I guess you could call me romantic, but eh. 

Well, reality shows are a great way to avoid reality around us, but I'm more of a sucker for HGTV and FoodNetwork.


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## MattsBettas

> I think the draw of reality TV is the same one as watching a car crash. It is like morbid curiosity. It's so bad, you can't not watch.


^This is why I am so addicted to honey boo boo.


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## Skyewillow

I prefer the ID channel, call me morbid! LOL


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## Fenghuang

Honey Boo Boo? Boo! That show is awful.

I like ID a lot too.


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## MattsBettas

Sort of like you said... It's like watching a train wreck. You can't pull your eyes away.


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## Skyewillow

I can! lol


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## Fenghuang

_So take this night
Wrap it around me like a sheet
I know I'm not forgiven
But I need a place to sleep
So take this night
And lay me down on the street
I know I'm not forgiven
But I hope that I'll be given 
Some peace_

Black Lab - "Night"​

Still feeling completely unmotivated and not wanting to do anything. I keep dragging my feet on school work (end-of-the-year projects, ugh). At least the school year will be over soon. I will officially be a college freshmen in three months. Woo! Oh, and in a mountain of debt. 

My guest (Tilli's VT) is doing very well. I moved him into Fang's old tank to give him a little more room to stretch his fins. 

I need to change Phoenix and Barti's tank water soon, but I'm so lazy. I am thinking about getting some black gravel or sand. My "natural" tone gravel is starting to look plain and boring. Also would like to buy new decor, but I'm picky and never see anything I like for sale.


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## Fenghuang

Two pictures of Tilli's Dalmatian that I took tonight. I feel like a proud parent. It is going to be like watching my kid leave the nest when he finally goes home lol.


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## dramaqueen

He's pretty! He reminds me of my Fernando.


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## Fenghuang

Thanks. He is indeed a pretty boy. I am excited to ship him to Tilli, but also extremely nervous about it.


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## Fenghuang

Can I just take a moment to say how frickin' talented Skyewillow is? 









Photo belongs to Skyewillow.​
Thank you, Skye. This is a thousand times better than the sketch I gave you to work with. It's absolutely fabulous!


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## Skyewillow

Fenghuang said:


> Can I just take a moment to say how frickin' talented Skyewillow is?
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Photo belongs to Skyewillow.​
> Thank you, Skye. This is a thousand times better than the sketch I gave you to work with. It's absolutely fabulous!


When I have an awesome reference to work from, I can do quite a bit! I'm seriously considering printing and framing your reference art, it is so beautifully done, and it made my job a lot easier!

I'm most proud of that plush, and I'm absolutely thrilled that you like it!


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## dramaqueen

Cool!!


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## Fenghuang

Isn't it?  I love it so much.


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## Fenghuang

_Do robots dream of electric sheep? 
I need to live my dreams, not just in my sleep
I've been holed up here, but it's time to leave 
I need to make my move while I've air to breathe
Don't give me drugs, no Novocaine 
I must be alive 'cause I still feel pain 
We were born with wings 
We were made to fly 
We were meant to live while we're still alive_

Superchick - "Alive"​

Gaaaiz, I am horrible at keeping on top of these things...

I guess I'll start with a couple of highlights.

Tilli's Dalmatian, now dubbed Kirin, made it safely home this afternoon. This was my first time shipping fish (or anything) ever, so I am ecstatic that everything went so smoothly. 

Two new bettas have joined the family. They are both plakats from Petco, but one is a white dragonscale single tail and the other is a metallic-y grizzle/marble double tail. I think the latter has some crowntail blood. I will try to get nicer pictures of them to put up.

I finally heard back from my school's Office of Financial Aid this afternoon, more than a month after my initial inquiry about the lack of financial aid I was getting from them (isn't college bureaucracy great?), and they threw some more money my way. 

I found out I am exempt from my Statistics final and that was a pleasant surprise. After AP Stat, AP Calc, and AP Physics, I seriously do not want to look at math any time soon.

And last but not least, the school year is almost over. In fourteen days, I will officially be a high school graduate. It has been way too long.

On the downside, I still have homework. Lots of it. Actually, I have a English project due in the morning and I had not started it at all. Yay, procrastination!


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## MattsBettas

Lol. I feel your pain!


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## Fenghuang

Right? I swear my teachers are trying to take me out. @[email protected]


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## MattsBettas

Not much longer, at least.


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## Fenghuang

That awkward moment when you stay up all night to finish your project and end up forgetting the project at home anyway...


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## Skyewillow

oohhhhhhh.... that stinks! >_>


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## Fenghuang

My teacher said I could just bring it tomorrow. But still, I am angry at myself on principle.


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## Fenghuang

The Aquabid fish are coming! I am absolutely ecstatic. Thank you again, Deanna, for allowing me to have beautiful fish I never even dreamed of owning.



















I am also--because of one member's extreme generosity--getting this boy too. This handsome fella had to be let go because he was bought and paid for by mistake.


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## dramaqueen

omg, are those yours?


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## Fenghuang

Yes, they are! We are expect them sometime in the next week or so. ^^


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## MattsBettas

Those are beautiful, feng! I'm happy for you!


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## Fenghuang

Thank you, Matt. They'll be my first Aquabid fish.  

Speaking of AB fish, did you ever get that female you wanted for your boy?


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## MattsBettas

Don't have her yet, but she's coming! I'm beyond excited to get her.


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## Fenghuang

I hope she makes it to you safe and sound. Bet you'll get some beautiful babies from her.


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## MattsBettas

Thanks. It'll take a bit of work to correct flaws but the color is what I want! I am planning the spawn for the middle-end of August. I am a bit worried, but I am praying she is fine.


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## Fenghuang

Is it warm up there up now? Shipping should be a breeze in comparison to winter. Don't worry, I am sure everything will work out.


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## MattsBettas

Oh yea. The weather is nice (but fairly unpredictable). It's not like we live in the arctic or anything lol! It's usually about 20* this time of year.

During the winter shipping should in theory be safe, if everyone does their job properly.


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## Fenghuang

That does sound lovely. It is starting to get way too hot down here. And humid. The sort of weather that makes you want to lounge around and do nothing.

Human error is much more forgivable in the summer though.


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## Fenghuang

_Take the pill that makes you weaker
Take the pill that makes you sick
Take the pill or you’ll be sorry
Take this bloody pill and make it quick
Take the pill that kills your sex drive
Take the pill that makes you cry
Take the pill that burns your insides
Take the pill that makes you want to die
Be careful what you say…
Today could be your day…

_Emilie Autumn - "Take the Pill"


I kind of feel like it's pretentious of me to quote song lyrics at the beginning of my journal entries. What do you guys think?

I've been exempt from all my final exams. Yup... Hello, Sloth Me. I want to do some artwork and brush up on my writing and every single time I try to, it ends up going a bit like this:

Me: So, how about that poem...
My brain: Haha_, _you're funny.

I loath being an uncreative artist. 

The unnamed white dragon PK is severely sick. I knew something was wrong with him when I bought him, but I chalked it up to him being at Petco for more than a month. But two weeks have passed now and he is showing all the symptoms of columnaris. He also has not eaten in all the time I have had him and he is heartbreakingly thin. I am trying treatment, but I fear he is too far gone. At this rate, would it be kinder to euthanize?

On a more postive note though, Viserion is doing great. 



























​


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## MattsBettas

What temp is he at, what symptoms are he showing, and how bad is it?

If it is columnaris lower the temp down to 76-78 degrees, do a large water change (carefully acclimating him back in), and great with aquarium salt or some other meds, I think kanaplex would work...


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## Fenghuang

He has been kept at 78 degrees this entire time. I am treating with aquarium salt and water changes. Symptons are lethargy, bent body, bloody looking clamped fins, some sort of fuzzy white growth (that was a few days ago, I don't see it now), little holes on his head, and no appetite. Along with that, he has horrible eyesight, but that appears to be unrelated. He spends all day hanging near the surface of the water, head tilted upwards and not moving (no SBD though).

Oh, and he is constantly gasping for air.


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## MattsBettas

The bloody fins and air gasping kind of sound like septicemia :/

Kanaplex and maracyn I&II are usually suggested... What you are currently doing will help tons but I would try those meds... I am going to suggest kanaplex in particular because it will absorb into his system the best, which is critical as he is not eating.


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## MattsBettas

The bloody fins and air gasping kind of sound like septicemia :/

Kanaplex and maracyn I&II are usually suggested... What you are currently doing will help tons but I would try those meds... I am going to suggest kanaplex in particular because it will absorb into his system the best, which is critical as he is not eating.


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## Fenghuang

Not columnaris then... Does that mean his prognosis is better? Or worse? 

I am sure when I can go out to get the meds (don't even know where I can find those), but I will look for them. Poor guy looks so sad though. He is tough and hanging in there, but I don't know how long he will last. Thank you.


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## MattsBettas

Taken directly from darkmoon's guide-



> •Symptoms: Bloody red streaks across the body and/or fins, lethargic, loss of apetite, clamped, gasping for air, bloated, ulcers.
> •Treatment: Septicemia is caused by an internal bacterial infection. From what I’ve read, it can be due to compromised digestion as a result of rapid drops in temperature. Since Nitrite poisoning can also cause red streaks, check for that first. I do not know if it can be treated conservatively as I have never tried. Though it is not contagious, isolate sick fish. Perform daily 100% water changes. Treat with API Tetracycline, API Erythromiacin, Mardel’s Maracyn II OR Jungle’s Fungus Clear/Eliminator. If you are treating with something that does not contain Metronidoxole then combine the treatment with Jungle’s Anti-Parasite pellets. During treatment, use 1tsp/gal Aq.Salt and Stress Coat (as directed on bottle) to help prevent secondary infections.


I'm fairly sure kanaplex appeared after the guide was created, but other (reliable) sources cite it as an effective med for this. Kanaplex is generally regarded as one of the best antibiotics, but unfortunately it is one of the hardest to find. I would recommend having some on hand just in case, usually you have to order it online. If you don't think this guy is going to make it, don't spend tons of money on the quick shipping, but I would still order it "for next time". 

I believe the maracyns can be bought at petsmart. If you can't get kanaplex, try those.

Septicemia and columnaris are both serious, but the good thing is that he doesn't have acute columnaris which kills within a day. Prognosis is more or less the same, I would say.


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## Fenghuang

Thank you. I really appreciate the helpful info. Now, let's just hope his condition does not get worse before I can get his medication.


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## MattsBettas

I really do hope he pulls through.


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## MattsBettas

How is he today?


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## Fenghuang

The same. He does not seem to be getting worse. 

Wait. Is the disease fungal? I have some powerful anti-fungal medication that my great uncle gave me at home, I think... Forgot all about it until now. I cannot remember the brand right now (I'm at work), but it is thick and blue and one of the illnesses it is supposed to treat is velvet.


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## MattsBettas

Septicemia is a systemic bacterial infection, but some antifungals are effective against bacterias. Check the brand (or the medicinal ingredients) when you can and I will look into it for you.


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## Fenghuang

Nevermind, I was wrong. It's not anti-fungal. It is to treat external parasites. I just looked it up.



> Product Description
> 
> Unique non-staining liquid controls parasites.
> Mardel CopperSafe safely medicates fish suffering from ich (small white spots), velvet (yellow-white spots, loss of color), and other external parasites (visible spots, worms, rapid breathing, extra mucous). For salt and freshwater. Unique non-staining liquid. One treatment is effective for over a month.
> 
> Ingredients: Chelated Copper Sulfate.
> 
> Instructions: Use 5mL for 4 gallons of water. Treats water for 1 month.


Source: http://m.petsmart.com/mt/www.petsma...2753380&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No#un_searchblur


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## MattsBettas

Coppersafe is a _very_ powerful med. I have never seen it reccomended for septicemia though :/

Are you planning on breeding the dt boy and the hmpk girl you are getting?


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## Fenghuang

I figured. /:

I think the HMPK girl would be interesting to breed, but as it was pointed out, the girl has some kinks that need to be worked out and if I want to get some nice HMPKs, I don't think breeding her to the DT boy is the right way to go. And both of their colours are all over the place, which I love, but combining them seems like overkill.


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## Fenghuang

Good news. I came home tonight and the white PK is actively swimming around. His fins are still bloody looking, but they are no longer clamped. Also, he isn't gasping for air as much. Fingers crossed that he at least stays like this until I can get my hands on some meds.


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## MattsBettas

Yay! Monitor his recovery... If he is making good progress on aq salt and very clean water alone stronger meds may not be needed...


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## dramaqueen

I'm glad he's doing better. Let's hope he's on his way to recovery.


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## Fenghuang

All our Aquabid bettas arrived safe and sound!


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## MattsBettas

Yay! That's excellent! How's the white boy?


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## Fenghuang

Better by tenfolds. I cupped him and took some pictures. I do not have any of him from a few days ago, but basically, his body and fins were bloodred. He also had some fuzzy growth growing on his head and mouth area before that, but that went away on its own. You can still see pink, but his fins are fine now and he is not clamping anymore. 

Oh, and he seems to have more of an appetite and is going after food.


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## Fenghuang

My goldies wanted some exposure.










Also, my big boy, just because.


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## Fenghuang

_I feel the love _
_ And I feel it burn_
_ Down this river every turn_
_ Hope is a four letter word_
_ Make that money_
_ Watch it burn_
_ Old, but I'm not that old_
_ Young, but I'm not that bold_
_ And I don't think the world is sold_
_ I'm just doing what we're told_
_ I, feel something so wrong_
_ But doing the right thing_
_ I could lie, could lie, could lie_
_ Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly_

One Republic - "Counting Stars"


Well, I totally predicted that I would end up neglecting my journal. 

Updates: Um. *WHINING RANT IN-COMING* Okay, now that that's out of the way, we had some deaths. ):

Unnamed female (wild-type VT) - August 31, 2013
Unnamed female (black CT) - September 9, 2013
Sesha (blue dalmatian HM from Catwoman) - October 1, 2013 
Mizuchi (black copper HMPK) - October 8, 2013
Calcifer (orange CT) - October 13, 2013
Sena (fancy dragon HMPK from Deanna) - October 17, 2013


The latter four didn't show any obvious signs of being sick or injured or stress or...anything. They simply upped and died. Keeping these creatures really just makes you think about how fragile life is.

I am also in college now and living in a dorm. On one hand, I appreciate the freedom I have now; on the other hand, I miss the familiarity of home a lot. It snuck up on me, realising how homesick I was. I feel very depressed. I am having an extremely difficult time focusing and finding the motivation to do things, and then, not being able to do things make me feel even more depressed. I can't think straight at all, I can't concentrate on anything, I can't find anything I am interested in, and it just sucks.

I am not getting enough sleep, I think, because I have bad joints. I'm not even 20 and I have bad joints! -_- Usually, they only flare up from time to time, but they have been hurting nonstop for more than a week now and they are keeping me up at night, so now, I'm sleep-deprived and achy.

Better news, I got a job. (Well, technically two, but the other is a bit more informal.) It's a campus job in an office. Of course I don't make a whole lot, but I still like it. The people there are great. Everyone is super friendly and the atmosphere is laid back and actually kind of fun. Not bad for a first job, I will say. Also got to visit the gf and her family over the weekend, which was wonderful. That was a much needed break.

I am sure there are tons of other things to talk about too (it has been months since my last update, after all), but I honestly can't think right now.​


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## Fenghuang

Phoenix passed on. ):

On the bright side, I am getting a sibling pair from Deanna! They are gold metallic HMPK's from her first spawn. The photos were taken by Deanna.

Male!










Female!


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## MattsBettas

Nice pair, Feng. Are they just pets, or do you have breeding plans? 

And, uh, Counting Stars is a good song. I've honestly considered making 

"Old, but I'm not that old
Young, but I'm not that bold
And I don't think the world is sold
I'm just doing what we're told" 

my sig multiple times.

Hope you feel better.


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## Fenghuang

I don't want them to go to waste, so I would like to eventually spawn them. What do you think? Are they a good pairing? 

And I played Counting Stars nonstop for a good three or four weeks. It was _baaaaad._ My favourite verse is "Everything that drowns me makes me wanna fly."


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## dramaqueen

Yeah, Deanna has some beautiful fish. I love gold!


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## MattsBettas

Definitely a good pairing, I love them. Beautiful color and awesome form (the males dorsal... I would kill for my fish to have dorsals like that). Believe me, if I could I would be buying some. 

That's actually exactly what I did to when I first "discovered" the song in... May(?). I do that all the time though, find a song I like then listen to it until I get bored of it lol. I think I've done it with a few of OneRepublic's songs.


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## Fenghuang

Yeah, I love his dorsal too! I am obsessed with nice dorsals, haha. This was an older picture of him Deanna took. 

I thought a breeder on this forum was going to pick him because Deanna told me she asked for him first, but she ended up picking another stunning male, so I ended up choosing him.










I really like the female too. Just ask Deanna how often I mentioned I was in love with her when we talked about her spawn lol!


Hehe, I am glad I am not the only one that replays songs until I am finally sick of then. I can still hear my friends groaning. xD


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## Fenghuang

Lost three of my favourite fish. Absolutely heartbroken. </3


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## MattsBettas

Aww I'm sorry, feng. Who passed?


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## Fenghuang

Moo-stash (the green marble dragonscale HMDT in my avatar) and my pair from Deanna. They passed away yesterday. Still can't believe they're gone.


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## MattsBettas

That's awful, I know how important all of those were to you. The pair were young and I know what it's like to lose fish you plan on breeding. Did the heater malfunction or something?


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## Fenghuang

Too young. They were...four months old? They had so much potential. ):

No, not a heater malfunction. These were the fish I kept close to me. They were all in divided tank in my dorm. But the downside of living in a dorm is that you have to vacate for winter break. Originally, my parents and I decided that I would take the bus back to New Jersey because it was cheaper and easier. But they changed their minds in the end; they wanted me to fly. That was better for me, but not so much for my bettas. 'Cuz, if I had taken the bus, I could have just brought them on the bus with me. But since I was flying, I had to ship them instead.

I was trying to get everything in order and, it being the last few days before Christmas, the shipping bags and supplies I ordered online arrived at the very last minute on the 17th. I had to leave for my flight at 4:30 am on the 18th, so I couldn't drop them off at the campus post office myself. I packaged them very carefully right before I left and entrusted them to a good friend to take care of them.

Now, my friend was an absolute saint. She had an exam at 8 in the morning on the 18th and stayed up all night to study for it, but she was at the post office the moment it opened that day to drop my fish off. I told her that I wanted them to be Express mailed and gave her money for it (by accident, I had gotten a flat rate USPS Priority box, but my friend said she would make sure that they changed it to Express). What happened next was just one big mess. 

According to my friend, the employee she dealt with was rude and not that bright. She was dismissive and scattered. She insisted that the address I gave her did not exist and basically kept my friend there for just about two hours trying to get them shipped. My friend called Ci to confirm the address, and despite the fact that she freaking _lives_ there, the employee would not accept it. She ended up giving the address of her mom's house across the street. The employee still printed the name and address wrong a couple of times before she got it right. My friend kept repeating that she wanted Express, even if they couldn't give me flat rate and I had to pay more for it because there were live fish inside and they needed to be delivered by the next day. The employee assured her that it will be done and charged her accordingly for the service. Knowing my friend, she would not have left until she was absolutely sure everything was correct.

Next day comes, and they weren't there. I pull up tracking and what did it say? UPS Ground Mail. Anywhere from 1-5 day for delivery. Sinking feeling in my stomach. Checked the transit map and it said that from GA to MO (Ci's state), it would take two days. I was livid.

They were in MO in a town just an hour away on the morning of the 19th. Why they didn't deliver them then, I do not know. They did not arrive until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon on the 20th. They had taken the flat rate box I had packed them in and stuck it in a UPS Ground box. 

When Ci opened the box, they were all still alive, but barely. They had all turned white from the cold and were visibly distressed. The transit route UPS Ground took was through areas which were experiencing subzero degree weather. Moo-stash died minutes after the box was opened. The gold HMPK was on his back, gasping for air. The female on her side. The female went next and the male soon followed. The only one that survived was our koi PK male. Ci called me on Facetime when they were unboxed. I still can't get the image of Moo-stash's lifeless body out of my eyes.

I feel so wretched. I feel like I really screwed up, even though I know a lot of things went wrong. And not only did I love those fish, but Moo-stash was Ci's favourite fish as well as my friend's (the one that sent them) favourite. She would come to my dorm every single day in between classes to say hi and play with him. She really loved that fish. I don't even know how I am going to break the news to her. She will be devastated. And she didn't even want to ship them in the first place because she was worried about them just being stressed out. Kept asking if it would be okay for them to be in bags and not having food for a few days...

The worst part about all of this was that Moo-stash and the pair hung on until they got to our door to die. These fish were tough. They could have made it. If they had arrived just an hour earlier, they could have been revived. There were so many chances.


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## MattsBettas

That's awful and really tragic. I'm so sorry for your losses. I've had frozen fish delivered to me before, but they were fish I didn't know yet and they were dead when I opened the box, which wasn't pleasant by any means but was probably a lot easier to accept then watching pets die in front of you. 

I hope you're filing a complaint with USPS or whatever you used. Remember that you didn't screw up, they did.


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## Pandoras

To tell you how strong they were, the three looked dead upon arrival, but my brother noticed the male was slightly moving his fins. Koi boy was almost transparent, but he was angrily swimming around despite. 

And to clarify the postal worker's incompetence, I was taking Jasper to the vet at 10:50 AM when our friend first called. She left a voicemail while I was in with the vet, and then called me again at 1 PM because the postal worker still didn't had the rift address. Sigh. 

I feel terrible because I feel like I should have ensured, considering the worker's incompetence, just spoke with the lady myself and then followed the chain of command to file a complaint at the time. 

I loved Moostash, </3


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## Fenghuang

Oh, we are definitely filing a complaint. I don't even understand how the lady interpreted what was said as us wanting first class mail.


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## Pandoras

Our poor babies, /:


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## MattsBettas

I see that you're back! Any updates for us?


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## Fenghuang

Oh hai, Matt!!! 

I was debating whether or not to post in this thread yesterday night. The "please note that this thread is over 152 days old..." message kept making me feel guilty. >> But now that you necro'ed it for me, I feel less ashamed of myself, so thanks! 

Fishkeeping-wise, I am kind of at a stall right now. We are down to thirteen bettas. Four boys. Very sad because we used to have so many more males than females. Our Raijin (the koi HMPK), passed last Thursday. Old age, probably, because there was nothing wrong with him. They say imports do not live as long in the States. Who knows, maybe it's true. A few weeks back, another male, our partial EE, slipped pass the divider that separated his and another boy's side. Ci could hardly recognize him when she came home and found him. He away over night. The other fish had barely a scratch on him. Sometimes, all these fancy variations you see make you forget why this species was domesticated in the first place. But the fish are quick to show you if you get careless. 

We did take on a baby albino bristlenose pleco though. He is so cute and has long fins. Fast little bugger too. It took the guy at the LFS over twenty minutes to net him out of their 75 gallon display tank (which held hundreds of guppies that kept getting scooped up in the process) and the entire time, I was freaking out like a brooding mother worried that the guy was going to hurt my fish! It was seriously terrifying. I don't know how much they typically cost, but he was 6 USD and when I saw him, I had to have him. I can't wait until he grows more. I know he is going to be a real beauty.

Life-wise, the report is even less exciting. I'm back from uni for the summer, so I am currently looking for another seasonal job. I applied to a couple of places, including Petsmart and Petco. No respond yet, but a girl can dream... Honestly, I don't care what job I get as long as I get _a_ job.

How about you?

EDIT: Wow, this post took me almost three hours to write with the constant interruptions.


----------



## Fenghuang

Remember this little guy?



He is all grown up now. He got neutered today, in fact. He has grown up to be a man. Well, temporarily, anyway.



*sniff* They grow up so fast... Makes my old cat lady heart feel old.


----------



## Fenghuang

I don't know if you guys read her posts or seen her pictures, but Deanna01 bred a really pretty metallic HMPK spawn a while back. She ended up having to leave the hobby, but she sent me a few of her fry. Most of the siblings were copper or gold in colour, but this female is a bit of an oddball. 

Photo belongs to Deanna01.​
Critiques or comments, anyone?


----------



## Fenghuang

I miss her brother and sister. They were a beautiful pair and had very sweet temperaments (not to each other or other bettas though). I am going to be really gun shy about shipping fish for a long time. 





These are the two brothers I have currently. Would either of these match the marble? Their parents were also a sibling pair.





There are also three other sibs in the sorority. The boys have a girl to match each and a third girl that is a cull. Another "pet-quality" brother went to Ci's roommate. He has been named King Mitus and lives pretty spoiled.

Name suggestions for any of these fish would be appreciated.


----------



## Fenghuang

Marble girl came down with something so we pulled her from the sorority. Don't know what exactly. She had no appetite and was hiding a lot and swimming funny (head down tail up like SBD). We noticed some fuzzy sore in her side a day after we put her in QT. 

I love these fish and this hobby to pieces, but it has been so frustrating lately with all the deaths that seem to come out of the blue. Also worrying about the other girls since she was housed with them.


----------



## Fenghuang

I hate when fish get sick. It especially sucks that I am too many states to do anything right now.


----------



## Fenghuang

Marble girl (whom we named Tiki after a Fire Emblem character) is still alive. Not sure if she beat whatever illness she had, but she isn't getting worse, so we are just leaving be in her own tank. 

The runt/cull female died though. Not sure why, but she was never as healthy as her sisters. She wasn't the prettiest (crooked scaling and fugly uneven fins), but she was friendly fish. It's sad.


----------



## MattsBettas

That's too bad, Feng, I'm sorry. I'm glad the marble girl is doing well though!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you. I'm glad she's okay too!

Tiki is about a year old. I hope she is not slowing down already. We have another girl from Walmart that is nearing three now and going strong. She is built like a tank with big boned plakat features. She survived an ich outbreak, a columnaris outbreak, and another random inexplainable thing that killed eight other bettas and some cories in the tank without ever coming down with any of them. I've mused about breeding her to see if she had some indestructible tank gene she could pass on, but it wouldn't be practical if I couldn't place her fry.


----------



## Pandoras

Excuse for betta pond...?


But seriously, Aru is going on four years old, actually.


----------



## Fenghuang

Coughenablercoughcough. ...I mean, is that what you really want?

Uh, no, I keep records, hun. You brought the sorry looking thing home right after our first date. xD It would be amazing if she was though.


----------



## Fenghuang

This chance picture of my cat is just too funny not to be shared.


----------



## DaytonBetta

That spooky cat goes well with your journal name!


----------



## Fenghuang

Hehe, thank you. Honestly, I just giggle every time I look at it. Ari was just laying sleepily behind me on the sofa and I got him with the camera and he looked so surprised.


----------



## Fenghuang

Let me just take a moment to gush over this beautiful memorial piece Syriiven painted for our babies. I mean—LOOK AT THIS! This girl is freaking amazing. 

Art by Syriiven.​
Link to her deviantArt gallery here: http://syrazel.deviantart.com

If you have some free time, please go check it out. You won't be disappointed.


----------



## Fenghuang

Tiki is still alive, but has been refusing to eat anything for about a week now. Not getting worse otherwise. One of our one year old VT girls died last night. Once again, no signs of any illness.

SIP Ember.



Tiki's copper brother, Achilles, was euthanized a few minutes ago. He started pineconing last night out of nowhere. He was still swimming around this morning, but when Ci got home from work at 6 pm, he had gone downhill. Achilles was, more or less, standing on his head belly side up and couldn't even swim to the surface for air. His fins have rapidly deteriorated. We floated him in a cup so he could breathe, but he just had that look. A couple of times, his gill movements ceased and he appeared to have died, but then he moved again. So, I told Ci to put him down because it didn't seem like there was any coming back from that and it would have just dragged on like that for a few more hours.

We are careful that the two systems didn't share anything, so it is unlikely like he caught what Tiki has. It seems like our fish are dropping like flies.


----------



## MattsBettas

Sy is amazing; and that's to bad about the sick fish, Feng. I'm sorry. 

Oh and by the way I seriously hope my future SO is into fish like Ci is haha. Tolerant would be better then nothing though!


----------



## Pandoras

With Ember, I noticed her slowing down, but there were no visible signs of illness. /: poor gal. Oh biscuits! I forgot the garlic juice, -____-" Riskets. Any tips on enticing fish to eat? 

In other news, I try my best to support my other half, ^.^


----------



## Fenghuang

I would hope she is into my fish... I basically dumped all of them with her for the summer (because my parents would be _considerably_ less impressed with them). But I never did ask.


----------



## Pandoras

Well, I more or less insisted on picking them up when I came to get your dorm stuffs after the shipping accident, -___-" Blasted Ground UPS mixup.


----------



## Fenghuang

Don't think I am being totally lazy though, folks.

Just spent two hours wrangling this sucker (no pun intended) and his tankmates and dealing with their house. Few fish are more magnificent than decent sized pleco imo.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

Eek, it was bad enough when I had to catch my older brother's full-size bristlenose and whiptail catfish. 

That is just too big a fish for me. I like my fish to come in small packages. 

Sorry to hear about all your losses. Seems like whenever anything bad happens with this hobby it happens all at once.


----------



## MattsBettas

What type of pleco is that? 

I really don't get the appeal of fish that are hundreds of dollars and don't do much, but some of the plecos can be nice.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, LBF. It comes with the hobby, I suppose. We just have to keep our heads up and keep trudging along. 

This is the only (sorta) size comparison I could get. I was too worried he would jump again. Just before that picture, he thrashed out of my hands and bounced off the edge of the bucket before hitting the ground. Scared the heck out of me. He is a common so he'll get bigger. I really hate how juvies are sold at every single pet store and without any word of caution for beginners who don't know better. Same with pacus and giant gouramis. 



EDIT: @Matt: He was sold as a common pleco. I hadn't looked into which species of "common" pleco he is though.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

Yep, people do not understand how big these fish can grow. I find it's one thing to tell people that these fish can grow to such and such a size, it's another all together for them to actually see fully mature specimens with their own eyes. It's the same with goldfish. 

So many people see the small goldfish in stores and do not realise just how big they can get. 

I also hate how plecos and other similar looking fish always get touted as cleaning up the 'waste' of other fish. I mean plecos are themselves one of the biggest waste producers.


----------



## Pandoras

So I realize I awkwardly disrupted the flow of conversation, so may I add all I've ever heard from pet store owners are: yea, it's best to wait until there is algea on the tank, coa that's what these little suckers thrive on.


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, it is maddening how many people do not even realize that plecos need food. "They just live off of the other fish's poop, right?" Or they think they can just live off of the algae on the glass. Algae is not enough sustain these things. They need fruits, vegetables, and wood to graze on. Some species even grow up to hunt and eat other fish.


----------



## Pandoras

Reference to early post - previous page: A common pleco named Aegis, cos of his awesome defense (like a tank this one! ^.^). 

The only fish I got to name with no objection.


----------



## BettaLover1313

Beautiful pleco (and kitty too)! I always like looking at the ones in my lfs that are usually a decent size. I don't think I could ever keep one though, too big for my tastes. 

Sorry to hear about your recent losses. It's always hard to lose a pet.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, BettaLover.

OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH, OH MY GOSH! I finally got a response on one of my job applications! And it's at Petco! I'm so excited!


----------



## MattsBettas

Awesome! Good luck!


----------



## Fenghuang

Went in for my interview today. The manager I spoke with and my supervisor from my campus job could literally be the same person personality-wise. Which is cool, because my supervisor is totally cool, but still intimidating. Hard to read too. I'd like to say it went smoothly, but he said they still had a few more candidates to screen before they make a decision. Waiting is definitely the hardest part.

I also impulse bought another betta post-interview lol. I blame nerves. He was pretty pathetic looking and had no interest in me at the store, but he perked up after I got him home and gave him a nice helping of live mosquito larvae. 

He is a fairly large boy even though he still looks young to me. 



I do not know if I am keeping him for myself yet. Ci thinks he will be mine by the end of the day, but I honestly don't feel that emotionally attached to him.


----------



## Pandoras

So she says after asking me whether or not I liked him, xD


----------



## BettaLover1313

He's very cute! Love his coloring!


----------



## Fenghuang

Where things are at right now:

Tiki took a turn for the worst. She now sits on the bottom of QT. It does not look like she'll be with us for much longer.

I also fear we will lose another one soon. Stelmaria was adopted from Lilnaugrim a few months ago. She was doing great until she started pineconing last night. She still acts like nothing is wrong, but this doesn't look good. 



Here is Stelmaria from before. She never gotten sick before.



Ci already gone through, separated the sorority for two weeks, treated everyone as a precaution, cleaned all the tanks, etc. The fish would appear healthy until they up and die, no warning at all. We have only noticed pineconing with the last two fish and, whatever disease it is, it is moving too fast for us to do anything about. We cannot get rid of this mystery disease and nothing we have done is even remotely helping.

At this point, we are basically waiting for all our bettas to die from old age or illness. Then we will reevaluate, get rid of any equipment that can be replaced, clean and dump everything else, have them sit dry in the sun, and start over. 

The new Petco boy will probably stay here in New Jersey.


----------



## Fenghuang

Tiki passed. 

Stelmaria's still swimming around though.


----------



## Fenghuang

I feel like I've been complaining a lot lately and I apologize for that. 

I have a confession: As of late, my eyes have been wandering away from bettas. Actually, I have been straying from fish entirely. The truth is, I've fallen hard for these little beauties. 

(Not my photos) 








_Theloderma corticale_, or Vietnamese mossy frogs. They are endemic to the mountain forests of northern Vietnam, but it is also believed that their native range extends into southern China. I have been doing a lot of research into these frogs, and I am totally enamored. They also seem fairly undemanding, which is a definite plus for a girl who never kept frogs before. 

The frogs are semi-aquatic and semi-arboreal, so I am thinking of doing a paludarium biotope. White cloud minnows also come from roughly the same regions, so maybe a nice school of those if toxins from the frogs (and their appetites) aren't too much of a concern. I've always wanted white clouds and I think the wild stains are especially beautiful. It is a real shame that their native habitats are almost entirely gone. They are practically extinct in nature now... Humans suck. 

Anyway, I think this will be a really fun little project. Once I come up with the funds. Also, if I can figure out how to keep plants alive, that would be great.


----------



## DaytonBetta

I love frogs! I'm excited to hear more about your project.


----------



## MattsBettas

I'm sorry about the horrible fish luck.

I love the frogs!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, guys. I'm super excited too!

Stelmaria succumbed. That just leaves Aru, Kirjava, Nah, Lucina, Zephyr, Viserion, and Heracles now (plus Saffron the albino BN, lone cory, lone ADF, and assorted snails). Fingers crossed that everyone else will be okay. At least for a while.


----------



## Fenghuang

Not much to report. I stayed up all night, watching Season 9 of Supernatural (aka my favourite-est American TV show ever) for twelve hours straight. 11/10 would do it again. xD Does anyone else like Supernatural?

The migraines that I have been having for the last three weeks finally went away, which means I will finally be able to do productive things again. Woot!


----------



## BettaLover1313

Fenghuang said:


> Not much to report. I stayed up all night, watching Season 9 of Supernatural (aka my favourite-est American TV show ever) for twelve hours straight. 11/10 would do it again. xD Does anyone else like Supernatural?
> 
> The migraines that I have been having for the last three weeks finally went away, which means I will finally be able to do productive things again. Woot!


I absolutely LOVE Supernatural (but I'm so far behind T.T) I'm still on Season 8 since I've been watching the series while typing up my fan fiction for it to keep everyone in character.


----------



## Fenghuang

I was on the same boat, just caught up yesterday. I love Season 8, but I never felt so much unadulterated loathing for a main villain. I hate him! D:< I can't complain about him because I don't want to give any spoilers to Ci who I've been trying to get to watch Supernatural for ages. She just started recently and, unsurprisingly, she loves it. 

Oooh, do you have the fanfiction online? I would love to read it if you care to share.


----------



## BettaLover1313

Yes I do! Here is the link to it:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8351755/1/Thicker-Than-Water


----------



## Fenghuang

I was only able to read a little bit of it because of house guests and work, but omg, it's so cute! Dean as a father, I can't imagine, but I like it a lot so far. You did a great job keeping Dean and Sam in character. Looking forward to reading more! ^^


----------



## BettaLover1313

Fenghuang said:


> I was only able to read a little bit of it because of house guests and work, but omg, it's so cute! Dean as a father, I can't imagine, but I like it a lot so far. You did a great job keeping Dean and Sam in character. Looking forward to reading more! ^^


Glad you like it! ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

This whole "no more bettas" rule is killing me. Look at this tiny DT! Poor little guy looks barely out of fry hood. He was very stressed and skinny. I naturally wanted to scoop him up and take him home with me. But I couldn't, of course.





Two guys that didn't quite inspire the same feeling of pity, but were really pretty and made me feel really shallow for wanting them.









Also, when did "Butterfly Betta" become a thing at Petco? I know butterfly exists as a pattern, but Petco is labelling these fish any which way. This was the only male that is sorta butterfly that was labelled as such (also really handsome boy with big fins and decent form; I only saw him once, so hopefully, he sold to someone who appreciates him). 



All the Petco stores around here are getting in such nice looking fish. It seems like they are way overstocking though. I always recognize the ones that have been there for a while.


----------



## Pandoras

But the second one has a mask! D: A MASK! 


I'd name him Nightwing.


----------



## Fenghuang

Down to five bettas. Just three girls and two boys left and one of them (Kirjava) is sick. The symptons developed the exact same way as Lucina and Tiki'. She was fine and then two or three hours later, she had a big ol' sore in her side. So, yep, the disease is still alive and well. It has to be some kind of columnaris, but columnaris treatments don't work and we have no idea how it is jumping from tank to tank. 

We found Kirjava on a dusty shelf with two other bettas and got her for half price because she was colorless and missing a ventral and the pet shop owner just wanted the "ugly thing gone." She ended up brightening up overnight and we discovered that she wasn't completely colorless afterall. Wish I had taken more pictures of our sorority girls, but this is one of the only pictures I have of her.



I think I'm just going to set up a simple NPT with some guppies after this is over. I was going to breed my bettas this year, but I don't think I have the heart to do it now and, plus, I would have to find a new pair. I do really like the look of Black Moscows. I want some fish babies. ):


----------



## MattsBettas

I'm sorry. I definitely know what it's like, and it's awful. Guppies can be fun though... I know that when I got my endlers it was like a very welcome break from my diseased and difficult bettas, with their constant breeding and ridiculously easy fry raising.


----------



## Fenghuang

Are the care requirements for guppies and endlers very similar? What are your favourite strains?


----------



## Fenghuang

So, the self-imposed betta prohibition did not last very long at all. I have two "dream" bettas. One is a melano double tail halfmoon The other is a cellophane veiltail. Today, I went to Petsmart for some sinking shrimp wafers and lo and behold, there was a cello VT there waiting for me. I tried talking myself out of it, but I totally lost that fight. Also, my brother was with me the entire time enabling me, so some of the blame is his. 

I did pay way too much for him. The lid of his cup had him as a halfmoon. The HMs were "on sale"..._for $8.99._ The VTs were only $1.99, I think. I brought him up to the checkout counter and told the cashier that I thought he might have been mislabeled. She checked him and agreed that he was not a HM. She asked the employee checking in the next lane over what to do because she never had a customer actually question these things. Unfortunately, that cashier said it would affect their inventory log if they sold him to me as a VT. It was a stupid reason, but I didn't want to argue. 

That little annoyance aside, I'm really happy with him. I'll post pictures of him later.

Also, we might be adopting two young axolotls from a friend, which I am excited-nervous about.


----------



## Fenghuang

Meet Clarence, everybody.  (Clarence, because for anyone who watches Supernatural: *Possible spoiler warning?* Megstiel forever!) He is a lot more transparent in person than the camera would show. I love his dark eyes. 

Clarence's pout face is strong.












Is not sure about temporary home...


----------



## Sathori

Clarence is gorgeous <3 Love the Supernatural reference ;D

I'm just floored at how cheap bettas are in your area.... My work place charges $5.99 for VTs, and $20.99 for HM O.O And we are cheap compared to Petland, which charges $10 for a VT and $15 for a simple CT. I hate to see how much they would charge for a HM...

I told myself "No more bettas" about 6 or 8 bettas ago xD I keep telling myself it to this day...


----------



## MattsBettas

He looks awesome, and the other one sounds great! He looms like a delta or a veiltail halfmoon cross, though... Too many rays for a veiltail. But he holds his tail like a vt... Idk. 

And I'm so sorry for missing this-


> Are the care requirements for guppies and endlers very similar? What are your favourite strains?


Yes, they are very similar, and I don't know a thing about guppies except that I like the black ones lol and for endlers I love standard black bars but cobras and scarlets are neat too. I have the scarlets and if you don't mind something a bit more artificial looking they're awesome.


----------



## Fenghuang

Sathori said:


> Clarence is gorgeous <3 Love the Supernatural reference ;D
> 
> I'm just floored at how cheap bettas are in your area.... My work place charges $5.99 for VTs, and $20.99 for HM O.O And we are cheap compared to Petland, which charges $10 for a VT and $15 for a simple CT. I hate to see how much they would charge for a HM...
> 
> I told myself "No more bettas" about 6 or 8 bettas ago xD I keep telling myself it to this day...


Thank you, and yay for another Supernatural fan! 

Geez, Canada sounds so expensive. Petsmart charges around $12-$15 for the "fancier" varieties. They just recently started getting dumbos, which I didn't check the prices for, but it's probably around $19. It costs a few dollars more at Petco for everything though. I remember back when the EEs were a new thing and Petco was pricing them at $30. All those poor fish that wastes away on the shelves...  Non-chain store prices differ wildly. I know one store tried to convince me a VT was really a super delta and worth $13.99.


----------



## Sathori

Fenghuang said:


> Thank you, and yay for another Supernatural fan!
> 
> Geez, Canada sounds so expensive. Petsmart charges around $12-$15 for the "fancier" varieties. They just recently started getting dumbos, which I didn't check the prices for, but it's probably around $19. It costs a few dollars more at Petco for everything though. I remember back when the EEs were a new thing and Petco was pricing them at $30. All those poor fish that wastes away on the shelves...  Non-chain store prices differ wildly. I know one store tried to convince me a VT was really a super delta and worth $13.99.


Canada seems to be excessively expensive when it comes to fish :/ When my friends bought me an EE at the same Petland - it was $25. I was quite excited when I saw they were selling panda corydoras, but my jaw dropped when I saw they were $10 per fish. $10 FOR A SCHOOLING FISH. The poor things are likely being sold as singles to some misinformed customer T-T

I was very surprised however that most of the EEs sold within the week at this store. When my friends bought me the EE, they said there were TONS stocked on the shelves. When I went 5 days later, there were only 6 EEs left. At least I'm hoping that was because they all sold....


----------



## Fenghuang

MattsBettas said:


> He looks awesome, and the other one sounds great! He looms like a delta or a veiltail halfmoon cross, though... Too many rays for a veiltail. But he holds his tail like a vt... Idk.
> 
> And I'm so sorry for missing this-
> 
> 
> Yes, they are very similar, and I don't know a thing about guppies except that I like the black ones lol and for endlers I love standard black bars but cobras and scarlets are neat too. I have the scarlets and if you don't mind something a bit more artificial looking they're awesome.


Yeah, I think he is a mutt as well. His dorsal is also short and spiky too. Most Petsmart VTs I see look like they are crossed with something else. 

And it's okay. Thank you for answering anyway.  I like the black ones too lol. I never see any endlers for sale in stores though. I wonder if they are rare.


----------



## Fenghuang

Sathori said:


> Canada seems to be excessively expensive when it comes to fish :/ When my friends bought me an EE at the same Petland - it was $25. I was quite excited when I saw they were selling panda corydoras, but my jaw dropped when I saw they were $10 per fish. $10 FOR A SCHOOLING FISH. The poor things are likely being sold as singles to some misinformed customer T-T
> 
> I was very surprised however that most of the EEs sold within the week at this store. When my friends bought me the EE, they said there were TONS stocked on the shelves. When I went 5 days later, there were only 6 EEs left. At least I'm hoping that was because they all sold....


Ick. You guys must have stupidly high import taxes or something. You could always think of that as an investment though... Purchase a school, breed them, and make a huge profit! 

I was mostly confused when we started getting EEs. I was thinking, "It _has_ been a few years. Maybe I forgot bettas always looked like that?"


----------



## Sathori

Fenghuang said:


> Ick. You guys must have stupidly high import taxes or something. You could always think of that as an investment though... Purchase a school, breed them, and make a huge profit!
> 
> I was mostly confused when we started getting EEs. I was thinking, "It _has_ been a few years. Maybe I forgot bettas always looked like that?"


I know for my store - since we get our bettas (and all the other fish I order for myself xD) shipped via plane from three provinces over, it increases the price. Overnight shipping helps keep all the fishies alive ^_^ However, that does mean shipping costs about $60... So we need to not only get back what we spent on the fish, but also on the shipping, and then still make a buck or two to make the head haunchos happy... 

I know what you mean xD After getting my first PKEE, I cannot believe how speedy the little guy is, until I remember that bettas are not suppose to have those big, flowy tails to slow them down xD


----------



## Fenghuang

Sathori said:


> I know for my store - since we get our bettas (and all the other fish I order for myself xD) shipped via plane from three provinces over, it increases the price. Overnight shipping helps keep all the fishies alive ^_^ However, that does mean shipping costs about $60... So we need to not only get back what we spent on the fish, but also on the shipping, and then still make a buck or two to make the head haunchos happy...
> 
> I know what you mean xD After getting my first PKEE, I cannot believe how speedy the little guy is, until I remember that bettas are not suppose to have those big, flowy tails to slow them down xD


The more I hear about your store, the more I wish there were more like it here. It sounds like you guys actually have a clue, unlike most chain store staff I've had experience with.

I think there are some fish that won't let anything slow them down. xD


----------



## Fenghuang

Just a couple of grainy phone pictures, but I love taking pictures of this guy.


----------



## Fenghuang

I really need to figure out what to do about a tank for Clarence once I get back to school. One of the cats got into my ten gallon while it was being stored at Ci's house and shattered a pane when they tried to get back out. It wasn't salvageable. He is currently in a cheap 1.5 gallon plastic cube, but I cannot send that all the way to Georgia. A Critter Keeper would be easiest and cheapest option (especially for dorm living), but, well, aesthetics. It also narrows down the selection by a whole lot that I would need to get the tank and supplies shipped to me because the nearest petstore is twenty minutes away and I would have to take a bus. I am not sure if I have the money to get a nice setup delivered. I can't wait until I can move out of a dorm, so I won't have to keep doing the tank and fish shuffle every single break.

On another note, Clarence has a confusing flare.


----------



## Sathori

He is so pretty <3 I love the red on his fins!

That sucks about the 10 gallon though - cats... They have ways to make you pull your hair out xD


----------



## Fenghuang

Sathori said:


> He is so pretty <3 I love the red on his fins!
> 
> That sucks about the 10 gallon though - cats... They have ways to make you pull your hair out xD


Thank you! He is probably going to marble over time. I also see some more blue on him. Ah, well. Bettas do what they want. xD

Ci literally turned her back for a minute and my tank was in pieces. Cats get into everything. I know Luxe use to like to lay on top of the sorority tank. I was so terrified she would fall through the glass lid.


----------



## Sathori

Fenghuang said:


> Thank you! He is probably going to marble over time. I also see some more blue on him. Ah, well. Bettas do what they want. xD
> 
> Ci literally turned her back for a minute and my tank was in pieces. Cats get into everything. I know Luxe use to like to lay on top of the sorority tank. I was so terrified she would fall through the glass lid.


I am absolutely in love with marbles xD I always buy bettas in hopes that they are marbles xD

My little feline is always getting into trouble. So he loves spooking my poor bettas T-T but I totally get how that happens - you turn around for one second, and they've gotten into something or on somewhere they are not suppose to be... Gotta love 'em...


----------



## Fenghuang

Sathori said:


> I am absolutely in love with marbles xD I always buy bettas in hopes that they are marbles xD
> 
> My little feline is always getting into trouble. So he loves spooking my poor bettas T-T but I totally get how that happens - you turn around for one second, and they've gotten into something or on somewhere they are not suppose to be... Gotta love 'em...


Same! I am disappointed that the HMPK I got from Petco two months ago still hadn't really changed that much. He just gains some black and then loses it again. :roll:

The oldest tabby Ari, at least, is a fairly chill cat. His favourite past times are cuddling and sleeping in the window and doesn't do mch else. He couldn't care less about the fish, except to drink their tank water. His brother and sister are troublemakers though. You can't leave anything out with them around. Luxe ate a sewing needle with the thread attached once. :shock:


----------



## Sathori

Fenghuang said:


> Same! I am disappointed that the HMPK I got from Petco two months ago still hadn't really changed that much. He just gains some black and then loses it again. :roll:
> 
> The oldest tabby Ari, at least, is a fairly chill cat. His favourite past times are cuddling and sleeping in the window and doesn't do mch else. He couldn't care less about the fish, except to drink their tank water. His brother and sister are troublemakers though. You can't leave anything out with them around. Luxe ate a sewing needle with the thread attached once. :shock:


I have 4 bettas that I'm "still waiting for to marble xD I doubt Gildarts will - he seems to be staying that champagne colour. I think Elfman has just coloured up and is staying the grizzled black and white.

I'm still waiting on Mystogan and Fried to marble/colour up. Fried has that copper iridescence in his tail, and I see some colour hiding under Mystogan's white scales xD

Cisqua, my cat, seems to constantly be in a bored state. The only thing that gets her attention is something that is alive and moving. That means either the dog or the fish lol She is always looking for a new thing to do, so it makes for a very mischievous cat. He main release of mischievous behaviour is sitting outside on a harness and retractable leash with me and my dog. She loves to be outdoor, watching birds and pouncing on bugs, but I don't trust her off leash due to the amount of traffic around here and a lot of people in this area kill stray cats :/


----------



## Pandoras

Is Elfman tribute to Fairy Tail in any way..?


Anyways, speaking of Luxe, I brought home the training manual for shift managers and she went to town chewing the note tabs sticking out of the binder. /:


----------



## Fenghuang

I am going away for four days tomorrow and I am worried about leaving Clarence alone without any food. I know it's irrational since healthy fish can go without food for much longer than that and I have to fast him and ship him to Georgia in two weeks anyway. Someone please tell me I am being ridiculous.

And why is my PM notifications showing that I have one new message? I keep clicking on it to see if I really do have one, but nothing is showing up. It's taunting me!


----------



## Sathori

Pandoras said:


> Is Elfman tribute to Fairy Tail in any way..


You bet. All my boys are named after Fairy Tail characters: Pantherlily, Gajeel, Gray, Natsu, Laxus, Gildarts, Mystogan, Elfman, and Fried.

The new boy is going to be named either Makarov, Happy, or Loke... I can't decide xD You can see pictures of them all on my journal.





Fenghuang said:


> I am going away for four days tomorrow and I am worried about leaving Clarence alone without any food. I know it's irrational since healthy fish can go without food for much longer than that and I have to fast him and ship him to Georgia in two weeks anyway. Someone please tell me I am being ridiculous.


I'm totally the same way! I'm always concerned about not feeding my fish enough xD Even my 30 gallon, I'm always worried that my corydoras and tetras are not getting enough, so I have to find a good balance between feeding enough and not over feeding lol


----------



## Fenghuang

Oi, yes. It is hard to fast them too because they make those puppy eyes at you. I fret over them worse than a brooding mother hen. And community tanks are so hard because there will always be that one brat or two who gobble up all the food and I keep wanting to add more and more so everyone eats enough.


----------



## Sathori

Haha yeah, I'm always concerned about my corydoras in my 30 gallon. "Did I put in enough food that they will get the left overs? Did I put in too much that it will cause a bacterial infection?! They are rooting around so much, are they not finding enough food?!".... My husband thinks I'm quite silly lol.
Then my boys always wiggle and dance for more food, and it's hard to say no.


----------



## Fenghuang

I think bettas are like cats of the aquatic world. Do you really own them...or do they own you? :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

Our flight to New York was delayed about an hour and half so we pulled into our driveway a little after 1 am last night. It sure feels good to be back on dry land, even though the family trip was nice. Here's a snapshot of our view sailing away from Key West.



I went snorkeling for the first time in an underground limestone cavern. The water was really clear and there were huge schools of what looked like wild tetras and guppies swimming around. Really cool experience. I also went to a coral reef and swam with green sea turtles. Shame I didn't have a waterproof camera.

Despite all my paranoia, no one died. Ari practically tackled me as soon as I got my foot in the door. Grandparents said he was restless after I left and kept searching the house and meowing for me. And they say cats aren't affectionate... Clarence marbled while I was away. He now has a single blue spot on one side of his body and blue grizzling on his tail. He looked positively livid that I left him for five days. He refused his food last night and just kept flaring at me. He ate happily this morning though.

Only bad news is my brother's DeT squeezed over onto the unnamed HMPK's side. The divider got knocked loose somehow (my bet is on the cat being the culprit) and the HMPK beat the snot out of the DeT. Why do bettas always pick fights that they will lose? The HMPK tore off his entire caudal and two-thirds of his anal fin. On top of that, he had fin rot when my brother got him and his dorsal and ventral fins never grew back, so he looks really sad now. I feel very sorry for the poor fish.


----------



## hrutan

Awww, poor fish! Haha, they do seem to pick fights they lose, don't they?


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks. And yes, they do. :roll: Every single time I had this happen, it was the younger/smaller/mellower fish that invaded the other one's space.

Poor fish. At least he is swimming and eating fine.



Not so poor fish. That notch in his anal is the only visible damage I can see. Although, when I discovered the two together, he was cowering beneath the in-tank filter like he was the one fearing for his life.


----------



## hrutan

HOLY COW. That's worse than Buttercup! That poor baby is going to need some serious TLC!


----------



## Fenghuang

Surprisingly, my brother's boy appeared less stressed than the HMPK. The DeT was hovering up by the surface and swam right into my hand so I could scoop him back and then he started gobbling up his dinner right away. Very resilient fish. Survived a whole slew of different illnesses since we picked him last winter break from Petsmart.

What happened to Buttercup?


----------



## hrutan

He jumped the divider into Mr. Kitty's side of the tank, got torn up, then somehow managed to get stuck between the divider and the tank wall in his attempt to escape. Mr. Kitty ate half his tail and dorsal. Mr. Kitty also didn't have a mark on him and was "strutting his stuff" for the rest of the day.


----------



## Fenghuang

Poor Buttercup. I hope he is doing much better now. 

I wonder why they can leap over the divider, but never think to leap back over...


----------



## hrutan

He's regrowing. He looked worse before he looked better, though.

Well, panic makes it hard to think, haha.


----------



## Fenghuang

I am shipping my two New Jersey fish tomorrow. As always—nervous, nervous, nervous!

Clarence has picked up tailbiting since my trip. I keep coming back to my room to find that he has stripped his caudal a little more. Very frustrating. He is probably bored. When he gets settled again, I'll give him a more spacious planted tank with a school of guppies to flare at and shows off for. He'd like that, I think. I need to scrimage up some funds for that though.

At least Clarence looks super proud of himself. He build a bubblenest under one of the anubias's leaves. Now whenever I approach, he flares at me.


----------



## Fenghuang

Ahhh. I love this guy. D: But he is a giant (which I have no experience with), expensive, in another country, and I'm broke. ><

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1410926098


----------



## hrutan

He's gorgeous, yeah.


----------



## Fenghuang

Procrastinating on homework, so I might as well update my journal! :-D 

I either reached another level or hit a new low in this hobby. Recently, I had a job interview (it went well and I got the job). Afterwards, I took a ride to a shopping center to just _look_ around because I was getting antsy from being stuck on campus. Of course looking turned into looking around, going into Petco, finding, and buying a betta. Because, of course. I brought my new friend back and made sure he was nice and comfortable.

Saturday morning, I checked the temperature in my new boy's tank and noticed that it was kind of cold, so I hopped on the shuttle and rode fifteen minutes to another nearby shopping center where they had another pet store. Somehow in that span of time, I ended up in the checkout with another heater, another 10 gallon tank, some more plants, and some guppies. The cashier took pity on me because I had to ride the shuttle. She found me a cardboard box in the back and packed and taped everything up for me to carry back. My residential hall back on campus is a walk uphill from the shuttle stop and my dorm is up three flights of stairs. My arms were trembling so badly when I finally finished setting everything up. The things we do for fish. xD 

New betta! He is a handsome partial dragonscale HMPK.







Oh, yeah, he has attitude too.



Some of dem guppies. The big red female is the only one with a name. She is Meredith. 





They really like to photobomb.



Little guy I spotted in the feeder tank and had to have. I think he is a male.



Favourite male



"Um, do you _mind?!_"



Little guy thirdwheeling



Partial tank shot


----------



## Fenghuang

I woke up this morning and found a baby! :-D



I think the mom is my half black female. She looks much less plump than she did. I spotted a sibling as I was about to run out the door to head to class, but that one got gobbled up by another female before I could catch it. I'm sure there were others, but in a tank with so many adults, they wouldn't have last long.


----------



## BettaLover1313

Your new boy and guppies are all quite pretty!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you. I haven't had guppies in a long time. They are really fun.

I do not believe I have shown these guys off yet. We adopted these two when a friend needed to rehome. One is a wild-type and the other is GFP leucistic albino. We don't know their sexes yet, but I named the wild-type Alice. 





Sadly, in addition to new additions, I also have to report a loss. Ci got Aru, our oldest betta and first female, from Walmart less than a month after we got together (can you see my influence there? xD). She started off in a hastily set up 1 gallon plastic Walmart tank, but was quickly upgraded to a 5 gallon and soon after that, a 10 gallon. Later, she lived in a 20 gallon long, where she enjoyed top fish status (if only because all the others fled from her because she was so big). Although unremarkable in appearance, she was a wonderful fish. She saw us through so much and she will be sorely missed. Wish I had more pictures of her, but this one will have to do.

SIP February 12, 2012 - September 9, 2014


----------



## Fenghuang

This week has been kinda terrible for me. My assignments are kicking my butt, my midterms are kicking my butt (seriously, my GPA feels like it's flatlining...), I have been feeling really sick, everyone else is sick, and just other stuff I am too embarrassed to talk about. It does not even feel like my birthday today.

I made the decision to euthanize my newest betta that I just got from Petco. For the first week or so, everything was going great with my new setup, but then one of the Petco guppies I got with the PK started flashing and scratching against the plants and substrate and it just went downhill from there. I started treating everyone for external parasites and it was going well, and then I noticed one female was sulking and looked really emanciated, which I thought was weird because I just got them and did not see that before. She died the day after. After I fished her out, I saw some weird...stuff coming from two of the other females. I searched online and discovered they had camallanus worms. So, I have been treating them all for that. I have lost three more since, two in the same morning. They were all pregnant female guppies, so they were probably more vulnerable. Everyone else is active and eating. It is hard to tell though, because all the others were fine until basically right before their death, when they lost their appetite and started to hover near the surface, swimming in place and sulking.

And then there was my poor PK. He appeared completely unaffected by all the diseases, until late the other night when I was feeding them their evening meal and saw that he was not coming up to grab his portion of dinner, which was very out of character for him. Out of nowhere, he had developed a tiny speck of cotton-like fuzz on the base of his dorsal and was hiding. It was not there earlier that day. Next day, the fuzz had spread over a third of his body. The area affected had turned a graphite-y looking grey-black and he was swimming erratically and still had no appetite. Whatever the fuzz was, it was eating away at the poor fish. A few hours after that, I decided to euthanize him. It had somehow gotten even worse. It looked like he was carrying a whole cotton cloud on his back and his dorsal fin had completely deteriorated despite the fungus having started on his body. 

I cupped him as gently as I could. He tried to swim away, but he could not maneuver as fast or as gracefully as he once did. He went really quickly. There was hardly any thrashing or anything like that. 

The guppy trio from the other store is fine, at least. They aren't as flashy or anything, but so far it seems like they are healthier stock. I will not be going back to this Petco where I got the majority of the guppies and the betta though.


----------



## DaytonBetta

I'm sorry, what a terrible time. I hope things start to look up for you!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you. I do hope so too. So far, I have no more guppy deaths.


----------



## BettaLover1313

I'm very sorry to hear about your losses  

School has been kicking my butt too. I can't believe how busy my room mate and I have both been.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, BettaLover. Sorry about school. I can't believe how busy I have been either. I don't even feel like I am taking all that many credits, yet I have been averaging something like two hours of sleep a night recently and still feel like I am never done with work. Thank goodness I have a break coming up soon. I am really looking forward to it!

I have been wondering why my female guppies were not dropping any fry despite looking heavily pregnant and then...not. I was worried they were too sick. Well, I was changing the water today and found 11 guppy fry. They were so tiny that I did not see them until I removed all the floating plants and decor. I have no idea how old they are, but they are so adorable! It took me forever to catch them all and transfer them to the "nursery" box. I did not realize how much my single three week old and single two week old guppy fry have grown until I put these little guys in with them.


----------



## Fenghuang

My girlfriend found this guy at Walmart last night while she was out with her friends. She drove back there today and convinced the cashier to give him to her for a discount. 

So. Looks like we have added another member to our horde. If he survives that is... He has really bad fin rot. We are not expecting anything at this point.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Aww, poor guy ! Walmart should be banned from keeping fish. I haven't seen one yet that properly takes care of betta's. Grr!


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah. Too many horror stories. And those plain veils are just so tough. Too tough. They are the ones that really suffer slowly and silently.


----------



## BlueInkFish

I agree. This world see fish as items. Not life.


----------



## Fenghuang

On a happier note, I plan to set up a spawn this coming summer or fall. The shipment for my pair is March 3, so hopefully they will arrive safe and sound. I will also be on spring break when they come, so I will be able to see what I am working with.

If you guys have looked in the Aquabid thread recently, you have probably seen the pair already. This is the male. He is a 3.5 month old Black Melano Butterfly HM I won at auction from Blimp33 on Aquabid.



This is the female. She is a Black Orchid(?) from a Black DTHMPK x Black HM cross, bred and sold by the seller 1960 on Aquabid. Probably at about the same age of the male.



Right now, I am not too worried about colour... Establishing a line of nicely formed fish is more important to me.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Stunning.... Give us update pictures once you've received them! Their beauties!


----------



## Fenghuang

I definitely will! No doubt about that. :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

I also just won this girl at auction. :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

Grrr! Give me her, or give me her babies!!! She's stunning! Plakat correct?


----------



## Fenghuang

Yes, that is correct!  She might get a turn with this boy. But it would be a "let's see what we get" type of spawn if it ever does happen.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh! Hit me up if you start a breeding log with her!


----------



## Pandoras

Yes, I consented to allow the onslaught of fish purchases to begin because Feng will be setting up a little bit of independence so she can begin breeding. In other news, the Walmart fish has been dubbed "Ghost" as a temporary name. He's still hanging on and seems to be quite the fighter. I got him in warm water finally (I have no supplies when I'm at school), treated with meds, and got him some good ol' vitachem-soaked food. 

The sad thing about his arrangement was he was set in the back of the shelf behind all the other fish, =/ Poor baby.


----------



## Fenghuang

Pandoras said Ghost passed away this morning.


----------



## Fenghuang

On a happier note, I am very pleased with the progress of my Petco baby. She is such a spunky little thing and smart as a whip. She is very curious and learns quickly and now knows that when I'm standing over the tank, it's mealtime. She is pretty vicious too. She attacks her food and even jumps for it (yeah, got to be extra careful about keeping that lid on her tank). She also flares readily for the mirror. 

Here is a before and after. 

Before.



After.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh! How cute and beautiful! She's defeniatley a looker!  I just love to see the process of a growing Betta!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, Blu! She had SBD the first few weeks I had her, so I thought it would never go away, but I finally noticed that she is no longer sinking when she swims now. I love that she is a partial EE too, but she doesn't like getting pictures taken on her EE side. :roll:


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow. You never really know what kind of Betta your buying when their in their fry stage! Gahh, she's to die for!


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, you really don't! I just recently learned that the babies you see with the spiky fins may not necessarily be CTs. Rays often grow faster, so it takes a while for the rest of the fins to catch up.

Here's a video that actually shows her pecs.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Such a cute little fish!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Blu. 

Spring break is coming up, so it is almost time to do the tank/fish shuffle again. We have to set up QT tanks to accomodate my Aquabid fish. Currently a 20L gallon long, three 10 gallons, and two 3 gallon Kritter Keepers are in use for our axolotl and current fish. Clarence is living in a glass pitcher on the kitchen counter because he is our problem child and requires constant treatment and attention. 

I think we have three empty 2.5 gallon tanks, two 1 gallons, one 5 gallon, and a whole bunch of random Kritter Keepers of miscellanous sizes left. I think that is all that is left. The rest of my tanks are at my parents' place in New Jersey. And I think the other two 10 gallon broke at some point? I forget. You know you have multi-tank syndrome bad when you lose track of how many tanks you actually have lol.


----------



## Fenghuang

Sneak peeks of my imports.


----------



## JHatchett

Cuties!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks! 

I think my melano BF's butterfly band has marbled out. Such a shame, he had such a nice 50/50 butterfly band.


----------



## JHatchett

Still a nice looking fish...but yeah that marble. It is a love hate relationship.


----------



## BlueInkFish

...I'm speechless. Their all so beautiful!


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, marbles. Bleh. I stayed away from some marble BF girls for him, but looks like it doesn't really matter.

Thanks, Blu. My favourite is the black and silver girl. She didn't look like much from the auction pictures, but I am pleasantly surprised.

Here is their little QT setup. Nothing too fancy, but it'll do. My gf said the black orchid girl came in with a mild case of ich, but it looks to be clearing up. The temperature fluctuations and stress from transit does seem to trigger that in a lot of fish, so I am not too worried. She should be right as rain in a day or two.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Nice. Looks simple and cheap!


----------



## MattsBettas

So jealous. (Definitely a coincidence that that's also the name of a pretty good album). I love them, hope they settle in well.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, guys!


This plakat girl is turning out to be a rather derpy fish, but at least she's pretty lol. ;-)





The seller said she was three months old, but she is huge!


----------



## BlueInkFish

...gimme!


----------



## Fenghuang

... *scoots mason jar away from Blu*


----------



## BlueInkFish

Hehe. She's just to beautiful not to steal!

So I'm sure I missed something but why did you buy so many new betta's (in the nicest way possible)?You had the room? Or was it breeding..? I don't think I've seen a post about you discussing why you got them... You probably made a post about it though and I didn't read it :lol:


----------



## Aqua Aurora

How many gallons do those large jars hold? Glass jars? I'd love to find some myself. Btw love the first photo from your imports sneak peak post!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Hehe. She's just to beautiful not to steal!
> 
> So I'm sure I missed something but why did you buy so many new betta's (in the nicest way possible)?You had the room? Or was it breeding..? I don't think I've seen a post about you discussing why you got them... You probably made a post about it though and I didn't read it :lol:


Oh, no, I actually have not made a post about it. I'm sure I've discussed it in various places, but don't think I've a detailed post here... Nope, don't think I did. Thanks for reminding me!

To be honest, I was thinking of getting out of fishkeeping because I lost so many of mine to this one mysterious disease outbreak. Seeing all my fish die one by one was heartbreaking. But this hobby makes me really happy so I ended up coming back. Plus, my girlfriend is very supportive of my hobby, so that made it easy. 

I am a sophomore in college right now. My college requires that underclassmen live on campus, so I currently live in a campus dorm with a roommate. The housing rules are strict on pets... Nothing furry, scaled, or feathered. Fish (okay, so they do have scales too) are the only pets allowed, but there is a 2 gallon maximum. All the RAs I had were pretty lenient, so I have gotten away with slightly larger tanks, but I don't think they would be impressed with more than two small tanks or one 10 gallon in my room. I have only been able to keep so many bettas with me at college, so my girlfriend has been keeping most of my other fish.

_But_ I will be moving out this summer and into an apartment. Best case scenerio, I will be able to get an apartment that is pet friendly and be able to bring my cat from home. Most apartments do not care about fish either way and don't have a policy against them—probably because the average tenant isn't an average Bettafish.com member lol. So yeah, I had the room. 

I do plan to breed the melano halfmoon male and the super black(?) halfmoon female this coming summer or fall though. I have more specific breeding goals in mind, but more on that later. ;-)

The "koi" female and the speckled one were mostly just impulse buys. I figured if I was getting the other two and paying shipping anyway, I might as well get a whole group of them since transshipping does not cost that much more for each additional fish. 



Aqua Aurora said:


> How many gallons do those large jars hold? Glass jars? I'd love to find some myself. Btw love the first photo from your imports sneak peak post!


Thanks! The glass jars are Ball mason jars for canning and stuff. They hold 32 fluid ounces (1 quart). The imports are being quarantined at the moment. Once the females are cleared, I will divide a tank for them. These jars are only temporary. They are a common choice for breeders to jar bettas in, but you can find 1-3 gallon glass cookie jars for more permanent setups.


----------



## Fenghuang

Here are better pictures of the leading gentleman and his lady. Apologies for the water stains. The water is so hard here. :/


----------



## BlueInkFish

Thank you! I hope I didn't invade any personal space, because it seemed rude that I asked! I'm glad your still in this fish hobby, it's rough to see so many fish leave but with the encouragement and help of others we can accomplish anything. Feng, I love all your fish, I just need to find a way to steal them :lol:!!!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Thanks! The glass jars are Ball mason jars for canning and stuff. They hold 32 fluid ounces (1 quart). The imports are being quarantined at the moment. Once the females are cleared, I will divide a tank for them. These jars are only temporary. They are a common choice for breeders to jar bettas in, but you can find 1-3 gallon glass cookie jars for more permanent setups.


You mean these? (right side)

Already have a 2g anchor cookie jar ^^ only negative thing to say for it is you can't use hob filters because of the curve, just sponge filtration.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Thank you! I hope I didn't invade any personal space, because it seemed rude that I asked! I'm glad your still in this fish hobby, it's rough to see so many fish leave but with the encouragement and help of others we can accomplish anything. Feng, I love all your fish, I just need to find a way to steal them :lol:!!!


Nah, it doesn't bother me that you asked. Thank you for always commenting and talking to me. Aside from the fish, it is people like you who keep me in this community. :-D



Aqua Aurora said:


> You mean these? (right side)
> 
> Already have a 2g anchor cookie jar ^^ only negative thing to say for it is you can't use hob filters because of the curve, just sponge filtration.


Ah, I seen them both in your journal and on the PlantedTank, but they totally slipped my mind. They look really good. I always wanted to do something like that and put shrimp in it.


----------



## Fenghuang

This is random, but we finished lunch and came into the living room to find...this.





Coming soon: a photoshoot of our whole updated betta family!


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha. Cats are hilarious! Very cute too!


----------



## Fenghuang

Pandoras says he was probably secretly stuck and trying to play it off like he was just chillin'. xD


----------



## BlueInkFish

XD animals are so hilarious!

Where are those Betta family photos?  no rush!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Nah, it doesn't bother me that you asked. Thank you for always commenting and talking to me. Aside from the fish, it is people like you who keep me in this community. :-D
> 
> 
> 
> Ah, I seen them both in your journal and on the PlantedTank, but they totally slipped my mind. They look really good. I always wanted to do something like that and put shrimp in it.


Originally I did keep shrimp but I was still new to shrimp keeping so I did not do to well, learned since then -less than 30% water change and use airline tube to drip new water in-same temp and pH as tank water. Now I keep a betta in each, bowl has some snails (mts, ramshorn), jar has 6 adults and 3-4 baby cherry shrimp.



Fenghuang said:


> This is random, but we finished lunch and came into the living room to find...this.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Coming soon: a photoshoot of our whole updated betta family!


Cats manage to find some interesting cozy warm places. Have you put your hand over the vents on the equipment by the cat? it gets warm when turned on a while.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> XD animals are so hilarious!
> 
> Where are those Betta family photos?  no rush!


Cats are definitely one of my favourite animals for a reason. 

The LFS we have around here (well, "around" as in half an hour away since my gf lives in a small town) is getting their new shipment in tomorrow. So, we're going to wait to check out the new stock and see what happens!



Aqua Aurora said:


> Originally I did keep shrimp but I was still new to shrimp keeping so I did not do to well, learned since then -less than 30% water change and use airline tube to drip new water in-same temp and pH as tank water. Now I keep a betta in each, bowl has some snails (mts, ramshorn), jar has 6 adults and 3-4 baby cherry shrimp.
> 
> 
> 
> Cats manage to find some interesting cozy warm places. Have you put your hand over the vents on the equipment by the cat? it gets warm when turned on a while.


Cool cool. Do you think cherry shrimp are hard to keep? We are thinking of getting some for a handful of small tanks to put in a window with a lot of plants. My biggest worry is how hard the water is here. It's all limestone in these parts.

Well, they watch TV for the better part of the day, so I am sure it gets pretty warm. Normally, he goes in the front and you just see his butt sticking out.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Okay, show us some pics once you arrive at the lfs!

I'm interested in your guys conversation on shrimp, I've been thinking of raising some RCS but I haven't done enough research on the species itself yet!


----------



## Pandoras

Jasper (the cat) usually goes in and leaves his tail sticking out, so it was odd seeing me about face for once. He actually will go into the dining room (actually the living room and bathroom, too) and purposefully lay down by the vents when the heat kicks on. It's really amusing, actually, because he deliberately positions himself in such a way the air will blow into his face and front paws. 

With regards to the pet store, I've only known him to carry ghost shrimp, and we were really looking for some more emerald cories because Zule has been alone for a long while now (two years abouts). We're also considering how to balance the housing situation. 

I'll let Feng explain her first-ever experience hand feeding Alice (axolotl), though. It was interesting picking out a selection of worms at Wal-Mart, XD


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Cool cool. Do you think cherry shrimp are hard to keep? We are thinking of getting some for a handful of small tanks to put in a window with a lot of plants. My biggest worry is how hard the water is here. It's all limestone in these parts.
> 
> Well, they watch TV for the better part of the day, so I am sure it gets pretty warm. Normally, he goes in the front and you just see his butt sticking out.


I'd say yes, cherry shrimp (and maybe the cheap 'regular' rilli shirmp) are the most tolerant and best beginner shrimp to try. There are also a wild type neo (what cherry shrimp were original bred from) that don't have color but are very durable too.. I can't recall that ones proper name though.
My advice for any first time shrimp owner: 
~Don't rush it! Cycle and age a tank for several months and make sure its well planted (some form of moss is much appreciated by shrimp) so microfauana they forage for and feed on all day has had plenty of time to establish. If you plan to keep a beta with them (some bettas will eat them.. some wont.. some only eat the shrimp babies) make sure the shrimp have plenty of places to hide (again moss is good) if you use decor for hides make sure the betta cannot get its head stuck trying to chase a shrimp!
~Don't do large water changes! Don't over stock the tank to being with and never do more than 30% water change at once. If you are worries, do 2-3 10% water changes a week instead of 1 large 20-30% water change once a week.
~Adding water back to tank should be done slowly. Make sure new water is the *same *pH and temp as tank water (and decholorinated!). TDS (total dissolved solids) levels change in tank ad tap water (plants absorb the minerals), a rapid swing in TDS will cause the shrimp to molt, if they molt too soon after their last molt it will kill them. I recommend placing new water in a container you can put above the tank securely some how (on a shelf above it for example) and use an airline tube to start a siphon and gravity feed new water into the tank. Make sure to keep an eye on it while refilling to avoid water spill over. Once I started this method (instead of just pouring cups of water in rapidly) I stopped loosing shrimp. 
~Larger tanks offer a more stable environment (less chance for say temp swings), but they can be kept in smaller tanks when done right. I've been told you can have 200 dwarf shrimp (cherry rilli, neo shrimp family) in a 2g tank (will need added food daily for those #s for for say 5 shrimp in an established tank, they can survive off foraging). I'd recommend starting with a much smaller batch and let them breed into larger numbers. 
~Don't over feed. Shrimp can eat excess fish food, shrimp food (some fish are known to eat this), blanched veggies (lettuce, spinach, cucumber, zucchini, and more), and algae wafers.. but they are *small*, they don't need much and over feeding will simply lead to an ammonia spike (if tank is not stable/established) or nitrate spike. 

As for temp, pH and hardness and TDS.. cherries are fairly tolerant to a wide range (would do better in the 0sF than 80sF though) but should not be put through any sudden swings in these variables. 
When you get them drip acclimate them (air line tube with a pressure valve (little black plastic "T" with a knob to adjust airflow)) or by making a knot in the airline tube so it drips 1-5 drips per a second) for 30-60 minutes before putting in the tank (check temp of their water to tank water, if its not the same, bag them again after the drip (wit the water they're currently in)and float for 15-30 minutes before releasing). If you only float the new bag then dump them in the tank (no drip acclimation) they'll likely die within a few hours to days if the bag water has ammonia (shipped shrimp) or different pH or hardness and TDS levels.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you for all that information, Aurora. Very much appreciated. You seem to really know your stuff!



Like I said we were planning to do yesterday, Pandoras and I drove down today to one of the bigger towns nearby to check out the new fish shipment at the LFS. The weather has been horrible, so this is the first new shipment in a while.

This LFS is basically one of the only two only pet stores that carry fish in the area. I think it is definitely one of the better pet stores I've been to. There is certainly room for improvement, but the conditions aren't horrible overall. The owner is a sarcastic fellow, but pretty cool. I think the store is family-owned because there is another woman and a younger man and sometimes you can find a young kid there helping too. The aquatic stock is diverse and they also carry a wide range of amphibians and reptiles. They don't always give the best advice (ie. someone came in about wanting some "peaceful" fish for a 1.5 gallon and the lady suggested some Glofish), but I can't blame them for wanting to sell fish. 

They were just finishing up unpacking all the new fish when we arrived. Disappointed that they didn't have the cories again or very much of anything we were actually looking for. They had a lot of new bettas, but the majority were CTs with a handful of VTs and DeT. They also all look like they were from the same one or two spawns. 

I did admired the school of honey blue eyes they had. The store people didn't know what they were, they said their supplier just sent them and they were new, but I recognize them from—at least, I think there is where—LittleBettaFish's journal. They also had some tiny dwarf puffers in the tank and we were considering getting one... We have a tank pretty much all ready to go for one and enough baby pond nerites and Malaysian trumpet snails to infest a dozen tanks, but just as we were about to ask, Pandoras noticed a big plastic bag on the cart... It was stuffed full of smaller bags of female bettas (well, the lady insisted, but I could tell there were a few males too). We probably spent a good twenty minutes picking through them. We also grabbed five new thermometers, a bag of EcoComplete, six sword plantlets, a handful of duckweed, and a nice piece of driftwood for Alice the axolotl. 

We then swung over to Walmart. In the same parking lot is the other petstore. I feel like they take much better care of their bettas and fish in general, but it is a smaller store and the selection was slim. No plants and they leaned more towards saltwater fish species and inverts. They had a lot more bettas though. Not in fancy glass bowls in the other store, just the usual plastic cups, but their bettas were much more active and there were many different tail types and patterns. We bought a 200W heater for our community tank from there, but everything else was really expensive. 

It was a pretty good day all in all. Pictures from today coming later. I didn't really get that many, but there are a few.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow. You never really know what your going to get when you go to the lfs... I always plant and make a shopping list... But when I come out of the store... I bite off more then I can chew 

I can't wait for the pictures!


----------



## Fenghuang

Pop quiz—how many new fish did Feng and Pandoras get? :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

Hmm.... 2,3,4,5?


----------



## Fenghuang

Close. The answer is six! There are six little bags floating in the picture.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh haha!

Any up close personal shots my good friend ?


----------



## Fenghuang

In due time...they're sleeping right now. 

I will make a post of the pictures from today before I head to bed though.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Well please hurry because I must get some sleep to XD!!!

Take your time, I have all day when it comes to Feng's fish


----------



## Fenghuang

As promised...

From LFS #1, first, the fish I was admiring. I believe they are the honey blue eye. Or maybe the Pacific blue eye? They were clamped and washed out in the tank, but still cool looking fish nonetheless. Also a dwarf pea puffer photobombing.



These platies look like they have little masks.



Really big RES they had. He's the size of a large dinner plate.



Some of the new bettas from today. These are all males. Pet store bettas seem to all be shipped like this, in little baggies with a couple tablespoons of water each, not even enough water to even move in. 



Their betta display. 



Some of the more unique ones. The rest are various shades of red and blue.









They also kept a few bettas at the checkout counter. This guy was flaring up a storm.



On to LFS #2, I only took betta pictures. Normally, they have cooler critters to show like lionfish and water monitors and baby alligators (although their suitability as pets is arguable), but the store was all out at this time of the year.

Here is their betta display. 



Some of their bettas.







This guy had huge pecs.





Such big fins.


----------



## Pandoras

Something Feng forgot to mention was our valiant rescue of two male bettas who, in some weird way, both ended up in the same bowl. No damage was done, at least that I could see, so I presume the two had not been sharing a bowl for long. I had never seen bettas actively attack each other, so it was quite weird and caught my attention. Two CTs, a red and blue, were dashing about in the water at one another. The swirl of colour and fins caught my eye, so I handed them to Feng and she delivered them for rescue to the pet store peeps.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

Those blue eyes in the first photo are Pseudomugil furcatus or Forktail blue eyes. Really active, boisterous fish that like harder water. IMO, they are like nicer looking danios. 

I was curious when you mentioned honey blue eyes as they are endangered here and I would imagine not very common overseas.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! So many fish!

Wow... Usually CTs, SeD, are less expensive them HMs, where I live...

I love that dwarf puffer btw! So cute!


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> Those blue eyes in the first photo are Pseudomugil furcatus or Forktail blue eyes. Really active, boisterous fish that like harder water. IMO, they are like nicer looking danios.
> 
> I was curious when you mentioned honey blue eyes as they are endangered here and I would imagine not very common overseas.


Ah, I see... Thanks for clarifying, LBF. I do not know much about rainbow, sorry for the misinformation. 



litelboyblu said:


> Wow! So many fish!
> 
> Wow... Usually CTs, SeD, are less expensive them HMs, where I live...
> 
> I love that dwarf puffer btw! So cute!


Yeah. It is surprising how much the prices differ in these parts. Some species are much cheaper than in the cities and some are wildly expensive. The bettas are one of the more expensive ones. The females we got yesterday were $6 or $7 each! 

I don't have problem paying good money for nice bettas from breeders I trust, but that seemed steep for some random VT/DeT mix girls. They also sell most of their shoaling species at high prices. A lot of equipment and supplies too. I think the first store wanted $35 for a 25W Aqueon heater. I can get a better 100W heater for less than half that here in the city. 

It is probably a consequence of the location. I doubt many sellers supply to these parts. Also, very few big chain stores to compete. The closest Petsmart is a two to two and a half hours drive away. We get around it though, I bring most of my things from GA and NJ and the rest we mostly order online for.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha. That's neat. How are the new girls coming along?


----------



## Fenghuang

So far so good. We threw in all the new plants into one of our established 10 gallon tank (after moving its one fish resident to another tank) and put the girls in that with two mugs, one terra cotta pot, and a piece of driftwood. That should give them enough cover for now. 

There has been a lot of flaring and displaying and chasing, but no real outright aggression as far as I have seen. No one has any fin damage or anything like that. I am actually a little worried that they are not all girls...but I am going to wait and see. I tried to get some pictures, but the plants make it hard.

Here's three. The yellow and blue is super shy. Much smaller and a much sleeker, longer body than the others. 

The other five are all blue, turquoise, and/or red and more bulky and deeper bodied. They are roughly the same size (with just one much bigger than everyone else) and look like they could come from the same spawn.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow. Glad everyone seems to be doing great! Starting a sorority would be a dream. But I'm scared of the risk I may put my fish in... I hope for the best in this one! I've never had the sorority but I plant to start one in the near future... A family friend of mine has a sorority of 4 girls in a 5 galling tank... .-.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I've been too scared to do a sorority.. I'd want Pretty and unique girls (easy to tell apart) and would get too attached and then very disappointing when they got damaged from scuffles.
Make sure the hole in the bottom of the terra cotta is not a size that anyone can get stuck in it.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Aqua Aurora said:


> I've been too scared to do a sorority.. I'd want Pretty and unique girls (easy to tell apart) and would get too attached and then very disappointing when they got damaged from scuffles.
> Make sure the hole in the bottom of the terra cotta is not a size that anyone can get stuck in it.


I totally feel the same way about sororities. I would want some nice breeding girls all a different tail type and color. But leaving them or them leaving me would break my heart.


----------



## Fenghuang

I do feel the same way to an extent. I am not putting any of my females I intend to breed in the sorority. We are going to be extra careful with setting this up, but still not going to risk my nice imports or any other girls I am super attached to. Most of the import girls have probably been kept jarred ever since they were separated from their siblings and are too aggressive now. They flare at your fingers as readily as any male.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yea. Good point.

Ahhhh. I'm already in love with all your fishes.... I think we need to start a fish carnival just for betta's one day haha. In order to meet each other and get to know each other more... Bring some fish. Sale them, buy them... Haha, such a big dream.


----------



## Fenghuang

Heh, thanks, Blu. But have you really seen all my fish? Not all of them are expensive Aquabid fish. 

Aurora, rest assured, the terra cotta pot is teeny. It came with a anubias plant we bought. The drainage hole is like a pinhole. We did learn the hardway with one of those large terra cotta pots in the past though. 


We drove up to Springfield today to visit more pet stores (four hours to and from @[email protected] What we do for this hobby...). We managed to find one LFS in the southern shopping district. It was only a little store. They mainly had cichlids and saltwater fish. Their betta section was just sad, but their stock tanks were pristine and their fish all looked well kept otherwise. Still no emerald cories. We walked out with a piece of slate, two more pieces of driftwood, and a few bundles of hornwort and another floating plant which I recognize but the name escapes me at the moment. We also walked around the mall and ate lunch, which was nice. 

After stopping for frozen custard, we decided to check the Petsmart where Ci saw/bought some dragonscale VTs last time. It really went downhill since then though. There was a poor VT girl with a columnaris cloud on her head and the rest had melted fins and just looked really bad. Did not buy anything from there. Really disappointing. 

Now headed home to go mess with Alice's tank and I'll see about getting some proper family pictures.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Your new girls are really pretty!

I'm happy for you that you and your girlfriend both have a passion for fish!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, Dayton. I am very thankful she likes aquatics too. Otherwise, I think I will be forever alone lol. 



Phew, this week (and spring break) just flew by. Made it back to school last night after nine hours in a car. Pandoras is a total saint for driving me back and forth. She was knocked out most of the day while I went to class and work. She's driving back to Missouri now, but before she left, we obviously had to make a trip to the local Petco here in Atlanta...

I swear we only stopped in to get some low light plants for my dorm room tanks! 

But of course, we looked at the stock tanks anyway and the bettas because we were already there anyway. Nothing caught our eye. We _finally_ did find that specific species of cories we have been looking for forever after five petstores. But I spotted some obviously sick guppies in the tank including one _with camallanus worms_ :shock: in the tank below and in the tank beside the cories' tank (technically it was the same tank split with a plastic divider) there were some tetras that look like they had some kind of white flakey external parasite on that. I felt super bad for them, but yeah, so fish for us this time.

We walk around to the middle of the fish section after deciding against the cories to where they had a employee station and a plant tank that stood separate from the other tanks. The live plants actually looked healthy and vibrant and were fairly priced. Then Pandoras pointed out that there was an axolotl in the tank too. I looked down and blended in with the black sand was a small dark coloured wild type axolotl. That was a first. I had never seen an axolotl for sale in a Petco or any store here. S/he was about three or four inches long and digging about the sand. Much smaller than our Alice who has grown nice and fat on her diet of Massivore and shrimp pellets and, recently, live earthworms. We saw even smaller ones crawling around towards the back of the tank. They were all probably three or four inches smaller than the axolotls we seen for sale at the LFSs in Missouri and way skinnier. I have no clue if they should even be sold at that age.

We laughed at the axolotl care sheet taped to the tank. Said something along the lines of "Do not keep with fish because they might nip at the axolotls' gills and limbs." It was ironic because the tank had, as much as I could see, two black skirt tetras, which are pretty notorious fin nippers, especially when not kept in schools... :roll: 

My eye then caught something black wiggling on top of the net covered filter intake. "Wait...is that...a fish?" I asked Ci since my eyesight is really terrible without glasses. She said, "Nah, probably just some plant debris." Then she looked again and saw something try to jump and get sucked back into the pipe. It was a baby axolotl. Ci hastily stuck her hand in and freed the tiny guy. S/he was literally the length of one of our large female guppies and not much wider. As soon as she let him go, he darted frantically away into the mass of plants. 

...And that is when we decided to take the three smallest ones home with us. 

Cost a pretty penny, the lot of them. But we couldn't stand the thought of them going to a young child who had no idea what they needed like so many bettas do. 

So, yea, meet our newest additions. Sorry for the not so flattering pictures. They were taken hastily while in the store.

The little one saved from the filter. He wasn't actually black.



Here he is in comparison to his one of his "siblings" in the breeder trap the girl helping us at Petco placed them in while she went to get bags. 



Up close.



"Sibling" #1. 



"Sibling" #2.



And we forgot to get the plants. This happens way more than it should.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Cuteeeeee! Axolotls are lovely!


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, they are very cool critters. I really like them.


----------



## Pandoras

So some updates: the new babies made it back to Missouri safely, thankfully the weather cooperated with me because I had to drive back and attend class before I could get them setup in something temporary. 

Cooked up some shrimp and divided up a shrimp between the three and they gobbled it up greedily. =] 

We did lose the little yellow female, though. We're uncertain of what happened. I just found her dead in the breeder net. I had separated her because she was so freaked, but, when I found her this morning, her fins had been nipped and the other red girl had jumped in with her. 

Does anyone have any tips for baby lotties?


----------



## Fenghuang

I want to say the yellow/blue marble VT girl was just not that healthy to begin with. She was not much bigger than some Petco babies I've seen and was quite skinny. The stress from being packaged and shipped from whatever supplier to the LFS probably was too much. She barely moved from one location in the tank for hours at a time and hardly ate anything. Even when she was pulled her after the second day and placed in the breeder net, she was still lethargic and clamped. 

The other five girls are like night and day from her. They're all so greedy when it comes to food. They also aren't timid at all and do not seem scared of each other and don't hide. I definitely think they are siblings.

I think it is just as likely she died overnight and it was a coincidence the red girl got in there... Sad, but you quarantine for a reason.

Yes, it'll also be nice if someone can give us an estimate of how old they are approximately. We adopted our two other axolotls from a friend and they were five months old and at a healthy weight and size for their age.


----------



## Fenghuang

All the other fish are doing great except my dalmatian import female. I am worried about her. I thought it was just stress from being shipped halfway across the world, but now? Poor girl has popeye? :-( I did think right off the bat that one of her eye was wonky. Its iris is bright red and she swims around in tight circles to track down her food like she can't see too well out of one eye. Her aim when "going in for the kill" (don't worry, just pellets) is also off and she misses a lot.

I originally had 1 tsp per gallon of AQ salt in the water for all my imports plus IAL because one of the Thai sellers I bought from recommended I do that for QT and I have been reading a lot of good stuff about using a little salt from people (mainly Logisticsguy). I then added kanaplex to her water because she was sluggish and clamped and I was worried about the redness in her eye. She was doing a lot better after that and perked up. But then her red eye started to swell. It looks like she has a pocket of air or something under her eye, causing it to bug out. I have slowly swapped out her AQ salt for Epsom salt. She was getting daily half water changes in the mason jar. Now she has been moved to a Kritter Keeper, but I keep her water pristine still. But her eye doesn't seem to be getting better. It looks painful and that makes me really sad for her. I wish I could do more, but I don't know what else I can.


----------



## Fenghuang

My poor poor girl... :sad:


----------



## Pandoras

It's become so much worse, D:


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah. Her eye was weird, but not swollen. Kinda developed rather suddenly in the last few days.


----------



## Fenghuang

I think my melano HM male is claustrophobic. Had him in a completely barren tank for three weeks, he's happy as a clam. Added a couple if plants and within half an hour of these new additions, I see he has nibbled on his caudal.


----------



## Fenghuang

This is probably our least seen tank of ours. It also probably the least maintenance. But we are quite proud of it. Ci finally moved our five female bettas into it after weeks of pestering from me. It currently looks a little naked because we steal all the plants in it to put in other tanks. Its current residences are 5 female bettas, 1 emerald corydoras (we are still trying to find her a school but no luck finding anymore of her species anywhere), 1 long finned albino bristlenose pleco, 16 (?) guppies (all homegrown), and 127285937283627383 snails of various species. 

Here is the extremely elusive full tank shot. 



From an angle.



Our little "shoreline."





Sisters chilling together.



Some guppy butts plus a pleco butt. Can you see?



Our lonesome Zul.


----------



## Axeria

Wow! That tank is amazing! I love how full of plants it is without being crowded and dense! Lots of room for the fishies also!  
Zul is ADORABLE ^_^

*subbing*


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Axeria! It does probably need some more plants though, especially to cover the bottom. If only a carpet wasn't so hard to grow.

Zul would be happy for the compliment. She rarely gets any attention and she is getting on in years... She is almost four.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

What size tank is that again? Emerald cory get pretty big (near 4" I think) and should have 30g or larger tanks.
Btw love the riparium planter.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> What size tank is that again? Emerald cory get pretty big (near 4" I think) and should have 30g or larger tanks.
> Btw love the riparium planter.


Oh, I did not know emeralds get that big. Our community is a 20 gallon long. I admit this cory was not a well-researched addition. My girlfriend went to her local store in West Plains, MO and got some different cories to go with her single female betta at the time and I thought they were fine having only known that they were peaceful, easy-going schooling fish. By the time we knew better, emeralds stopped being carried at the local stores. 

Thank you so much for telling me. We will definitely take that into consideration. We are waiting for the next $1/gallon to add some tanks. A 40 gallon breeder is on our list.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Oh, I did not know emeralds get that big. Our community is a 20 gallon long. I admit this cory was not a well-researched addition. My girlfriend went to her local store in West Plains, MO and got some different cories to go with her single female betta at the time and I thought they were fine having only known that they were peaceful, easy-going schooling fish. By the time we knew better, emeralds stopped being carried at the local stores.
> 
> Thank you so much for telling me. We will definitely take that into consideration. We are waiting for the next $1/gallon to add some tanks. A 40 gallon breeder is on our list.


Glad to know you're willing to upgrade the cory quarters (good luck finding some tank mates for 'em, try looking for 'local-drivable distance) fish auctions or online sellers in your country if there are non locally)! Also be mindful of temperature, they really don't do well in the 80sF (except Sterabi cories), 78F should be the very max temp used with cory in a tank. It won't kill them immediately but warmer temperatures will shorten their lifespans.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Glad to know you're willing to upgrade the cory quarters (good luck finding some tank mates for 'em, try looking for 'local-drivable distance) fish auctions or online sellers in your country if there are non locally)! Also be mindful of temperature, they really don't do well in the 80sF (except Sterabi cories), 78F should be the very max temp used with cory in a tank. It won't kill them immediately but warmer temperatures will shorten their lifespans.


We wouldn't in good conscience be able to keep a fish in an unsuitable tank. But we were planning to get more tanks anyway. Multiple tank syndrome is strong. :lol:

But yes, the community tank is 78 degrees.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, Ci broke the rule this time...


----------



## Fenghuang

They are a black marble delta, (what we hope is) a black orchid, and a red marble veiltail.

Ci and I talked and we are technically downgrading. _Technically._ She is going to drive down to Mountain Home, AR tomorrow with her brother. The $1/gallon Petco tank sale is on and that is the nearest Petco. Still an hour and some odd minutes drive away... She called and they have what we want in stock: one 40 gallon breeder and one 20 gallon long. 

The community plus sorority will go into the new 40. The old 20 gallon long community tank will be given to Alice. The new 20 will be divided into 5 sections for 5 males. Our baby female plakat and our old man HMPK, Viserion, will each remain in their own 10's as will all the imports. The juvie axolotls are still growing out in 10's. So, we are downgrading by doing away with all the tiny miscellanous tanks lol.


----------



## JHatchett

If that black marble disappears... it was probably me... >___>


----------



## Fenghuang

You can try. :lol:

I already posted this in the Betta Pictures section, but thought I would post them here for consistency. They are warming up in the two of the females' tank. It seems like the girls took a shining to these new guys, if I do say so myself. 

The black marble does not flare very much, but the other two do a lot. He has decently clear white butterfly bands... His fins aren't there, but I still think he is cute. The other two are a lot more impressive than I thought they would be.


----------



## Fenghuang

Ci got up at 7:30 am and drove about an hour and a half down to Arkansas first thing this morning and picked up a 40 gallon breeder, a 29 gallon, and 20 gallon long for "downsizing" our tank collection. At this rate, I cannot even tell who is more obsessed with fish. But, yeah, I love this girl. 

If you guys do not know, the $1/gallon sale at Petco is here until May 2nd, so good time to pick up a new tank.


----------



## Fenghuang

And we have bubblenests already. 

Poot VT boy's leaf sank.











Our koi female would not leave the VT alone. I'm totally being bias, but I love this veiltail boy.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Gonna let them breed (koi and vt)? Come ooon its an excuse for some more (grow out) tanks ^.~


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Gonna let them breed (koi and vt)? Come ooon its an excuse for some more (grow out) tanks ^.~


Heh, they're just "pets" right. But who knows what the future holds, eh? :roll: I do think the veiltail's red spot is rather reminiscent of those "tancho koi" bettas I've seen on Aquabid.


Alice got an upgrade. The new 29 is hers now. I was initially hesitant about this tank because I am not usually a fan of the more vertical tanks and I had a 29 back at my parent's place in New Jersey back home and always thought the dimensions looked a bit cramped. But I guess it is alright. Ci had the idea of attaching java moss to the plastic caddies. We are hoping the moss takes over and make the platforms and cave more natural looking.



We also made a new friend... This guy was found in the stairwell that leads into the basement. There are a bunch of little muddy crevices in the cement at the foot of the basement door and the bullfrogs often take up residence in there, but this one is he... He is an eastern tiger salamander. He is kind of skinny looking, but he was found among a bunch of fat earthworms. 



And this is another tenant of the stairwell. Also a new guy in the neighborhood. Normally, we have Rex, the one eyed bullfrog, and his lady friend living there, but we don't know if they have left or are still hibernating or something.





Newly divided 20 longs safely shut away in Ci's grandma's bedroom closet until they set. Don't want the cats getting into them before they set.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Haha nothing like walking into see a cat glued to the inside of a tank (guessing you used silicone?) trying to act nonchalant about it but embarrassing meowing for a rescue.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Haha nothing like walking into see a cat glued to the inside of a tank (guessing you used silicone?) trying to act nonchalant about it but embarrassing meowing for a rescue.


Lol, I am sure I would find it hilarious if I wasn't too busy going, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" 

Cats do have a way of getting into everything you don't want them to get into. :lol:

Yes, the sealant is specially made for sealing aquariums and stuff, so I think it should be safe. I'm sure plain old all-purpose waterproof silicone from any home-improvement store would be cheaper and you would get more, but didn't want to risk it. Do you (or anyone) know if normal play sand is safe for aquarium use? Aquarium sand is so expensive for such small bags. >_>


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Lol, I am sure I would find it hilarious if I wasn't too busy going, "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"
> 
> Cats do have a way of getting into everything you don't want them to get into. :lol:
> 
> Yes, the sealant is specially made for sealing aquariums and stuff, so I think it should be safe. I'm sure plain old all-purpose waterproof silicone from any home-improvement store would be cheaper and you would get more, but didn't want to risk it. Do you (or anyone) know if normal play sand is safe for aquarium use? Aquarium sand is so expensive for such small bags. >_>


GE I door and window is a very commonly used home improvent store silicone many hav made or researled tanks with it over the years. GE II is NOT safe though.

Play sand is safe for aquarium use, on another forum I frequent (plantedtanks.net) *many *people use either: play sand, pool filter sand, or black diamond 'sand'(what I use) as a much cheaper alternative to buying "aquarium sand". All sands need thoroughly rinsed before use to remove floating bits and sediment that could clog the filter, that's one thing they all have in common.
Pool filter for pale/light sand lover, black diamond for.. obviously black/dark, and play for any other color.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> GE I door and window is a very commonly used home improvent store silicone many hav made or researled tanks with it over the years. GE II is NOT safe though.
> 
> Play sand is safe for aquarium use, on another forum I frequent (plantedtanks.net) *many *people use either: play sand, pool filter sand, or black diamond 'sand'(what I use) as a much cheaper alternative to buying "aquarium sand". All sands need thoroughly rinsed before use to remove floating bits and sediment that could clog the filter, that's one thing they all have in common.
> Pool filter for pale/light sand lover, black diamond for.. obviously black/dark, and play for any other color.


Oh, that is a lot of good information. Thank you! We will have to look more into this. Is black diamond sand similar to the black Tahitian moon sand?


Update on my dorm mates: My black melano BF male wanted to show off. Sadly, out of the dozens of pictures I took, only this one even turned out remotely clear. Most were a blur of black and light reflecting off of plastic. As I am quickly finding out, black fish are very hard to photograph and more than that, black fish plus plastic tank plus slow phone camera equals potato quality.



The dalmatian girl's eye is still really swollen up. It looks to be getting even bigger, but after epsom salt, aquarium salt, Kanaplex, Furan-2, and methylene blue baths fail to yield any results, I am at a loss for what to do. Behavior-wise, she is totally fine and she has no other physical signs of disease or even stress.


----------



## Fenghuang

As for everyone else, they are all doing just fine aside from one causality. One of the sorority girls, the big red, wedged herself behind the filter, got stuck somehow, and perished. Ci found her yesterday. The sorority girls were quarantine for three weeks and there was no excessive aggressive, so we are thinking it was just an accident. Sad though.

All the residence of the 20 gallon community got moved into a 10 gallon while the new 40 gallon gets set up. The other bettas are all waiting for their 20s to be ready, which should be tomorrow. Alice is settling into her new 29. The baby axolotls are eating well and growing fast. Another piece of good news is that Zul will finally get more companions. CC's Pets in West Plains, MO finally got a few in. All five that were in the pet store are now chilling in QT.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Black diamond is actually a coal slag but 20/40 grit and -60 is the side of sand. It's sold at Tractor Supply Co in 50lb bags for just $8! I've used 3 bags ($24) for:2g,3g, 6g,7g,12g long,20g long, and 55g
It's safe for substrate burrowers/sifters and is used by many people for planted tanks. It's not 100% black, there are some tiny red-tan hued pieces so it's visually different from "tahini moon". If you look at my journal link in my signature, all the tank photos have black diamond.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, some not happy things happened. Fish-related, Viserion aka "Killer, our grumpy old man, passed away this Sunday. We had him for nearly two years. He had been slowly down a lot in recent times, so it was to be expected... 

This was when I found him at Petco. He was such a cute little guy.










This was his most recent picture. I have more on my computer or camera or somewhere.




I have been trying very hard to keep it together and keep all the not-so-nice personal stuff out of my interactions online and with friends, but real life has been kind of hard lately. I won't put it all here—actually, I will try very hard not to—but I guess I just wanted to say that.


----------



## Fenghuang

Ci gave me permission to bid on another Aquabid fish. He has one hour and twenty minutes left on his auction and just one bid, so hopefully, I will be getting him. 

This is him. 

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1428361561


----------



## Nimble

Very interesting looking.


----------



## Fenghuang

That was close. Someone tried to outbid me right before the auction closed. But I got the last bid in at the very last second. I really hope he is worth it.



Thank you, Nimble.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, I have been keeping a close eye on my dalmatian girl and her swollen-bubble-eye problem just wasn't going down... So I finally made the decision to take a chance and lanced it. She was very good, did not wiggle much at all while I was holding her and doing this. She is use to being transferred by hand, but I don't think it hurt her much because she barely reacted at all. The difference was notice immediately. The bubble deflated instantaneously and her eye sank back into the socket. No bleeding or anything, like I expected there could be. I was a little worried because I could see the tiny red blood vessels stretched across the thin veil of skin, but it was exactly like popping a blister. She hardly seems affected at all and greedily ate a pellet I offered her right after.

I am wondering if I should swab her eye with some peroxide, but she looks like she will be just fine.

Before (actually, it had gotten even bigger since this picture):







After:


----------



## Pandoras

Yayaya!  Fishie looks so much better now, ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

My new EE boy that I got from Petco yesterday is too cute. He likes to dart from plant to plant like some kind of ninja. Or hold still and pretend to be a plant stem or leaf. For a fish that is so blatantly white and has such big fins, he can actually really hard to find in the 3 gallon tank. I decided to just let him have the run of my dalmatian girl's tank for now instead of throwing up another tank for him right away. Dalmatian girl needs a little time to heal so I am keeping her cupped. Will fix up something for her when this week is over (2 exams tomorrow @[email protected]).

Anyway, have some pictures.


----------



## artemis35

> So, I have been keeping a close eye on my dalmatian girl and her swollen-bubble-eye problem just wasn't going down... So I finally made the decision to take a chance and lanced it.


You are a much, _much_ braver person than I :notworthy:

The end result looks much better. Here's hoping she heals up like nothing ever happened.

Your new EE is absolutely gorgeous, too!


----------



## Fenghuang

artemis35 said:


> You are a much, _much_ braver person than I :notworthy:
> 
> The end result looks much better. Here's hoping she heals up like nothing ever happened.
> 
> Your new EE is absolutely gorgeous, too!


Haha, I don't know about brave. Her eye just looked so bad and uncomfortable that I felt like I had to try it. Thank you though. I really hope she heals.

EE Boy tries very hard to flirt with the Dalmatian Girl, but she doesn't seem to notice him at all. Poor fish. :lol:


----------



## logisticsguy

Awesome journal! Im very happy you lanced that thing, it was the right thing to do and you sure could hit it with hp but if you have a little aq salt in there it shouldn't get infected. Your fish are terrific and your tanks are beauties!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, LG.

They are super cute together. He tries so hard. 

"Gotta impress the pretty lady!" *flare flare flare*







"Why won't she pay any attention to me? "


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Probably because that messed up eye doesn't quite have her in "the mood".
cut shots of the male.


----------



## Fenghuang

Oh, she can still get in "the mood" alright. Just drop some food in and she goes crazy. ;-)

I saw some really nice and large glass bowls at Ross. Cheap too. My favourite was this one that was shallow, but it had wide in diameter and had a large mouth. Maybe eight inches tall and maybe 12 inches across? I am tempted to get one as a planted nano bowl or a terrarium. This is the most similar I could find on Google, but it was even wider than that.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow.. For some odd reason I was I subscribed to this thread!!!??? Hmph! I missed a lot!!!! Gahhhh.... So many pretty fish!!!


----------



## MattsBettas

Love the terrarium idea, they can look so cool. A bowl would be neat too, done right you could add some cherry shrimp. I think Diana Waldorf did NPT nano shrimp bowls, I'll look for the info. 

I just picked up a vase that I randomly saw at the grocery store (I liked its shape and price!) and am debating whether it should be a shrimp bowl or a terrarium.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I got one of those bowls at Michels, I trid a terrarium but my terrestrial moss molded so I scalped it. May try again... If you buy at Michels use the 50% off one item coupon, only way it's a tolerable price. Btw that photo you showed has two plants that won't live together long term. Succulents (hen and chick plants) need air flow and well draining soil, the fern (maiden hairI think?) is one that likes very warm humid eviorment needs (that would rot the succulent). I love the wood that bowl is on though!!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow.. For some odd reason I was I subscribed to this thread!!!??? Hmph! I missed a lot!!!! Gahhhh.... So many pretty fish!!!


Well, it's never too late to join in on the fun. ;-)



MattsBettas said:


> Love the terrarium idea, they can look so cool. A bowl would be neat too, done right you could add some cherry shrimp. I think Diana Waldorf did NPT nano shrimp bowls, I'll look for the info.
> 
> I just picked up a vase that I randomly saw at the grocery store (I liked its shape and price!) and am debating whether it should be a shrimp bowl or a terrarium.


I was thinking of a little tiny woodland forest. Could make it all whimisical and add some tiny figurines or make it a fairy garden. But please share if you find out any thing about the NPT nano shrimp bowls. Could blue tigers work? Blue tigers are the shrimps I always wanted.

Doooooooo it. :-D



Aqua Aurora said:


> I got one of those bowls at Michels, I trid a terrarium but my terrestrial moss molded so I scalped it. May try again... If you buy at Michels use the 50% off one item coupon, only way it's a tolerable price. Btw that photo you showed has two plants that won't live together long term. Succulents (hen and chick plants) need air flow and well draining soil, the fern (maiden hairI think?) is one that likes very warm humid eviorment needs (that would rot the succulent). I love the wood that bowl is on though!!


I wonder why the moss grew mold? Ci's mom had a whole bunch growing in her garden, so she brought over some for Mr. Salamander's tank. Thought it would be okay since Mr. Salamander came from outside too. We don't have a Michael's near here, but the sizable glass bowls were $8.99 or $11.99 at Ross. The $11.99 ones all look like they could easily hold two or three gallons, the $8.99 ones maybe one or two. Good to know about the succulant. I would have probably tried to use them, even though I already killed the ones I had by overwatering them.  Sadly, the one at Ross doesn't come with wood lol.


----------



## MattsBettas

You can make succulent terrariums and they often look great (and are even lower maintenance). I want to try one but I'd rather do it in a more open container than the vase I have, to promote lower humidity. 

Here it is... http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388Shrimp.pdf

Not sure if I would go with more expensive shrimp, it is a small tank and I wouldn't want anything to go wrong.


----------



## Fenghuang

MattsBettas said:


> You can make succulent terrariums and they often look great (and are even lower maintenance). I want to try one but I'd rather do it in a more open container than the vase I have, to promote lower humidity.
> 
> Here it is... http://www.bookmasters.com/marktplc/00388Shrimp.pdf
> 
> Not sure if I would go with more expensive shrimp, it is a small tank and I wouldn't want anything to go wrong.


Oh, yeah, they are definitely lower maintenance. I know Ci left hers in a window in direct sun and watered once every two weeks (if she remembered). They did better than mine even though I neglected them less!

Thank you, I can't wait to read this! (It will most definitely prove to be prime procastination material in good time lol.) 




My initial predictions were correct. This guy coloured up into black. That brings my total of black bettas up to four now... To think I could only dream of owning one a few months ago!

Before:



After:



When EE boy isn't busy charming the fins of the ladies, he likes to be "one with nature." He didn't choose Leaf Life... Leaf Life chose him. 



And here is a video of all the residents of our 20 gallon longs. The only ones missing are the sorority girls and my "dormmates." Speaking in the background are Ci and her grandma. Click to watch.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Well, it's never too late to join in on the fun. ;-)
> 
> 
> 
> I was thinking of a little tiny woodland forest. Could make it all whimisical and add some tiny figurines or make it a fairy garden. But please share if you find out any thing about the NPT nano shrimp bowls. Could blue tigers work? Blue tigers are the shrimps I always wanted.
> 
> Doooooooo it. :-D
> 
> 
> 
> I wonder why the moss grew mold? Ci's mom had a whole bunch growing in her garden, so she brought over some for Mr. Salamander's tank. Thought it would be okay since Mr. Salamander came from outside too. We don't have a Michael's near here, but the sizable glass bowls were $8.99 or $11.99 at Ross. The $11.99 ones all look like they could easily hold two or three gallons, the $8.99 ones maybe one or two. Good to know about the succulant. I would have probably tried to use them, even though I already killed the ones I had by overwatering them.  Sadly, the one at Ross doesn't come with wood lol.


I think the moss died because I over watered (read you should add extra water when transplanting) and I accidentally left a lexan lid onto of it from clearing out the tank it was on so it did not get enough air flow :c I tossed the moss in the snow and now that its melted (snow killed the mold but not the moss) I've been stuffing it in the gaps between stones in the pathway. Hoping it'll take hold and grow.. 'course I'm using 5 different mosses so we'll see how that goes... I guess I could try again now that its warm out and just make sure its got plenty of air flow.


----------



## Fenghuang

Huh. I thought moss needed a lot of water. Shows what I know... 

Went back to the shopping center with the Petco and Ross today because I had been feeling kinda like crap and wanted to get away from the school grounds for a little bit.. I saw some small 1/2 cup portions of riccia for $1.99 each at Petco. Do not know if that is a good deal or not. There was also an absolute...brat of a little five or six year old girl who was screaming and banging on the fish tanks with all her might.  Her mother just was off doing her own thing. There was also one woman with a whole group of children (six or seven) under the age of twelve and they were getting some goldfish and two male bettas. Hopefully not all in one tank, but I have no clue. She said they were on a budget... I overheard the employee saying to feed them no more than every other a day and swap out the water at least once a week for the bettas, which isn't great, but better than some advice I've heard. Young kids in pet stores just make me so nervous these days. *sigh*

Got some pictures of my EE boy's brother, I think. His finnage is not nearly as impressive, but he is farther along in the marbling process.



Cute PKEE. 



Pretty blues.





I liked this little "reverse panda" fancy. Only one. All the others were orange. I felt sorry for it, but I don't have the room for goldies at the moment.



Went to Ross and am now in Ross trying to decide which glass bowl/jar to get. They are all larger than they look in the pictures.

This one is I guess a cookie jar? Nice and stout and sturdy looking. Comes with the glass lid. Downside is it is not as clear.



The shallow and wide one I was talking about. Mouth is not as big as I remembered, but I like the shape still. It is very heavy, so should make an interesting nano aquatic bowl or terrarium. 



I prefer more surface area to height, but this one probably has the greatest volume. Hard to say since they are all different shapes.



And to round off the post, here is a cute glass octopus. 



Hadn't decided which container to get yet. I'll just wander around the shopping mall for now.


----------



## BlueInkFish

You need to take me fish shopping!!! Haha, you visit the pets store way much more than I do, which is a good thing, depending on how you look at it. Lol.

I personally like the 2nd jar/bowl/oval thingy, haha. It gives me the feeling of an atmosphere that is just perfect, for about anything.

I also do adore that glass octopus....


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> You need to take me fish shopping!!! Haha, you visit the pets store way much more than I do, which is a good thing, depending on how you look at it. Lol.
> 
> I personally like the 2nd jar/bowl/oval thingy, haha. It gives me the feeling of an atmosphere that is just perfect, for about anything.
> 
> I also do adore that glass octopus....


Haha, come to Georgia and I will! But I think this journal isn't a very good representation of how often I go "pet store hopping." After, I try to keep it relevant to fish and pets in general. 99 percent of my life is just boring everyday college student stuff like going to class and working. Doesn't make for very interesting journal fodder honestly.

Me too. I still like it best. I'm glad more people agree with me. 

The glass octopus is adorable and I want him, but he is _pricey._ Otherwise, I would get him. Well, he may not be... I have no clue what is fair price for these things. But normally, other than essential living stuff and fish, I really hate spending money.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha, my life is boring!!! Your in college! I'm in highschool .-. I'm looking forward to college much more than my future years in highschool anyways.

How much was the octopus if you don't mind me asking? I used to get mini glass figures when I was much younger. I tried collecting them but then the fish addiction syndrome got the best of me.

Keep up the good job with this journal! I always enjoy reading your post! Especially when there are Betta fish pictures involved :lol:!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Haha, my life is boring!!! Your in college! I'm in highschool .-. I'm looking forward to college much more than my future years in highschool anyways.
> 
> How much was the octopus if you don't mind me asking? I used to get mini glass figures when I was much younger. I tried collecting them but then the fish addiction syndrome got the best of me.
> 
> Keep up the good job with this journal! I always enjoy reading your post! Especially when there are Betta fish pictures involved :lol:!


No, stay young forever. College is when you realize being an adult is no fun. 

The octopus was $9.99. In hindsight, I guess it is an okay price. Actually a decent sized figurine... Would sit in two hands laid out flat, if you need an idea of size.

Thanks, Blu. I am very glad to know there are actually people who like my journal!



I ended up going with the roundish, shallow glass bowl and I am glad I did. It looks so roomy. I added water to it and it holds about 2.5 gallons, leaving 2-3 inches from the rim unfilled. This is not the final product. It is just to get a idea of what it would look like full of water. Plus, my melano BF hated having all the plants, so this is the holding "tank" for now.





For the record, if you have seen those "Design A Vine" moss covered vine-thingies being sold out of the tanks at Petco, don't bother getting them. I got two of these today because I thought they would be kind of cool for scaping. Sadly, I was mistaken. They are cheap, but they are _cheap_. It is basically a thin metal wire rod wrapped with straw (or something) wrapped with a tiny bit of java moss. They really do not stand up very well or hold the shape you mold them into, which kind of defeats the purpose imo. Plus, I accidentally snapped one and the metal portion became exposed. Doubt that is good for betta fish... I pulled off the little bit of moss and tossed the broken one. Just save your money and invest in some driftwood or cholla branches instead.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha... I wish! Not. Maybe a little. I'm actually scared of growing up. It sounds fun and all... But im actually REALLY scared! Mostly because I'm scared I may end up being homeless, with no education or life. It sounds like me. I feel like I'm not motivated in life (which I am) but I "fail" (usually C's or B's) and I don't think I'm good enough. Sounds rough. Everyone expects so much out of me. They expect me to be brilliant and smart. When the only real thing I have is family, fish, and that I laugh A LOT... Yea. Sorry about the off topic subject. I'm just scared of growing up. But I want to at the same time. Weird perspective right?

Anyways. I really like that octopus!! You should get it! Haha.

That bowl looks very comfy... Maybe even a new fish?? Haha. Lol. No ones stopping you :lol:? Anyways. I really like the outcome of it ^_^!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Haha... I wish! Not. Maybe a little. I'm actually scared of growing up. It sounds fun and all... But im actually REALLY scared! Mostly because I'm scared I may end up being homeless, with no education or life. It sounds like me. I feel like I'm not motivated in life (which I am) but I "fail" (usually C's or B's) and I don't think I'm good enough. Sounds rough. Everyone expects so much out of me. They expect me to be brilliant and smart. When the only real thing I have is family, fish, and that I laugh A LOT... Yea. Sorry about the off topic subject. I'm just scared of growing up. But I want to at the same time. Weird perspective right?
> 
> Anyways. I really like that octopus!! You should get it! Haha.
> 
> That bowl looks very comfy... Maybe even a new fish?? Haha. Lol. No ones stopping you :lol:? Anyways. I really like the outcome of it ^_^!


No worries about being off-topic. I don't mind just chatting and this is my journal, so hopefully, the mods will be more benevolent with the rules. And I totally understand where you are coming from. No, really, I do. I felt that way too in high school and I still sorta do. Actually, not even just "sorta." It is difficult to not keep feeling that way once you get that idea in your head, but I promise most of that _is just_ that you have gotten it in your head. Grades aren't everything. Everyone has their strengths. There are so many intrinsic parts of a person, that cannot be measure by a number or a letter or a percentile. Grade point averages and SAT scores and ACT scores are good for statistics, but they are a lot of rubbish too because they are based on certain biases and ideas of normalcy that don't really exist. 



As Albert Einstein said, "Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.

Okay, I'm rambling now... *The point is, you are good enough.*

Now knock it off with that doom and gloom and nonsense, mmkay? 

Jokes aside, becoming an adult isn't actually terrible. You don't really just wake up one day and have adult responsibilities smack you in the face lol. It is just another part of the learning process that is life. Although it probably wouldn't be bad to enjoy the years you have left as a minor if you can... Apologies for the sudden seriousness, hope you don't get scared away. XD

If the octopus is still there when May rolls around, which is probably the soonest I will be able to go again, I will be very tempted and most likely will.

And please, no. Do not mention the words "new fish" to me.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Ok. I'll stop my nonsense. The world is a big place haha...

New fish... New fish... New fish!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I want that bowl you got! I'm surprised hot much water it holds, it looks about 1/2 the size you say. Would be a great betta tank with a lexan lid so water line could be raised a bit, and mini sponge filter and heater


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> I want that bowl you got! I'm surprised hot much water it holds, it looks about 1/2 the size you say. Would be a great betta tank with a lexan lid so water line could be raised a bit, and mini sponge filter and heater


Oh, no. Not you too. Too many betta fish. @[email protected] Some people came by to collect some toilettry and clothes and things for my roommate who is in the hospital (long story unless you read my post elsewhere...) and they were both sneaking side glances at my desk. 

Here is the bowl in comparison to the Kritter Keepers I have. They hold about three gallons. I fill then up with 1 gallon jugs when I do my water changes, so I think my estimates are accurate enough...



Another picture. Round containers don't look right in photos. The tin of Altoids are not farther back, they are actually almost touching the bowl.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! You desk looks so nice with the fish and the bowl! Wish I had an organized desk like that :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow! You desk looks so nice with the fish and the bowl! Wish I had an organized desk like that :lol:


How do you know I didn't set it up just for the photo op, huh? 

Lol, it really isn't. The desktop looks neat, but the the space beneath the ledge, the surface above the desk (just out of the picture), and the drawers are a disaster.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha. We can imagine it's organized then 

I do need a desk for fish. Looks like it's time for shopping!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Yup I want that bowl!


----------



## Fenghuang

He likes the lady yeah.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

"Hey baby check out my manly bubble nest! Why don't you hop on out of that cup and we can put somethin' in it." *que Gunther music*
Did she seem impressed or disinterested in his new nest?


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> "Hey baby check out my manly bubble nest! Why don't you hop on out of that cup and we can put somethin' in it." *que Gunther music*
> Did she seem impressed or disinterested in his new nest?


I almost choked on my water laughing. Thank you for that.

She seems more interested now that her eye is looking a little better, but she also looks a little afraid of him. He is _so_ eager, constantly charging the cup and dancing for her.

I think I might make him the sire of my first test spawn. His fins aren't the best, but he does reach 180 degrees with some effort. I think he was just never exercised.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

A laugh is always good.. As long as you don't choke to death from it >.> sorry about that.
Good luck with the spawn attempt! I'm sure the gal would be more interested if she was peeped with a nice high frozen (or live) food diet for a week or more, get all eggy and wiggly for him. Hope her eye keeps improving ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> A laugh is always good.. As long as you don't choke to death from it >.> sorry about that.
> Good luck with the spawn attempt! I'm sure the gal would be more interested if she was peeped with a nice high frozen (or live) food diet for a week or more, get all eggy and wiggly for him. Hope her eye keeps improving ^^


Nah, no harm done. 

I hadn't picked a female for him yet. I have a koi HMPK, a super black DTHMPK x HM, and a salamander HMEE (partial). There are also 4 sorority girls, bulky with relatively balanced fins, but their colours are common and they are all some ambiguous mutty-tail type I hadn't figured out yet. 

Dalmatian Girl, while an attractive option if she heals up, is short finned and sadly does not have the nice broad dorsal I want. I am still trying to see if she really does have vision problems or if it is a consequence of her injured eye. Fingers crossed that it isn't the case, but I won't breed her just to make some pretty babies if they are going to end up partially blind. The other EE I saw at the store whom I reckon is my EE boy's brother has dragonscaling developing in one eye, so I figure that is genetics I have to watch out for.

I came home from work today to find that EE Boy had somehow tore a huge split/rip in his caudal. Doesn't look like tailbiting because it is a legitimate clean tear and some not messy chunky edges like you normally see when a fish starts fin biting. I really hope not anyway. Tailbiters are honestly the most frustrating. He is constantly swimming around the girl's cup so I wonder if he snagged it in between the tank walk and the cup. I guess I will have to go out and get another heater, so he can settle down. Still nonchalently tending to his big bubble nest (which I destroyed twice now because I have to change the girl's water, but he rebuilds immediately).

Dalmatian Girl looks like she has a black eye, but I promise it looks 120 percent better than it did. She was shedding her slime coat from the stress before, but she should be fine. The debris is broken IAL dyed blue from MB.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Cute!!!!
May I ask Feng. How hard is it to maintain a sorority? And how many do you have? 4? I thought people recommend getting odd numbered sororities due to their female "order system." Lol. I'm not sure haha.


----------



## JHatchett

It could also be a blowout from all that flarin' and flirtin'. Splits in my experience are quicker to heal than bites.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Cute!!!!
> May I ask Feng. How hard is it to maintain a sorority? And how many do you have? 4? I thought people recommend getting odd numbered sororities due to their female "order system." Lol. I'm not sure haha.


Honestly, sororities are a little scary. (Not that much different from the human ones lol ;-P ) You cannot just watch out for outward aggression, you also have to keep an eye out for the subtle signs of stress and nip any problems in the bud before something bigger breaks out. We lost our last eleven member sorority to who knows what. It sucked. We will probably never figure out the cause of the deaths in our last sorority, or if it was really one specific thing and not a bunch of unfortunate coincidences of countless different factors. But it was a learning experience and we learned a lot about how we can improve. Longer quarantine periods for every single fish we get, making sure to get females of all the same age relatively, plenty of hides and plants, etc. 

You can't just throw a bunch of random females together. I meanc how would you feel if someone tossed you and a bunch of catty strangers in a house without any warning or introduction?! You have to understand each sorority girl's individual personality and tendencies too. Once a female betta is jarred or kept separate for a long period of time, she becomes as aggressive as any male, and introducing (or reintroducing her) might just cause problems.

And to answer your question, yes, four is a precarious number. I think five to seven should be the ideal minimum for a more successful sorority. We had six, but one did not make it out of in QT (she was emanicated and I'm guessing either maltreatment or parasites) and one wedged herself behind the filter and got stuck and died before she was found. The four remaining ones are supposedly siblings, which should make it easier. I always believed the more females the better for a sorority. A lot of fishkeepers utilize the "crowding out" effect for semi-aggressive and/or territorial fish like cichlids, and I feel this applies to female bettas too. You do not want to literally crowd them by overstocking the tank because that will cause huge problems of its own, of course, but it is hard for one bully to target one specific individual if you keep many together. Also, (this is just my opinion, so don't think there is any scientific proof behind it) I think keeping other fish species (has to be peaceful ones, of course) with my sorority helps too... The guppies probably divert a lot of the girls' attentions away from each other and also reassures the more timid girls. 



JHatchett said:


> It could also be a blowout from all that flarin' and flirtin'. Splits in my experience are quicker to heal than bites.


Oh, yes, that could be a possibility. I use to have one male that was guility of that. His fin edges were always ragged because he was so active and constantly flaring at everything and eventually, he looked more like a rosetail, but he never lost any length.


Master bubblenest architect at work. His pecs look kind of ridiculous sometimes. :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

A tiny update on Dalmatian's recovery. I think she is looking a lot better than she did. I had her moved to melano male's tank to give EE boy a break. Mr. Melano flared and build a bubble nest overnight to welcome her too, but seems to have lost interest already.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Her eye looks a lot better to me. Hope she continues to heal smoothly.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, Dayton! She is looking even better today.



I move out of my college dorm and into my new house (it is a rental) May 3rd. Getting antsy because I am already have so many idea. Of course, these ideas are pertaining to fish and tank setups and not, you know, furnishing my bedroom (finally have my own room again, woot!) and house so that the place is actually liveable. Who need furniture to sit or sleep in anyway? :roll: I have so many plans rolling around in my head. One of these days, I'll get around to transferring them onto paper.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yay!! Moving is exciting... I can imagine your house already... Filled with Betta tanks everywhere :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Yay!! Moving is exciting... I can imagine your house already... Filled with Betta tanks everywhere :lol:


Well. It is a house I am sharing with two good friends. So, my bedtoom might be filled with betta tanks everywhere, but maybe not the rest of the house. XD

I apologize for any typos I make today. I've gotten about two hours of sleep a night since the weekend.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha. They don't need their bedrooms... Maybe you can make their rooms into fish rooms XD!!!

Oh no!! Go get some sleep! I know the feeling, you need all the sleep you can get!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Haha. They don't need their bedrooms... Maybe you can make their rooms into fish rooms XD!!!
> 
> Oh no!! Go get some sleep! I know the feeling, you need all the sleep you can get!


Shhhhh! I can't spring it on them just yet, they'll run away and then I will have no one to help me split the rent! I need to ease them into it. :lol:



I am sure happy my breeding males like building build nests.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha.

Nice bubble nest!!! My male doesn't really like building flat "stereotypical" nest and makes half or more of the nest above water... Like a bubble cloud on top of the surface haha.

Your males nest is very cute... I just love looking at them. Seems like he worked hard on it!


----------



## Fenghuang

Some random betta pictures today. 

My "koi" veiltail. You can see he is starting to marble. I expected that. But I would love to see if I could still recreate some redheads through his children. Sorry the pictures are blurry. These are screenshots from Facetime. He is too skittish to get clear photos yet.





The black orchid boy. He has really coloured up nicely. Looks a lot darker than the pictures show.



My Petco baby who I had with me in my dorm for most of the semester. She is so much bigger now. Her SBD has completely gone away. Her partial EE pectoral fins are growing too. I think she is actually a long finned as opposed to a plakat. 



The new Aquabid boy. I am pleased that he hadn't marbled out completely. I expect a change in most marbles I get. This is the first time I did not request Express shipping for an import, but he seems to have traveled just fine. Very cute little guy. He is inquisitive and active. I can't wait until he settled in and colours up.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Your newest boy is gorgeous!!!


----------



## Anders247

Beautiful!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, guys. I feel very fortunate to be able to have so many lovely fish and also a lovely and very supportive girlfriend.


----------



## Fenghuang

More pictures of the "koi" VT and also the black piebald/marble BF boy (not to be confused with my melano BF boy or the black orchid boy... I need to come up with names for like 15 bettas...) that never gets any attention because he is a meanie and refuses to let his picture get taken. 

"If I just sit like this, no one will see me..."


----------



## Fenghuang

Moved Dalmatian girl back to floating in EE boy's tank. Within two hours, he build a brand new nest from scratch (he let his old one from before disintegrate after I removed her). She looks pretty much done healing now. I am now just waiting on a new heater and sponge filter for her new temporary home. 

His new bubble nest looks neat. I wonder if he would be as attentive if he had a brood of fry to look after?


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! What a champ!!!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow! What a champ!!!


I can't decide if I want to try out him or the koi VT first!


----------



## BlueInkFish

I think you need to try him! He's obviously building these nest for a reason ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

I was looking through my camera today and saw that I had some more pictures I hadn't posted yet. Which is not atypical because I am really bad about organizing pictures and other things in general. I also took a few more pictures, so not all of these pictures are from the same day. All the white/copper EE's are from today though, but the rest, you can probably figure out if they are from the same day or not.

My female is all better again. I am sure she is blind now in her left eye, but she doesn't seem to mind it. I moved her into the glass bowl for now and have a thick heavy duty ziplock bag laid over the mouth so she doesn't jump. She seems to like it. What betta wouldn't? (Aside from my melano male who is weird about plants...) It is warm, heavily planted, and roomy. It is terrible for pictures, but ah, well.




























My darling melano male. He is still so small, but I have high hopes for him. I need to find him a specular DT female to improve his dorsal, so I can get a line of nice HMs going. He gnawed on his caudal a little when I added plants to his tank, but it doesn't look like he bites frequently. Sorry for the horrible reflection. Plastic scratches so easily and for some reason, dirt and grim sticks to his Kritter Keeper so much more in comparison to the other Kritter Keeper which is the exact same make and model. I even changed the water and scrub them out on the same day and this one got dirty again. It makes him look like he has a serious case of ich/velvet, but I promise he doesn't.



















My big fluffy EE. He is such a big boy. 























































Last snapshots of EE boy's bubblenest before his mean Mama destroyed it the other day. For reference, the tank is 3 gallons.



















To finish off this post, here is a video of a cute beardie (bearded dragon) I met at the pet store when I went to get another heater.

EDIT: Nevermind, Photobucket doesn't want to process my video. :-(


----------



## Fenghuang

I also bid on these two bettas today. And maybe I'll bid on another for an even 20 bettas...? I have been seriously eyeing this one HMPK female with a clear cello body with just one black tiger stripe. I know, it's getting out of hand. I totally have a problem, but I guess bettas are one of the ways I cope (not even completely joking anymore)?

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashm&1429883862



http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1430131728


----------



## Fenghuang

*grumbles* I am just a little _irrationally_ annoyed over the auction on the male now.


----------



## andakin

I don't know much about kois but this one has some really nice colors. The price is a bit steep right now considering the additional shipping/transhipping charges. Good luck with the auction if you continue to compete.


----------



## Fenghuang

andakin said:


> I don't know much about kois but this one has some really nice colors. The price is a bit steep right now considering the additional shipping/transhipping charges. Good luck with the auction if you continue to compete.


Thank you. I am the highest bidder right now, so I guess I have no choice in the matter. The price is a bit more than I would like to pay, but I feel like it would be hard to come by another fish like him anywhere else. And it is so rare that my girlfriend *really* likes a betta too, so I wanted to get him for her as well.


----------



## Pandoras

If we win him, he will be my prized pet (outside the babies) and I shall give him a fully decked-out, themed tank. I'm thinking Assassin's Creed ...


----------



## Fenghuang

_Not_ getting the male... Told myself $57 would be the last bid.

 

I am pretty disappointed. I really really should have it BIN on him. He was only $35! :-( Also am not getting the armageddon girl or the red one spot tancho girl. 

I did buy this girl though and I am sure I will like her because I have the Dalmatian girl is from that seller and I love her (do not think her eye issue was the seller's fault). But it's not the same...


----------



## andakin

A new bidder late into the auction. Prices will likely go even higher. I don't mind paying for quality, but sometimes too much is too much. 

What are the shipping fees for you? I drive to the Canadian transhipper's house to pick up the fish directly and I still find it expensive.


----------



## Fenghuang

Yes, nice fish, but I cannot rationalize dropping that much on a fish with so much uncertainty. I am interested to see the outcome though. I was looking at the Closed Auctions and saw that the fish of the specific seller were selling for a lot more than I though. The bidder who had been bidding against me for most of the auction bought the female sib for some outrageous price too. 

My understanding is that Canada only really has one main transhipper? I have heard that it can be very expensive in Canada. I live in the US, so I think you would find that there is a lot more variation when it comes to importing/shipping costs. 

The transhippers all charge some sort of service and shipping/handling fee for their services. Some are charge more than others and I think there are more options when it comes to which method of domestic shipping (Priority, Express, Next Day, etc.) you want to use. Here is a rough sample from my recent experiences. These obviously do not include the cost of purchasing the fish from the Thai breeders/sellers and the exporting fee to get the fish on the plane ($5-6 is the norm). Prices are in USD, but I think the Canadian dollar is not that far off from the US dollar at this point in time?

With Linda Olson, I chose Express and paid $3.20 per fish for import and handling fees per fish, $2 for heat pack, $5 for the box, and $40 for Express next day delivery. Total was $59.80 (4 fish).

When I used Koo Yang, I paid $15 for 2-3 day Priority, $5 for the box, and $3 per fish. Came out to a total of $23 (1 fish).


----------



## Fenghuang

It is with a heavy heart that I post to say that Dalmatian Girl passed away tonight. 

I do not know why she did... I went to turn off the lights on my tanks at about 11:10 pm tonight and noticed immediately that something was very off with her. She was very friendly and active fish and always swam right up to check me out (in the hopes of food). But tonight, she was laying on one of the large floating anubius leaves right up near the surface not moving. I thought she was dead because she was completely motionless at first. But when I put my hand in the water to check, she made the slightest flick with her tail and there was soms gill motion and she started to sink. I cupped her immediately and checked her out. No signs of disease or damage at all aside from her looking like she was in great distress and laying on her side. I hastily performed a water change, acclimated her to the new water, and dumped methlylene blue into the cup hoping against hope that it would help even though it did not look good at all. Her condition deteriorated quickly over the next two hours. Her gills moved rapidly, body twitched (seizing?) every so often. She would swim up to the breathe, but it appeared to take a great deal of effort for her to do so. By 2:30 am, she had died.

I do not really know... This came out of nowhere. She was completely fine before. No loss of appetite or clamping of fins or loss of colour or any other change in behavior. No symptons of anything fungal or bacterial. I do not think it is connected to her eye problem, feel like something would have happened sooner if it was related to her eye. My bet is on the water. I have not neglected my water changes though. The two males here also get the same water and changes at the same times. But there's nothing wrong with them at all. It could be a sudden nitrite spike, but my water testing kit is back at home, so I cannot check. If that is the case, I could have made it worse by changing the water all at once too, I guess.

It is frustrating because I don't know. And she has really grown on me and practically became my favourite fish. I am very upset. 

I didn't even get to take that many pictures of her, so this one will have to do, even I just posted it a page back. I like this one because she looks so cute and curious, which is exactly how she was, in it.


----------



## MattsBettas

Awe I'm so sorry, Feng.


----------



## Fenghuang

MattsBettas said:


> Awe I'm so sorry, Feng.


Thank you :-(

How is life treating you? Are you going to make an journal update of that auction haul?


----------



## LittleBettaFish

Sorry to read this. I was hoping your female would be alright once the eye was dealt with. 

Seems like bettas, more than any other fish, can be real heart-breakers.


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> Sorry to read this. I was hoping your female would be alright once the eye was dealt with.
> 
> Seems like bettas, more than any other fish, can be real heart-breakers.


That's for sure. I do not what it is with betta fish. They are just so easy to get attached to for such little fish and with rather short life-span. But thank you. 


She did heal up very well. Or at least I think so. I do not remember if I posted these. Possibly in the Emergency thread I made? Not here at least. It was funny because she always seemed self-conscious about that side of her face and it was quite difficult to get pictures. I might have more on my camera, I would have to see...


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Is she blind in that eye now? Or is that the light bouncing off the healed eye making it look opaque?


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Is she blind in that eye now? Or is that the light bouncing off the healed eye making it look opaque?


Aurora, she died early this morning. The explanation on the last post of the last page. 

No, you are right, it was opaque like that. I think she did become blind, but I could not determine for certain. The eye settled into a slightly milky colour after it healed. She still had control of it, since I saw she moved it in the direction of light and other stimuli, but I don't think she had sight in it.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, I believe that both the ups and downs are what makes this hobby so rewarding and challenging. With that being said, I have more unfortunate news to report... My young melano male that I hope to be the main sire of my breeding program came down with dropsy. 

I woke up yesterday and found that he had ballooned up and his scales were all raised. I could only add some kanamycin to his tank at that time since I had to hurry to work, but I did a full water change when I got back and added 3 tsp of Epsom Salt and Furan-2. The Kanaplex and Furan-2 combo is sort of my go-to for actual medication now. He appears much the same today. He looks terrible physically, but behavior-wise, he is unchanged. Still a complete pig with food and swims around and flares and tries to intimidate me when I check on him. 

It is really weird. He has not been exposed to anything new. I quarantine everything live for at least two weeks now since we are dealing with so many fish. Heck, I hadn't gotten anything new at all. I have not fed him any foods that could carry parasites. The only thing out of ordinary was the dalmatian girl died and most of the anubias in her bowl suddenly died, but the dalmatian girl and the melano boy had not had any contact with one another (aside from me floatly her temporarily in a cup in his tank two weeks ago). The only correlation I can think of between the two is that I performed water changes on both the girl's bowl after she died and the melano male's tank. Obviously, I did not mix the two, but the anubias suddenly rotted/melted after that water change (just fished out the gross dead plant matter yesterday evening) and the male pineconed. But I also changed my EE male's water? I don't know.

Here he is today.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Ah sorry I missed the post about your dali gal from the previous page, sorry she passed, she seemed sweet. I hope your boy pulls through!! Being his same spunky hungry pigy-ly self still is a good sign at least.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Ah sorry I missed the post about your dali gal from the previous page, sorry she passed, she seemed sweet. I hope your boy pulls through!! Being his same spunky hungry pigy-ly self still is a good sign at least.


Thank you, Aurora. And yeah, he is in the process of building himself a bubble nest right now. It is rather heartwarming to see.


----------



## Fenghuang

I made a terrible mistake.... I did not realize until this morning that I had added 1 tsp/gallon of _aquarium salt_, not epsom salt because I was a bleeping idiot! And this was right after I added the second round of kanaplex! 

I quickly changed the water with the right salt. I thought I shocked the poor fish because he laid on the bottom of the tank gasping and unresponsive for a while. 

But now he is up and swimming around the tank again.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh no! We're all clumsy now and then... I've done a similar thing, but I've learned from my experiences, I know. I hope the guy gets better!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, Blu.

Melano boy is not looking so hot today. He is down again and the pineconing is even more severe. He looks rather pale. I am not very confident about a good outcome... I wonder what happened? Sigh. :-(


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh no! That's bad. I'm sorry, sending positive vibes!


----------



## Fenghuang

Positive vibes are very appreciated, Blu. He was laying on his side/in a head down postion for most of today, but he has managed to right himself again now. He is still sort of sitting/resting, but at least he is able to stay upright and is not keeled over? I cupped him so he can get to the surface and breathe easier. Pineconing looks very serious.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh wow. That really severe. I think you may have posted it already and I forgot but what are you using to medicate him? Poor guy  I hope he feels better, the trick is to try to catch and demolish dropsy at its early stage.


----------



## Fenghuang

Kanaplex and epsom salt mainly. Was going to give him the last dose together, but he passed away around noon (I know he was still alive at 8 am). SIP darling fish. :-(


----------



## Fenghuang

I lost the one half of both my actual breeding pairs (the dalmatian HMPK female for my fancy spotted HMPK male and the melano HM male for my super black HM female), so now I need to reevaluate.


----------



## BlueInkFish

I'm sorry 

I hope you figure everything out, just remember, if you need any help, we're here!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I'm sorry for your loses. Perhaps the higher powers (of betta wonders) want you to try something different and new with breeding, maybe you should consider breeding the two that are left? What sort of babies would they make? I love genetics and working with dominant and receive genes to figure out ratios/% for offspring traits but have not learned which traits are dominant or recessive in betta genetics yet (as soon as I start looking I'd want to test it with breeding and don't have the time or space for that).


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, you two, your kind words are greatly appreciated.



Aqua Aurora said:


> I'm sorry for your loses. Perhaps the higher powers (of betta wonders) want you to try something different and new with breeding, maybe you should consider breeding the two that are left? What sort of babies would they make? I love genetics and working with dominant and receive genes to figure out ratios/% for offspring traits but have not learned which traits are dominant or recessive in betta genetics yet (as soon as I start looking I'd want to test it with breeding and don't have the time or space for that).


I hadn't thought of that, actually. The male and female that remain would indeed make a _very interesting_ pair. They are so different and I have honestly no idea what they would throw... But I guess it could be worth a shot? These are the sellers' pictures. 

Fancy HMPK Male



DTPK x HM Female (I know she looks hunchbacked in this photo, but her topline looks fine in person)


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh wow. They would not produce interesting fry!


----------



## Fenghuang

I am moving into my new house today. One step closer to a proper setup.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yay! I hope everything goes smoothly!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you, Blu. I have lots of cleaning to do! :-D Which, I an weirdly excited about for some reason.

And in preparation, here is my full Aquabid haul. 

Koi HMPK female won from Fantasybettas



Wild Copper Smaragdina male/female pair won from Fantasybettas



 

Koi HMPK male/female pair (female sibling not pictured) won from Storybettas



_Bidding on..._ *fingers crossed I win*

Koi HM male from Tapongbettas



Koi HM female from Storybettas



Koi HM female from Storybettas


----------



## BlueInkFish

That's a lot of pretty fish! 

I thought you said you could only bring in 2 more? If that's too much fish... You could always donate to the "Blu Needs Your Fish Foundation," LOL


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> That's a lot of pretty fish!
> 
> I thought you said you could only bring in 2 more? If that's too much fish... You could always donate to the "Blu Needs Your Fish Foundation," LOL


Two more were the last two. The others were in the equation before I said that. :lol: 

But I'll keep you in mind. ;-)


----------



## BlueInkFish

Ooh! Haha. Okay, you better remember me if you ever need fish who needs some homes


----------



## Fenghuang

So... I am a terrible person. We went to Home Deport to pick up some things to clean and fix up the house. My girlfriend was driving and my two roommates were also in the car. I have been going to school here in Georgia for two full academic years now and have not really been anywhere in the city I live in (it just isn't easy to get around here without a car unlike other cities I've been in). But anyway, I see a Petsmart in Georgia for basically the first time next to Home Deport and ask to go in. Everyone basically humoured me and all four of us got out of the car and went in. No plans to do anything except look. 

Well. We are now two bettas "richer." 

The betta section was pretty sad. Lots of mopey, clamped looking fish, mainly veiltails and deltas. Every single cup was dyed with methylene blue, so that you hardly make out what any of the fish look like colour or pattern-wise. But you could still tell that most of the bettas had some case of fin rot and sticky fins. I see a label for "Halfmoon Females." Never seen that before at Petsmart... Although I hadn't been in a Petsmart in a long while. Looked at the girlfriend and backed at the display and she was basically like, "Okay, fine, you have five minutes to make a decision."

I tentatively pulled two of the more active females off the shelves. They actually did look to have enough rays. One was an ambiguous tan-ish colour. The other I could tell was a rather sad looking short-bodied dragon with a very lumpy and crooked topline. It doesn't look as bad in the pictures, but her deformity is very noticeably in person. Obviously not breeding quality, but I think they will make nice additions to the sorority. I will try to introduce them to later on if they seem like a good fit (our current group of four is rather risky, I think). Right now, they seem rather aggressive towards one another when I put them side by side.

Mysterious blue fish.











Mysterious blue fish after warmed up and acclimated into clean water.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Here we go again! :lol:

Please remember about the "Blu Needs Your Fish Foundation!" LOL


----------



## Fenghuang

Also won all the fish I was bidding on.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yay!!!! Congratulations!!!


----------



## Fenghuang

Still cleaning and fixing up and settling into new house. Not a whole lot of fish related development yet. I found a quarter sized brown recluse in the attic though. Plus a bunch of baby ones. I caught it and then sprayed the entire area with insecticide that also killed spiders. 

Also found tons of other bugs as we were cleaning. Landlord said there was no bug/pest problem, but we are beginning to think that is a huge understatement. Thankfully I am not squeamish at allz


----------



## BlueInkFish

Just wait till you have to start moving tanks around! Lol, that's going to be a pain in the a**! It was for me haha.

Ewe.... Spiders.... I'd be freaking out and screaming. Lol


----------



## Fenghuang

Well, things have been interesting the last couple of days (weeks?). Ci, who planned on driving down for only a weekend to help my roommates and I move, ended up getting into a car accident the night she got in... Which she wants everyone to know, was _not_ her fault (someone sped into her while she was stopped waiting to turn). So, my girlfriend ended up staying and helping me clean up the house for the past three weeks because she was marooned in Georgia. It was a lot of hard work. We were trying to move in the middle of all our finals. Especially since one of my roommates had been kind of uncooperative and did not want to do any real work and then ended up leaving early for the summer. :-? But thankfully Ci is very handy and had a lot of experience with maintenance and landscaping because she took a lot of odd jobs since she was a teenager. Would have been a disaster otherwise because our house is a disaster (it is a house that hadn't had any real work done to it since it was built in the 1940's and bugs of all kinds have basically taken over).

We sweeped and mopped and polished and scrubbed and sealed and disinfected. Her car finally got fixed Tuesday afternoon, so I decided to come back with Ci instead of staying until the end of May like I had intended to. 

The tanks have fallen into disrepair while Ci was away and need to be cleaned again. Many live plants melted so the tanks are a mess. Ci's grandma discovered a death in the family yesterday morning while we were still on the road back. Apparently our imported koi female hadn't had much of an appetite and was lethargic. When we got home, I noticed the super black female was showing the same symptons. She was really skinny looking, but bloated around the abdomen. I almost did not recognize her because she looked more grey than glossy black (and she was a really robust fish before) and her scales were rough around the edges too. Internal parasites maybe? My melano male who came on the same shipment did suddenly get dropsy... Don't know how this happened. Melano boy has been 500+ miles away from them for two months. We had these imports since March and they had been quarantined extensively and were not exposed to any new stock. 

I am a bit nervous because these two females were housed in a divided tank system with three other fish (although all the non-imports appear totally fine) and we have eight more imports coming sometime this week. It is going to be really bad if this spreads. The sorority tank also has some problems. One's face/mouth area has a rough patch on it. Like columnaris or something, but she is acting normal. The other fish also has some lighter patches that I hadn't been able to determine if they are marbling or the same thing... Methlylene blue, kanaplex, and furan-2 for everyone in that tank. Argh.

It really does make me paranoid when things are going smoothly for a few months now because just when I think everything is fine, random deaths and diseases start cropping up in spades.

But yeah, I am anticipating that we have a lot more work to do... At least I am finally on summer break now and can finally focus on the hobby more?


----------



## Fenghuang

My new imports are here already. That was a very fast 3 Day Priority...


----------



## BlueInkFish

Did they arrive safely  ?


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Did they arrive safely  ?


What do you think?


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! What beauties!

I think you have way too many fish... I'll take some in LOL!t

Seems like everyone is doing good


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow! What beauties!
> 
> I think you have way too many fish... I'll take some in LOL!t
> 
> Seems like everyone is doing good


C'mon, only 24 bettas. No biggie.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yikes. How are the water changes coming along? Tiring?


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Yikes. How are the water changes coming along? Tiring?


Not too bad actually. The jars get daily changes, but those are quick to do when you already have the aged and conditioned water set aside. We have our sorority (it will be up to six members) in the planted 40 breeder and that one only gets full changes once every full moon. The rest are in divided 20 longs, also planted and filtered, with each bettas getting 4 gallons. These get changes about once a week to once every two weeks. The new imports will be in similar setups once they are done being quarantined (hopefully I will get a rack system going in my new house).


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow. You have much more tanks then me and it seems like less work! I guess I'm just really lazy and tired haha.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow. You have much more tanks then me and it seems like less work! I guess I'm just really lazy and tired haha.


Oh, I wouldn't say lazy. It _is_ really hard to be motivated to do water changes sometimes. They are just so mundane and tedious even on small containers where they are quick.

It is annoying since all our tanks are in the basement or on the second floor where there are no sinks or water sources. Ci had to bring the garden hose up on a ladder and through the window to fill the QT tank yesterday. Or in my dorms where the room sinks are too small so you have to either carry the tanks down the hall to the bathroom where the sinks are automated and run hot water only, so I have to haul them into the shower stalls and put them under the showerhead to fill. I got a lot of odd looks in the last two years for that. I can finally leave that behind now. :-D

But the water changes have to be done!


What does your tank situations look like, if you don't mind me asking? I always like seeing/hearing about other people's setups.


----------



## Fenghuang

I posted a picture thread for the updated menagerie here. I got all but the sorority girls. 

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=558994


----------



## BlueInkFish

My set ups for water changes? Lol, I just simply siphon and refill with buckets, unless it's the goldfish tank. I bring in the hose to refill their home


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> My set ups for water changes? Lol, I just simply siphon and refill with buckets, unless it's the goldfish tank. I bring in the hose to refill their home


I meant your setups for housing fish lol. But that sounds fine. We have an electric pump for the goldfish tank back at my parents' house. Too much gallonage to haul buckets back and forth (or up and down the stairs technically). 



It has been raining lots down here in Missouri. The weather has been very hot and humid too. I went out into the yard after the thunderstorm today and found that the 18 gallon former snail tub that Ci left out has gotten filled to the brim and become populated with mosquito larvaes. So, everyone got a treat today. 4-5 larvaes each. They were very happy campers today.

Might be a little gross, but my harvest today! Hopefully there will be more where that came from.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yummy! Lol.

Haha. Duh! I knew you were talking about my housing set ups :lol:

Anyways, each breeder fish or pet fish (bettas) get about 2 gallons or more. I'm planning on just dividing 2 10g for 2 pairs, and work with only 2 strains until I have more fish room. The fry are in a 30g tall but males will be jarred.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Yummy! Lol.
> 
> Haha. Duh! I knew you were talking about my housing set ups :lol:
> 
> Anyways, each breeder fish or pet fish (bettas) get about 2 gallons or more. I'm planning on just dividing 2 10g for 2 pairs, and work with only 2 strains until I have more fish room. The fry are in a 30g tall but males will be jarred.


2 gallons or more when you actually have a breeding operation going is pretty great. But yeah, imo 10g+ divided tanks are the most low maintenance setups. Only have to be extra careful about diseases and quarantining. It sucks having one sick fish at a time as it is.

Are your tanks all stacked together one on rack or desk? Or are they all spread out?


----------



## Fenghuang

Greetings, everyone! So, today's journal entry is a bit more "cat-tastic" than usual... ;-) 

Our female cat Luxe loves plants. Like a lot. She is constantly trying to get into the houseplants and eat them. That is a problem because a lot of common houseplants aren't good for cats (and also dirt everywhere isn't fun). So, Ci and I wanted to build a little green space for her out on the screened-in porch since she is not allowed out. Hopefully, Jasper will like it too, but he is kinda weird about a lot of things, so there's no telling.

We didn't really have know what we wanted, but when we went into town today, we stopped by Ace and picked up some herbs. We got catnip (obviously), catmint, peppermint, lemongrass, licorice basil, roman chamomile, orange thyme, and creeping thyme. We also had rosemary, lavender, and chocolate mint at home. We read that cats really like those.

At first, we thought about using a flat storage bins, but we couldn't find one that was the right size and shape. We did find some plastic trays for starting plants, but they were too shallow for most plant roots in the long term. In the end, we decided we were just going to build our own.

Will she like it?



I think she does.



Quite a bit...



Ci had gotten some wood pallets from work. Some sawing and hammering latter (mainly Ci since _no one trusts_ me with a power saw). 



Attached a lattice we scavenged from the neighbors' burn pile (with permission).



Planted the herbs. There is empty space underneath the slabs on top so the roots can expand. They also give the cats a place to laid. 



A couple of pictures of the neighborhood cats. We had a few come hang out with us while we worked today. I fed them some cat treats and leftover chicken. This area has a lot of cats. It's mostly rural and wooded and there are a lot of stray and feral cats that come and go. Some technically belong to various people that live around here, but they are outdoor cats and roam. Sadly, a lot are not fixed, so that doesn't help with population control. But hey, no rodent problem eh?

The little grey short-haired tabby is Jenny who belongs to the folks next door. She is the mother of our cat, Jasper (who looks nothing like her). She had two litters of four kittens each before her second birthday and Jasper is the only one that is still alive. The neighbors finally got her spayed and taking care of her a lot better, so those days are behind her now.



This white bobtailed cat is Rabbi. His owners live across the street and he is a old fella at about 14-16 years old. His face and ears are all scratched up from fighting with other cats, but he is very friendly to most humans. 





The brown tabby is a young female they call Louie. She showed up one day out of the blue, but she is fixed. The calico is Callie. She had a litter of kittens last year that are now grown up. They come around from time to time, but they are not nearly as people-friendly as their mom. Callie supposedly just gave birth again, but she is still hiding these new ones. We also met a lynx-point Siamese we call "Jasper's Daddy" on the account that he is a splitting image of Jasper. He also turned up one day random (about a year after Jasper was born, so he may or may not be the father), but he is extremely skittish and does not let you approach him, so no pictures. He is a handsome cat though. 



Can you spot the cat?



Finally, a sneak peak at some stuff I have for my wild smaragdina tank. I went over to the creek at the far end of Ci's mom's place across the street yesterday and collected some rocks. I want to try out a dirted tank and have a bit more of a hardscape than my tanks usually do. I want to try to actually make it look like the shallow part of a stream.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Quite the cat-tastic neighborhood it seems. Lov your grey-blue cat! Reminds me of one me and my husband had (same coat color) but she had a little white spot on his muzzle and a bit on 2 paws. She passed a few years back (was very old). Good barn born cat, always liked hunting and kept bringing us "presents". Her last year though she didn't do so well.. my husband witnessed her try to cat a squirrel.. she grabbed onto its tail and the squirrel went bolting up a high fence (dragging her along behind it) haha . She was a petite cat the squirrel probably weighed more than her.. and she ate like a pig but never gained weight...


----------



## BlueInkFish

Fenghuang said:


> 2 gallons or more when you actually have a breeding operation going is pretty great. But yeah, imo 10g+ divided tanks are the most low maintenance setups. Only have to be extra careful about diseases and quarantining. It sucks having one sick fish at a time as it is.
> 
> Are your tanks all stacked together one on rack or desk? Or are they all spread out?


I have 2 5g on a corner desk, 2 10g on the same corner desk.

The 2 gallon tank is on top of a cubby same with the 30g. The "stands," are pretty sturdy. 

And soon to be... Many more 2 gallons and jars.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Quite the cat-tastic neighborhood it seems. Lov your grey-blue cat! Reminds me of one me and my husband had (same coat color) but she had a little white spot on his muzzle and a bit on 2 paws. She passed a few years back (was very old). Good barn born cat, always liked hunting and kept bringing us "presents". Her last year though she didn't do so well.. my husband witnessed her try to cat a squirrel.. she grabbed onto its tail and the squirrel went bolting up a high fence (dragging her along behind it) haha . She was a petite cat the squirrel probably weighed more than her.. and she ate like a pig but never gained weight...


Sounds like you had quite the fearless cat! Luxe doesn't really hunt much as far as I know. She's strictly indoors and only got out a few times, but she seems too sweet to kill anything. Jasper who is a huge wimp did drag in a vole that got inside a few weeks ago. Surprised everyone because he isn't exactly the brightest pup in the litter, if you know what I mean lol. Our tabby Ari is the best. He runs _from_ mice and birds. :lol:


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Sounds like you had quite the fearless cat! Luxe doesn't really hunt much as far as I know. She's strictly indoors and only got out a few times, but she seems too sweet to kill anything. Jasper who is a huge wimp did drag in a vole that got inside a few weeks ago. Surprised everyone because he isn't exactly the brightest pup in the litter, if you know what I mean lol. Our tabby Ari is the best. He runs _from_ mice and birds. :lol:


Yeh our cat was a lil' huntress, got a few types of birds (usually small sparrows or chickatee looking things, brought a garden snake ones (live-about 12" long), also brought a baby squirrel.. I won't post on the conditon it was in as it would be a little morbid with kids reading the forum.. but we had to put it down. Had a field mice several times too, but no voles. She didn't always win though... 2nd time going after a baby squirrel she failed-parents knocked her out of the tree (40+feet up!) she survived fine and didn't bother them again... She also failed with a snake once and got bit which festered into some nasty giant pustual swell on her head that we had to pop and let ooze out (so nasty!!!!) but it healed just fine after that. And then that last fail squirrel tail fiasco.
WE also took care of two obese cats (made that way from previous owner.. who also cruelly had them de-clawed by ripping out the last jointed bone of eat toe on the front paws). They saw a vole once that got into the basement somehow-they were horrified and fled to the other room =.= They've since been re-homed though-thankfully since I have cat allergies-so nice actually getting to smell things again (seriously no sense of smell with cats here EVER-too much clog-age).

Ok sorry I'll stop the cat tangent now. 

I want more photos of your newest bettas btw!! I feel like staring a koi female sorority in my 20g long because of you and your cool kois=.=


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Yeh our cat was a lil' huntress, got a few types of birds (usually small sparrows or chickatee looking things, brought a garden snake ones (live-about 12" long), also brought a baby squirrel.. I won't post on the conditon it was in as it would be a little morbid with kids reading the forum.. but we had to put it down. Had a field mice several times too, but no voles. She didn't always win though... 2nd time going after a baby squirrel she failed-parents knocked her out of the tree (40+feet up!) she survived fine and didn't bother them again... She also failed with a snake once and got bit which festered into some nasty giant pustual swell on her head that we had to pop and let ooze out (so nasty!!!!) but it healed just fine after that. And then that last fail squirrel tail fiasco.
> WE also took care of two obese cats (made that way from previous owner.. who also cruelly had them de-clawed by ripping out the last jointed bone of eat toe on the front paws). They saw a vole once that got into the basement somehow-they were horrified and fled to the other room =.= They've since been re-homed though-thankfully since I have cat allergies-so nice actually getting to smell things again (seriously no sense of smell with cats here EVER-too much clog-age).
> 
> Ok sorry I'll stop the cat tangent now.
> 
> I want more photos of your newest bettas btw!! I feel like staring a koi female sorority in my 20g long because of you and your cool kois=.=


No, no, you're fine. 

You've seen the new imports? Koi bettas are interesting. We got in six this time and four of them are siblings, but they are still all different.


----------



## Fenghuang

Setting up the tank for my copper smaragdina pair today. Excited about this one! :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

Will we get pictures of how the tank looks  ?


----------



## Fenghuang

Of course, Blu. As soon as Photobucket finishes uploading... >_> It's being a jerk again.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha, take your time!


----------



## Fenghuang

This is my first wild pair, so I thought it will be fitting to try something new... So, this is also my first dirted tank. 

The humble beginnings...



Mud.



Our little cleaning/disinfecting operation. Hot water, bleach, and the sun kill nearly everything right? (We do the bleaching inside in a bathtub though. Don't want to kill literally everything.)



The butterflies like our work.



After some 'scaping...



Haul the entire thing inside, add fish and a *few* snails.















Just a couple of snapshots of the wild couple tonight. They are too fast to really get good pictures of with a phone camera. But they are doing well. The male loves showing off. Female is a feisty one too... She chases her reflection and tries to eat everything that moves. I thought wilds hide a lot, but these two are pretty fearless. They are quickly becoming two of my favourites.

Bonus pictures of the herb garden we built for our cats. I think they are kind of cute.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Love the wilds!!! I wish I could start up my own setup!

Lovely garden, with an adorable cat to add!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Love the wilds!!! I wish I could start up my own setup!
> 
> Lovely garden, with an adorable cat to add!


Why don't you set one up? ;-) They are a lot of fun.

I am feeding them pellets and also live mosquito larvae and daphnia(?) from the tub outside. I added some water wisteria and cardamine lyrata for some more cover. The other plants are creeping jenny and jungle val. I thought about adding hornwort and anacharis, but didn't think it would look good. The water is still a little cloudy, but for day one, I think it is pretty good.


----------



## kittenfish

Be sure to watch the ammonia in that dirted setup, it can get pretty high in a non-heavily planted tank.


----------



## Fenghuang

kittenfish said:


> Be sure to watch the ammonia in that dirted setup, it can get pretty high in a non-heavily planted tank.


I will. Thank you for the advice.

I do want to add more plants, but I do not know what would fit in.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

You could float some watersprite. My wilds love floating watersprite, and the roots provide extra cover when they grow down towards the substrate. I like to have a big mass of plants floating at the surface of my wilds tanks, to not only diffuse bright lighting, but also encourage nesting in the males and give fry places to hide.


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> You could float some watersprite. My wilds love floating watersprite, and the roots provide extra cover when they grow down towards the substrate. I like to have a big mass of plants floating at the surface of my wilds tanks, to not only diffuse bright lighting, but also encourage nesting in the males and give fry places to hide.


My floating water sprite did not do so well after I moved them to another tank. They all melted. :-?

I threw in some narrow-leaf anacharis and a java windelov fern though. Also dug out some duckweed, subwassertang, java moss, and some stems of a plant from one of the empty 10's. We have empty tanks sitting around all over the place with forgotten plants in that. It's amazing how hardy some plants that they can survive being left in a cold dark basement corner for months. 




























Our little betta corner. It needs to be cleaned up since it is a mess and probably a huge fire hazard, but yep, that's what it looks like.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

Great photo of your male. Wait until your female colours up, she will look very nice as well.


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> Great photo of your male. Wait until your female colours up, she will look very nice as well.


Thanks. She is normally coloured up (and barred up), but I had my hands all in the tank right before the picture, so she wasn't happy.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Beautiful!! I like the 20g setups 

I'm curious Feng, how did you create your dividers? And with what?


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Beautiful!! I like the 20g setups
> 
> I'm curious Feng, how did you create your dividers? And with what?


It's just plastic canvas (the stuff people do needlepoint and other arts and crafts on). To make a divider, you just have to take a sheet of it and measure and cut it to fit the tank dimensions. It is a sturdy material but you still want to frame it with something to keep it standing up right. We get packs of these sheet protectors that come with these closure plastic bar thingies. Do the same as the plastic canvas and measure and cut those to fit and snap them onto to the canvas to cap them. You can just use the dividers like that, but it would be better to have something to safely secure them. We choose to go with a little bit of aquarium sealant to glue them in, but you can attach clips or suction cups if you want to be able to remove or shift them easily. 

They are really simple to make and also cheap. You can pretty much find everything at Walmart (arts and crafts section for the canvas and office supplies for the closure bars). It is about $3.50 for a pack of 7 of the clear canvas sheets we get. The sheet protectors were $2 or $3 and you get 6 in each pack if I remember correctly. 

These are the ones we get. You can find them in other colours too. We have a couple of packs of the black canvas too. Those will obscure the view better, but we honestly hadn't found the bettas being able to see each other to be a problem. 

Apologies for the shoddy quick pics. Hope that helps. 

http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Artist-Plastic-Canvas-7-Count-13-5-8-X21-5-8-Clear/32752130



http://mobile.walmart.com/ip/Sliding-Bar-Report-Covers-6-Pack/17480402




EDIT: Here is one that we had in a 5 gallon. We normally frame the top and bottom too to make the divider look neater, but we had run out at the time and the vertical ones are really the only necessary ones.


----------



## danfu

Please pardon me for interrupting...but..

I'm outside of Dallas, Texas and...

...it really is a stormy night...
and

...I do most of my really deep thinking at times like this...so...I am wondering...

...since I am new to aquariums and all...and I kind of found a really nice 46 gallon aquarium on the side of the road...and I've had it for two weeks now...

I'm kind of wondering...

Is it normal to be putting my hands in it a lot? I mean...I don't really want to...but its like...okay, that plant is really needing to be 'behind' the rock cave...etc. I think I have it where I want everything...plants etc...and I am happy with it...I think it looks cool and full of ambiance and all that groovy stuff...but am I harming the eco system that is trying to develop by being so picky about everything? Is this normal? :shock:


----------



## Fenghuang

danfu said:


> Please pardon me for interrupting...but..
> 
> I'm outside of Dallas, Texas and...
> 
> ...it really is a stormy night...
> and
> 
> ...I do most of my really deep thinking at times like this...so...I am wondering...
> 
> ...since I am new to aquariums and all...and I kind of found a really nice 46 gallon aquarium on the side of the road...and I've had it for two weeks now...
> 
> I'm kind of wondering...
> 
> Is it normal to be putting my hands in it a lot? I mean...I don't really want to...but its like...okay, that plant is really needing to be 'behind' the rock cave...etc. I think I have it where I want everything...plants etc...and I am happy with it...I think it looks cool and full of ambiance and all that groovy stuff...but am I harming the eco system that is trying to develop by being so picky about everything? Is this normal? :shock:


Hello, Danfu! To answer your question... It sounds like you have a new tank too, so yes, I think it _is_ normal. I know _I_ am pretty guilty of wanting to constantly stick my hands in to move things, add things, etc. Especially when I have a new tank. How else will you know if something looks good then to try it out? 

But I would suggest to try to not mess with the tank constantly. It might be stressful to your fish. Of course, sticking your hands is unavoidable sometimes. When you have to, try to be in and out quickly. Be mindful of possible soap, detergent, comestic, oil and/or other residual that could be on your skin. Those could be harmful to your tank. You also do not what to put your hands in tank water if you have any open wounds. Bacteria from the tank water could get into your injuries and that would not be good.

Anyway, welcome to the forum! I saw on the news that Texas has been getting some really heavy rains recently. Hope there's no flooding where you are. Stay safe!


----------



## danfu

....and it is still raining this morning...which is part of the problem you see! :-? I need to mow and be doing a hundred different things outside but the weather is just not cooperating...no flooding where I am but lots of places around are having that problem.

...I have decided just to see if I can go one day without inserting my hands in the tank. lol
What I really want is for the water to be crystal clear but I don't think that is going to happen until I acquire a canister filter.

Thanks for the advice...I am mindful of where my hands have been...I need to be more mindful though because once the rains subside, mosquitoes will be thick and that requires mosquito repellent...so...yeah. I'll keep that in mind. :lol:

EDit: 

I could not do it...I just had to build a cave for my Cray Cray...lol. And so I did...I used a piece of 11/4" pvc pipe about 8" long...put rocks and shells to camoflauge the entrance and then built a cave around the other end to keep the fish out..I'm really worried than when he molts the fish will devour him...but I'm done now...that's it...I promise!


----------



## Fenghuang

danfu said:


> ....and it is still raining this morning...which is part of the problem you see! :-? I need to mow and be doing a hundred different things outside but the weather is just not cooperating...no flooding where I am but lots of places around are having that problem.
> 
> ...I have decided just to see if I can go one day without inserting my hands in the tank. lol
> What I really want is for the water to be crystal clear but I don't think that is going to happen until I acquire a canister filter.
> 
> Thanks for the advice...I am mindful of where my hands have been...I need to be more mindful though because once the rains subside, mosquitoes will be thick and that requires mosquito repellent...so...yeah. I'll keep that in mind. :lol:
> 
> EDit:
> 
> I could not do it...I just had to build a cave for my Cray Cray...lol. And so I did...I used a piece of 11/4" pvc pipe about 8" long...put rocks and shells to camoflauge the entrance and then built a cave around the other end to keep the fish out..I'm really worried than when he molts the fish will devour him...but I'm done now...that's it...I promise!


Yeah, that is probably a good idea. I doubt fish tanks and mosquito repellent would mix well.

Sounds like you are pretty crafty! I would love to see some pictures of your tank and DIY projects. ;-)


----------



## BlueInkFish

Thanks for the help Feng!


----------



## danfu

Fenghuang said:


> Yeah, that is probably a good idea. I doubt fish tanks and mosquito repellent would mix well.
> 
> Sounds like you are pretty crafty! I would love to see some pictures of your tank and DIY projects. ;-)


Thanks...I have some pictures uploaded....just click on Pictures in my sig...

I introduced a Red Tailed Shark yesterday....he found a way to get into the Cray Cave and hung out in there awhile...I told him it wasn't a good idea...lol.


----------



## Fenghuang

Not too much to update. All the bettas are fine. My smaragdina male built a little bubble nest and today, I think I see eggs. I guess only time will tell, right?


----------



## LittleBettaFish

I would not be surprised if they have spawned. Once you get their conditions right, the majority of wild bettas (particularly the bubblenesters) are ridiculously easy to breed.


----------



## BlueInkFish

That sounds great!!!

Guess who finally got new fish from the CBS auction/show Feng...


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> I would not be surprised if they have spawned. Once you get their conditions right, the majority of wild bettas (particularly the bubblenesters) are ridiculously easy to breed.


I do hope so. He would love to see little fry swimming around. Would give me some experience. 



litelboyblu said:


> That sounds great!!!
> 
> Guess who finally got new fish from the CBS auction/show Feng...


Thank you!  I'm guessing you did? Do you have any pictures? I would love to see them...


----------



## BlueInkFish

Well, I don't have the best photo but I did a little photography session with them! The 2 females wouldn't stay still but the boy gladly did! He's a little show off...


----------



## BlueInkFish

I don't want to be taking up room in this journal, so I'll add one more, I hope you don't mind!? The other 2 or Doubletail females. Both blue of course! :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

Of course I don't mind—post away! He is gorgeous. What a handsome little boy. Those are some huge ears. He reminds me a lot of my EE boy, but a different colour.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Thank you, Feng! The one that looks familiar, are you talking about yor white boy? Because if you are... He's gorgeous!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Thank you, Feng! The one that looks familiar, are you talking about yor white boy? Because if you are... He's gorgeous!


Yes, I am. Although he is white with more copper now.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh! Sounds very stunning... I don't mind a picture ;-)


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Love the shot of your wild type male, so stunning! Can we get a fts of the ee's ..bowl/vase?


----------



## Fenghuang

Well, until Blu decides to grace us with more pics, I'll post some. This is my favourite female right now. She is an almost fully cellophane plakat except for a black stripe in the middle of her body and the most distinct blue eyes. She is from the same seller as my Dalmatian girl. She has marbled a little since I got her, but not much. Not too worried about her marbling though because cello and black are my two favourite betta colours.













A little while ago, a feral tom we never seen before rolled into town and began hanging around here. He is a splitting image of our cat, Jasper, so we just began to joke that he was Jasper's daddy. Well, he is too skittish to get close to, and only recently let us approach him (only if we have food to coax it, of course) and only once or twice. The females that live around here are also kind of mean to him, so he keeps his distance when they are around. But recently, we began to notice that Jasper was getting really overexcited in the evenings and would bounce back and forth between the screened in patio and the different windows around the house. Turns out, the tom cat was coming around to visit. They would just sit and stare at each other through the screen or meow at each other. It is really kind of cute. The two cats have sort of the same mannerisms too and eat the same way, so we really do think they might be related. Sorry for the grainy shot, but both cats kind of freak out when you disturb their meetings. 



Here's better pictures of the tom. He only let us pick him up about twice, but he hated it. You can see it on his face. Ci's holding him in the pics.







Our cat Jasper, the glutton. You would think we starved him with how pitiful he looks, but believe me, he isn't hurting for a meal anytime soon. He actually _lays_ in his bowl waiting to be fed and when you drop the food in, he just turns his head and tries to eat like that.


----------



## logisticsguy

Just stopping by to say hello and that I enjoy reading your journal.


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## Fenghuang

Hello! And likewise. I very much enjoy reading yours, LG.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Well played Feng, well played...

Your cat is too cute! I never had a taste in cats but I've been recently looking at them constantly...

 I'll get more pictures in the meantime, I'm at school in class... Last day here and then it's time to hit the lake!


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## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> He actually _lays_ in his bowl waiting to be fed and when you drop the food in, he just turns his head and tries to eat like that.


I just about choked on my lunch when I read this. Also that tom cat has such a lovely pelt!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Well played Feng, well played...
> 
> Your cat is too cute! I never had a taste in cats but I've been recently looking at them constantly...
> 
> I'll get more pictures in the meantime, I'm at school in class... Last day here and then it's time to hit the lake!


_Yes, the plan is working..._ I mean, glad you enjoy the cats! ;-)

Happy summer vacation then. Do you have any plans this summer? 



Aqua Aurora said:


> I just about choked on my lunch when I read this. Also that tom cat has such a lovely pelt!


It is really funny. I'll get a video sometime. Laziest cat you'll ever meet. And yes... It is called a lynx point Siamese. Really beautiful pattern.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha, thank you! My plans for the summer is to participate in the yearly Junior Lifeguarding, it's a program to train for being a lifeguard. Lots of physical activities, that takes about 1 month and it's more like a hard core PE but entertaining, it ends around 3, and then I go straight to swim practice. I then go home and sleep haha.

What is your summer schedule like?


----------



## Fenghuang

Sounds like you're going to be busy. But busy is good. Summer gets pretty dull after the first two weeks without any plans. 

I'm actually in college so I have been on vacation for a while now. I have been with Ci and all the aquatic children for the last few weeks. I am going to fly home to New Jersey in about two weeks to attend a wedding and my parents have been talking about taking a trip and visiting California or somewhere in the country (we were planning to go to China, but the airfare might be a bit too pricey this year).


----------



## Fenghuang

Guess what?!





Can you see them?


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## Aqua Aurora

That was fast. Any estimates on fry #s yet?


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> That was fast. Any estimates on fry #s yet?


About three days, I think? He kept building his nest and demolishing it overnight, so I thought it was a false alarm. We have seen about 10 fry in the nest, but they looked like they just hatched. There was also two we spotted away from the nest. One little guy was wiggling towards Mama on the other side of the tank, so don't know how well it'll do...


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> About three days, I think? He kept building his nest and demolishing it overnight, so I thought it was a false alarm. We have seen about 10 fry in the nest, but they looked like they just hatched. There was also two we spotted away from the nest. One little guy was wiggling towards Mama on the other side of the tank, so don't know how well it'll do...


(little child voice)"YAAAYY!! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" *CHOMP* (by mommy) ^^


----------



## BlueInkFish

Fenghuang said:


> Sounds like you're going to be busy. But busy is good. Summer gets pretty dull after the first two weeks without any plans.
> 
> I'm actually in college so I have been on vacation for a while now. I have been with Ci and all the aquatic children for the last few weeks. I am going to fly home to New Jersey in about two weeks to attend a wedding and my parents have been talking about taking a trip and visiting California or somewhere in the country (we were planning to go to China, but the airfare might be a bit too pricey this year).


Yes, busy is good!

Sounds like you're going to have fun for summer! If you ever do come to Cali. Come visit me! :lol:

Also, *CONGRATULATIONS* on the fry!


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## LittleBettaFish

I told you it would be likely that they would spawn. They looked very healthy and happy in your previous photos of them. 

My Betta stiktos female never touched her fry. Some wilds (particularly the bubblenesting species) have very strong paternal/maternal instincts and won't harm their fry, so you may find your fry are safe from predation by the female.


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> (little child voice)"YAAAYY!! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!" *CHOMP* (by mommy) ^^


Haha, that had me laughing so hard.



litelboyblu said:


> Yes, busy is good!
> 
> Sounds like you're going to have fun for summer! If you ever do come to Cali. Come visit me! :lol:
> 
> Also, *CONGRATULATIONS* on the fry!


Lol okay, I'll keep that in mind. And thank you. I'm excited!



LittleBettaFish said:


> I told you it would be likely that they would spawn. They looked very healthy and happy in your previous photos of them.
> 
> My Betta stiktos female never touched her fry. Some wilds (particularly the bubblenesting species) have very strong paternal/maternal instincts and won't harm their fry, so you may find your fry are safe from predation by the female.


Well, you're the expert. ;-) She was happily munching down some pellets when the fry wiggled pass. What do you feed your fry, LBF?


----------



## LittleBettaFish

I wouldn't say expert, especially not for the splendens complex. I've only kept and bred one species from that. 

I am very slack with feeding my fry, because I only have the space for a small number to survive. 

They mostly live off infusoria or whatever they can scavenge in the tank when young, and then their diet is supplemented with microworms, BBS, grindals, and small mosquito larvae. Once they hit a certain size they will start to take on whatever bigger foods the adults are fed such as white worms, blackworms, and frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp.


----------



## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> I wouldn't say expert, especially not for the splendens complex. I've only kept and bred one species from that.
> 
> I am very slack with feeding my fry, because I only have the space for a small number to survive.
> 
> They mostly live off infusoria or whatever they can scavenge in the tank when young, and then their diet is supplemented with microworms, BBS, grindals, and small mosquito larvae. Once they hit a certain size they will start to take on whatever bigger foods the adults are fed such as white worms, blackworms, and frozen bloodworms/brine shrimp.


What species did you keep from the splendens complex?

Yeah, that was my plan too because my space is also limited. No real special treatment, but they are wilds... I also have New Life Spectrum Small Fry Starter, which had worked great for my guppy fry, and is small enough for betta fry. 

I checked the nest again tonight and counted around 30 babies. Cute little buggers, just eyes and tails. The female shows no interest in them. Actually, she doesn't even attempt to go over to the other side of the tank where the male and the nest are.


----------



## LittleBettaFish

I kept Betta stiktos for a time. However, my main experience has been with the coccina complex, which is why I won't make any claims in regards to the splendens complex with too much certainty. Most of my knowledge comes from what I've read rather than experienced. 

Sounds like your female may leave the fry unharmed. I tend to find if they are going to eat their fry, they do it as soon as the fry becomes free-swimming.


----------



## Fenghuang

The fry are free swimming now. Poor Daddy Smaragdina is really trying hard to reign them in, but it appears he already has another clutch of eggs in the nest.


----------



## Fenghuang

Not too much aquatics stuff... Ci and I are planning to overhaul our soon-to-be fish room. We are working on building some racks and moving all our tanks into one room. 

Disease seems to have struck the community tank again. One of the sorority females passed away and I euthanized another sorority girl who had been showing the same symptoms and one of my guppies that was born with a severely crooked back. I honestly think there is something wrong with the community stock. Despite extensive quarantines, multiple treatments for various diseases, multiple breakdowns, and multiple disinfections (with bleach, rubbing alcohol, sunbleaching, etc.), there always seems to be illnesses in that tank. This time, it looks like columnaris, but very slow. Sick fish have grey or white skin patches depending on the fish's colour. Some of the patches are mildly fuzzy around the edges. Fins sometimes look tattered (but this is a sorority tank, so fighting is a possible cause). The betta I euthanized had a strange growth that developed around her mouth. Both bettas that were sick looked almost exactly the same and were from the same LFS shipment, so I suspect they were related. The guppies have never been healthy. They were all born from guppies I got from the same store, but the parents had a slew of health problems (breeding was not intended, they were pregnant already and the symptons showed up after I had the babies). These babies never reproduced and one guppy would die off every once in a while after seeming perfectly healthy, so I feel like there could be a genetic problem there too. But mainly, I have been researching fish tuberculosis and am extremely paranoid. :-(

On happier news, all the other bettas are fine. I could do more specific updates if any one is interested in a particular fish. The imports are very fat and happy and I cannot wait to move forward with my breeding project in the fall. 

The smaragdinas' second spawn hatched and left the nest and Daddy and Mommy Smaragdina spent no time replacing the nest with another clutch of eggs. :roll: I think there are even more eggs this time. All I do is throw in some pellets daily for them. I hadn't even been feeding them live recently because it has been raining almost constantly for the last few days and I could not get out to collect mosquito larvae. I do not see the free-swimming fry very often, but the tank is stuffed with plants and layers of IAL and rocks.


----------



## Fenghuang

Good evening/morning, everyone! So, we finished building our first homemade tank stand. Also purchased some more lighting and play sand and dirt to redo a few of the other tanks. I will get some pictures once we get it all set up. 

The 40B community population is still having problems. Lost another guppy today and found Zul, our old cory cat, lethargic and hanging out in the open with a torn up tail and what looks like injuries on both sides (scuffed up scales and redness). Don't think she was attacked. She is over three inches long and bulky, so it is unlikely the bettas or the guppies or the younger (and smaller) cories would go after her. Don't think our BN pleco would either, since he is so shy. I guess she could have gotten stuck in one of the pieces of driftwood? Does not look like disease either, since we did not notice anything wrong earlier. It is just plain weird. We separated her and will be keeping an eye on her.

I've seen plenty of free-swimming smaragdina fry fluttering about in their tank. They are shy though. Any sudden motions and they are gone. The ones I can get a good look at are bigger than they were in the nest and look to have round bellies, so I suppose they are eating well enough. It does not look like having children soured Mr. and Mrs. Smaragdina's "romantic" lives. They are probably on spawn five or six now? Dunno. But they constantly have eggs or vertical "jumping" fry in the nest.



The plants in that tank are just growing like weeds too.



My favourite is the creeping jenny/moneywort (_Lysimachia nummularia_). We found it being sold as a garden plant at a tractor feed and supply store in town. The water wisteria is also growing out of the water too.




Obligatory cat pictures, because I guess that is a thing now in my journal.  I love this tortoiseshell girl's eyes. Shame she and all her siblings are feral.


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## Fenghuang

So, checked Zul today... Don't think it's injury. Her wounds turned into white fuzzy patches. I think that the latest disease in the 40B is some strain of columnaris. The disease seems to manifest itself in two different ways. First way, fish starts showing symptons extremely slowly. In the beginning, you might see what looks like a scratch or a loose scale. These gradually develop into rough or fuzzy looking grey or white patches/bald spots. Fins sometimes start to look tattered, but often remain unaffected. Fish can go without appearing bothered or affected for weeks, then die off suddenly. The second way, the fish develops fuzziness or patches on the body spontaneously, within hours or overnight. This disease progression is much more aggressive and develops into necrosis and death in less than a day. 

The disease is very similar to the last outbreak, which leads me to think that we never really gotten rid of it. It doesn't really seem to respond to common treatments and medications that work for columnaris. We have tried kanaplex, maracyn plus, furan-2, jungle fungus-clear, methylene blue, and salt dips among other medications. 

I did get a bunch of pictures... I'll post the rest later, but these are of Zul. SIP :-(

Photos do not show it very well. In real life, it looks like the disease ate away at the flesh on her back and sides.


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## Aqua Aurora

Aw poor baby. I lost my Arist'oto' to columnaris last year.. nasty stuff.. otos had it first but they hid so much i never new until a few ere found dead. Arist'oto' was dead the day after he showed signs of it :c
Hope you don't have any spreading to other tanks, be over kill with sanitizing between tanks!


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## Fenghuang

Thank you. Sorry for your loss too. The 40B has always been our "problem tank." Always one thing or another. :-(


----------



## Fenghuang

Broke down the community tank yesterday. I concluded probably not myco, but will be treating it like it is anyway. It has been sitting out in 90 degree weather in direct sun for all of yesterday until this afternoon. And then today for the tank and everything else in it that we are keeping:

1. Clean and wipe off debris with warm water.
2. 95 percent ethyl rubbing alcohol spray - contact time 15 minute
3. Rinse w/ hot water. Pat and air dry.
4. 1 part Clorox bleach 9 part water solution spray - contact time 15 minute 
5. Rinse w/ hot water. Pat and air dry.
6. Sun dry.
7. Refill w/ clean water.
8. Add LOTS of Prime.

If still diseased, I give up. The substrate will be replace with brand new play samd and we will be housing the axolotls in this tank when we set the tank back up. Can some fish diseases transfer to axolotls?

We still have the remaining community fish in a bucket. Out of them, there is one female betta and possibly two guppies showing symptons; rest look fine. Not sure if it will be worth setting them up in the 29g or just holding them in a 10g QT tank with some fake disposable decor for the time being.


----------



## Fenghuang

Got all of these for $8. Three creeping jennies and three scopia guilliver white bacopa plants.


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## Fenghuang

I swear my wild tanks' plants grow overnight. I come down each night to stare at the fry before I turn the lights and off and I think to myself, "Hm, was that plant _there_ yesterday?"

Like this jungle val was not sticking out of the water last night...


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Yeh they can grow pretty fast especially once they get above water and have plentiful co2. 
The plant leaf you mention being above water (far right front corner of the photo) does not look like a jungle val..it appears to have a stem before the leafy part (narrower cylinder part) and crinkled leaf.. it looks like a crypt or possibly Aponogeton. Jungle vals are thick flat broad leaf starting right at the base (crown) of the plant. The plant in your last photo looks like a val.. but either a very young jungle or more likely Italian val.


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## Fenghuang

An aponogeton could definitely be a possibly. I was wondering since I had aponogeton plants before that had leaves like that. But I grew it from them from bulbs, so this fully rooted plant threw me off. I might have to dig some out since all of them are agressive growers, but I'm afraid it'll mess up the look of the tank.


----------



## Fenghuang

The axolotl house is a-go. Filled it up with water and added the residents last night. I pulled the aponogeton from the wilds to put in the tank. I can't believe the plants were that massive. There is still lots more decorating to do and we have to hook up the lamp, but the residents are in.



Anyway, here are our axolotls:

Alice, lovely as always



"Mini-Alice" (not actual name, but we hadn't named them yet)



The golden axolotl



The leucistic axolotl


----------



## Elleth

Love the axolotls! I've been thinking about getting one, but have no clue where we'd put the tank, lol. Guess it'll have to wait till we have more room.


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## Fenghuang

Thanks, Elleth. We love ours. They have lots of personality. You can keep a juvie in a 10 gallon tank, though a bigger is definitely better.


So, um, this happened...


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Three stray kittens (song as "three blind mice")
time to cat proof the tanks! (and all the electrical cords)


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## Fenghuang

The tanks already coexist with cats, so believe me, we know how cats are with cords. >_>

Ci surprised me with them when she came home from lunch today. Their moms (the orange one is from another litter) are feral. One of the two sib cats I posted pictures of on the last page is most likely their mom or relate to them. They really need to be all caught and fixed. She already found a home for the orange, he'll be going to a girl she knows soon.











Tortie girl is a bobtail.


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## Elleth

D'aw, so cute! I love cats, can't wait til I live somewhere that I can have one. That tortie is especially gorgeous, I love bobtails. Glad you guys were able to get ahold of them young and give them a better shot at life.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks. Cats are amazing, I love them too. And you just can't help but be happy around the kittens. 

I'm just glad we got them young. Any older and they would become as skittish as their parents. We have been trying to catch Callie's (the calico that hangs around here) kittens for weeks so we can socialize them, but they were too wary right off the bat, even though their mom trusts us and is friendly. Her adult children are as wild as can be, so I think there isn't much hope of those three getting into human homes. 

I just got a text from Ci saying she caught Orange's twin too. Someone seems to have claimed him too.


----------



## Elleth

You're welcome! 

Glad you're having a pretty easy time rehoming them so far, too.


----------



## Fenghuang

More good news, Ci talked to the lady who runs one of the local pet feed and supplies store and she said she could help get all the feral cats fixed if Ci and her coworkers can catch them and bring them in.


----------



## kittenfish

Awww! That tortie has hilarious facial expressions.


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, she does. She looks so regretful about everything. :lol:

The two dark ones' mom is torbie bobtail (nicknamed Bobbi). She was the only bobtail kitten from a litter of three too. Mother of these was also bobtail. It is a wonder how quickly these cats reproduce. Bobbi was just born last winter... Quality of life just isn't great for these cats. Most kittens born to the ferals and strays around here do not make it to their first birthday because of predation, poor health, and cars. And humans too, sad to say. People are constantly dumping cats because they don't want them. Then even one unfixed female running around can attract tons of roaming toms.

No idea who the Oranges' mom is. Could be a sibling of Bobbi or the grandmother, though she hadn't been seen in a while. Grocery store is right off a busy road... Oranges are nearly mirror images of each other. Except one has white boots and the other does not. 



Anyway, kittens have been bathed (they are just infested with feeds) and fed, and now have been put to bed. They all snuggle together and groom each other. The two housecats absolutely despise them, but they'll just have to come around.


----------



## Fenghuang

What I have been working on fish-wise: First, lots and lots of water changes. I set up the 29 with dirt and restocked with the community fish. Still no idea what is killing them, but I think they deserve to live comfortably for whatever amount of time they have. Who knows? Maybe they will do better here. We are down to five(?) homegrown guppies, three sorority females, four cories, and Saffron, the albino BN. In the chaos of cleaning and swapping the tanks around, I somehow misplaced the partial DS sorority female. :-( I worry I might have poured/dumped her out. Either that or she died and the other fish ate her since I hadn't fed them while they were waiting for their tank to be set up. Either way, I feel pretty bad about it.

I also lost my only VT male. I noticed he looked a little more bloated than normal the night prior, but I had just given everyone a large dinner and did not think too much of it. I am kind disappointed. He was a very nice looking red marble VT and I had really wanted to breed him.


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## Aqua Aurora

I see arrowhead and pothos in shower catties ^^
Sorry you'd having such difficulties with fish deaths. Hope that stops (and your misplaced female magically pops up alive somewhere).. cup pushed behind a tank/book?


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> I see arrowhead and pothos in shower catties ^^
> Sorry you'd having such difficulties with fish deaths. Hope that stops (and your misplaced female magically pops up alive somewhere).. cup pushed behind a tank/book?


Yeah. I love the look of the pothos roots growing like crazy. This is the first time I am trying arrowhead. Hoping it takes off.  That is the shelf/rack we made ourselves, by the way.

I put them into a holding bucket. I remember that she was the first girl I netted out, but maybe she jumped out then before I covered it or I accidentally dropped her? If she got left somewhere, I'm 'fraid one of the cats would have been quick to get her.


----------



## Fenghuang

I am back in New Jersey for a little while to visit family. So, the fish are obviously not with me for me to update on them. I did take a bunch of pictures before I left, and I will try to get up at some point. 

Here's Leo, my brother's DeT. He was purchased from Petsmart in December 2013. Yes, he has been renamed like a million and one times now, but he is still alive and kicking. And he as grown! Much bulkier than he use to be and probably a couple of centimeters longer. This fish has been through a lot, including velvet, severe fin and body rot (his fins are evidence of that), and getting half beaten to death by Trapper (Lilnaugrim's black marble HMPK who has now passed) when he jumped over the divider while we were on vacation. I am proud of my brother. He took good care of this fish.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Ooooo! Pretty boy!


----------



## Fenghuang

We nicknamed the orange twins "Suits" and "Boots" respectively. They are more or less identical, except, of course, Boots is the one with the white socks. Both are beautiful little cats though. We estimate they are about six weeks old.

Suits has been successfully rehomed. We would have wanted to keep him around a little longer, but he is the largest kitten and most independent and the person who took him knows what they are doing. We do think it will be the best situation for him, but Ci let them know that she'll take him back anytime if it didn't work out.







The rest of the kittens are doing very well. They are very smart and have quickly gotten the hang of eating...well, drinking—since they are on milk still—from their bowl and learning to use the litterbox. They are extremely playful and friendly and wanting out of their "nest" more and more day by day. I think they will make great pets when the time comes.

The local vet's wife was nice enough to give them some free wormer, so they should be all free of worms now. 

Boots is progressing very well. He is learning to jump and is walking much more confidently now. When you peer into their box, he will be the first to leap up and greet you, climbing up on his hindlegs to get at you. He is gentle and really a total lovebug and probably will make a great lap cat for someone when he's older. He still prefers to nurse out of a bottle, unlike the other two, although he chewed one rubber nipple to pieces and...ate the other. :shock:

The other pair of kittens are just "Tortie" and "Tabby" for now... Not very creative, but then again, all but three of our bettas are unnamed still lol. Tortie is a girl and Tabby is a boy. They are probably about three or four weeks old. They are siblings, but as different as night and day. Tortie is loud, rambunctious, and a bit of a glutton. She wants _all_ the food. Seriously, she would be happily nursing on one bottle, but as soon as she sees one of the other kittens drinking on another, she will bite and scratch and climb all over them to try to steal theirs. No wonder poor Tabby is so little! Even Boots who has more weeks and weight on her seems a little scared of her during feeding time. 

Tabby on the other hand, is quiet amd seems to be a little timid. He is still a little wobbly on his feet and not too sure about exploring the unknown world yet.







Tortie looking like a bobblehead toy.


----------



## kittenfish

Oh god I wish I weren't allergic to kitties


----------



## Fenghuang

kittenfish said:


> Oh god I wish I weren't allergic to kitties


Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. :-( 

I am actually allergic to cats myself. They use to make me sneeze real bad and cause my eyes to water and my nose to run. Them nuzzling and rubbing against my face made my skin itch like crazy too. But I was already too attached to my first car, Ari (who, naturally, loved to sleep on my face) when I found out, so yeah... I went through a LOT of allergy meds. The more I am around them though, the easier it gets. I am fine with them now, even without meds. I still seem to get allergic reactions when I come back home after being away at college for a couple of months, but the reactions are much milder now. Cat scratches still make me break out in welts and hives though. But I am too much of a sucker for them.


----------



## logisticsguy

OMG you love axolotls too! Axolotls are very disease resistant they have amazing immune system. The only thing that they seem sensitive to is too much heat. Your axolotl look lovely!


----------



## Fenghuang

logisticsguy said:


> OMG you love axolotls too! Axolotls are very disease resistant they have amazing immune system. The only thing that they seem sensitive to is too much heat. Your axolotl look lovely!


Thank you, LG. Seeing the pictures of yours in your journal was one of the things that got me interested in them. Heat will never be a problem, I think. The tanks are all in the basement and it is cool down there even in the summer.

I am amazed by how much they have grown. This was Mini-Alice in late March. She was almost sucked into a filter at the store and was caught against the guard of it because she was too weak to swim away. She is longer than my hand now and an earthworm-eating machine! :-D


----------



## Pandoras

Personally, I've taken to calling the Tabby as Tiberius. am already getting all sorts of attached to these guys. They're just so precious. The littlest two attached themselves to my hand earlier and climbed their way up. Painful but amusing, and Boots meoyowls as he feeds. Seriously, he lets out this peculiar meow that's a yowl. I tried clipping their nails, but the little guys are too interested in trying to suckle the clippers or my fingers than letting me clip their nails.


----------



## kittenfish

Fenghuang said:


> Aww, I'm sorry to hear that. :-(
> 
> I am actually allergic to cats myself. They use to make me sneeze real bad and cause my eyes to water and my nose to run. Them nuzzling and rubbing against my face made my skin itch like crazy too. But I was already too attached to my first car, Ari (who, naturally, loved to sleep on my face) when I found out, so yeah... I went through a LOT of allergy meds. The more I am around them though, the easier it gets. I am fine with them now, even without meds. I still seem to get allergic reactions when I come back home after being away at college for a couple of months, but the reactions are much milder now. Cat scratches still make me break out in welts and hives though. But I am too much of a sucker for them.


Yeah I didn't find out I was allergic until right when I was about to adopt one. Noticed my arm was covered in hives and had no idea what was going on. It was a black cat though, and I hear that allergies are worse with them for some reason. Came really close to convincing myself that I could live with the hives, but my boyfriend talked me out of it.


----------



## Fenghuang

kittenfish said:


> Yeah I didn't find out I was allergic until right when I was about to adopt one. Noticed my arm was covered in hives and had no idea what was going on. It was a black cat though, and I hear that allergies are worse with them for some reason. Came really close to convincing myself that I could live with the hives, but my boyfriend talked me out of it.


Sorry to hear that. I imagine it must have been really disappointing for you too. :-( But yeah, your health is important.


----------



## Fenghuang

Random fishy photos and ramblings. This is my test pair when I start breeding in the fall. 

Both are halfmoon Thai imports I purchased off of Aquabid. The male is by Tapongbettas and the female by Storybettas. Ironically, I had initially tried to buy a male from Tapongbettas and a female from Storybettas and lost both auctions. Go figure.

The male's form is not all that impressive. Fins are honestly a mess, which seems to be consistent with what that seller. Then again, the ones they put up on Aquabid are typically the pretty eyecandy, not their "best" fish. I am interested in the "ooohhh, pretty colours" fish Tapongbettas put out. He is predominantly a black (orchid?) and white marble with some vibrant red and a random splash of bright yellow. Dorsal is weak and caudal is round. 

I love the female. I was bidding on her sister, but sniped her at the last minute too because I couldn't resist. Long and broad body with big fins. Form still need improvement, but she is what I like in a female HM betta. Yellow and black/blue marble mainly. Neither fish had done a whole lot of marbling since I've gotten them, which is nice. 

The spawn itself should be a hodgepodge. They say koi x koi =/= koi, but I think the colour genetics are more complicated than that.



URL=http://s692.photobucket.com/user/Kronolily/media/2BC873D2-B611-45F3-94CA-90CE73DB418D_zpsfnbewz1o.jpg.html]







[/URL]

Alternatively, there is just female, which I _think_ is a spawn sister of the first female. She is predominantly red/orange/pale orange in a speckled pattern. Also a large, broad bodied fish like her sister. 

Jarred pictures for colour purposes.













URL=http://s692.photobucket.com/user/Kronolily/media/Bettas/IMG_9999_zpsqey6m3oq.jpg.html]







[/URL]


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow, you always manage to get the prettiest fish!!!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow, you always manage to get the prettiest fish!!!


Thank you. I know they're not the best quality just yet, but I am looking forward to the work.


And my goodness, forgot the pic of the pair. Male seems a little afraid of the female. :lol:


----------



## kittenfish

Aww, hopefully he gets more confident by the time you want to breed them. Why are you waiting until the fall?


----------



## Pandoras

Because she's currently not located where the fish are housed.


----------



## Fenghuang

Yeah, I'm in Massuchusetts on road trip with family for the time being.

I mean "fall" like August.


----------



## SplashyBetta

Massachusetts? Come visit me! :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

SplashyBetta said:


> Massachusetts? Come visit me! :-D


Lol, maybe next time. I'm back in New Jersey already.

Ooh, we should totally plan a huge Bettafish member group meet!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Your wilds are imbellis correct? But the male looks copper not blue (like a lot of google photos). Does he look blue at all in person? Where did you get them from? How are they doing?
I'm getting the MTS itch again and may rearrange some stuff and end up with another tank on the husband's desk (getting him slowly addicted bwahahhaa). He has an interest in black and red bettas, and liked the look of imbellis and smaragdina *if *they are copper, not as blue as some photos show them... Great excuse to try some wild types!


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Your wilds are imbellis correct? But the male looks copper not blue (like a lot of google photos). Does he look blue at all in person? Where did you get them from? How are they doing?
> I'm getting the MTS itch again and may rearrange some stuff and end up with another tank on the husband's desk (getting him slowly addicted bwahahhaa). He has an interest in black and red bettas, and liked the look of imbellis and smaragdina *if *they are copper, not as blue as some photos show them... Great excuse to try some wild types!


No, they are copper smaragdina. Their colour in person is like a metallic reddish-bronze copper. The metallic doesn't pick up well. I posted a nice picture of the male a couple of pages back, which is fairly close to how he looks on a happy day. Female is not as flashy, of course, but she isn't dull and boring either. They are neat fish. You should go for it! The pair is pretty cordial too. They squabble and then make up by popping out a couple of dozen fry. :lol: Very prolific, those two. They don't eat their fry either, so now they share their 10g with a bunch of teeny tiny babies. I got them from an Aquabid seller called Fantasybettas. Very nice person and has some beautiful fish at very reasonable prices. They were the one I got my Dalmatian girl from and also my favourite black spot female. Here's some crappy, but most recent pictures of them. Also, only picture of my female coloured up since she goes pale once the camera is on her. She hates it!





Black spot female. Glass looks super dirty because of the hard water stains caked on the outside. IAL seems to help with that, but they leave a slime of their own too.



EDIT: Actually, just changed my avatar to it since I actually really like that photo.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Love the photo of the male! Hmm 10g.. I'm not sure he wants a breeding pair and 10g on his desk (not sure if there is room). Was planning on stuffing the 5g there but digging through wild types more I get mixed info if its ok for male to be solo or if he should have a mate. Don't thin I ant to put an m/f in a 5g...


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Love the photo of the male! Hmm 10g.. I'm not sure he wants a breeding pair and 10g on his desk (not sure if there is room). Was planning on stuffing the 5g there but digging through wild types more I get mixed info if its ok for male to be solo or if he should have a mate. Don't thin I ant to put an m/f in a 5g...


Nooooooooo. I typed this whole thing out and then I click another tab. Came back and swoosh, everything was gone. :-(

I think it depends on the individual fish whether you can get a pair to coexist in a 5g. For some individuals, it might be fine. But other ones might spend all their energy trying to kill one another. Generally, based on what I read, it doesn't seem to matter if you have a large tank or not as long as you provide adequate hides, plenty of plant cover, and proper tank maintenance. But you have to remember with a pair of fish, it often leads to more than just a pair. My wilds are a perfect example of that.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Nooooooooo. I typed this whole thing out and then I click another tab. Came back and swoosh, everything was gone. :-(
> 
> I think it depends on the individual fish whether you can get a pair to coexist in a 5g. For some individuals, it might be fine. But other ones might spend all their energy trying to kill one another. Generally, based on what I read, it doesn't seem to matter if you have a large tank or not as long as you provide adequate hides, plenty of plant cover, and proper tank maintenance. But you have to remember with a pair of fish, it often leads to more than just a pair. My wilds are a perfect example of that.


ugh I HATE IT when that happens!!

I was looking at just a solo male, wouldn't want to risk 2 fighting (and 2 turning into 20) in a 5g. Thank you for your input!


----------



## Fenghuang

Two weeks of growth later... I started with only a few plantlets of each plant. Including just three little plantlets(?) of duckweed.




You can see the empty spots where I skimmed duckweed off to put in other tanks.



Some not so good baby shots.







They are about 1/3-1/2 of an inch long. I only ever see a few at a time, but I figure there are more in the big mass of floating plants

On top of the wilds' tank is also one of the kittens' favourite places to play and cuddle. These little buggers are too curious at this age. I have to fight them off when I feed the fish because they keep trying to climb and jump into the tank.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I'm sure they won't be so eager to get in the tank once they experience "wet" from it.
Yeh duckweed is ridiculously aggressive grower which is why its illegal in so many places, can really mess with water ways and such.
Good luck with the fry, hope most make it to juv/adulthood for you ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> I'm sure they won't be so eager to get in the tank once they experience "wet" from it.
> Yeh duckweed is ridiculously aggressive grower which is why its illegal in so many places, can really mess with water ways and such.
> Good luck with the fry, hope most make it to juv/adulthood for you ^^


I don't know about that... All of them have managed to get up on their hindlegs and dip their front paws in. 

I have seen duckweed at a local lake. The entire surface was green.

Fingers crossed. The parents are good little betta parents, which helps. Even the females does not eat fry, although they readily take live food like mosquito larve.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I found a lot of duckweed at the pond and calm parts of the stream at my local part.. also and a local ludwigia (forget second part of name I think it starts with a "P".. maybe Palustris? and another plant I've not properly IDed yet.. maybe a rotala species or "star grass"? But yeh the duckweed was very aggressive there, which is sad.. wasn't there at all last year (just the ludwigia and unknown stem) so some [censor] hole dumped duckweed in.
If you set up a "basking lamp" (possibly with a heater blanket) the kittens might not live on the tank hood as much, I think they're up there because its so warm and cats are prone to lay where its warm (like on top of laptops and cable box equipment =.=).


----------



## Fenghuang

Not really sort of an official update, but I have been making some preparations... They need more days of conditioning and fattening up, but here's the pair when shown to each other... 

These are screenshots of a video I took of them, so the quality is a little worse than usual.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Beautiful! I hope all goes well!!! We miss having you on here! ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Beautiful! I hope all goes well!!! We miss having you on here! ;-)


Thanks, Blu. It's good to be back! 

I do hope so. Really would like to get the show on the road, but all the nearby stores don't stock live or frozen foods. The females' already round and full of eggs, but she is at the stage where she wants to tear into the male rather than breed lol. 

I don't have much of a goal for this pairing... Instead, what I am looking to get out of that match is good quality offspring to work with, if that makes sense. So, it doesn't really matter that their colour is all over the place. I like the disposition and shape of the female. Her original intended mate, a sib male died suddenly before I ever got a chance to breed them. (Ironically, I agreed to buy this girl sight-unseen from the seller who promised me a good match. She ended up being much nicer than her brother.)


----------



## Aqua Aurora

What happened to the kittens?


----------



## BlueInkFish

The feeling is mutual Feng, stores in my area do not have any live foods, and the frozen foods they sell are just to expensive. There is a store 40 minutes away and they sell live blood worms, but the drive isn't worth it, unless I'm down there for business and family already.

I'll be waiting for more pictures of the spawn btw ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> What happened to the kittens?


The kittens are fine and still with us (well, with Ci and fam... I am back in Georgia for school). They're getting big now. A rambunctious brunch. They all got fixed a few weeks ago. I have a feeling for all of Ci's grandma's protest when she found out, they're not going anywhere lol. She was slipping up and calling them "her babies." Now she has given up on correcting herself. I will get you some up-to-date pictutes of them.

Also in that time, we kind of gained two more cats... (Yes, I know 😳) A little silver tabby named Siri and a brown tabby, Tony Stark. These two weren't really our idea at all. Tony was found in a gutter by Ci's mom and Siri was a coworker's rescue whose adoptive home through. So, Siri really is just staying with us until she finds another home. We are keeping Tony though. He currently resides in Georgia with us and is our (my roommates and I) "apartment cat."


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> The feeling is mutual Feng, stores in my area do not have any live foods, and the frozen foods they sell are just to expensive. There is a store 40 minutes away and they sell live blood worms, but the drive isn't worth it, unless I'm down there for business and family already.
> 
> I'll be waiting for more pictures of the spawn btw ;-)


Whoops, I missed this post.

I would even pay for frozen if it's expensive (considering that if I ordered online they'll charge like $30 for shipping alone), but they just simply do not have any at all in stock. I have live cultures for the babies, but nothing for the adults. :/ I hate not having a car here. *sigh*

Thanks! The pictures aren't going to get much better though. My camera is halfway across the country right now. Bleh.


----------



## BlueInkFish

No worries! I don't mind those pictures! Their way much better than what I can do! Seriously! My fish move way to much for my camera to even focus on the fish!


----------



## Fenghuang

Breeding prep continues: I already have thriving vinegar eel, banana, walter, and micro worm cultures going. Keeping them all up on the top shelf of my closet where it is cool and dark and out of reach of the cat. There are also white worms and flightless fruit-flies for the adults (wonder how my housemates would feel if they knew... But they're not exactly in the same category of creepy-crawlies as spiders or roaches, right?). 

Not really sure how I am going to set up the spawning tank yet. I am think filled half-way (gotta cover the sponge filter) and stuffed with live plants on one end. Both male and female are very aggressive, so hides would be important. All my females have been kept jarred and isolated until now, so they're just as ready to tear off a fin or two as any of my males. Perhaps I'll toss some pothos clippings in there and just have a mass of roots, my fish have always like that... Right now the spawning tank is also serving as the male's conditioning/actual tank. Once his job's done, I will set up the last section of my divided "adult" tank. Currently my divided adult tank looks like this (obviously the breeding female gets the biggest room lol):



Breeding female. She really looks a lot nicer in full flare. I have some video of it (the flaring pics from the last post were from the videos) when I had actually released her and let her swim with him to observe how they would act. She was very eggy and they had both appeared highly interested in each other when they were jarred side by side. I was watching the entire time, of course, and only allowed it for about a minute. They didn't do any damage to each other at all, but were displaying more sparring behavior than the flirting behavior I've seen in other people's videos.







The other two "sisters", for good measure. Panda (the black and cello on if you couldn't tell) was sold to me as a PK, but I am becoming less and less sure...







The homelier koi girl. Pretty generic in-between marble pattern. She is really friendly though.







My incessant indecisiveness is kicking in and I am wondering if I should find another male for this. I mean, I had horrible luck with my intended breeding pairs this past year and pretty much this whole hobby and really want to get a spawn going so I can start working towards my more solid long-term goals soon. But I don't know... He is a DT like I want, but he isn't like any of the spectacular males I had planned to breed in the past. 

Also, he is being much more difficult than I expected. Most of my males built bubble nests readily. Like this guy did:



But with this DTPK? Na-da. I have been feeding him 2-3 times a day. Tank's packed with IAL and it's been storming. Maybe he is too young still, but if he is really big for an immature male then... 

He also doesn't seem to have learned the concept of feeding time. Even when you approach his tank, he totally ignores you and would swim around and do his own thing, not even noticing that you're feeding him until the food starts falling down in front of his face. He also has little interest in bloodworms or any of the live food. Turns his nose up at them. Honestly, I think he is one of the weird fish that just prefers pellets. Also not much "personality." He isn't shy per say, but does not seem particularly interactive or engaging, if that makes sense. I have always liked that about bettas, but I am not getting much from him. Maybe all beauty, no brain?


----------



## BlueInkFish

Pretty pictures and fish, as always ;-) I'm very jealous... And I just love pandas color!!!

I do think Panda is not a hmpk? Maybe hm, or delta, etc. Her anal fin and dorsal fin seem quite different (longer and halfmoon like) from hmpk females I've seen.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Pretty pictures and fish, as always ;-) I'm very jealous... And I just love pandas color!!!
> 
> I do think Panda is not a hmpk? Maybe hm, or delta, etc. Her anal fin and dorsal fin seem quite different (longer and halfmoon like) from hmpk females I've seen.


Panda is my favourite betta. Aside from her interesting pattern, she's just very personable.  I think she's a long finned female too. Which is cool because I would have liked her to be. Just the breeder had listed her as a HMPK.


----------



## Fenghuang

I _maaaay_ have acquired another boy. He may be a chocolate veiltail. There was a huge new shipment at Petco today. Easily 150 fish or more. They were just stacked up across various shelves and rolling carts. The majority of them seemed like they were from the same spawn though. Lots of red and blue VTs. Other tail types and colours were pretty scarce. This guy might have been left over from a previous shipment. He has what looks like an ammonia burn on his head and his beard is missing on one side. But I was drawn to him immediately. He was flaring right at me and looking mighty fierce. Isn't he cute?


----------



## Fenghuang

*My main koi breeding female died today.*

I am pretty bummed out. It's finally been a while since I lost any fish (there was a period I was losing fish every week or two and that was heartbreaking), but it just sucks every time.

I have been conditioning her. She has been getting super eggy and weighed down and seemed pretty ready to go. I'd cupped her and placed her in the male's tank to entice him to nest (it's frustating—he's interested, she's interested, but he just refuses to build a nest). They were doing the same flirty dance they do everyday and I left them to get to know each other some more. Come back and the girl looked visibly distressed...rapid gill movement, a little pale, fins clamped, swimming rather erratically. Her gill on one side was sticking out out more than the other, not just from her flaring at the male. At some point, I noticed that she had a dark green clump of _something_ stuck underneath one of her gill plates. I was like what the heck is that? I took her cup out of the tank and watched for a while to see if she would dislodge it herself, but she couldn't. Finally, I grabbed a pair of needlepoint tweezers, gently cupped her in one hand, and pried it loose with the other. 

Whole ordeal took less than 30 seconds and I inmediately dropped her back into the shallow tupperware container filled with tank water I was working over. It was weird though. It was caught deep. As far as I could tell, it look like some dead plant matter, part of a melted leaf or stem or something, stuck together in a little pea sized ball, but unraveled as I pulled it out. I have no idea how it got there. Of course she lived in a planted tank and some of the old wilted leaves that shed from the Brazillian pennywort matched what I pulled out. But I didn't remember seeing anything in the cup but water and the fish.

But after that little "operation," my poor little girl really seemed to go into shock. When I returned her to her own section of the divided tank, she immediately swam to the back corner and stayed wedged on a leaf near the surface all night, breathing rapidly. She didn't really seem like she had any energy to stay up on her own. She was like that this morning and when I came back she had sunk to the bottom, head down in the sand and motionless aside from labored gill movement and some frantic struggling to get to the surface for air every once in a while. Cupped her again so it would be easier for her to breathe. 

After a couple of hours, she was laying on her side, then on her back, completely pale and find flared out. She started sort of convulsing(?) around the afternoon/early evening and I knew it would be over soon. She went still pretty not too long after that. 

I guess it must have been my fault. Damaged something or stressed her out too much. But I didn't really know what else to do in that scenerio.


----------



## BlueInkFish

I'm sorry :-(

I hope you feel better. I understand how it is losing a fish, and it's not in the slightest fun. I do hope everything becomes all better!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> I'm sorry :-(
> 
> I hope you feel better. I understand how it is losing a fish, and it's not in the slightest fun. I do hope everything becomes all better!


Thanks, Blu. :-( I guess it's worse since she seemed perfectly healthy. 

I do have some updates on the other fish though. Will post a little later.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yeah, it happens. I've had perfectly fine looking fish, and ended up dying the next day... It seems like those deaths are quite difficult to cope with, if there's anything you need encouragement on let us know! We are here!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Yeah, it happens. I've had perfectly fine looking fish, and ended up dying the next day... It seems like those deaths are quite difficult to cope with, if there's anything you need encouragement on let us know! We are here!


Thanks, Blu. You have always been so nice to me. I really appreciate it. 

I do think these Thai imports are just extremely fragile compared to homebred or pet store fish. I hadn't been able keep any for more than a few months. I have a couple drop dead out of the blue or get sick (usually internal parasites) after thorough quarantine and never being introduced to anything new. A good friend of mine who I actually met from this forum had many imports from many different breeders/sellers and same problem. All relatively young and active fish that just kept dying off. She overnighted me a proven male along with 4 pairs of his offsprings to continue the line and the father died in his jar about three days later. He was only about 9 or 10 months old. She suspects a lot of the Thai strains have something the ones here don't. Or perhaps the water here just isn't suitable for them.

But anyway. My DTPK (his name is actually Lampshades on Fire after the Modest Mouse song btw, but I don't if that's just silly or not...) has been officially benched. Finally found a food he likes though: frozen bloodworms. He ate so many of them yesterday he looked more like a mini swimming sausage link (because of his shorter and broader DT body). 

I am going to try to see if I can get anywhere with this new chocolate veiltail. I think that is what he would be classified as. He is a dark bodied (brown) bicolour with pale yellow fins. No visible iridescence. He is more spoonheaded than I would like and his fins are not the neatest (he is a VT from Petco, so that's to be expected, I guess) but not atrocious. He isn't the most attractive or flashy fish, but having him lets me skip the extra step of crossing to VT later on. I will try him with Panda. I can't seem to find that much information about inheritance for chocolate, but I think Panda is a black orchid marble. Should be an interesting mix.

Waiting for pictures to upload, then I'll post more.


----------



## Fenghuang

Some flaring-ish shots of the chocolate veiltail. 



















The "don't @#%!ing mess with me" face



Panda didn't listen to her breeder. She decides she wanted to have long fins lol







I think her finnage looks rather boyish. The notch in her dorsal is from fighting with the female next door. 





Found her Aquabid photo... She only vaguely looks like that fish.



Little piggies ate too many frozen bloodworms.









Dreaming fishy dreams... This is Tony Stark btw. Tony's favourite hobbies include begging for food, eating food, getting into everything, wreaking harvoc, and sleeping by the fish tanks.







Also random giant glass bowl I found. It could fit a four year old child, I think! Imagine planting that bowl...


----------



## Aqua Aurora

8g bubble bowl? .. No putting my hand to mine and your photo looks like its a bigger one... What was the price tag?


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> 8g bubble bowl? .. No putting my hand to mine and your photo looks like its a bigger one... What was the price tag?


Maybe 15 gallons? I attempted a couple of pictures of it, but it just never looked as big as it was in person... I considered taking a selfie with it, but I looked like crap that day so decided against it. >> Eyeing my 10 gallons across the room right now and I'd say it was almost twice as tall as a standard 10. Sadly, I forgot to check the price (then I've have probably been tempted to purchase it), but it was at Ross and their glassware doesn't ever run that high. It would probably be there again next time I'm in the area. Don't really know what you would do with a giant glass bowl except plant and put fish in it. :lol:


----------



## BlueInkFish

Love the veiltail, I always secretly envy them. Don't tell my fish that ;-)

I also love the new avatar, he's a stunner for sure! Do you have old pictures of him still? I'm seriously in love with his coloring. He was quite the looker  

Wow, now that I look at Pandas breeder photo... She really looks like a hmpk! I would understand how the breeder would be confused with what tail type she is.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Love the veiltail, I always secretly envy them. Don't tell my fish that ;-)
> 
> I also love the new avatar, he's a stunner for sure! Do you have old pictures of him still? I'm seriously in love with his coloring. He was quite the looker
> 
> Wow, now that I look at Pandas breeder photo... She really looks like a hmpk! I would understand how the breeder would be confused with what tail type she is.


Heh, thank you... And your secret is safe with me. ;-) He isn't a fancy import, but I think he'll do. He might need a week or two of proper TLC and fattening up. I have been feeding all my fish live and treating them like they are being conditioned to breed, so Panda is ready to go, but both fish's health are important.

Yes, I do still some old photos of him if you want to see them? ...Although I am sure this forum seen lots of him—I use to spam his photos a lot lol. That's an earlier one I had. His name was Vasuki. He must have been...the third betta I brought home (aside from the two my younger brother and I shared from childhood)? One of the betta that started this hobby for me and absolutely one of my favourite fish of all time.

Yeah, she didn't really seen like she had that kind of finnage on her in the original pictures. I wonder what her spawn siblings look like. Below are some of the Aquabid pictures of the other HMPKs the seller had listed at the same time as he listed Panda's auction and they all have typical HMPK body types and fins (this was also the same seller I got my late dalmatian girl from, she also had a typical HMPK shape). None of them look like they were related to Panda though.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Vasuki, I like that name! I would love to see more pictures of him, the time you owned him was probably the time I just joined this forum... It's funny now that I look at myself at who I was when I did join this site to whom I am now. I've seen like one or two photos quite awhile ago of him. But I'd love to see more 

And besides, this is your thread. Spam as many photos of him as you want... Hehe, I like him very much!

Cute cat photos too! I've had an interest in cats lately... My neighbors cats had kittens and they've been literally running around my house area. Their the cutest!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Vasuki, I like that name! I would love to see more pictures of him, the time you owned him was probably the time I just joined this forum... It's funny now that I look at myself at who I was when I did join this site to whom I am now. I've seen like one or two photos quite awhile ago of him. But I'd love to see more
> 
> And besides, this is your thread. Spam as many photos of him as you want... Hehe, I like him very much!
> 
> Cute cat photos too! I've had an interest in cats lately... My neighbors cats had kittens and they've been literally running around my house area. Their the cutest!


Okay! Here you go! Some of my favourites of him. They are in reverse chronological order, if you were curious about marbling. This was over the course of 3 months.















(This one below was taken underneath a window when the sunlight was coming in the strongest... Didn't pick up his iridescent, so he looks different here)











(Someone actually stole this picture to use as their avatar when I had it as mine. The nerve!)


----------



## BlueInkFish

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I'm very jealous you had such a great fish! His pattern is very unique and I just love that type of blue!!! Blue is my favorite color, if you haven't realized by now ;-)

Now I'm considering on getting a fish similar to him, I do hope I can find one hehe. He's just so gorgeous!

Was he a pet store find? Or from a breeder in Thailand ^_^?


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! I'm very jealous you had such a great fish! His pattern is very unique and I just love that type of blue!!! Blue is my favorite color, if you haven't realized by now ;-)
> 
> Now I'm considering on getting a fish similar to him, I do hope I can find one hehe. He's just so gorgeous!
> 
> Was he a pet store find? Or from a breeder in Thailand ^_^?


I found him at Petco! This was long before I got eyeball deep into this hobby and even thought importing was a possibility. Popped into Petco one chilly evening with maybe 9 minutes til closing for a API test kit and there he was and I had to have him. Here he was in his cup that first night.


----------



## Fenghuang

Vasuki is a deity from Hindu and Buddhist mythology, also found in Japanese and Chinese mythology. A couple of other of my fish had names from East/South Asian myths because I always found those really interesting.

Do you see his little blue "heart" on his side in the second picture? He kept for the entire time I had him. He was my little heart fish. 

You know, I tried looking for a similar fish for a long time after he passed. It was why I chose my first import, also a DT male. He ended up marbling out and looking nothing like Vasuki. Although also a very unique male in his own way (my other "iconic" avatar fish). That was Moostash I. I think you call see why his name was that.









And then there was Sesha. He was a gorgeous Thai import also. A black dalmatian. I adopted him from a member of this forum (don't think she comes on anymore) in Toronto, Canada and Lilnaugrim had brought him all the way back from there and shipped him to me. That was a well-traveled little fish. He was a real cutie. 









I've had a lot of bettas—you can probably tell just from the last five pages, but I really mean _A LOT_ lol—but that was one of the ones that left a big impression on me. Sorry for all the rambling. Thanks for allowing me to take a dive down memory lane, Blu. :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

Hehe, rambling? No way! Those are awesome stories! Memories like these are the best! I just love the selection of fish you chose! All unique in their own way. Very lovely! I think I may seriously have to buy a Vasuki myself ;-) For breeding purposes hehe. I love the colors and patterns on all your fishes. Very lovely, all 3 of them ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Hehe, rambling? No way! Those are awesome stories! Memories like these are the best! I just love the selection of fish you chose! All unique in their own way. Very lovely! I think I may seriously have to buy a Vasuki myself ;-) For breeding purposes hehe. I love the colors and patterns on all your fishes. Very lovely, all 3 of them ;-)


Thank you. I honestly have a record of every single betta fish I've ever owned. It is _looooong._ But I don't ever want to forget one. They were all special to me, even if I wasn't as attached to them as I was to a select few, and I don't want to take a single one for granted. 

Although if you ever find a Vasuki, I will just have to buy half your spawn. ;-)


----------



## BlueInkFish

We'll look forward to it then, haha!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> We'll look forward to it then, haha!


But seriously, I have been looking for a fish with a comparable colour and pattern forever. If you find a Thai import, let me know because I might have to buy like half a dozen of his siblings lol. 

I also got Vasuki before I knew about marbling. I probably would have been disappointed if he turned blue with red wash... Happened to more than one of my blue marbles. But coincidentally, he never did.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yeah, as I was scrolling through those photos not much of the marbling "phase," happend, maybe just some more color but not something that made him drastically look different  He was beautiful never the less.

The only unfortunate part about getting a new breeding pair or any fish imported, is my money, haha. I just bought a pair recently, and I haven't even started conditioning! I haven't even gotten all my foods together yet.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Yeah, as I was scrolling through those photos not much of the marbling "phase," happend, maybe just some more color but not something that made him drastically look different  He was beautiful never the less.
> 
> The only unfortunate part about getting a new breeding pair or any fish imported, is my money, haha. I just bought a pair recently, and I haven't even started conditioning! I haven't even gotten all my foods together yet.


That's why I want to find the elusive blue dalmatians... One of the breeders on this forum mentioned them a while back. They do exist apparently. Spotted blue but stable.

Ugh. Have the opposite problem. I have a ton of food (VE, BW, WW, MW, white worms, flightless fruit flies, frozen daphnia, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, bloodworms, etc.) But so far, my males just won't cooperate. My DTPK won't eat anything live or build nests. Nor has my VT so far. If I didn't think I wouls screw it up, I would send you some of all my live cultures... They're just reproducing like crazy and I worry they're going to crash soon at this rate with nothing to diminish their numbers.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Grrrrrr!

I just typed out a whole "essay," and it got deleted!

Anyways I have heard of blue dalmations, sounds like something I would be interested in!

I just need to start my spawns and get some live foods!

Let me know if you are able to ship some food, I'll defeniatley take care of shipping charges, would you charge for the actual culture? I don't want to invade your personal space if you don't feel comfortable shipping these things! I'm just on such low amount of money, I thought buying all from one person would be the cheapest way!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Heh, Canada....what a trip that was!

Blu, I can always keep an eye out for you at my fish stores. As you've seen on my journal, we always get some interesting fish in and one is bound to come in at some point!

I love all your photos Feng, such beautiful fish and photos!!


----------



## BlueInkFish

lilnaugrim said:


> Heh, Canada....what a trip that was!
> 
> Blu, I can always keep an eye out for you at my fish stores. As you've seen on my journal, we always get some interesting fish in and one is bound to come in at some point!
> 
> I love all your photos Feng, such beautiful fish and photos!!


Hehe, I appreciate that, but I don't have room for another fish, lol. I just need some cultures and bbs, and ial. But if you do find one at your lfs... Take a pic for me, I may have room at the time ;-)


----------



## lilnaugrim

litelboyblu said:


> Hehe, I appreciate that, but I don't have room for another fish, lol. I just need some cultures and bbs, and ial. But if you do find one at your lfs... Take a pic for me, I may have room at the time ;-)


Absolutely! :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Grrrrrr!
> 
> I just typed out a whole "essay," and it got deleted!
> 
> Anyways I have heard of blue dalmations, sounds like something I would be interested in!
> 
> I just need to start my spawns and get some live foods!
> 
> Let me know if you are able to ship some food, I'll defeniatley take care of shipping charges, would you charge for the actual culture? I don't want to invade your personal space if you don't feel comfortable shipping these things! I'm just on such low amount of money, I thought buying all from one person would be the cheapest way!


Ugh, hate when that happens! My stupid phone likes to refresh the screen when I go into another tab and it erases everything.

I would have to read up on how to ship live cultures, but I would definitely just send you some for shipping if/when I can. They're all at the point where new cultures need to be started anyway. Just look!





lilnaugrim said:


> Heh, Canada....what a trip that was!
> 
> Blu, I can always keep an eye out for you at my fish stores. As you've seen on my journal, we always get some interesting fish in and one is bound to come in at some point!
> 
> I love all your photos Feng, such beautiful fish and photos!!


Yes, thank you so much for bringing him back for me. That was awfully kind of you. 

Don't forget to keep an eye out for me. ;-) 

Thank you, Lil. I truly appreciate that. Need to find a way to make my journal more exciting like yours. I fear I can be awfully dull sometimes lol.


----------



## lilnaugrim

Lol, my journal is exciting? That's good to know! :-D

And you want a Blue Dalmatian too or something else? Of course, I can't promise it won't marble out but I'll certainly keep an eye out for any that I see!


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Lol, my journal is exciting? That's good to know! :-D
> 
> And you want a Blue Dalmatian too or something else? Of course, I can't promise it won't marble out but I'll certainly keep an eye out for any that I see!


Yup, it really super totally is!

Yes, or anything interesting! I have seen your petstore finds, they're amazing!!! :shock: Although my holy grail fish is a pure cellophane. I keep seeing people with them, but have never seen one myself!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Full cellophane? No color at all? We get a lot of females like that, I've seen the occasional male. Any particular tail type? I know you like fancy VT's but that's all.

Yeah, when I go, I'll take pics as usual and if any of you see any you like, just let me know :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Full cellophane? No color at all? We get a lot of females like that, I've seen the occasional male. Any particular tail type? I know you like fancy VT's but that's all.
> 
> Yeah, when I go, I'll take pics as usual and if any of you see any you like, just let me know :-D


Pure cellophane, no extra colours. Also love my marbles of all colours as you can tell.  I like balanced VTs and large finned DTHM.

Thank you! You're the best!


----------



## BlueInkFish

Wow! Look at those cultures! Defeniatley let me know when you can start shipping out cultures! ;-)

Hehe, Lil, thanks so much! You're like our one stop betta shop 

I've been getting back into blue butterflys... gah, that pattern never left my head. I think I want to start a line of pure blue butterflys now! Haha, if only I had the room! I think once I am done spawning the pair I have now, I'll look more into them.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Wow! Look at those cultures! Defeniatley let me know when you can start shipping out cultures! ;-)
> 
> Hehe, Lil, thanks so much! You're like our one stop betta shop
> 
> I've been getting back into blue butterflys... gah, that pattern never left my head. I think I want to start a line of pure blue butterflys now! Haha, if only I had the room! I think once I am done spawning the pair I have now, I'll look more into them.


They're growing like crazy. I need a tank of fry already to eat them! The live foods for the adults are also just reproducing faster than they can eat 'em. Got a little scared when I woke up and found that all my older fruitfly culture died over night. The day before they were swarming like crazy, must have been a thousand of them or more. And _poof!_ They were gone. Upon closer inspection, it seemed like all the adult died off, but were replaced by hundreds and hundreds of pupae (that's why that entire container looks brown—they literally covered every available space) and also fat little larvae that were climbing up the sides and borrowing into the fly medium. A little gross, but so cool.

Black marbles and black butterflies are my favourite for sure. (Omg, my brain is so scrambled when I typed this sentence the first time, I wrote "favourite food" instead of "favourite for sure"! :lol I also like most cello or white based marbles with just one extra colour. Those extra fancy multi-coloured kois are just too messy looking for me a lot of the times, unless the colour is distributed evenly.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Haha, I totally understand how you feel with all those cultures! I had 3 different types of nematodes (do VE count as well?) and they just overpopulated like crazy! I got so tired of them reproducing I just honestly stopped caring for them, sounds bad, but those worms overwhelmed me, lol!

Oh yes! I totally know what you mean! I believe I have a cello based girl, still unsure about her color, blue koi maybe? She doesn't seem so exotic but I am just defeniatley in love with her! The seller sold her as a hmpk... Ends up she's a hmpk cross with a hm (or some type of long finned Betta)... Just like Panda!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Mmmm closest cultures. I just keep grindals and black worms.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Haha, I totally understand how you feel with all those cultures! I had 3 different types of nematodes (do VE count as well?) and they just overpopulated like crazy! I got so tired of them reproducing I just honestly stopped caring for them, sounds bad, but those worms overwhelmed me, lol!
> 
> Oh yes! I totally know what you mean! I believe I have a cello based girl, still unsure about her color, blue koi maybe? She doesn't seem so exotic but I am just defeniatley in love with her! The seller sold her as a hmpk... Ends up she's a hmpk cross with a hm (or some type of long finned Betta)... Just like Panda!


I don't really so much in the way of "taking care" of my nematodes, to be honest. They just do their own thing and I guess I check them everyday to make sure the culture's not spoiling? Lol, sounds so lazy of me.

Blue koi sounds really pretty! Do you have any pictures?



Aqua Aurora said:


> Mmmm closest cultures. I just keep grindals and black worms.


The only dark cool place in the house I can keep 'em.  My housemates are terrified of "bug." ...Believe me, their shrieks could wake the whole neighborhood when they come across a teeny spider or beetle. Also it's getting cold, but this is an old house and it doesn't heat evenly and the room that gets warm up the most is naturally mine (when I prefer cooler temps and my two friends prefer higher temps). 

It works though. None of my cultures seem to really any smell, except the expected yeasty/vinegary smell when I take off the lid to inspect them.

My favourite so far are the little white worms. I find the little wiggly things weirdly cute. I need to find a food that doesn't mold as quickly though. I put in some Blue Buffalo adult cat food for them and it grew molded overnight.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Hehe, no doesn't sound lazy because when I meant "care," I meant check up on them now and then.

I do! Only breeder photos for now. Here she is, #2  Thanks for letting me share!


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Hehe, no doesn't sound lazy because when I meant "care," I meant check up on them now and then.
> 
> I do! Only breeder photos for now. Here she is, #2  Thanks for letting me share!


Wow, I really like her. Who was the breeder/seller?


----------



## BlueInkFish

Here he is 

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?disp&viewseller&Bangrakambetta_farm&t&


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Here he is
> 
> http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?disp&viewseller&Bangrakambetta_farm&t&


Thanks! I'll be sure to keep an eye on his auctions to see if any more beauties like her pop up.



I cupped Panda and allowed the chocolate and her to see each other. It usually triggers nesting behavior (although didn't work for the DTPK either). I guess Panda was ready and misinterpreted Chocolate's intentions and jumped out of the cup. She soon realized her mistake. I came back about 15 minutes later to find her hiding underneath one of the almond leaves and Chocolate prowling the tank looking for her. He didn't seem happy at all. He doesn't appear interested in mating at all.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Oh, wow! I do hope she is all right? 

He may not show breeding intentions now, but when the real thing happens, he may just be up for it! I hope he does get into breeding mode! They would make such a lovely couple, haha.


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Oh, wow! I do hope she is all right?
> 
> He may not show breeding intentions now, but when the real thing happens, he may just be up for it! I hope he does get into breeding mode! They would make such a lovely couple, haha.


Oh, she's quite fine; although he nipped her anal fin. Here they are taking waiting while I clean and change their fish tanks (admittedly, it took me a whiiile because I was taking pics). I think the other girl is confused by who the male is. :lol:



Got a bunch more of these pictures, I love taking flaring photos. I will post them later.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Lovely! I'll be waiting for more!


----------



## Fenghuang

Okay, now that I finished all my buttery popcorn:

First up, we have a photo featuring Miss Panda's transparent beard.



Indecisiveness...



Him?





Or "him"...?





Panda's the flashier one apparently.





Chocolate's getting ignored.





Rawr!



Kissy faces?



DTPK is not having any of it. He _hates_ being cupped or moved.



Poor DTPK boy. Panda scares him.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Seems to me like the two girls are just your ordinary gossip girls, I mean fish. ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Seems to me like the two girls are just your ordinary gossip girls, I mean fish. ;-)


Lol. Sometimes I look at Panda's flaring form and worry she is one of the mythical rumored fish that developed into males late in life. But her non-flaring form looks female and I can clearly see her large ovaries... It's not possible, right?


----------



## lilnaugrim

Yeah, Betta's don't change sex at all, just late-developing as you say but once they have ovaries, that's it, no more changing sex for that fishy lol. It's usually male to female that is the real issue since ovaries can develop later. Most of the time when males end up in sororities, it's due to the fish-keepers inexperience at sexing Betta's, not because the Betta is hiding something from us...


----------



## lilnaugrim

So I went to the PetCo by my dad's since the other didn't have anything that you guys were looking for. I did find a couple cello's but the DT had a yellow-ish tint and some irid, probably not what you want but I'll show you anyway just in case! I'm still at dads and will be for a little while longer so I can go back and get him if you happen to actually like him, otherwise, I can't guarantee he'll be there until next Thursday when I come back.






Not what you wanted but this guy was so adorable! A little koi boy! Only 12.99 too :-D




So yeah, let me know one way or anything! No worries if you don't like him, I know he has more color than you wanted too


----------



## Fenghuang

The yellow is cute but omg omg omg, that little PK!!! I already has a few PKs but I love him...


----------



## lilnaugrim

If you want him, I can certainly stop by today! The little koi one, right? He was miserable looking but otherwise healthy!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Bad lil' bad! Tempting people with new bettas! XP


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> If you want him, I can certainly stop by today! The little koi one, right? He was miserable looking but otherwise healthy!


...yes... *covers eyes* 

I actually really like the other one too... Damn. I need more of my tanks from storage from Ci's house. @[email protected]

EDIT: I'm sorry for the indecisiveness... Yes, I think I want the orange and...black(?) koi marble boy?


----------



## lilnaugrim

Heh, I'm the worst enabler, you know this aqua!!

And yeah, he's orange, cello, and some dragon scales, no black on him though. I'll go tonight to see if he's still there!


----------



## lilnaugrim

And I'm an idiot, I didn't see that black spot before lol. Or I did, but I forgot to look again when I replied to you >.< You can just...ignore that last message :roll:

So, I almost didn't find him and I was soooo sad!! I was looking and looking and was like "look for the orange top! look for the orange top! orange top! orange top! Sh!t!" a couple were sold from yesterday and I walked around for a bit to see if they were changing any at the sinks and talked with the employee who knows me well now. I almost gave up, went back just for one more look and thought, hmm, maybe if I can't find him then I'll just buy one for myself anyway? There was a beautiful HMPK DS that I really would have loved but then, by some miracle I looked towards the back (thought I'd already checked there since I know sometimes people hide fish and so that's usually the first place I look) and low and behold! I found the orange top! Their labels are orange which is why I was saying that. I couldn't see the fish just yet so I held my breath as I moved the fish out of the way and pulled him forward and YES! It was him!! So he's not comfortably acclimating to the 20 long at the moment. I won't be able to send him out until Monday but that should give me time to assure that he's disease free and eating well before he suffers through another trip lol.

I can get more pictures of him once he's settled in and not so pale from the drive home as well ^_^


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> And I'm an idiot, I didn't see that black spot before lol. Or I did, but I forgot to look again when I replied to you >.< You can just...ignore that last message :roll:
> 
> So, I almost didn't find him and I was soooo sad!! I was looking and looking and was like "look for the orange top! look for the orange top! orange top! orange top! Sh!t!" a couple were sold from yesterday and I walked around for a bit to see if they were changing any at the sinks and talked with the employee who knows me well now. I almost gave up, went back just for one more look and thought, hmm, maybe if I can't find him then I'll just buy one for myself anyway? There was a beautiful HMPK DS that I really would have loved but then, by some miracle I looked towards the back (thought I'd already checked there since I know sometimes people hide fish and so that's usually the first place I look) and low and behold! I found the orange top! Their labels are orange which is why I was saying that. I couldn't see the fish just yet so I held my breath as I moved the fish out of the way and pulled him forward and YES! It was him!! So he's not comfortably acclimating to the 20 long at the moment. I won't be able to send him out until Monday but that should give me time to assure that he's disease free and eating well before he suffers through another trip lol.
> 
> I can get more pictures of him once he's settled in and not so pale from the drive home as well ^_^


Aw, that's really cute! I misread your post at first (skipped over "almost") and was thinking, "Oh noes he's gone! "

Thank you so so so much. I can't wait to see him!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Haha yeah, I do the same thing and end up reading a paragraph like four times before I understand what the heck is going on! It's hard to focus at times so that doesn't help! But yes, I DO have him now :-D Haven't checked on him since he's just floating for now, but I can probably take pictures tomorrow (though, I suck at actually doing it when I say that I'm going to haha so that may be delayed, though, I'm aiming for Thursday!).


----------



## BlueInkFish

Yay! Congratulations! I can't wait to see pictures! ;-)

Lil, your Petco seems to have so many beautiful fish!


----------



## lilnaugrim

litelboyblu said:


> Yay! Congratulations! I can't wait to see pictures! ;-)
> 
> Lil, your Petco seems to have so many beautiful fish!


Why do you think I have so many fish >.< Darn stores have amazing fish! haha! I'm still thinking about four fish from there and gosh darn....it's really hard sometimes. And it's not even like I don't appreciate and love the fish I already have! Though, sometimes, I do feel like I'm cheating on them by bringing home another or only taking pics of a certain one because he's just more photogenic....it's a real struggle sometimes lol.


----------



## Fenghuang

Heh, I've given up on pretending. There are definitely fish I show favoritism towards. I am a bad betta parent.


----------



## lilnaugrim

Lol, oh yeah, I certainly do as well. I mostly feel bad when I'm out looking at fish and I'm like...hmm, who can I move out or give away so I can keep this fish?? >.< I like to foster animals and so that translates to fish well since I can ship them anywhere basically but I do feel bad sometimes. Velvet and Glaston are lowest on my list right now, Glaston was supposed to go to another member here but they stopped coming on (hope they are alright since I know they were having medical issues, nothing life threatening, but still). And so I often forget to feed him, haven't done a water change in a while and it's worse because it's just the 1 gallon bowl....sooo yeah....definitely a bad Betta parent >.<


----------



## BlueInkFish

I try to not have favorites. Of course it over powers me though. So I do end up picking a fish I really like.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

lilnaugrim said:


> Heh, I'm the worst enabler, you know this aqua!!
> 
> And yeah, he's orange, cello, and some dragon scales, no black on him though. I'll go tonight to see if he's still there!


Yes I know you tried to temp me with a few from your lfs a 2-3 months back!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Aqua Aurora said:


> Yes I know you tried to temp me with a few from your lfs a 2-3 months back!


Lol. It's a bad habit of mine, but heck, if they're so pretty then why not? That (hopefully) get's rid of the temptation for me and I get to foster them for a week or so-ish XD


----------



## Fenghuang

If I had more stores near me and a car, I would definitely be going and looking all the time. What can I say? I love to surround myself with all the temptation lol. ;-)


----------



## BlueInkFish

Fenghuang said:


> If I had more stores near me and a car, I would definitely be going and looking all the time. What can I say? I love to surround myself with all the temptation lol. ;-)


Exactly!


----------



## Fenghuang

So, I just got my plants from Aurora. They were suppose to come today, but no package never showed up... I was waiting and waiting and waiting. Turns out they just sneakily put it in our little mailbox while I was waiting for it to come to my door.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> So, I just got my plants from Aurora. They were suppose to come today, but no package never showed up... I was waiting and waiting and waiting. Turns out they just sneakily put it in our little mailbox while I was waiting for it to come to my door.


Glad you found them ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Aurora. They're so healthy looking even right out of the box. I really glad for them.


----------



## BlueInkFish

I don't mean to be a pest but, updates? Hehe, I just miss seeing photos of your beautiful fish!

How was your Thanksgiving?


----------



## Fenghuang

Ah, Blu, always on top of things... ;-)

Things have been okay. Some ups and downs (general life-wise, not hobby-wise thankfully). I spent Thanksgiving at my girlfriend's house with her family...and our eight cats, of course! All our aquatic family doing well, though the tanks are yucky and need cleaning. I am dragging my feet on getting down there though. >> I will do it soon though and try to get some pictures.

For the time being, I got some shots of our silly kitties and the local park from the other day.

My goal for this visit has been to get a group picture of all our cats together. No luck yet. This is the closest one (teeeeechnically, the last one may actually have been in one of the dining room chairs). From left to right: Siri, Starfire, Ari, Tony (my apartment cat who is also visiting), Peter Parker, Jasper, and Harley Quinn (hiding in the shadow). Missing in action is Luxe as usual.



I have been messing around with my phone camera filters so be warned. 

The park is really pretty this time of the year. The day we went was really chilly, but it was nice to take a stroll around the lake and get some fresh air. The leaves are all turning now too.













Love the ducks and geese.







Ci the Geese Trainer! :lol:



Aaaaand....we decorated! Our pretty tree!







One of my favourite ornaments. It reminds me of Turnip Head from Howl's Moving Castle.



I sew little Christmas collars for the kittens.



Here is Peter unwillingfully modeling my handiwork. It is amazing how big he's gotten. The last time I've seen him, he fit in the palm of my hand.



We weren't decking the halls with bales of holly exactly... But we decked the whole main floor out with lights. And temporarily—our cats too!



And that's it! Unless you want to see more dorky pics of my day-to-day lol.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Love the update! What a beautiful park you have! It makes me wish I have one close by... I only have a lake, (more like a puddle, because of the California drought) and it's not even that beautiful now. Haha.

Lovely photography of your cute cats! And beautiful Christmas tree!

Oh, and the last two photos of the geese pictures, hilarious!


----------



## Sadist

Awesome update! Our package carriers do weird stuff like that, too. Leave the package in the mailbox or by the garage, and you're waiting for live animals and plants to come in out of the cold.


----------



## Fenghuang

You guys have probably caught on by now that I am very bad at keeping journals and updates in general. 

I am flying back up north tomorrow, but here a little something I have been working on. 



Anyone have suggestions on good small heaters and filters (Aurora? If you read this, maybe?)?


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Its a very curved tank. The smallest heaters I use need an azoo micro temp controller (they're constant on style heaters-without controller they won't turn off)-cobalt 10 watt heater. As for filter.. not sure about dimensions, the smallest filter I get is a jardin mini cylinder sponge filter (need an air pump to run). In my very curved lantern vase I put a wire in the airline tube to curve it against the tank wall and push the filter to the back. Since its air running though the tube its ok to have a wire *in *the air line tubing (wire must be narrow enough to let air pass around it- don't want to cause back pressure on the air pump).
Its a very cute setup ^^ how many gallons does it hold?


----------



## Fenghuang

Thank you for the suggestion, Aurora. I was wondering how you got your equipment into your bowls and vases. I don't even think they're visible in your pictures aside from the tubes and cords. They're hidden so well.

The glass bowl I got last year from Ross. I think I posted it here before. It was growing a little anubias garden and was used a temporary home for my dalmatian female. It kind of failed though because one of the anubias plants developed rot and infected all the other plants. I think a bit more than 2 gallons of water went into it this time? I do have to be careful how much I fill it because it overflows when I start messing around with it with my hands (which is often because I'm indecisive lol).

These are some of the floaters I received from you, Aurora. 



20 ghost shrimp call this bowl home right now. They were suppose to be a "backup" food in case my vacation feeders failed (more on that later...). But I got sentimental really quick. 

The person who helped me at the pet store just scooped them out with a regular fish net, dumped them in a bag, and then topped off the bag with _cold_ water from their goldfish tank. I am surprised they were all alive when I got them home!











The bowl is not quite lush and green yet. I mean, there's hardly any plants in it yet! I may have to move the shrimp to the breeding tank while I am gone. It has by sitting empty for...about a month now? But it has a running sponge filter and is heated and filled with IAL.


----------



## BlueInkFish

OMG THAT IS A REALLY COOL SET UP!

I may need to try one like that once winter is over... Gah! You are a bad influence! Hehe.


----------



## Sadist

What a lovely shrimp tank! Mine is all yucky since I use it to grow algae for my otos and nerite. I love the lucky bamboo, too. I read that they don't tolerate fluoride; do you use something to remove fluoride for that tank?


----------



## Aqua Aurora

I can't speak for feng but my area no longer puts fluoride in the tap, so I just use Seachem prime to deal with the chlorine and chloarmine. You should check your water report to see if fluoride is still used or consider calling up your water provider and asking.


----------



## Fenghuang

Hey, guys, so we (one of our cats Ari and I) arrived back in New Jersey Monday night. It was an all around uneventful flight. Ari was surprisingly good throughout most (he got a little antsy in the beginning, but settled down) of the travel. He was even a good boy and calmly allowed himself to be carried through the metal detector. Yesterday, I had some errands and visited with my cousin. We're really close and this was her first semester in college, so we hung out and talked and gossiped as people do lol. Finally catching a moment to type this update now (family and I are waiting for the evening showing of the new Star Wars movie!). 

The weather is unexpectedly warm this year. Mid 50-60s. Tomorrow it's suppose to hit the 70s apparently! So probably not much chance of there being a white Christmas here this year. It rain tons. It's pouring right now.

Before I left my house in Georgia, I actually ended up moving the shrimp into an empty section of one of my divided 10 gallons. I fear the bowl would get too cold in an unheated house. The planted bowl was set in my bedroom window. All low light plants, so it should be okay. I only have the one tank actually inhabited right now, so I went out and purchased a programable timer for the tank light. I have it set to come on at 8 am and turn off at 5 pm. The room will get dim indirect sunlight before and after those times, so that'll help simulate a more natural "dawn" and "dusk."

Now, on to the explaining I mentioned in the last post... So if you have been following my journal for a while, you know my girlfriend and I both have bettas and for the last two years that I've been dorming, she takes my dorm room pets home when I go on winter and summer break. I actually did take my four fish to Ci's house over Thanksgiving and I left them there with her.... But if you follow Lilnaugrim's journal, you know she found me a gorgeous cello-orange DS PK. She was very kind to watch him over Thanksgiving and ended up sending him to me when I got back to Georgia from spending Thanksgiving at Ci's. Well, he came DOA in a week of just really crummy bad luck all around. :-( 

I ended up with two new boys who have been at the pet store down the street for 2-3 months. I wasn't planning on bringing my Ari home for winter break anyway (he is an anxiety-prone cat and had really negative reactions towards the last two times he traveled by car), so was planning on finding a sitter anyway and figured two bettas wouldn't be a problem to watch on top of a cat. 

So, they're currently in the divided tank with the shrimp. I had them for a few weeks now, but never got around to updating lol. But for reasons, I had to take my cat home and the sitter didn't really happen. I have been gutloading my two males, with heavy emphasis on feeding live white worms, kind of like conditioning, I guess? I also gotten them vacation feeders and was planning on getting some ghost shrimp and a snail in case that plan broke down. And if all else fails, I think they will be alright going without food.

This was how fat they were the day I left:





So that's the explanation. And intro of our new guys.

I'll try to have Ci take pictures of all the fish (and axolotls) at her house when she is free so you a our full picture of our aquatic family.


----------



## Fenghuang

Hm... I would have to check on the fluoride. I had three casualties (died overnight), but I read that it is unfortunately normal with ghost shrimp when you first introduce them. Still sad though.


----------



## Fenghuang

So another Petsmart opened on the highway by my house... Or maybe the original Petsmart decided to move down, I don't know. I'm only here about twice a year now, so I always notice some changes. But my brother _insisted_ that my cat needed more cat treats (he loves that cat, pretty sure he was more excited for him to come home than he was for me lol). 

I think most of us on this site gravitates towards the bettas in a petstore, with or without the intention of buying one. They had a nice selection of metallics and dragonscales (deltas and shortfin-longfin in-betweeners mainly). Nice veiltails too, there was some VT females with really nice fins. My brother asked if I wanted one because he knows how I am about bettas (he has had _one_ betta since Christmas 2013... ONE! Can we imagine? :lol: ). I said no, I really shouldn't. 

But my resolve was weak.  (that looks like an embarrassed emoticon but really should be an ashamed emoticon...)

I don't think I need to tell you why I caved?





Two other VT I really really liked:









Not exactly a VT, but I wonder what colour he would be after someone gets him in some warm, clean water?



And that's all for today. This brings our total betta count to 11.


----------



## lilnaugrim

I'm really glad you found some other Cello's even if they are marble! I'm still really sorry about that koi boy :-/ he was so personable to :-(

Oooh, that Copper-ish orange VT! He's beautiful! And that last boy will be a Black Copper BF! :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> I'm really glad you found some other Cello's even if they are marble! I'm still really sorry about that koi boy :-/ he was so personable to :-(
> 
> Oooh, that Copper-ish orange VT! He's beautiful! And that last boy will be a Black Copper BF! :-D


Thank you. And yes, for some reason, I just realized the lighter one technically counts as the cello I described. :lol: That's weird, right? Maybe because I hadn't seen a "true" cellophane in person before. But he'll probably marble out too. He has a very shiny pearly sheen in person and more black dots on the other side. 

And it is alright about the koi boy. You can't helped such things... He was a healthy boy and the weather was great for shipping that week. You did everything right, really.

Yes, I know! The copper-ish orange dalmatian is definitely one of my favourite... He looked like he had some faded blue edging on his fins too. And black copper BF sounds really pretty. I wish this happened back in Georgia. I would have gotten them too.


EDIT: Better shots of them "ee" pecs (I'm going to call them as such for him):


----------



## lilnaugrim

Fenghuang said:


> Thank you. And yes, for some reason, I just realized the lighter one technically counts as the cello I described. :lol: That's weird, right? Maybe because I hadn't seen a "true" cellophane in person before. But he'll probably marble out too. He has a very shiny pearly sheen in person and more black dots on the other side.


Oh you know what? I forgot about the first one, I was only thinking about the second boy you'd shown with the black on him. The first boy is a real cello--sort of. Technically, the irid shouldn't be there but he won't marble! Or at least, he shows no signs of it but of course we can't actually say it for sure but there's a very good chance he'll stay like that at least ^_^


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh you know what? I forgot about the first one, I was only thinking about the second boy you'd shown with the black on him. The first boy is a real cello--sort of. Technically, the irid shouldn't be there but he won't marble! Or at least, he shows no signs of it but of course we can't actually say it for sure but there's a very good chance he'll stay like that at least ^_^


Oh. I guess that just goes to show taking betta photos are hard. Second boy is blue and white! :lol: I guess the tannin-dyed water doesn't help.


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## lilnaugrim

It's a black based blue though as most of them are. But yeah, first glance he just looks black and cello. I wasn't looking at either of them when I posted before though, just going off memory of what I'd seen previously was all.


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> It's a black based blue though as most of them are. But yeah, first glance he just looks black and cello. I wasn't looking at either of them when I posted before though, just going off memory of what I'd seen previously was all.


Oh, I see I you mean about the black-based. And lol I'm the exact same way... I forgot what my fish looks like sometimes. My memory is starting to go downhill. >.>


----------



## Fenghuang

Oh, I forgot to say...

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

And any other holiday that you guys may celebrate. :-D


----------



## Fenghuang

Terrible example of plakat form, but oh man, I love this. The cello-red-yellow spot. Btw, I hadn't looked at Aquabid in months. Can you believe it? 

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1451290704


----------



## Fenghuang

Quick anecdote, since I'm on a plane and it's about to take off soon.

So I'm headed back to Georgia after two weeks at my parent's now. And... I brought my VT EE I got over winter break along. Yeah, it's a little weird for _normal_ people. But TSA regulations say it's okay and airline says it's okay. And I get to the check-in counter and the worker obviously never had this happen before, so he's double checking everything and making phone calls and looking online and he turns to me, his face completely serious:

"Is it an emotional support animal?"


----------



## Fenghuang

And yes, he got through security just fine and is in my carry-on bag right now underneath the seat in front of me.  I'll tell you guys the rest of the story later when I land.


----------



## lilnaugrim

Oh lol, that's funny! It is possible I suppose to register a fish as an ESA though, I would say it's likely work better for a longer lived fish haha. That's cute.


----------



## trilobite

Haha thats awesome! Glad he got through alright


----------



## Sadist

Fenghuang said:


> Terrible example of plakat form, but oh man, I love this. The cello-red-yellow spot. Btw, I hadn't looked at Aquabid in months. Can you believe it?
> 
> http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashmp&1451290704


Wow, look at that gorgeous beard!

I'm glad your fish made it home okay. Funny about the security jumping through hoops about him!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, guys! :-D

I just woke up. It's 1:23 pm EST, right now. Whoops. My roommmate also returned around the second time and so we shared a cab back from the airport. We ate a fantastically healthy meal of frozen chicken nuggets and meatballs we baked in the oven. Then binge-watched Law and Order until early in the morning. There was also a lot of extra buttery microwave popcorn involved. It's nice to be back...

No real photos since I am still lounging about, but here's a picture of my last meal in NYC yesterday afternoon. My family goes to Chinatown and NYC in general a lot. We went four (five?) days in a row this week, even though we live in New Jersey. I think the one thing I will miss is all the delicious food. My family is Asian and I do always miss it when I go back to Atlanta. There is no lack of Asian supermarkets and bakeries and eateries.



That is grilled eel over rice with some toasted seaweed. On the side, there was a green salad with crab, abalone, and roe. No idea what dressing they had, but it was so good. And some miso soup. So still a fish picture technically. Just not the kind of fish this journal is all about. :lol:

My VTEE—still not sure if he counts as a EE—was super chill with the whole ordeal. I suppose flying in the cabin would be basically first class for betta fish, right? He took to his unexpected new job as an emotional support fish swimmingly (no pun intended... Okay, a little intended). I am still laughing about that btw. I guess a fish can be an ESA, it just usually I think of an animal that is a little more...tactile? Currently, he is showing my other fish who's boss through the dividers. He is huge compared to my DTs. :shock:

My DTs are well too, although I guess they slimmed down a little from two weeks alone. I did leave them food but no clue if it actually worked or if they ate it. My ghost shrimp seemed to have all died. :-( But not too unexpected. I was hopeful though. My plants exploded... I guess the controlled dawn to dusk lighting schedule did them some good. 

For the record, I didn't actually say he was my emotional support animal. I know people actually do claim normal pets as emotional support animals because they're allowed to ride with a lot of airlines for free, but I just feel like that's unscrupulous to me? And I don't know if they would really buy that anyway.

I was told the guy that he was my pet and I would be really disappointed if I couldn't bring him. Eventually he just couldn't find anything on the issue and just told me to head on through to security. I showed him next to one of the people checking boarding passes and ID at the beginning of the security checkpoint. She said that there was clearly over 100ml of water in his container and said it wouldn't be allowed, but she let me go on to the screening area.

When I got to where the x-ray machines and the metal detectors were, I put all my bag and others possessions through and then took him over to one of the TSA people standing by the metal detector. He had no clue so he called more colleagues over. There was multiple questions asked like, "Is that a goldfish?" Other guests were also looking on curiously. But no one seemed to know what to do. Eventually, I guess it was the supervisor who came over and told me to just go on through and pick him up on the other side. Fish (I don't have a name yet) didn't end up getting tested at all.

This is the TSA policy on live fish (as a carry-on item only) copy and pasted from their website if any if you are wondering.

_"Live fish must be transported in a clear, plastic, spill proof container. In this case, the container may be larger than 3.4 ounces. A Transportation Security Officer will visually inspect your live fish at the checkpoint

Even if an item is generally permitted, it may be subject to additional screening or not allowed through the checkpoint if it triggers an alarm during the screening process, appears to have been tampered with, or poses other security concerns. The final decision rests with TSA on whether to allow any items on the plane."_

You should probably call ahead and ask your airline if it is alright beforehand though. And always get there early if you have plans to travel with any pet. It might take longer to get through security and depending on who you get, you might get asked a lot of questions. Just try to be patient and polite and I think they shouldn't give you too hard of a time.


----------



## Fenghuang

Tony the kitten and the other fish are coming back this Monday. But for now, I still have this trio of boys to keep me company. 

My DTs and their accusatory eyes....



"How dare you leave us without food for even one day?!?"



My VT and his fluttering flippers.


----------



## Sadist

Wow, gorgeous DT's!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Sadist. They're cute, aren't they? I have been trying very hard to limit my fish collection to potential breeding candidates only, but I keep accumulating more and more pets! :roll:

My favourite picture I've taken today. This guy continues to change my mind on solid colours.



More pictures in this thread so I don't post twice. 

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=643593


----------



## BlueInkFish

Sooooo soooooo sooo pretty!!!!!!!


----------



## Fenghuang

Hi Blu! :-D Thanks!

How was you guys' holidays?


----------



## Sadist

Wow, what a gorgeous red beard! He sure loves showing it off. I think I have the same sponge filter in some of my tanks!


----------



## Fenghuang

I wish I had a better camera lately... I don't like showing off blurry pictures lol.

Heh, I wouldn't be surprised. I think I purchased these off of Aquabid. Or maybe Ebay? I got a bunch of them in the closet. Bought them in bulk for my little breeding setup, but hadn't had any luck breeding them yet. I have more free time to focus on them now though. So soon-ish, hopefully.


----------



## BlueInkFish

Mine was great, thank you!

How was yours?


----------



## Fenghuang

I'm glad to hear your holiday was good, Blu. Mine was... Um, it could have been better. Doubt y'all would really want to hear the nitty gritty details anyway. And it'll be off-topic. There were some good things that happened...and some bad. But that's just like life. It is what it is. 

I really really need to start naming my fish instead of just calling them by their color or tail type. It is sad that literally 1 out of... Oh, wow, I guess we am really up to 11 bettas again. Goodness. :shock: But yeah, 1 out of 11 has an actual name (not counting Panda because Panda is still by her color pattern really...). Any suggestions? ;-)

Red boy has only been in this tank for three days now. He immediately went to work building a bubble nest the first evening. At first, it wasn't terribly impressive. Just two groups of a handful of bubbles really. Still better than Chocolate boy when I was actually _conditioning_ him though. :roll: But everyday he keeps adding to it and now it looks like an actually respectable little nest. He is very proud of it. If I even wiggle my fingers outside the tank next to his nest, he quickly rushes to its rescue. 

I love the look of the extra large IAL. And my fish love them too.



"Rawr!" says Red, "Mine!"



Here, I tried to get him to hold still. He just had his dinner. So I was pretending to feed him more so he'll hold and wait. So mean, I know lol. Excuse the dirty fingernail... I was feeding white worms and using my hand to handle them. It's simply the easiest way. I washed my hands right after, don't worry. 







I am obsessed with flaring Red. I can seriously watch him forever. He is just all beard and fins!











I hadn't forgotten the DTs. They just are not very good about staying still enough for me to take pictures of.

The blue marble one's side always looks bad. He obviously lacks a green thumb (figuratively) because all his plants die or wilt. It's so sad and barren looking... I need to clean up all the debris soon... Oh, well. At least he's cute. Look at his little red lipstick. 







The cello one's side is much more lush. He's my little fishy plant whisperer. Okay. Not lush-lush, but much better than blue marble DT's side.







This reminds me I need to order some more java moss. I don't know what it is, but I can never keep java moss alive or growing... It always turns brown after a short while and die. :-( Same with a lot of the "easy" plants. Water wisteria, water sprite, hornwort, anarcharis, and anubias species especially. Ugh. It's always hit or miss. Some tanks, they take off like they're on steroids and just consume the whole tank. And in others I add new plants and they just start to die off immediately. Same with clippings. They would be off-shoots of healthy plants from another tank and same water conditions and temperature and everything, but they just won't grow. Or heavens forbid, I decide to transfer a plant to a new tank or clean the tank. Plant's like "lol nope. I'm outta here..." Oops. I kind of gone off on a tangent here, didn't I?  

I just really would love lovely completely green and full looking tanks. I think I only ever gotten one or two tanks to look like that in all the time I've kept planted tanks. Maybe one day...


----------



## BlueInkFish

Omg, Red is so beautiful... You're getting me into Veiltails!!!!

Beautiful fishes as always!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Blue. VTs are gorgeous. Maybe you should get one. ;-)



I love love love floating plants. This is azolla, I originally got the first bunch from Aqua Aurora. It just grows and grows and grows. I just added a little bit (enough to sparsely cover a quarter of the surface) and now it has almost taken over. This plant is less messy than duckweed, which is a plus. 









The black thing is a piece of mesh I cut to look like a large almond leaf. Bend it down the middle and it should stay slightly folded, mimicking a floating leaf's shape and curve pretty well. My boys definitely love IAL best for building their nest under, but eventually IAL sink. I position a real leaf on top of it and it acts like a raft. Red likes to sit on the mesh on the sides where it dips below the waterline. He tucks his nest in the space between the bottom of the leaf and the top of the mesh.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

That not azolla, its salvinia minima. I've never kept azolla. Its a fast grower but much easier to manage than duckweed.

azolla









salvinia minima


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> That not azolla, its salvinia minima. I've never kept azolla. Its a fast grower but much easier to manage than duckweed.
> 
> azolla
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> salvinia minima


My apologies, Aurora, I could not for the life of me remember the name. But I saw similar plants someone was referring to as "azolla" the other day. 

But yeah, it has as you can see, taken over my tank (well, tanks). So big big thanks!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> My apologies, Aurora, I could not for the life of me remember the name. But I saw similar plants someone was referring to as "azolla" the other day.
> 
> But yeah, it has as you can see, taken over my tank (well, tanks). So big big thanks!


No worries, and you're quite welcome ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

Hi all, sorry for the lack of updates.... I always feel bad because I don't really have anything interesting or insightful to say/show. 

We lost some members of the aquatic family at my girlfriend's house. Alice, our oldest axolotl died the other day. Xena (my little partial EE Petco baby) and two other bettas passed this month as well. Those were the blue/red bicolor PK and the black BF marble DeT. We've had Xena and the blue PK since last January and the black DeT since March. I feel kind of sucky also because I don't name any of my fish anymore and in a weird way, I feel like that means I didn't care for them enough and that's why they died. But I don't know...

Not too much to report on my front otherwise... Red is doing great and I swear he is growing even more. I am definitely itching to try him for breeding but I would probably need to find a female for him. And he was already a huge VT! My two DTs seem to be getting bigger too, but the cello is nibbling at his tail... My old breeding plans are still on hold since my fish are in another state still lol. 

Um, I recultured my nematodes and need to reculture my white worms and now have way too much if any one wants some for the price of shipping. I would have to work out how to ship in these temperatures and if it is even a good idea to ship right now.


But in more uplifting news, this female is just the cutest and I am so tempted (despite so many reasons why I should buy any more fish).

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettashm&1454055609


----------



## Fenghuang

Hi everyone, no long no talk again... All my fish are doing well, everyone's fine. Not much updates because I hadn't really been up to anything new or exciting lol. 

I got three new females today from the petstore down the street. I said no pet more pet quality fish, but these were in really rough shape and felt sorry for them. Yeah. I know.

Okay, so I picked pretty much the worse off of the few bettas they had left. I initially saw them the other day when I went into the store to kill some time. There were about twice as many bettas that day and they already looked pretty bad. I refrained from getting them because it's one thing to take on some unhappy looking pet store fish but a whole 'nother thing to get ones that are obviously sick with some fungal or bacterial thing. And I don't really have a lot of funds right now (I'm not working atm sadly; no, I didn't get fired or anything and boss still likes me and offered me a place for when my circumstances sre normal again, but it's complicated...), so I felt guilty about spending. But I couldn't stop thinking about them, so I went back today. There was a really really big female (like 3 inches long big) last time, but she was gone today. She was not looking good, so I can only hope she got purchased by a knowledgeable person and not something worse happened...

I did take a picture of her because I thought it would be cool to show you guys.



Anyway, I took the girls home and put them in a 10 gallon, divided three ways. I only filled it halfways. There's a sponge filter and a heater, of course. Added some kanamycin and a mild dose of aquarium salt to start. I do not know for the life of me where my methylene blue went. With my kitten Tony who gets into everything around, it is very likely that it's now a dried up blue stain behind a cabinet somewhere... I tried coaxing them to eat with some white worms.

Below are the ones I got. I do know if they will live actually. Especially the first one. She is very very lethargic, cloudy eyed, no appetite, super clamped. She also has all this fuzzy stringy growth on her. She mostly lays on the bottom of the tank, gasping listlessly. I do not really know if she'll make it through the night... She has that look about her. :-( 

Second girl is the most active and actually eats. Least clamped. She even responds to my hand in front of the tank. But she is skinny and has these greyish white fuzzy patches on the top of her head and back. You cannot really see in this photo, but I will try to get some more later. You know, kind of like the beginning of columnaris. Which concerns me. 

Third girl has the least visibly wrong with her, but her fins are clamped and she swims in this erratic, jerky motion that just does not seem right. She also did not eat. But it is still possible that they're not use to live foods.


----------



## Fenghuang

It's been a few hours. So far all three females are still alive. They seem to have some SBD issues too. Particularly the two lighter colored ones. The more serious condition one floats now... Before she kept sinking. It could be from stress, but I do not know.

Also my gf took in another kitty. He is a 6 months old feral(?) cat that Ci's friend caught. He's undersized and blind and scared of everything. So far, the vet results look good. Will keep you all updated. (Was kind of afraid to say because you'll probably think we're hoarders... All the kitties except this new one is fixed though. And they're not all in the same house.)


----------



## RussellTheShihTzu

I always thought you were generous and kind but now I know it. 

Rescuing anything is difficult; especially the cast-offs. For 25 years I was coordinator for German Shorthaired Pointer rescue in TN, AL, KY and GA so I know what often comes into care. My hat's off to you and Ci for helping.


----------



## Fenghuang

Oh, man, typos galore on that longer post earlier! Sorry, serves me right for not proofreading. >.< Aw, thanks, Linda, you are so kind. And you must have some stories! Would you maybe write about them in your journal sometimes?

Some pics... The healthier lighter female did eat actually. Turns out she wasn't so sure about the worms. But she accepted a few pellets graciously enough.

Their temporary abode. 



My Georgia boys are alive and well! Pics for proof lol. Although my cello boy keeps stripping away his beautiful fins. :-( But I think it's more common with white/lighter colored males? 

He got booted from his tank to the bowl (which I broke down and reset without sans the plants for now) because his mommy was too lazy to mess around with the landscaping and add another divider. 



Potato quality picture of Red because he MUST KEEP MOVING. Red's philosophy: "You can rest when you're dead."



Slightly better pic of the DT. He's all fins and flowy-ness.



Current condition of female... Lighting is still not showing the fuzzy patches on the darker color (I think she will be red when she gets her color back). One seems to be turning into a marble. The lightest one may possible be a cambodian pattern since she is showing black or blue in her fins. 









Oh, oh, and some of the new kid! I think we decided on Matt Murdock/Daredevil to go with the comic theme of our cats. Although his actual rescuer/captor wanted Ronnie Milcat (after Ronnie Milsap the country singer). I don't know, what do you guys think? My gf took these, I just ripped them off of her FB/tumblr, so if you see them elsewhere... They have been posted elsewhere.

My gf just got off work. We're facetiming (talking right now) and he seems like such a sweetie. He is currently on antibiotics. He has an upper respiratory infection. He's malnourished and his ears were all clogged up with gunk and wax. We don't know what his hearing is like either because he doesn't really respond to other cats' meows. It might be better now that his ears got cleaned. One of his eyes is swollen and both are leaking, so maybe the blindness is from the infection and he'll get his vision back. His eyes do respond to some light stimuli, but it's minimal. Hadn't gotten vacinated/dewormed yet because of that, so he can't quite be with the other cats yet. He is very uncertain of his surroundings still, but very trusting of his caretakers.

Before/after his bath. Doesn't he look so much better?





He mostly just stays put unless you move him. He eats well, but doesn't seem to quite have gotten down drinking water and what to do in the litter box.



Look, gifs! Fancy! :lol:


----------



## Fenghuang

I lost a fish.

Not like it died. Literally, I _lost_ a fish!

The dark colored female is gone. I am so perplexed and dumbstruck by this. Literally I woke up this morning and fed all my fish and everyone was okay (well, okay-ish, counting the sick newbies). The new girls seemed to be improving a little. The cello/cambo girl is looking a lot better. No more erratic swimming and less clamped. The really ill marbley one still looks ill, but I am not as worried she'll pass in the night since she made it... And the dark color looks a lot better. The white fuzzy/soft patches looked more cleared up and she was active and inquisitive. She is also an interesting rosy res color with black/blue irids in her fins.

And now she's gone! I took a few pictures of them at 1:01 pm (phone timestamped). She was first, so I'll say that took about 5 minutes? I have been in my bedroom this whole time... Although maybe I stepped out to start getting ready in the bathroom for a few minutes? The cat was outside, don't think he got back into my bedroom because the door was closed. Gf calls (Facetimes) at around 1:26. We talk for a few minutes (maybe 10) and I go to show her how the fish were doing. And the dark girl was/is missing.

What the heck? I have been searching for her for the last half hour. The tank is barren aside from a sponge filter, a heater, 2 leaves of IAL and the two dividers. Not in the other two fish's compartments. Check if she could have swam into and down the outtake tube... Shook it a little but didn't feel anything. Tank was only half full, has a glass top. There are two TINY gaps located at the two back corners. Enough for a heater cord laid flat and airline tubing laid flat. Jumping out would have taken some crazy fish acrobatics, but I guess it's possible. I checked all over the floor in that entire half of the room, under the furniture, behind the tanks, in other tanks (though how she would have managed that, I have no idea)...

I am so confused.


----------



## Fenghuang

Almost 6 hours later.... She has been found! And alive!


----------



## Fenghuang

Honestly, I thought she was a goner. In a last ditch effort, I let Tony sniff and nose around the fish tanks (it sounds silly but he honestly reminds me of a dog, behaviorally, and he's just a little glutton, if there was anything edible to be found or just an interesting morsel, he'll find it instantaneously). But he didn't really zero in one anything. I had to be somewhere, so I really could not keep looking for her. It bothered me all day though. 

When I got back, I decided to try the filter again. I had already shaken it and took apart the tubes at the places they connected at and looked in them with a flashlight but didn't see any fish. I didn't think I could actually take the sponges apart or that she could really get into them. But apparently she had swam into and down the outflow tube and up into the tube inside the sponge... This fish deserves a Darwin Award.

She was all the way at the top in the holey portion. I guess she couldn't turn back around and got trapped. I initially thought she was dead and shook it some more (not gently >.< ) and splashed it with tank water to get her dislodged but she started thrashing so I had to tap it carefully to slide her out backwards without hurting her more.

She looks okay, if a little pale and stressed from being stuck. It's amazing she didn't drown! I pulled the outflow tube up out of the water (does that affect how it works?) for now, going to have to see how I can make a cover for it.


----------



## kittenfish

Oh jeez, what a strong swimmer! Maybe turning it on higher will keep her out? Or just swap her with another girl.


----------



## Fenghuang

I don't know. Might have to... At least the other two are too fat lol. The air pump is already turned up very high because I don't want stagnant water just sitting on the other end. But she managed it.

A friend suggested naming her Darwin. Or Houndini.


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## Sadist

Wow, it's amazing what the little guys and girls will do! Now, I'm afraid mine will try something stupid. Someone else on the forum had a girl jump and get stuck to the lid and dry out. I feel like it's my turn for disaster!

I hope your little girl turns out to be okay. Can you put hose or mesh over the end of the tubes without slowing down everything?


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## Fenghuang

Sadist said:


> Wow, it's amazing what the little guys and girls will do! Now, I'm afraid mine will try something stupid. Someone else on the forum had a girl jump and get stuck to the lid and dry out. I feel like it's my turn for disaster!
> 
> I hope your little girl turns out to be okay. Can you put hose or mesh over the end of the tubes without slowing down everything?


Aw, don't think way. I honestly do think some bettas are...dimmer than other bettas. I have a bunch of these sponge filters and have run them in this and other tanks for months now. First time I had a fish try that. And yeah, thanks, I think a plain pair of pantyhose might work best. I am thinking of if I ever have fry again, I definitely wouldn't want them swimming in there.

She is skinny, but her fungal/bacterial thingy seemed to have cleared up with the help of the AQ salt/IAL/kanaplex. She has a long body though and remarkably of my female copper smaragdina, so maybe she won't get much bigger.


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## LittleBettaFish

One of my wild betta males did exactly the same thing. I had to cut him out because he was in a very bad way when I found him.

I only use the round sponge filters with the solid bases now, because my wilds can't get trapped when they go in.


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## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> One of my wild betta males did exactly the same thing. I had to cut him out because he was in a very bad way when I found him.
> 
> I only use the round sponge filters with the solid bases now, because my wilds can't get trapped when they go in.


Ugh, I can't imagine. It must have been so nerve-wracking cutting him loose. We had one female get her head stuck in the drainage hole of a large terra cotta pot who had to be pushed out. That was scary, she had a cut on the top of her head afterwards. She was the chunkiest betta we had at the time. We were lucky to have found her in time too. It's amazing how these fish are just so bad at maintaining their own survival...


----------



## Fenghuang

What a difference two and a half days make...

Starting with the female I was not sure was going to live or not. She finally ate her first meal today. Her buoyancy issues subsided sometime this afternoon (she was still have trouble this morning) and she's now zipping around her space (as you can tell by the blurry photos). She's got an attitude for sure. While I was trying to take her pictures, she kept attempting to flare at me. She also tries to intimidate her reflection on the heater's surface, but she is not having much luck. :lol: Her fins are still "sticky" but that should resolve itself in time. She's got pretty spots too. I see orange and yellow showing up.











This is a video of her on the first day, she just lay on the bottom of the tank clamped and gasping, and I almost passed her up: 

The dark female today, recovering nicely from the scare yesterday. I think she has a really pretty color to her, but I was wrong about her being fully red. She only has one ventral. I do not know if the other one fell off from an injury/fin rot/etc. or if she was born like that. I think it was my only Petco baby Xena who only had one ventral in the beginning and it grew back after some time.











Sideways clip of her from the first day too. You can kind of see the greyish white fuzzy patches on her head and the white stringy stuff hanging off of her in it. The white patches on her head in these recent pictures are where the patches were, no long fuzzy: 

Last girl was never as bad. She just seems happier now that she is in an actual heater tank with clean water. I have to watch her though. She stalks the other two through the dividers and could be aggressive. A little black is coming in on her body, so perhaps she will marble too.











Her initial video too just for consistency, but all she needed was a clean heated tank and some time, I think:


----------



## Fenghuang

And look at her today! 

This was the girl that was hardly moving and just on the bottom of the tank gasping the first day. She's really turned around! :-D


----------



## Sadist

She really has made a turn for the better!


----------



## Fenghuang

Yes, she did! It is unbelieveable how quickly bettas can bounce back.

She colored up a lot too. Before/After:





I think I might try to rehome them. They're nice looking personable females and fairly young too. I don't see these colors often in run of the mill pet store girls here (normally, it is just all blue and turquoise), so perhaps they might make a good pet for someone. Don't know if anyone would be interested, but I guess I can try.


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## Sadist

It doesn't hurt to try!


----------



## Fenghuang

Happy First Day of March, everyone! All the fishies are due for water changes. One of the 10 gallons is looking especially grimmy because of plant debris and algae. I have been pretty lazy. Got sick and spent a couple of days just resting in bed and eating. Not that sleeping and eating are not two of my favorite activities normally or anything lol. Sunday evening my girlfriend drove down to visit, that was a nice surprise since she didn't give me a head's up or anything and I wasn't expecting it. We spent all of yesterday together and had a wonderful time—mainly window—shopping and eating breakfast and lunch at two of our favorite local restaurants. On a whim, we decided to go see Deadpool (in the process discovered that there is an AMC theater almost just down the street from my house and the adult tickets were only $4.95!!! Feel kind of cheated now since the other AMC we thought was the closest and always go to is waaaaaay more expensive. But such is life. :lol: ) We loved it and thought it was very funny and well done. A bit vulgar, so like don't bring your kids or younger cousins or whoever to see it if you haven't, but it was good!  We also went to a few petstores... Petco, Petsmart... Um, I guess I am counting Walmart for my purposes and just looked at their stock. A lot of really nice fish I wish I could buy, but really shouldn't (and didn't). I will post some photos later for you guys' viewing pleasure. We also hung out at Barnes&Nobles, got some coffee and pastries from their little cafe and looked at their board games and fandom merchandises, which is kind of a tradition. 

Oh, and we got engaged! :-D So, yay!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Oh wow! Congratulations Feng!!!! Wow! Super exciting!!!! :-D Super happy for you two ^_^


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## Fenghuang

Thank you, Lil! We're pretty excited!


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## Sadist

Congratulations!


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## Fenghuang

Hi everyone! Sorry I hadn't been around much, my wifi is really slow here. Uploading pictures to the internet is taking forever. Also been preoccupied with life and stuff, so now I have a backlog of something like three or four weeks worth of photos that I have been meaning to post.

I'm finally going to do an update/introduction on the members of the betta fam. About time, right? This will just be for bettas though. If I included the other pets, this journal update along with the pics that go along with them would take hours. All but one of our bettas are with me now though. Our fish room at Ci's is entirely depleted of inhabitants now, aside from Ci's black orchid DeT and the axolotls. :-( 

This is the black orchid DeT btw. He is over a year old. So no one's confused. I know I don't update much on the fish that are "technically" Ci's. 



Also, I'm trying to commit to naming my fish again and stop settling for referring to them as the "red boy" and the "cello female" and so on. That will probably be a good thing because they will finally have proper names and this journal will be so much less confusing lol. In the past, my bettas were (with just a few exceptions) all either named after mythological and literary figures I found interesting or favorite TV and book characters. I will continue with that theme, because coming up with the names is fun this way.

This female made a lot of progress from when I brought her home. She was the "black" marble female (I guess the color is more like a black copper pineapple or something like that now). She has turned out to be a very spirited fish. Who would have thought looking at her before? She named her Melusine for a water fairy from primarily French folklore. Melusine is often depicted as a woman with fish or serpent anatomy from the waist down. Sometimes, she is also shown with wings. In some tales, she transforms into a dragon instead. And yeah, I think that is pretty cool. 







Palatyne, the rescue cello girl. She has gotten kind of plump lol. But then again, all of them are. She is a tad on the aggressive-territorial side.... So I guess no sorority in this lot's future. Her namesake is related to Melusine's. Literally. Another one of Melusine's stories tells of a king during the Crusades coming across a beautiful maiden and asking her to marry him. The beautiful maiden was one of the fairy folk and the king and her union resulted in triplets. Melusine and Palatyne are two of three daughters. So when I saw this, I thought it was fitting. Three rescue female bettas... Three sisters. 





Melior's the wild looking female that I bought because she was also looking rough and the third triplet. Aka Darwin, as was kindly suggested before since she kept getting into trouble. I actually also really like that name, so might still keep that one too. You have to watch her! She jumped out of her cup while I was doing a water change on the tank the other day. She was fine, but looked completely miserable when I finally found her on the floor (took me a while to notice since I was in the bathroom furiously scrubbing all the green algae off the tank glass...). She was in the corner behind the tank pump covered in cat hair and halfway to becoming fish jerky. She was incredibly lucky too because Murdock was trying with all his might to get her. Fortunately for her, his short little legs couldn't reach.





Another photo taken on another day of the these last two females.



You guys remember Panda, right? I finally got her back from Ci's (by "finally," I mean I got her back here 3 weeks ago, of coursd). Well... She looks far less like the animal she was named for these days. But she is still her fabulous, spitfire, take-no-prisoners self. There's a bunch of pictures of her here because she is easier to photograph, and toooootally not because I have a bias towards her or anything like that. 















Here's the princely Red commanding his floating IAL fortress. I think I am finally giving him the name Azazel. There are a bunch of works that feature an "Azazel" but I am mainly thinking of the original Big Bad from Supernatural (have I mentioned I am a hopeless fangirl?). I think Red needs a grand and somewhat intimidating name being a grand and somewhat intimidating fish.









This poor fish is just not blessed with photogenicity. I swear for every 10 photos I think, he only has one semi-good one that shows how handsome he is. And he _is_ handsome boy, even though he has a great pout face and always looks like he is ill treated and miserable. Heh. I'm naming him Seiryu which is the Japanese name for the Azure Dragon of the East from Chinese constellations. He also represents the east and spring.



Aren't his eyes just gargantuan? He has such sweet personality (he tries to act tough though!). He had a fin biting issue in the divided tank, but is doing much better now that I isolated him. His fins are growing back and I think he is gaining some faint blue on his fins. His bowl still looks really barren because I keep killing my plants latest asdfhgkgkhl. I'm stumped on a name for him. To me, he looks like a name that starts with a "K" but for the life of me, I can't think of any.







Last but not least, my darling dalmatian boy from Lilnaugrim. I don't think words can express how happy I am to have him. I have been searching for a fish with this exact pattern and color for easily 3-4 years now. Not to mention he is the same tail type as his predecessor. He is also a very spunky endearing little guy. He looks like a blimp from every angle in these pictures because he is too greedy with the frozen food. I hadn't yet figured out a name for this guy either.













Whew, finally done with this post. Forgive my rambling (and my bad spelling/grammar mistakes please, it is 5 am and I still hadn't slept yet!), I just wanted to get everyone in one post. Thanks for reading!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Oh yay! I'm glad the boy's coloration has been mostly stable! I see, what, 2 new blue dots on his right side (our left)? He looks great and yeah, definitely well fed haha! :-D


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh yay! I'm glad the boy's coloration has been mostly stable! I see, what, 2 new blue dots on his right side (our left)? He looks great and yeah, definitely well fed haha! :-D


Thank you! Yeah, he had gained just a few new spots, but no major changes. I was hopeful, but knowing how predominant the marbling gene is among bettas these days, you never know.... DTs, especially little ones like him, always seem to become balloons after they eat. It's too adorable! I have to be careful since they're more prone to bloat...


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## BlueInkFish

I'm so jelly of all your gorgeous fish!!! They all look like they're really enjoying themselves. :-D


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## Aqua Aurora

Very lovely fish, hope your new blue spot doesn't marble solid on you quickly.


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## Fenghuang

You know, it's funny that we were all praising him for not marbling so quickly. And then suddenly. Like overnight, because I didn't it was not like this yesterday... :shock:

I think he looks a little shocked too. :lol: Oh, well. What happens, happens.





He grew a mustache. It's pretty cute.





Panda is continuing her drastic metamorphosis. My guess? She's going for the dark and mysterious look.





Seiryu looks good in this picture too.


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## lilnaugrim

Oh lol!! :rofl:
He's still a good lookin' boy at least! Love that half a mustache! XD
Panda is looking super cute! I like the dark and mysterious look! :-D


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## cousiniguana

Love that dalmatian boy!


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## Fenghuang

Thanks all. The dalmatian boy is continuing his marbling, but so far, not solid blue. Lots of blue-green streaking. It is pretty.

Also, hello from Missouri! Anyone wanna see some fur babies? :-D Someone asked about the kittens a few pages ago, I think, and I promised some pictures. In truth, that was a _feeeew_ pages ago, but you know me... Always late haha. But I do deliver eventually.

The three siblings (well, two bio and one step—although I think the two mothers were related anyway) are looking rather grown up. I think they are nearing their first birthday now? They all look and act different despite having been raised together. 

Harley Quinn: She loves to play and is a natural (toy) mouser, but she is super skittish. Harley shies away from almost anyone trying to approach or pet her, but if you sit and you're patient, she might reward you by jumping in your lap for some head scratches. She never visits for long though. You'll often spot her playing by herself, although Ci's her favorite person.







Starfire: She is a high-flying acrobat with the most beautiful coat. It's quite rare to catch her standing still. Even the other cats have to watch out for her, because she just might be waiting to leap out at them from some corner. 







Peter Parker: Peter's just a chill dude. He is way more mellow than either of his sister. He is playful as any sub-adult teenage cat, but he is extremely sweet and friendly. Of the three siblings, you are most likely to catch him napping in a chair. The other two don't really ever settle down.







Siri: She is the most social and vocal cat you'll meet. She'll always be the first to greet you at the door or investigate when something new shows up. She is always happy to just cuddle with you or "help" you with your chores. She is also the reason no food in the house should ever be left unattended. If you plan on eating it anyway. Because she is a bottomless pit and she'll chew through paper bags and plastic wrappers and anything with food in it if she can reach it. And if she sees anyone eating, she can put the best puppy eyes to shame... You have to have a strong will or she'll wear you down. 







Jasper: Ci and I don't know what happened. He was such a normal kitten, but...then he grew up. When he was younger (and smaller), he was super spastic and hyper. Like charging into walls and stuff. Now he doesn't really do much of anything except lay around and look eternally mournful. Maybe you'll catch him slinging from his favorite window perch in the dining room to the kitchen food bowls, but that is really it. He is kind of derpy, as I probably mentioned a billion times now. He also might be the fattest cat you ever meet, thanks to Grandma spoiling him rotten, but we don't talk about that. ;-) 







Luxe: Luxe is a typical grumpy-old lady cat. She's adopted that persona pretty early on in life. I mean, she isn't that old (she's 4) but she has never really had much of an interest in anything. Even when she was the lone cat in the house, she was never adventurous. We thought maybe when Jasper came along, it would help her because she would have a playmate to be active with and get more exercise. But nope. She turned her nose up at him and pretty much every additional cat since. As far as humans go, she likes them well enough. But with the other cats and when Ci's mom's dogs come over, she accepted them but never became friends. And she will make sure to let them know when they get too close to "her" space. Jasper and Luxe definitely became the "grandparents' cats," since those two really only like the grandparents.







The two youngest, most recent boys are the two that are more "my" cats. They usually live with me in my apartment, but they're visiting Ci's house right now since I am visiting.

Tony Stark: For, Tony, there is just always so much to see and do. He loves everyone and everything. Only Starfire can match his energy level. Maybe. He is just wild honestly, with lots of quirks and antics. He loves to fetch. If you're willing to throw a toy for him, he'll fetch and bring it to you over and over again until you're tired. Sometimes, he fetches even when you don't want him to... Like spoons from the dish rack, your roommates' keys, shoes, bits of cardboard, tissues, bottle caps... One time, I found the stopper from the kitchen sink in my bed. :rolls: He is a master bug-killer and general bug-clean-up cat. Ant crawling across the floor? Spider hanging on the wall six feet off the floor? Giant cockroach (my apartment has a residual pest problem because the past tenants were gross :-( ) on, well, anything? He'll catch them and eat them all. Nomnomnomnom. I think he'll go after anything that moves really. He's tried to climb up our fireplace chimney one time because he heard birds chirping. But we hadn't given him much of a chance to test his skills on any other prey.







Mathew Murdock: Murdock's the baby of our family. When he first joined the family, he had an upper respiratory infection that rendered him mostly blind and deaf. Hence the name...we weren't sure if he'll ever be able to see clearly, but as far as we can tell, he has made a full recovery. He is a silent solemn boy that loves nothing more than to sit and take everything in. He is kind of flighty, a little like Harley is, he likes to come to you on his own terms and you can never get near him unless he wills it. You just can't catch him otherwise. He looks pretty unassuming, but he's the fastest little cat and can fit into the tiniest nooks and crannies. Really, he's like a ghost, he moves so quickly, so quietly, sometimes, it's like he just materializes out of nowhere. That is not to say he isn't affectionate though. If he likes you, he'll be all over you. Well, only at certain times in the day... Normally, he acts like he doesn't know you.  Oh, and he LOVES cat toys. All cat toys. And it works great because he bats them around and would often drop them and then Tony will be right there and ready to fetch them for him and bring them back to him. It's the cutest thing. :lol:







Not fur babies, but quick snap of the axolotls. We got one wild, one golden, and one leucistic with little spots on her head. Thought I might as well because their tank is being cleaned and I have them in a holding tank. That a great size reference, but the tank they're in is 10 gallons. 



Ci's black orchid boy. He's developed a lot of red wash as he got older. His proportions are quite atrocious. XD The tail is abnormally short... It looks a little rot or fin biting, but we have not seen active rot or jagged edges from biting. I suppose it just never really grew with the rest of his body? His anal fin is ridiculous long. Sorry about lighting in the fish room. We only have some utility/shop lights on the tanks and the rest of the room isn't lit, so the glare is awful.







There's also one more cat who I love to pieces. He is my first and my ultimate heart-cat. But he is currently at my parents'. He recently had a health scare that stressed me out pretty badly and I hated that I wasn't able to do anything about it, but they took him to the vet and he is okay now. I am trying to get him back as soon as I can. But it's not possible right now.

And some plants that we (mainly Ci since she goes a little crazy when it comes to plants lol) we picked out today. Planning to do a little more gardening this summer. There are lots of fruits and vegetables (mainly peppers and tomatoes). But it's still a little chilly so they're not going in the ground just yet. Guest-starring Louie's butt. XD Louie's one of the stray cats that sorta showed up one day and just never left. She is uber friendly. We took her to the vet since we don't want anymore feral cats, but it turned out that she was already fixed. We figure she must have belonged to someone at some point. That is the detached toolshed. Our own cats are strictly indoors.


----------



## Fenghuang

Mini-journal entry on my bettas. I am planning on staying in Missouri for a little while, so I did bring them with me. Panda is a well-traveled fish, but the others have just been to whatever pet store I got them from and my house. And I hope I won't be moving any of them again. I am slowly clearing out The Fish Room and getting it back in working order. It is a mess to be honest. We accumulated so much supplies and equipment and just _stuff_ over time, so I have to go through and see what is actually good and what isn't and what needs to be thrown out and what needs to be stored away, set up, etc.

(Oh, I tested the water straight out of the tap and found that it had 0.25 ppm ammonia in it. >_> Also, pH is also very much on the high end.)

Our two divided 20 gallon longs were still up and running with filters. They had some live plants left in them. Not much, but some. They hadn't had any fish in them for a while now, so I just did a 100 percent water change (sifted, rinsed, and scrubbed the substrate and tanks a few times) on one of them and put in a new heater and put my fish in them. It looks like this right now.



I am hoping we can remedy the lack of plants at the next Aquabid SNE (if y'all never checked it out before, please do next Saturday night, they have really good deals and can save you loads of money). 

The fish all look no worse for wear, despite the mileage they traveled. 











The two unphotographed in the red cups are Azazel and Vasuki II (the dalmatian). I'll be setting up their tanks tomorrow. Didn't get a chance because there was a power outage for most of the daylight hours. 

It was suppose to be the five pet-only fish in the divided tank and all the ones I have plans for in their own tanks, but Panda leapt out of her cup into the tank twice, so I eventually gave up and swapped her with Melusine who was originally in that section.

But sad to say, sometime during the power outage today, Melior/Darwin disappeared from her section again and I just found her. I noticed the filter current was not as strong when the electricity came back on and then saw that her section was empty and immediately had a bad feeling. This is the fifth time she has accidentally/intentionally tried to killed herself in the two months I've had her and regrettably, I must report that her luck has finally ran out. (**Maybe graphic imagery if you have a vivid imagination, so here is your warning**) I searched the back of the tank but didn't find a body to suggest she had jumped out. Plus the tank lid was somewhat customized to fit exactly and nearly airtight. I took the filter out and took it apart and sure enough, her body was twisted up at the top of the intake tube. She swam up the damn filter intake and the wheel/gear thingy at very top/end decapitated her. Getting her out was a little gross. Her head was nearly severed from her body and half of it was crushed. Not a pretty sight in the least. At least she went quickly? *sigh*

Bonus picture of the black orchid's tank to end on a non-horrible note. Yes, we know that isn't an aquatic plant, but we couldn't get the darn basket to stay, so just left it until a better solution came along. The plant is somehow still thriving and even growing more...


----------



## SplashyBetta

Is that a pothos plant? I have one of those growing great underwater in my 20g. I don't know how but it's thriving! I figure if it's growing I might as well leave it.


----------



## Fenghuang

SplashyBetta said:


> Is that a pothos plant? I have one of those growing great underwater in my 20g. I don't know how but it's thriving! I figure if it's growing I might as well leave it.


Um, I forgot if it was a pothos or a philodendron. I am very bad at identifying plants. >.< It was a clipping off of one of Ci's grandma's house plants. It was started in water, so maybe that is why it's so resilent to the watery conditions? I have seen a lot of other people leave their plants sorta floating in their tanks and branches often soon start growing out of the water, so they seem to do okay.

Actually, I would love to get some more clippings because it really does look cool when that happens and you have a nice mass of roots in the water and lush gree leaves above. Unfortunately, the mother plant, which was a monster of a thing, got murdered by the cats.


----------



## Fenghuang

And _one more_ "update" since I can't sleep. (Sorry for talking so much and double posting!!!) We went to see this little boy yesterday.

...becauseCimayormaynotbebringingthispuppyhometomorrowandIamactuallykindofsuperexcited...



I am honestly afraid to tell you guys about new pets (even new fish!) since it seems like we already are insane hoarding fish-cat ladies. >.> But I am very bad at keeping secretly. (Do I get any credit for keeping it for a couple of weeks?) Things is kinda weird and crazy right now. So uh, thanks for bearing with us!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Wow!! She's beautiful Feng!! Aussie mix?
And no worries, we're all insane here ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Wow!! She's beautiful Feng!! Aussie mix?
> And no worries, we're all insane here ;-)


It's a boy. ;-) Breed's anybody's guess. Mom is some hound mix looking medium sized dog. Maybe some Catahoula hound? Pretty typical in this area. They say Dad is an Aussie or maybe Collie mix, but no clue. Actually, the owner of the mom had 15 puppies to rehome. Her two female dogs got pregnant by the same male at the _same time_. They use to live out in the country on some land and I guess someone in the area had an unaltered dog that they let just roam. Irresponsible, I know. You see that a lot of that in these parts... The other litter is definitely more Collie/Shepherd looking and they had really fluffy looking coats. But they were all spoken for even before Ci heard about them. Ci's puppy and his siblings are all shorthaired. All puppies have been rehomed and went to their new homes now, except for Ci's pup and a blind and deaf pup from the other litter that the owner has convinced her husband to let her keep (pretty awesome because they moved back into the town and had to rehome even the moms because it isn't ideal for multiple dogs).





Lol not insane? Did you even see the post I made about our 8 (9 total) cats in the previous post?! :lol:


EDIT: Oh, wait. You said we're aaaaall insane. That makes more sense. :rofl:


Oh, and some other pics. These are from when they were a little smaller. Do you see the "paw print" on his butt?  Plus littermate and mom pic.


----------



## Fenghuang

Fish update for today: Everyone is fine this morning. It's raining today and we all know how much bettas love that. Ci went to work while I was still in bed, but she was in the fish room earlier and swears up and down there are cory fry in the 29 gallon. I cannot confirm or deny these allegations just yet, but I will take a closer peek when I go down there again after breakfast. The 29 is so murky and algae filled that I am amazed the cories are breeding. Frankly, the community tank has been left to "run wild" ever since the last of those (I swear they were infected with the fish version of the Bubonic Plague or something :/) guppies kicked the bucket. Only human intervention is some sporadic laisez-faire style feeding.

On the agenda today are setting up up the tanks for Vasuki II and Azazel.


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## BettaLover1313

D'aw! That puppy is so adorable!


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## Aqua Aurora

OMFG SO CUTE!! I want to cuddle that puppy!!!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Oh, sorry, I looked at the underside and didn't see anything so hence I assumed it was female ^_^ Gosh, I would love any of those pups! Aussie mixes is what I'm primarily looking at for the moment!


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## Fenghuang

Thanks, guys! 



lilnaugrim said:


> Oh, sorry, I looked at the underside and didn't see anything so hence I assumed it was female ^_^ Gosh, I would love any of those pups! Aussie mixes is what I'm primarily looking at for the moment!


It's okay lol. I think my hand was covering his boy parts. ;-) Aussie mixes are adorable. Definitely one of my favorite breeds as well!


We picked the puppy up from Ci's friend's last night. He is 6 weeks old now, will be 7 weeks on Sunday. It is a little earlier than what is ideal, but their mama was already refusing them milk and the other puppies have all already went to their new homes. (But can you blame her? I found out her litter was the 9 puppies one... That is a lot of sharp gnawing teeth!)

So far, he is really very well. I feel like he is a little shyer than the other puppy I got to meet, but he is still very friendly and trusting. Right now he wants to explore everything (re. run up to and chew on the whole world). For the most part, he is a well-mannered puppy. We trying to crate train him and keep him on a consistent schedule. He is still whining and barking when we put him down to nap. I suppose he probably misses his mom and litter mates.

He had his first vet appointment earlier this afternoon. He got his first shots and dewormed. He is 7 pounds. He also got to meet some other dogs and cats (our own cats, Ci's mom's dog, a friend's dog and cats/kittens, and the vet clinic pets). All were actually very receptive to him and he did very good himself, probably because he is just a puppy and they don't see him as a threat. So that is promising.


----------



## Fenghuang

The last few days have been pretty good. Everyone's doing fine... Although Seiryu and Azazel managed to get in together. They beat the snot out of each other. But they both appear to be okay, if a little ragged.

Azazel acting tough as always.



His anal fin got totally shredded. He also had some pinholes, but he is the better off of the two.



Poor Seiryu.



Oh, I decided to name the cello DT, Nimbus. Came up in our name search for the puppy. But we decided it might fit the fish better lol.



This girl being cute.





As is Melusine. I love her little bit of lipstick. 



The Dalmatian guy doing some more marbling.





The substrate looks a bit ugly, doesn't it? I had a nice black substrate mixture, but one of the darn cats got locked in the fish room and peed in it. :roll: So I had to use some white sand and gravel to cap it off instead.



Panda's marbling process seems to be almost complete. She is more vibrant than the lighting would show. 



The black orchid DeT making a camo. He is kinda shy...





Some pictures of a few nice bettas at our main LFS. They are really starting to get more diversity in their bettas. The first time I've been, they only had red and blue crowntails. 





Many were feisty! 





Ugh, I liked this guy. A black orchid CT. Couldn't get him to hold still for a proper picture though.







Some mandatory puppy spam... The puppy is settling in and doing real well. To me, it seems like he's just growing like a weed. He's looking more and more "mature" every day, if that makes sense. The cats still don't know what to make of him; they like to watch and follow him, but they're mostly leery. The only exception is Murdock who seems to like him and allows him to play-chase him around, but Murdock's kind of a funny cat. They even wrestled on the floor for a little bit today. Still no name yet.









Don't let his grumpy face fool ya, Murdock is a sweetie.



Also giant worm we found while gardening the other day! :shock:


----------



## 206Betta

Great looking fish and puppy. How do you manage to take care of all of them? Seems like a lot of work.


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, 206! Heh, do you mean our bettas or our dog or all of the above?

Currently, I have eight bettas. One has its own 10 gallon tank, the rest live in two divided 20 gallons long tanks, so it isn't *too* much work. We rigged a siphon and hose system to make water changes more efficient. The fish room is in the basement, so hauling large glass tanks and buckets of water was difficult and nerve-wracking and that makes life a lot easier. I am trying to add more plants to them (I just bought a whole bunch of plants from Aquabid last night, should be shipped soon), which would cut down on the maintenance even more.

The new puppy is honestly a lot of work. He needs attention and socialization and, of course, he is still a baby so he needs to be taken out frequently to use the bathroom. I would say, at least every other hour. As he gets older, we won't have to take him out as often and it'll be easier. My gf is also enrolling him in puppy obedience classes soon, which I'm sure would also help. And if anything, it'll give him a chance to interact with other dogs.

But obviously, animal requires work and attention in their own way. The important thing is just to enjoy doing it.


----------



## 206Betta

No problem and yeah, I meant all of the above.

LOL That's true, I was just asking since I didn't know how you manage it all. Definitely do have to enjoy it to spend the time doing it. 

That's understandable, nobody really wants to be lugging gallons of water up and down stairs. How do the siphon and hose system work? Sounds like it's really convenient. 

The plants will help, I've read that some people barely even clean their tanks once everything is established. 

Sounds like the puppy is a lot of work from what you're describing. Think once he's fully trained it will be a whole lot easier to know when he needs to go to the bathroom and things of that nature. Interacting with other dogs and people is always a good thing. So, I think you and your gf made the right move.


----------



## Fenghuang

Er, I suppose calling it a "system" makes it sound far more sophisticated than it is in reality lol. So, you know those plastic aquarium/gravel siphon cleaners? Well, we took one (I have this one with squeeze bulb for easy starting) and attached it to a long water hose with a lot of duct tape. Whenever we need to empty a 20 gallon+ tank, we just run the other end down to the drain. The siphon end sucks up the old water and gravity alone runs it all the way down to where it can be emptied. To fill the tank back up with new water, we literally just take the garden hose from outside and run it all the way downstairs into the basement and the fish room and the tank. It isn't super fancy or high-tech or anything, but it works.

Years ago, when my parents kept large fish and even larger tanks, my dad had a heavy duty electric water pump that could empty the tanks and pump water back in straight from the tap. I'd imagine that was a more expensive investment than our current cheapo method.

Yeah, aquatic plants are quite amazing. There are so many species of easy, fast growing plants that helps take care of the ammonia and nitrites and look great. The few densely planted tanks I had in the past only got large water changes once in a blue moon. The only regular maintenance was topping off evaporated water and removing debris. But problem is I have a tendency to kill plants. I don't know why. Even the most foolproof ones. :lol:

And I agree. The puppy is wicked smart and a fast learner. He catches on to things we want very quickly. But his intelligence does have its downsides. He has already learned to climb stairs and push open doors when they aren't properly secured. I let him run loose while I worked in the (fenced-in) backyard. Turned my back for what felt like a few seconds and my gf's grandma comes out and informs me that he's running around inside the house... Apparently he had pushed the screened-in porch door open (it pulls shut by itself so you wouldn't notice the difference), then went inside through the connected back door. 

I think he may have accidentally let one of the cats out that way too. One of our cats just came back today after being out for two days. We couldn't figure out how she escaped! But it all makes sense if he was the culprit. ;-)


----------



## lilnaugrim

Obedience classes are the best! My bestie teaches them at her PetCo as a dog trainer. Keep in mind that not all trainers may be a good fit just like everything else so if one person isn't working, go ahead and try another! But yeah, we always recommend obedience training, its so helpful for the pup and the owners! Plus yes, puppy social time is usually held before it to both socialize the dogs and to tire them out so they listen better lol. It's fantastic! So worth it!


----------



## Fenghuang

Thanks, Lil. We found this trainer at the local pet supply store. They sell food, toys, accessories, medicine, etc., but no live animals. They also have an in-house groomer and a dog trainer. The trainer came out to us and explained what she does and her different programs and she seemed really nice and knowledgeable. She had a working adult Catahoula Curr who was her assistant. He was a huge dog, but the puppy loved him. He got drenched in the bigger dog's drool. :lol:

Of course, we went around to a million places that day and everywhere we went, people fawned over him. The puppy was did very well and behaved himself. Eventually, he just fell asleep in my arms.


----------



## lilnaugrim

That sounds fantastic!! Ooooh I love Catahoula's! So beautiful!
Sounds like the trainer will be great for you guys :-D
And that's really adorable! Damn, I need a pupper/dog! I keep torturing myself and looking on PetFinder! arrrgg!


----------



## Fenghuang

Aren't they? I really like them too. A bunch of people have actually suggested that our puppy bears some resemblance of the breed too. 

There are so many people with puppies they need to rehome this time of the year. My gf have already been offered a bunch of puppies. It is so tempting to want to take them all. >.< So, do you know what type of dog you want? An Aussie, right?


Unrelated, but one of the neighbor's cat's kitten gave birth recently in the backyard tool shed. >.< Just one kitten thankfully, that cat is so young to already have a whole litter of her own... We are kind of hoping we can rehome it before it has a chance to become feral like its mom. Ci's grandma feels lthe kitten belongs to the neighbor so it's none of our business. But the neighbor's only claim is that they put some dry food out for them and that attracted a lot of strays and now they have a feral colony living on their property. They never give the cats any attention or vetting and a third of the time, the female cats come onto our property to give birth. And so far all the young cats that survived have turned out to be female, which is bad since only one of them is fixed (at our insistence two years ago). 

She doesn't even know about this new kitten's existence. So I feel like it doesn't matter if we choose to rehome it and give it a better life, but Grandma disagrees. Would we be overstepping?


----------



## BlueInkFish

Cute pup and kitten!

Your property your rules. Hehe. Keep the kitten :3


----------



## 206Betta

Fenghuang said:


> Er, I suppose calling it a "system" makes it sound far more sophisticated than it is in reality lol. So, you know those plastic aquarium/gravel siphon cleaners? Well, we took one (I have this one with squeeze bulb for easy starting) and attached it to a long water hose with a lot of duct tape. Whenever we need to empty a 20 gallon+ tank, we just run the other end down to the drain. The siphon end sucks up the old water and gravity alone runs it all the way down to where it can be emptied. To fill the tank back up with new water, we literally just take the garden hose from outside and run it all the way downstairs into the basement and the fish room and the tank. It isn't super fancy or high-tech or anything, but it works.
> 
> Years ago, when my parents kept large fish and even larger tanks, my dad had a heavy duty electric water pump that could empty the tanks and pump water back in straight from the tap. I'd imagine that was a more expensive investment than our current cheapo method.
> 
> Yeah, aquatic plants are quite amazing. There are so many species of easy, fast growing plants that helps take care of the ammonia and nitrites and look great. The few densely planted tanks I had in the past only got large water changes once in a blue moon. The only regular maintenance was topping off evaporated water and removing debris. But problem is I have a tendency to kill plants. I don't know why. Even the most foolproof ones. :lol:
> 
> And I agree. The puppy is wicked smart and a fast learner. He catches on to things we want very quickly. But his intelligence does have its downsides. He has already learned to climb stairs and push open doors when they aren't properly secured. I let him run loose while I worked in the (fenced-in) backyard. Turned my back for what felt like a few seconds and my gf's grandma comes out and informs me that he's running around inside the house... Apparently he had pushed the screened-in porch door open (it pulls shut by itself so you wouldn't notice the difference), then went inside through the connected back door.
> 
> I think he may have accidentally let one of the cats out that way too. One of our cats just came back today after being out for two days. We couldn't figure out how she escaped! But it all makes sense if he was the culprit. ;-)


LOL Cheapo or not, as long as it works then that's all the matters. It's a good alternative to the expensive electric water pump that your dad had. Definitely beats having to move 10 or whatever gallons when your cleaning the tank. 

Sounds like he's already a handful. Think you and your family won't have to worry about him doing any of that stuff after he spends some time at the trainers.


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## kittenfish

Fenghuang said:


> Er, I suppose calling it a "system" makes it sound far more sophisticated than it is in reality lol. So, you know those plastic aquarium/gravel siphon cleaners? Well, we took one (I have this one with squeeze bulb for easy starting) and attached it to a long water hose with a lot of duct tape. Whenever we need to empty a 20 gallon+ tank, we just run the other end down to the drain. The siphon end sucks up the old water and gravity alone runs it all the way down to where it can be emptied. To fill the tank back up with new water, we literally just take the garden hose from outside and run it all the way downstairs into the basement and the fish room and the tank. It isn't super fancy or high-tech or anything, but it works.


If you'd rather run the hose from a sink all you need is one of these things to attach it (well, depending on the size of your faucet opening). And if you ever get tired of the duct tape you can attach a hose to a gravel vacuum with one of these (matched to the size of your tubing). I just built myself a DIY python water changer with those parts, no way I could change the water in my 40g without it.

Oh and nice pupper


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## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> Cute pup and kitten!
> 
> Your property your rules. Hehe. Keep the kitten :3


Hah, that's how I feel. I probably sound like a jerk, but I also doesn't think the neighbor need any more cats.



206Betta said:


> LOL Cheapo or not, as long as it works then that's all the matters. It's a good alternative to the expensive electric water pump that your dad had. Definitely beats having to move 10 or whatever gallons when your cleaning the tank.
> 
> Sounds like he's already a handful. Think you and your family won't have to worry about him doing any of that stuff after he spends some time at the trainers.


For sure! I'm way too clumsy to be taking chances with heavy things that are made of glass and breakable lol.

It'll be a learning experience for us humans too. This would be "my" first dog. My gf has had dogs before but all of them, she has gotten when they were older. First time she has gotten a young puppy. She would like him to be a running/hiking companion when he's older.



kittenfish said:


> If you'd rather run the hose from a sink all you need is one of these things to attach it (well, depending on the size of your faucet opening). And if you ever get tired of the duct tape you can attach a hose to a gravel vacuum with one of these (matched to the size of your tubing). I just built myself a DIY python water changer with those parts, no way I could change the water in my 40g without it.
> 
> Oh and nice pupper


Thanks for the tips, Kittenfish! Yeah, I think that would definitely help clean up our rickety little operation when we improve on it in the future.  The fish room is in dire need of some organization right now. I would take a picture, but there really are empty tanks and bowls and vases and buckets and unused filters and heaters and lights and various fish foods and decor slewed everywhere. Also all the equipment we have hooked up have crazy wires tangled up and going all over the place. It is probably a huge fire/electrical/safety hazard down there.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

With the new kitten, I don't think its over stepping since its not really 'their' cat-they don't take it to the vet, its not an indoor-outdoor cat, just a feral they feed. Get it a new home and don't tell their neighbors, I doubt they'd care anyways.

Seriyu and Azazal aren't in too bad a shape. Magnus got beat up bad when he managed to get over the divider when they were in qt.. who knew the always timid Alastor was a might [cesnor] kicker! Magnus had whole chunks missing + rips to the base of the fins too

but he healed into this (after he nibbled a bit more =.=)


----------



## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> With the new kitten, I don't think its over stepping since its not really 'their' cat-they don't take it to the vet, its not an indoor-outdoor cat, just a feral they feed. Get it a new home and don't tell their neighbors, I doubt they'd care anyways.
> 
> Seriyu and Azazal aren't in too bad a shape. Magnus got beat up bad when he managed to get over the divider when they were in qt.. who knew the always timid Alastor was a might [cesnor] kicker! Magnus had whole chunks missing + rips to the base of the fins too
> 
> but he healed into this (after he nibbled a bit more =.=)


Yeah, I feel like the neighbor wouldn't care either. I think she is somewhat attached to the fixed one (Jenny) because it was originally a stray her son brought home. That is the only cat I think she seriously considers to be hers and even Jenny is 100 percent outdoor. When Jenny had her kittens, the neighbor was very vocal about caring for them and adopt them out. It was more talk than action as it turned out. It is just tricky convincing Grandma of that. She's just too polite, I guess, and don't want there to be any drama or trouble.

Oh, poor Magnus. I think I remember that... He looked pitiful! But I am happy he healed up well enough. I know it's mostly comestic and no realserious damage. Shocking to see nonetheless.


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## Fenghuang

I was like, ugh, I wish the lighting was better so I could take clearer photos... Then it occurred to me I could just take the lamp from the black orchid's tank and position it however I like since the cord _is_ long enough. Yeah, it took me this long to realize. 

So here's Panda's "new clothes" in high, or at least just better quality. (btw I have really been liking the song "Emperor's New Clothes" by Panic! at the Disco recently...so check it out if you like that sorta music ).









She's all grown up now. :-D


----------



## BlueInkFish

The change has made me dumb struck! In a good way. She's fabulous.


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## Fenghuang

Thanks. :-D It's a good look on her, if I do say so myself.


----------



## 206Betta

Panda looks awesome!


----------



## Fenghuang

We got started on organizing the fish room yesterday. Gf finally got a full day off. I have been here all month and this was the first day she had the entire day free and she spent it gardening (which she loves) and helping me clean. :lol: 

Azazel and Seiryu are healing nicely. I don't think Azazel's fins are ever going to fully grow back. It had some tears in it when I first got him and was showing some regrowth and then he tore his anal fin on something. Was growing back again and then got bit up again. He still wants you to know he is absolutely majestic though. 









Seiryu's doing well too. He has always has that indent in front of his dorsal, my gf never noticed it though. She was shocked when she saw him after the fight because she thought Azazel had taken a chunk out of his head!





Duckweed's taking over. I keep moving them to other tanks but also dumping a bunch out by the hand full. Melusine and her cute self chilling in some duckweed.







I don't think this one can make up her mind on marbling or not. Some days, I see more black in her fins and then she's revert back to almost clear fins again.





Gotta have some pics of the other boys too.





I cannot remember if I ever followed up on it, but after the water cleared up (finally!) from that last water change, I spotted four baby cories, each about one inch in length. The whole lot is extremely skittish, making counting them a challenge. They swim away as soon as they see any signs of movement, kicking sand everywhere. They're emeralds, so the adults are pretty large as far as cories go and they even send snails flying in all directions when they get spooked. The little ones are kind of adorable, developed just enough that they are teeny miniature copies of their parents. 

I really am astonished that fry actually made in that tank. The cories have lain eggs on a couple of occasions in the past, but the cories and other fish usually made quick work of them. I guess after the guppies all die off, there was less predation, giving some eggs a chance. The fry would still have to dig and scrap to survive since we never fed them any special food (since we kinda didn't know about their existence lol). It probably helped that the tank was overgrown with algae and most likely infusoria. 

The adult cories surprised us with more eggs btw. There's more sticking to another wall of the tank. Not really sure if the snails can eat them but they have been crawling all over them.



Got my plants in yesterday from Bamaplants (Nofishtoday on Aquabid). Mostly varieties of crypts and java fern, since I like those. But got some others to try out. 



I planted my favorites in this 10 gallon tank. I have added a ramshorn snail and two Malaysian trumpet snails. 





When I unraveled all the plants, there were some baby crypts. So tiny!



Snail just crawling on the java windelov. It's my favorite java fern, I have a larger one in my tank in my apartment (hopefully it isn't dead >.<, I have left the tank running with a light timer, there's no fish, just so low lights).



We were craving DQ for dinner so we drove into town (ended up getting two burgers and some onion rings to share). It had rained all day and finally let up around sunset and it was misting.





It looked a bit mysterious. I snapped two pictures overlooking a cattle farm.


----------



## Fenghuang

The 29 gallon tall. Just a few stems of green temple and water wisteria made it look a lot less empty. The tank is overrun with snails, as you can see. Eight cories also live in it.



A 10 gallon and a 2.5 gallon. I figure I could do my continuing in these tanks.


----------



## Fenghuang

The pair is getting to know each other again.


----------



## Fenghuang

We finally settled on the name Jericho for the puppy. We figured since the fish names have a theme and the cat names have a theme, and while we don't plan on getting another dog any time in the foreseeable future, the dog names will need a theme too. And that actually made coming up with a name a lot easier. We have been spitballing back and forth all names under the sun that came to mind back and forth for a week and a half and not really coming up with any that stuck. But the theme idea helped narrow our search field a bit. 

My gf is a history major and has a passion for things related to history as well as archaeological and I really like things of that nature, so we decided we're going to do historical/archaeological names. So, we tossed around some names with historical and cultural significance: Tigris (one of the two rivers that encompass the Fertile Crescent), Hadrian (Hadrian's Wall and obviously the Roman Emperor that built it), Xi'an (one of the oldest Chinese, home of the Terracotta Army, and the historic beginning of the Silk Road), Argos, Troy, Sparta (these three should be familiar if you learned any Greek/Roman history), etc. Finally decided on Jericho, which is one of oldest cities in the world and also not _too_ out there. 

Jericho went to his first puppy class today. There was three other puppies there. They were all older and bigger than he was.nThe second youngest was a 13 week old Lab and the oldest was like 7 month old Pit/Aussie mix. They were all nice dogs but you could tell they were young because they were all very excitable and easily distracted. Today's session was mainly just trying to get them to focus and give you their attention when you call them and *small* doses of confidence building with some obstacles. We alternated between short intervals of work and play. Jericho was still a bit unsure of the other dogs (they all wanted to play—well, jump and slobber all over him and he was a little hesitant of the excitement). He seemed to prefer the trainer's dog a lot more, even though he was so much bigger and many years older, because he was relaxed and quiet. 

Jericho caught on pretty quickly to the activities. He is highly food-motivated so I think as soon as he realized he was going to get treats for his follow-through, he was happily onboard. We have also been working with him at home and he actually seemed a little ahead of the other puppies in class. He already knows some commands, like how to "sit" (for a treat... _obviously_) whereas the other puppies hadn't even learned it yet. 

We think he has a fairly good temperament. He is pretty relax aside from typical puppy behavior. Loud noises like vacuums and lawn mowers don't faze him at all. He hasn't tried to bother any cats. He'll try to initiate play but if they move away, he doesn't chase them. He isn't afraid of people at all and loves everyone. Which are all good traits for a puppy. 

The trainer also has this awesome German Shepherd. He isn't as well-trained as her other dog so he had to wait in her office until the class was over. But he is also only about a year old, while her Catahoula is six and a half. Her GSD takes her immediate obedience class too. She says he still has a lot of work to do and told us about how he recently failed his good citizenship test. She thought he was good for it and he held still for the judge but when she picked up his paw but he jumped on her and knocked her over. Whoops!

Still a big beautiful dog though.



We stopped in the pet store just to look around. There were a few of the same bettas from our last visit. A bunch appeared to have been sold, but I only recognized one new one. 









His face is so cute. And his one red spot on the cello. You know how much I love that pattern. He reminds me of a Red Cap Oranda. But I resisted...!

Jericho is all tuckered out after the class. We took him to the grocery store Ci works at and we sat on the bench for about half an hour and let the employees and customers pet him as they came in and out. He licked everyone that came to pet him, but he eventually fell asleep.



I'll say it. I am definitely bias of Panda's form. She isn't a perfect female, but from a personal standpoint, I love her finnage. She has these bright stripes on both sides of her abdomen. I think that might very well be the extend of her barring up (so not much at all).


----------



## Fenghuang

I finally have the time and space to breed my pair, so I'm going to take the opportunity. I have been gut loading Azazel and Panda frozen bloodworms, live white worms, and a food sample one of the sellers I get my cultures from sent me for about two weeks (the nutritional breakdown looks fairly good). Actually, I have been feeding everyone that way even though I don't plan on breeding them. So, everyone's been getting vibrant and round lol. Thursday, I isolated them in their own tanks side by side with a sheet of day to block their view. I uncarded them to let them see each other periodically throughout the day. They both seemed to be very interested in one another and were displaying quite a bit. Panda's been getting fairly round, although her body's long and slender so it doesn't look as prominent on her as some of the other females I have. Azazel built a large bubblenest under his IAL and Panda was doing the wiggly dance number. 

So... I decided to see how they'll react if I cupped Panda and floated her in the larger tank. Azazel swam around and around and around and Panda was following him and still wiggling, flaring as much as he was. 





I eventually released her after it looked like she was ready to jump out anyway. I also threw in a huge glob of live white worms in case they got hungry.







There was a lot of chasing and nipping. Azazel was by far the more aggressive of the two. Panda was surprisingly meek. She finally retreated to hide after Azazel nipped her a few times. She found a spot to rest in the corner on top of the Java Windelov where Azazel would swim by and flare but not attempt anything else. 



Every few minutes or so, she would swim out from her safe base to check out his nest or gobble up some worms squirming on top of the substrate. 





Azazel allowed the worm-gobbling but whenever he saw her come close to the nest, he charged in to flare at her, scaring her away.





Deciding that it probably wasn't going to be the fast-paced whirlwind romance I'd hoped for, I left fish room and them to each other.

I let them be for about five hours. Okay, I went in and peeked from across the room every 45 minutes to an hour or so (just to make sure they didn't kill each other, but couldn't really see anything beyond that) and it was still a very nerve-wracking five hours. When I could finally bear it no longer, I finally went for a closer look. 

Panda was hiding in the corner again and looked kind of haggard. Azazel was fretting over his nest. This time when Panda left the safety of her java fern, Azazel chased her away aggressively and much more violently. I observed the same action and reaction a couple more times and decided it was best to pull her. I have heard of bettas taking hours or whole days to work out the kinks and spawn their first time, but I just wasn't liking how it looked and how stressed Panda seemed.

I scooped her out gently with my hands and she didn't fight much at all. Panda acted like nothing ever happened once I placed her back in her own tank and she was at the front begging for her dinner. Azazel ate some too, but mostly tended to his bubbles. 



Results of the breeding attempt are still inconclusive so far. Unfortunately with the way the nest is positioned under the leaf combined with my poor eyesight, I just cannot tell if he has any eggs in there or not. I'll check again tomorrow and see if there's anything or let Panda recoup and try again. It's weird no matter how much research and planning you can do, you never feel prepared enough! >.<

Also, I know it is recommended to breed in a bare-bottomed container over one with substrate on the bottom, but I intend to try it in a planted tank. Not sure if it makes sense, but tap water quality here is kind of questionable and I have long suspected that is why we've had so many problems with fish here, that I think the less I have to mess around with a tank when I'm rearing young fry the better. Kind of how the cories thrived and even spawned when we left them alone. I also had good luck breeding my smaragdinas this way before I lost the colony to an unrelated mishap. Yes, I realize wilds and domestics are different, but still. The plants I have in that tank all grow very fast and should fill up the tank in no time. The water's been aged and the filter media culture has already been established. We also have spare tanks and storage containers which will be plant grow outs and then fry into to grow-outs when they get bigger. So, yeah, there's that... Fingers crossed I'm not doing everything wrong.


----------



## Fenghuang

Okay, pretty sure yesterday's spawn attempt was a fail. Azazel is still brooding over his nest in much the same manner a broody mother hen would, but I don't see any evidence of eggs. 

Panda has some minor fin damage, Azazel lookd completely untouched. But both are back to flaring at each other through the glass when I uncarded them. So I'll try again soon.


----------



## Fenghuang

Dun dun dun...!


----------



## Fenghuang

I made Azazel and Panda a spawn log. Hope I don't jinx it!!!

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?p=7347577#post7347577


----------



## logisticsguy

Awesome!! Cheering for you! Lovely pair btw.


----------



## Fenghuang

logisticsguy said:


> Awesome!! Cheering for you! Lovely pair btw.


Thank you, LG! It's a bit of an oddball pair, I'll admit. But they're two great fish! :-D



I'm really hoping everything goes smoothly. I have been hoarding supplies for months and months. A friend who got out of the hobby even gifted me a great big roll of heat tape about two years ago. Finally there's a chance all the stuff could be put to use.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, I'm going to call the last "successful" spawn a dud. There were still a few eggs yesterday from what I could see and I thought I saw development on them, but it's 48 hours in now and they're gone. Azazel ate them, I guess. Maybe there was something wrong with them or I messed with them too much and he didn't like that. :-(

But it's storming heavily tonight and it seems to agree with both fish, so I have them in the spawning tank again. 


It was still nice earlier this afternoon, so we took Jericho for a walk. There is a creek running at the back of my gf's mom's property (which is right across the street). There hadn't been rain for a while so the water was nice and shallow, so we just went up the creek. He was not use to the water so he was hesitant, but I think in the end, everyone, human and dog, had a good time. It was cute watching him paddle around in the knee high parts of creek.







Lots of crawdads crawling around on the rocks. We set this little guy back right after the picture. He stood his ground when we placed him back, waving his little pincers as if he was saying, "yo, I'll fight you!"



"Oh, this is fun—I mean, halp, I'm miserable!!!" - says dog



We spotted lots of different fish inhabiting different parts of the creek. Along the bank where it was nice and shallow and stagnant, there were huge schools of tiny (and extremely fast!) minnows. We also found this guy. Not sure what species he is, but he looks cool.



This part of the creek had smooth rock formations and was mainly dry. There were some hallow pockets where rainwater collected and frogs have lain their eggs.



Look at all the tadpoles. :-D There were a bunch of pools just like this.



Some other scenic-y pics. 







Jericho is growing very fast by the way. He has gained about three pounds since we first got him.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, pulled the pair again... They weren't fighting or even really nipping and chasing this time, but they weren't courting either. I left them in for almost a day and a half, tank covered so no distractions. Panda's eggy, Azazel has the nicest nest I have ever seen him make. But they seem like they simply got bored and were ignoring each other. I probably shouldn't have made a spawn log so soon, kinda feel bad now. :-( I think I'll give them some alone time to recoup and I don't know... I'll just have to go from there.

We took Jericho to the park today to get some exercise and continue learning to walk on a leash and we found a duck egg in the shallows of the lake. I waded into the water (risking water snakes and whatever other critters could be lurking!) and retrieved it. The rain from the storm last night or this morning must have washed it away from its nest on the bank. We took it home and candled it and from internet pictures we found, it appears to be fertile and possibly still viable? We DIY'ed an incubator out of a styroform shipping container and a lamp and some other stuff we had laying around. It probably won't hatch, but meh. We're idealists lol.

Proof that there are snakes!


----------



## 206Betta

Wow, I'm glad I don't have snakes like that around where I live LOL
Think you'll eventually get a pair to spawn successfully. It's just gonna take longer than what you had originally planned.


----------



## SplashyBetta

Gorgeous photos! May I ask what type of camera you use?


----------



## Fenghuang

206Betta said:


> Wow, I'm glad I don't have snakes like that around where I live LOL
> Think you'll eventually get a pair to spawn successfully. It's just gonna take longer than what you had originally planned.


Haha, I like snakes honestly. They're one of my favorite animals. We saw a couple of them today. There was a massive one just sunning himself on a rock. That park is home to a few species of rather venomous snakes though. I don't know if that particular one was, but I was careful to not get *too* close.

Thanks, 206 (Er, are you okay with that shorthand? It is a little odd to call someone by a number lol)! I won't give up just yet, I know that for sure! But maybe it won't be with this pair. I will just have to see. The wellbeing of my fish is important to me.



SplashyBetta said:


> Gorgeous photos! May I ask what type of camera you use?


Aw, thanks, Splashy. All these recent photos were actually taken with my phone (a iPhone 6). If you seen any of the sharper photos in the past (like the one in my avatar), I use to have a Canon EOS Rebel.


----------



## BlueInkFish

I really hope the breeding turns out well! 

Yikes! Snakes! I recently found 2 (baby) garden snakes and I could hardly cope with it. Lol, you are very brave for saving that egg!


----------



## Aqua Aurora

We had a lot of snakes where I grew up, including the deadlier water moccasins and copper heads. Not to mention garter snakes and.._something_ else I have no idea its name.. my mom manages to grab and drag out a 5 *foot* solid black snake from under the porch when I was 9 to show me. Could not see its head as it was trying very hard to keep under the porch sooo no idea of species. My mom insisted it was a garter snake until i pointed out it didn't have the yellow bands.. then she got scared and let go. It disappeared back under the porch.
My first dog was bitten and almost killed by a copper head, and he almost got bitten a second time a year later >.< He.. wasn't too bright..

Anyways good luck with the egg! If it hatches you can fatten it up and have a duck dinner for the holidays mmm ^^


----------



## Fenghuang

litelboyblu said:


> I really hope the breeding turns out well!
> 
> Yikes! Snakes! I recently found 2 (baby) garden snakes and I could hardly cope with it. Lol, you are very brave for saving that egg!


Well, it was just a few steps away from the bank in a shallow area with not too much vegetation. No way would I go in the water if it wasn't clear enough to see! Besides the snakes, there are snapping turtles and crayfish (wait, can crayfish pinch you the way lobsters can?). I'm not risking my toes! Haha.



Aqua Aurora said:


> We had a lot of snakes where I grew up, including the deadlier water moccasins and copper heads. Not to mention garter snakes and.._something_ else I have no idea its name.. my mom manages to grab and drag out a 5 *foot* solid black snake from under the porch when I was 9 to show me. Could not see its head as it was trying very hard to keep under the porch sooo no idea of species. My mom insisted it was a garter snake until i pointed out it didn't have the yellow bands.. then she got scared and let go. It disappeared back under the porch.
> My first dog was bitten and almost killed by a copper head, and he almost got bitten a second time a year later >.< He.. wasn't too bright..
> 
> Anyways good luck with the egg! If it hatches you can fatten it up and have a duck dinner for the holidays mmm ^^


Omg, yeah, probably not a good idea to pull out snakes without getting a good look at them.

Ahahaha. I love duck. Back in NJ, my family's house is close to Asian supermarkets (and also NYC) so we could get a hot and ready barbeque duck pretty much whenever we wanted. But not so much here in small town USA... Actually, a good duck was hard to come by in ATL too. But don't know if Ci's fam would be open enough to try it. They were weirded out when we cooked lamb last week (and I don't even think either meat is that out there!).


----------



## Pandoras

If that duck hatches, it will *not* be dinner. The duck will be a guardian for my garden against swarms of pests. :-D 

Additionally we have pygmy rattlesnake, massasauga rattlesnake, timber rattlesnake, black snakes, blue racers, garter snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, king snakes and more.


----------



## Aqua Aurora

Fenghuang said:


> Well, it was just a few steps away from the bank in a shallow area with not too much vegetation. No way would I go in the water if it wasn't clear enough to see! Besides the snakes, there are snapping turtles and crayfish (wait, can crayfish pinch you the way lobsters can?). I'm not risking my toes! Haha.
> 
> 
> 
> Omg, yeah, probably not a good idea to pull out snakes without getting a good look at them.
> 
> Ahahaha. I love duck. Back in NJ, my family's house is close to Asian supermarkets (and also NYC) so we could get a hot and ready barbeque duck pretty much whenever we wanted. But not so much here in small town USA... Actually, a good duck was hard to come by in ATL too. But don't know if Ci's fam would be open enough to try it. They were weirded out when we cooked lamb last week (and I don't even think either meat is that out there!).


I was rally supersized she did that, she was/is generally not a fan of reptiles or rodents.. or the big bugs (wolf spiders.. ugh). But it was cool to see.. of course no one wanted to sit on the porch or go near it for a few days after that.
I'm not a fan or duck or lamb myself but don't think either is weird.


----------



## 206Betta

Fenghuang said:


> Haha, I like snakes honestly. They're one of my favorite animals. We saw a couple of them today. There was a massive one just sunning himself on a rock. That park is home to a few species of rather venomous snakes though. I don't know if that particular one was, but I was careful to not get *too* close.
> 
> Thanks, 206 (Er, are you okay with that shorthand? It is a little odd to call someone by a number lol)! I won't give up just yet, I know that for sure! But maybe it won't be with this pair. I will just have to see. The wellbeing of my fish is important to me.


Well, I guess it's different strokes for different folks I guess LOL Don't think the one in the pic is venomous though. Seems like a python or something.

LOL No worries, it's fine. Anyways, that's true. The safety of the fish is the most important thing. If they aren't meant to be, then maybe panda will pick another one of your betta.


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## Fenghuang

Happy May the Fourth, y'all. 

Jericho is growing like a weed. He now knows basic commands now, like "sit", "stay down", "lie down", "wait", and "come here". He just had his second puppy class a few days ago and imo, he is even more advanced than the puppies that are months older (but hey, I'm biased ;-) ). 

I'll write a longer update for the tanks and fish when the pictures are uploaded, but just thought I'll leave this cute picture of Jericho from two(?) days ago. Fitting Star Wars shirt I was wearing in the background lol.


----------



## Fenghuang

Sorry for forgetting to update. It has been a little busy on the homefront. Gf's family were holding a three day yard sale.

A semi-local couple opened up a little a pet shop and petting zoo out of their home/farm, so we went to visit them the other day. We have gone once before but they weren't home and only their adult son was there to give us a mini-tour, so we didn't really get to see much of it. Both times we went, we were the only customers there. It is 5 miles down a unpaved dirt road with cattle fields on both sides of the road, so it is out of the way, but it's still closer than the nearest LFS (30 miles away). 

We got some guppies from them for our community tank. I thought I will try them again after the disastrous "plague guppies" from that Petco. Three males, one female, and a freebie baby that caught in the net (I am 99 percent certain it will be a black female). The female is, as it usually is, rather pregnant so we should have some more babies soon. We'll be looking for some more females to balance out the ratio more, but some now, I think it'll be okay. These males aren't too aggressive in chasing her.



Three males, one female, and a freebie baby that caught in the net (I am 99 percent certain it will be a black female). 



The female is, as it usually is, rather pregnant so we should have some more babies soon. We'll be looking for some more females to balance out the ratio more, but some now, I think it'll be okay. These males aren't too aggressive in chasing her. They really livened up the community tank. Before, we had about a dozen cories and almost never seen them because they were shy and always hiding. I think the guppies swimming out have been them a little less skittish.

The still only unnamed male is turning out to be a handsome boy. He was so tiny when I first got him in the mail. 



He hasn't gone completely blue yet. 



Jenny the cat is the only one of the "neighbor's" cats that is friendly. She was laying under our car port earlier and I went over to pet her and notice that there was a big dark blob next to/under her. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it was a frog. So I quickly scooped him up away from Jenny. She darted off, I guess to try to find her another meal. 

Mr. Frog looked dried up and I was worried that Jenny might have mortally wounded him, but I looked him over and didn't ses any scratches or marks on him. I kept him in the container for 15 minutes to make sure he was okay and then I released him into the creek.



I gave Jenny some food after, to make up for stealing her dinner.

After puppy class this morning, we went to the farmer's market. There is this nice couple that sells farm fresh quail eggs and vegetables at a stand there. They told us they were going to have meat pies, potstickers, and rice cakes there today and the gf has been really wanting to try them, so we stopped by. When we pulled into the parking lot, we noticed this kid sitting in the back of a truck with a "FREE PUPPIES" sign and of course, we were like, "omg, puppies, I wanna see!" So went up to the boy and asked if they had any puppies left. And he said his mom was walking around with them. We went up to the lady and she had one left. All his siblings got rehomed already. And ughhhhh. It was a 12 week old puppy. Half German Shepherd Dog and half Siberian Husky!!! It had a sable coat with a black mask and blanket, but big upright ears and ICY BLUE EYES. :shock: For a few seconds, we both considered just saying yes and loading him up in the back of our car next to our pup that was chilling after going to school. But we had to be rational, responsible adults adults. :-( (Also self-preserving human beings because Ci's grandma darn near wanted our heads when we brought Jericho home.) Sorry, just had to tell everyone. It was such a beautiful dog. >.< Think someone ended up taking him, so that's good at least.


----------



## Fenghuang

Oh! Almost forgot the pictures I took of the new betta shipments from our LFS trip last week. It's weird how much lower the prices for bettas are there compared to the higher prices I am used to paying at Petsmart or Petco.

Top shelf is their Halfmoons. Well, they call them all HMs, but I think a couple are Deltas. Middle shelf are Crowntails. Bottom are their Veiltails and Deltas with less spread that they label as the same thing too.



The adorable tancho boy was still there.



This CT was a very vibrant blue and had large pecs. Not quite EE standards but bigger than normal.



I actually really like this boy. Pretty orangey butterfly VT.



Another active black orchid CT. For the life of me, I could not get a non-blurry flaring pic, but it looked stunning when he flared.



These guys were shiny.







A copper CT.



Marble boy, think this one was here last time too.



This one had an interesting coloration... Almost like watercolor.











There were more, but they were twins of the ones that I showed already.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, after multiple attempts to spawn them failed, I separated them. But I left Panda in the tank to let her recoup. So it's been days now and I guess Panda was like, no biggie, I build my own nest, I'll lay my own eggs, and I'll take care of my eggs myself. ...Er, it doesn't work that way, but it's admirable. :lol:



Dalmatian boy's marbling is doing something unexpected. It is reversing the blue that I thought would surely take over.





The black orchid had been hard at work on his nest. It certainly has an interesting shape.


----------



## Fenghuang

April 14 Spawning Pictures - Panda (black based marble HMPK?) x Unnamed Male (blue marble DTHM)


----------



## Fenghuang

Spawn Attempt #??? between Panda and the DT failed in part due to my own lousy clumsiness (if you don't follow my spawn log, the short of it was that I accidentally knocked the whole glass lid into the tank and destroyed the nest) and also due to the male lacked of parenting behavior both before and after the accident. Well, it actually took, but only one egg hatched (artifically) and that fry didn't even make it to free-swimming stage. The rest of the eggs were neglected by the male and they either ended up in his belly or decayed and eventually ended up in the snails' belly, as far as I can tell. 

I do have a *small* spawn in one of the divided 20L. Also a bit of a long story which I written out in the spawn log. 

We have been working on and cleaning up the fish room the last few days and it is finally all starting to come together nicely. I think once we put all the finishing touches on it, we (and the residents) will be very happy with it.

I also got the "tancho" betta from the LFS. We went in on three separate occasions and even when all the bettas of the new shipment after him got bought up, he was still there. So, the last visit I was looking at him again and we walked up off to pick out a few guppies to add to the guppy breeding colony and the guy asked if that was all and I was about to say "no" and the gf was finally like, "oh, just go get him!" So, we did.

He is not that big yet, but he is awfully cute. 









He is just a flurry of activity. 





Now that he colored up, I see that he also has some blue and yellow on him.


----------



## Fenghuang

Free swimming betta fry. These little guys hatched on 4/18/16. Parents are gf's black orchid mutt (he's has a bit of RT look to him now that he is older, but when he was a juvenile, he had a rounded DeT tail) and the Palatyne the cellophane PK. There's only a handful of them that I have seen, but they have the run of a full 20 gallon long, so who knows? Daddy Betta kept trying to catch them and put them where he wanted them, but it's like herding cats now that they can swim on their own. :lol: He has been removed now that his job is done.


----------



## Fenghuang

My female guppy is in labor. She already gave birth to a decent brood, but she is still popping them out. :-D 

Welcome to the world, baby guppies!



Momma in the background. I like this female a lot.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, I have the female guppy cupped (can't find my breeder box and don't want her cannibalizing the little ones, just in case), so I come down about every 15 minutes and find 5-6 more fry in the cup with her. 

I think she has passed the 50 fry mark now. Holy moly.


----------



## Fenghuang

54 fry is the final count. Hard to believe so many babies could come out of one little fish.


----------



## lilnaugrim

Holy crickey's! That's like a normal Molly load! I thought Guppies tend to stay around 15-30 mark. I bet she's relieved to have all of those babies out of her now lol! She probably feels ten grams lighter! haha

Good luck on the Betta fry! Yay :-D So happy you were able to get some even if it wasn't the pair you wanted, baby Betta's are the best!


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Holy crickey's! That's like a normal Molly load! I thought Guppies tend to stay around 15-30 mark. I bet she's relieved to have all of those babies out of her now lol! She probably feels ten grams lighter! haha
> 
> Good luck on the Betta fry! Yay :-D So happy you were able to get some even if it wasn't the pair you wanted, baby Betta's are the best!


Me too, it took three different female guppies that dropped around the same time to give me that many fry last time I had them. I have them in a little 3 gallon Kritter Keeper, so they don't become bite-sized snacks for the community fish. Have to get another air pump and some more sponge filters when we have some more money. >.< Momma looks like a balloon that got deflated now. :lol:

Thank you! I will probably be thankful later that it is not too many fry to handle at once. The betta fry are not doing a whole lot at the moment. Just eat and hang around. But I still love to watch them.


----------



## Fenghuang

So, there are three pet stores in town. There are two we go to regularly because one is the pet and equine supplies shop, which is also where our puppy attends his classes, and the other is the fish store. The last we don't visit very frequently because it is pretty limited and the stock isn't always the healthiest. 

But we went in today because we were in the area and decided to look around. They had a bunch of things on clearance and we found a glass lid for $5 because there was a teeny chip on one corner. That wasn't too bad of a deal.. We were in there looking for some more female guppies to even out the sex ratio of our breeding colony a little more, but most of the stock tanks on the wall were empty and they only had a handful of scrawny looking ones so we passed. Stopped to look at the bettas last on the way out. They only had four bettas in glass vases and two were dead. And the dead ones were koi! There was what had been a really nice little koi female. She was tiny. It really is disappointing. :-(

(Warning: dead betta pics ahead!)


----------



## lilnaugrim

Poor baby, she looked like she would have been really nice too! Such a shame!


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Poor baby, she looked like she would have been really nice too! Such a shame!


Yeah. :-( She looked very much like an import girl I had. We would have bought her in a heartbeat if she wasn't dead. The other was a male DeT or HM. He decayed too much to tell what he was. That store actually gets in some pretty bettas but they don't ever look too well taken care of.


----------



## Fenghuang

We ended up coming home with a betta from the fish store. So much for the Great Betta Ban. :lol: (Annnnnd I just realized I technically brought it the "tancho" marble boy purchase haha a week ago.) But gf felt sorry for him, and you know how that always goes...

So, say hi to Demetrius. 



He has a big chunk of his tail missing. They have accidentally put bettas in together before. We actually found two males together in one of the guppy tanks yesterday and told the employee and he scooped one guy out and put him in another tank. He said that was really weird because they must have been in together for a week and no one noticed! Luckily neither fish was seriously injured, just some minor nips and tears.

I don't know what it is, but Azazel just hates Panda. He charged her and chased her and actively tried to attack her the last few times I tried them. He responded amicably enough to the other females I floated in his tank. It's odd.... He is utterly smitten with Palatyne (I have them now in a 10 gallon bare bottomed tank filled 4" inches high with water). Since she already bred, I figure it will be easier to get somewhere with her. He follows her everywhere and flares and dances for her, but hadn't nipped or bitten her once. 







She isn't docile herself either. Normally, I leave the lights on when there is a pair in the spawn tank or if there are eggs in the nest, but I forgot and turned the lights off last night. She sheared an inch of his tail.





Geez, girl.



"Who, me?" Yes, you!



Moving on... Seiryu's fins are all healed up now. But he still has those bloody red streaks. Not sure if they'll go away.



The other new marble being a cutie. 



Isn't it funny how they have all that room, but choose to pile up on top of each other in one corner? 



I need to do something with the tank. I have a bunch of rock in there (for "caves"), but looks really barren. I would love to plant it, but I have never had great luck with anubias (plus I would need a lot of them and big plants and that would get expensive) and I cannot think of any other hardy low light plants that would work.

Jericho is doing great. He is growing at an astonishing rate. He is still a rambuntious puppy and can't have the run of the house yet (plus we have cats so have to be extra cautious). 

We had a few people on the streets offer to buy him off of us. :shock:



The kitten in the shed is getting really big too. S/he has all of its mom's attention, so it has that advantage. We are trying to handle it more and get it used to people, but it is very feral. My hands got all ripped up the first time I picked it up, so I make sure to wear gardening gloves now lol. Still, catching it is another story!


----------



## Fenghuang

So, this morning, I went down into the fish room to turn on the lights for everybody as usual and to feed everyone. The guppies were all schooling near the top. I counted them to make sure that everyone was alright and accounted for (we did a 100 percent water change and rescape last night, something we hadn't done in a while because the cories were breeding and we didn't want to hurt any fry in the process). I counted once, twice, three times. 9 guppies. I was missing one. I scrutinized them some more and realized Mama Guppy (what I call the biggest female that dropped 54 fry a few days ago) was gone. My favorite. I looked all around the tank. Couldn't find her. She must have jumped out. So I started scouring the floor. Got down on the ground and peeked under the stand and behind it (the floor was still wet and not exactly clean from last night, we went straight to bed after and figured we'll clean up today). After spending a good 15 minutes trying to find her, I gave up. Spent another couple of minutes feeling bad, despairing (because she was a really nice one), accepting that she was probably a goner ("at least I have her babies..."), tracking down extra plastic to close all any remaining gaps, fitting on the plastic. 

Looked in the tank one more time to make sure everyone else was active and eating.... And there was Mama Guppy among the shoal gobbling down fish flakes. :shock:


----------



## lilnaugrim

Oh geeze, yeah, that happens to me quite a bit as well! It's always disappointing at first, sad, but then you find them and just want to pick them up and scold them for scaring you like that! ahah! lol. That's how I feel at least lol! Glad she's still there though!


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh geeze, yeah, that happens to me quite a bit as well! It's always disappointing at first, sad, but then you find them and just want to pick them up and scold them for scaring you like that! ahah! lol. That's how I feel at least lol! Glad she's still there though!


THIS! Well, it was more like, "You [censored] fish! Argh!!!" 

She made me late getting ready for a vet appointment. 

We had to take the dog and one of the cats in. We always joke that there's something not right with Murdock. He just stayed ragdoll-like in my arms the whole venture to, at, and from the vet clinic. Didn't even have to be pinned down for his shots (he needed his boosters) like some cats. He sat wherever the vet put him. They were suprised ar how passive he is.

On another note, he is now nine and a half pounds. I mean, he's still growing, but he is still a small cat >.> Gf's family thinks he is cute enough to get away with murder, and he just begs and begs and begs whenever someone is eating food, no matter what it is. If he sees you sitting with _something_, he'll be in your face. So, he ends up getting all kinds of tablescraps. And he'll eat anything, not just meaty stuff. Bits of salad, fruit, jelly, ice cream, cakes, bread, cereal, anything. We thought Tony was bad, but he has actually toned it down now (he use to beg if you were holding *anything*, even if it was inedible stuff like tissues or gloves or keys). We tell them to be careful what/how much they feed him, but he has gotten super round since he's been here. :roll:


----------



## Fenghuang

Did some rescaping. I love the way the 29 gallon community turned out. Gf actually arranged the wood. We laid it all out before all the sand and dirt settled so it was still very cloudy and we couldn't see too well, but it still ended up looking really nice. It gives more hidey holes for the cories too. There are actually 20 fish in there, 10 guppies and 10 cories. But I think the rescape makes the tank look a lot bigger and less crowded.





The axolotl's tank is still a working progress. I threw in some jungle val and it is looking a little better, but I'm not really sure if I like it yet. The leucistic came out to say hi as I was taking the picture, but the other two are hiding. 



Betta babies... They're still tiny. I captured them and put them in a 10 gallon bare bottom tank with some clipping. Apparently there are 12 fry, not 10 like I originally thought. I found 11 yesterday and one more today. I don't see any more in the old tank, but I suppose there still could be more. My iphone camera just won't focus on them so these are the best I could do.


----------



## Fenghuang

Backup male x Panda spawn finally. It had been a long time coming. He is a terrible nestbuilder. There might be more eggs than bubbles.


----------



## Fenghuang

Annnnnd ding ding ding! We got an egg eater. :-( I came down to the fish room this morning and found the nest no more and only a handful of eggs floating by themselves. 

I am starting to feel like I'm cursed. Argh. I should stop talking about spawns until I have free swimming fry from now on.


On another note, late as ever, I finally made an Instagram to spam my pet photos. I'm stormsandstories, for if any of you get a random follow from such a person one day.


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## lilnaugrim

Have you tried leaving a nightlight on for them? That's what helped my parents. A moonlight or soft white light near the tank will help. Often the daddies panic and eat the eggs because there might be predators they can't see and thus, becomes an egg-eater. It's something you can try at least with the new pair. Not bright lights, but just something so they can see a bit and not freak out 

Also, magnifying glass against phone usually works well to getting closer pictures! Sometimes...other times it just sucks lol. I bought one of those little clip on lens attachments for my phone, just tiny magnifying glasses is all it is but hey, it works!


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Have you tried leaving a nightlight on for them? That's what helped my parents. A moonlight or soft white light near the tank will help. Often the daddies panic and eat the eggs because there might be predators they can't see and thus, becomes an egg-eater. It's something you can try at least with the new pair. Not bright lights, but just something so they can see a bit and not freak out
> 
> Also, magnifying glass against phone usually works well to getting closer pictures! Sometimes...other times it just sucks lol. I bought one of those little clip on lens attachments for my phone, just tiny magnifying glasses is all it is but hey, it works!


Thanks for the suggestions, Lil. I do leave the light on throughout the spawning process and until the fry are free-swimming. I clamp a light over the tank but flip it towards the wall so it isn't as bright but still lights the tank. But he still ate them. 

This is the only male that spawns with her and takes care of them for a whole day and then eats them all overnight. But the failures with the other two males (Azazel and the Black Orchid) suggest that the problem might be with Panda. Azazel spawn with her once and that didn't take, and the other times, they both flatly refused to breed with her even when she was ready.

Anyway, of the 4 eggs I found and fished out:
#1 was a dud and looked like a dud when I found it, but I was hopeful
#2 hatched a couple of hours after being saved, which was surprising fast imo, it is the only fry that seems to be able to swim to the surface and stay there by itself
#3 hatched last night, but lays on its side(?) on the bottom, was alive last I checked
#4 was in the process of hatching last night and fully hatched tonight, also lays on its side on the bottom, but I don't see all that much moment to suggest its alive.


----------



## lilnaugrim

Do you also cover the sides of the tank at all? I know that can help raise security versus being open so they can see everything. If they did everything right up until egg eating time then it's probably a combination of things versus just Panda. You might want to take her out immediately after you see any eggs just to get a few (sorry if that's what you already do, I might have missed it!). Or simply scoop up the eggs with the nest and hatch them artificially instead. Some people make it work and other's have a harder time with it. I've never done it myself so I can't help you much there, I just know it can be done


----------



## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Do you also cover the sides of the tank at all? I know that can help raise security versus being open so they can see everything. If they did everything right up until egg eating time then it's probably a combination of things versus just Panda. You might want to take her out immediately after you see any eggs just to get a few (sorry if that's what you already do, I might have missed it!). Or simply scoop up the eggs with the nest and hatch them artificially instead. Some people make it work and other's have a harder time with it. I've never done it myself so I can't help you much there, I just know it can be done


Thanks, I will keep trying.  Well, maybe.. I will try to focus on what I have for now. Looks like two of the Panda x blue dalmatian marble fry are stable. The struggling one didn't make it. 





So the last few days, we've just been preoccupied with catching cats. On Monday, gf brought home this kitten from work. 

(Some of my journal pictures will be taken from my ig, because I actually really like them, so sorry >.>)



She had found him sitting on the pallets out back and the trucks were coming to take them, so she took it and put it in a box. A co-worker said she'll take him (although she needed to make sure it was alright with her husband, and we had a backup home arranged too) but since they didn't get off work until the evening, we cat-sat. Grandma doesn't want any new animals so she misunderstood at first and got really mad. But we finally calmed everyone down. We trimmed his nails and gave him a bath (because it was covered in dirt and dust) and cleaned his ears to get him all spiffied up for his new home. 



Meanwhile, his new owner called her husband. There was reluctance. They were the ones we got Jericho from. After finally rehoming all those dogs, it was probably a relief to not have any pets (or I assume that is how "normal" people of the non-crazy cat/fish/other animal lady-type feel :lol: ). They went back and forth. Finally he said, "...I think my mom has an extra litter box." Success! 

So kitten went to his new home and apparently her husband didn't want to put the kitten down the whole night. 

Then Tuesday, the friend who was the backup home said she still would take a cat. In fact, she would take *some* cats because her family was looking for some for their farm. So we thought of the semi-feral mom and baby in our shed. Grandma still thought we needed to ask the neighbor even though they have been living over here and we have been feeding them and taking care of them ever since the kitten was born. So we did, begrudgingly and neighbor said, "Yeah! In fact, take them all, take every one of them! I don't want them anyway!" Shows how much she cares... :roll:

We asked the friend if she wanted them all and she said she would. So we went to work rounding them up. Catching Shed Kitten as gotten easier and easier as we have been trying to tame it and get it use to people. We got her first. But that agitated Momma and then she climb down underneath the shed floor and wouldn't come out. So we left Shed Kitten in a carrier in the shed and went to find the other litter and mom (who was sister of the mom of Shed Kitten) the neighbor wanted gone too. 

They were living in a junk pile on their property. It was fairly easy to catch them too. One led us right to its two siblings. The third sibling, a dark grey tabby was totally feral. It still spits, hisses, and tries everything in its power to wreck our day even when we are holding it by the scruff! But they sure are cute!



This is the most docile one. He's just so complacent and lets you do whatever. I do think we may have to hold on to this kitten and find it a strictly indoor home. 



Their mother who looks just likes the diluted calico on the right took off. She came back a few times and we know she comes for food, but she is too skittish to get close to. We might have to trap her and the other mom.

On our way to borrow a live squirrel trap from gf's boss at the grocery store who has a farm, she get a message from her _other_ boss at the tutoring center who needed help with a kitten that randomly got dropped on her doorstep. So we said we'll go and pick it up after we get the trap. This young male is a bit older but he is a really sweetie. He had ticks and worms though, and ended up pooping all over himself so he had to be bathed. We gave him some wormer and will be sending him to his new home with some too.



(He meowed all night when we put them away, so I put the docile orange kitten with him. The orange kitten loved on him and groomed the bigger cat, but he pooped on him too in the middle of the night and they both needed to be bathed again this morning. >.> The orange one was infested with fleas though, so he probably needed a bath at least.)

We ended up putting Shed Kitten back to calm the mom down and the trap totally didn't work for them. He would actually get in the trap and I guess he was too light to really trigger the trap and pulled out the bits of bait. It was pretty frustrating. Mom would eat right out of my hand but she was too quick to be caught manually. Gf finally caught her today by luring her into a carrier. Can't believe that worked! And now the pair are on the screened-in patio waiting to be picked up with the other kittens later. 

We are still hoping to catch the calico momma, but so far not having great luck. We don't want her to go back into heat without her kittens and get pregnant again. Ideally, they will all need to be fixed in the near future. But at least they're going to be far out in the country where there won't be any mature toms for a while.


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## lilnaugrim

OMG! That last tabby boy looks exactly like my old boy Siberian! Oh, I miss him :-(

That orange boy is an amazing looking kitty! I wish my dad would allow us to get another to keep Ieli company, she still misses her brother but he doesn't want to deal with it he says.

Congrats on catching all those kitties! Damn! We only have very few ferals around where I live, but it's farm area so most of them are farm cats anyways. I see all these posts on other sites about people finding these kittens and stuff and I'm like, why can't that ever happen to me?? lol


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> OMG! That last tabby boy looks exactly like my old boy Siberian! Oh, I miss him :-(
> 
> That orange boy is an amazing looking kitty! I wish my dad would allow us to get another to keep Ieli company, she still misses her brother but he doesn't want to deal with it he says.
> 
> Congrats on catching all those kitties! Damn! We only have very few ferals around where I live, but it's farm area so most of them are farm cats anyways. I see all these posts on other sites about people finding these kittens and stuff and I'm like, why can't that ever happen to me?? lol


I'm sorry about Siberian. That must have been really tough. What happened to MC (it was Master Cat, right? Not Top Cat?)? :-(

There are tons of strays and ferals here. A lot of people keep unfixed outdoor cats in town and they wander off and reproduce and then no one takes responsibility for the kittens. It's not uncommon for kittens to get abandoned far away from where they are born without their moms. All of our own cats are fixed (except for Murdock, who will be soon) and kept indoors because it's not safe (live right off a highway) for them and we would be broken up if something happened to them. 

The orange kitten has officially won our heart. He is so sweet and good tempered and playful. And he has fur like a jersey rabbit. We just don't think a barn cat life woud be best for him. His fur will get him all eaten up with parasites and he isn't wild like his siblings.

We are following them to their farm 30 minutes out now so we can see the cats off.


----------



## Fenghuang

Hey, y'all! Looks like I fell behind on my journal again. I always plan to get to these things, but for some reason, I always get sidetracked.  

On the aquatics side, we went a good 2-3 months with everything running smoothly and no real issues. But, as I always dread with when things are going well, some issues have cropped up. 

*Adult bettas:* We lost three of the family this month. Melusine passed on 6/5/16. I had noticed she was looking pale and clamped about two weeks prior and moved her into a quarantine tank. She developed like some patchy spots, specifically around her mouth/face area and on her back tail end. She also looked slightly bloated, even though she had no appetite and was mostly lethargic and inactive. I attempted to treat her with Kanaplex but it didn't help much. She lingered for a couple of days before she passed. 

Next was Seiryu on 6/9/16. I guess he looked a little discolored (paler blue instead of his darker midnight blue) the night before, but that was the only sign. I had also already turned off the lights a few hours ago and just came down to grab something else so I guess I was not thinking too much about it. I found him stiff and dead the next morning. He was still sorta upright and his fins were all spread out like he just died suddenly on the spot. He was Melusine's next-door neighbor in the divided tank, so it was probably connected. The other fish in the tank all still look healthy and active, thankfully, but I am worried. :-(

Then there was the blue dalmatian which I never got around to name. He went on 6/17/16. Like Seiryu, I didn't suspect anything was wrong until the night before. I came down to find him down on the substrate, belly up, very pale, and gasping for air. I scooped him into a floating tupperware container with about 2 inches of his tank water with some Methylene Blue and Kanaplex, but he was already too far gone. He did look a little bloated around the stomach area, but he was a DT and he always looked pretty full, especially after feedings (and I fed him fairly often as part of conditioning). I wonder now if it was a sign of parasites or a bacterial infection or something. 

Panda was actually in the same tank as the blue dalmatian. I left them in together, hoping they would spawn at some point, even though they neither fought nor had the slightest interest in one another this time around. Also, I didn't want to move them around after Seiryu died and the guppy fry started showing disease because I was paranoid I would mess up somehow and accidentally contaminate them. She was and is still completely fine (*fingers crossed*). 



And now Azazel is having problems too. He is very very bloated looking and constipated. I only noticed about a few days ago, but it is looking worse and worse each day. I am using Kanaplex, Epsom salt, and Methylene Blue dips to try to treat him and get the swelling down but they don't seem to be doing much of anything. He is still acting like himself and his appetite is good (but I've cut the food down a lot; I did see some stringy poop yesterday, but still...), but I fear I'll end up losing him.



Palatyne who lives on the other side of his divider (they're the only two in that tank) is fine. The black orchid father of the betta fry, Demetrius, Nimbus, and the "Tancho" red marble are good too. I'll get some more pictures of them in the next post.

I do think all the bettas' illnesses are related since they have all been exposed to one another at one time or another. I only keep bland new fish and the other species separated from them. 

*The guppy and corydoras community:* I don't know why I always always always have problems with keeping guppies. Perhaps because they were the fish that I had most greatly wronged when I was a dumb misguided kid fish owner and now I have a couple of years worth of bad karma build up with them, but I can't seem to get them to thrive with me for any extended period of time. 

I lost all the 54 fry I had out of the big Mama guppy. They were doing amazing for the first few weeks. All of them were growing and eating. I expected to have some weaker runts that die off, but not at all. Around the time the bigger ones were starting to show some color, I moved them out of the Kritter Keeper they were born in to a standard 5 gallon glass tank (which also coincided with the first betta falling ill and passing). I added a sponge filter. It was kept bare bottom, but I had some aquatic plants in pots. That is where it started going wrong. At first, I noticed one fry kind of dragging on the bottom. Next day, a few more like that. Had a few deaths. Some of them started having fins that look kind of wonky, like they had rot or were bitten. I noticed one fry that looked like it had white fuzzy growth on the mouth, but that was the only one. They started dying off 5-10 at a time. I had to scoop out dead fry every time I checked in on them. I tried treating them with some medicine with no visible luck. 

We purchased 7 guppies on two occasions from the same LFS and they all just dropped dead one by one. A few of them had pineconing before they passed, but some were just not as active and hovering near the bottom. They appeared healthy when we picked them out and we quarantined them at first for two weeks before introducing them to the community. The initial 5 guppies (which include Mama) of this colony came from a different source and they're all still doing well. 

We do have 50-100 more fry out of another female(s) in the main tank and they're so far so good. I am amazed by the growth on some of them in the span of just a week or two. We also have 10 sizable cories and an unknown number of baby cories in the tank and none of them seemed affected by the guppies' issues.

The tank seems to have taken off too, finally. The plants are filling out and I honestly love what the water wisteria is doing now.



*Betta fry[/i]: The betta fry are roughly 1 month and 1 week old now. I am down to 7 because I had three runts die within hours of each other yesterday. I wonder if I did something wrong. They were tiny and hadn't visibly put on any size from 2-3 weeks ago. I could tell they had swim bladder problems and were struggling so I carefully sucked them up in turkey baster and put them in a shallow container to float in the tank. They didn't appear to have been harmed by the transfer but they didn't last more than two days after I moved them. 

The remaining ones are putting on weight and finally showing the subtlest hint of color.These seem to be the two options.

Pale blue with reddish (?) tinted fins...



...Or blue black. Or I guess that is what you would call them? 



Those two are also the ones that stand out the most to me btw. The first has nice proportions despite the fact that you can barely see its fins in the picture. The second is the only one that seems to have any personality at all and tries to interact with me.

Others: We did end up trapping that feral diluted calico and she has been reunited with her kittens. The people tell me that she is still very wary and is staying away from the humans and the human buildings, but she is hanging around. All the other ones are absolutely great.

We still have the orange kitten though. We want a really good *indoor* home (people that keep cats around here usually have them at least partially outdoors) for him, and so far, hadn't found any we are willing to part with him for. 

The house has been totally taken over by this darn fluffball.



And can you believe Jericho is 4 months old now? Look at how much he has grown! He also graduated from Puppy Obedience Class recently and will be moving up soon so yay!



He has recently adopted a bit of a rebellious streak though, so he is being a pain in the butt. 

*


----------



## Fenghuang

There are times in this hobby where you just feel like you're doing everything wrong. *sigh*

I lost a few more adult guppies. Demetrius suddenly came down with the infection and died. Azazel eventually also succumbed after a few days too. I still can't pin down exactly what I am dealing with, whether it's a bacterial thing or parasites. The bloating/constipation suggests parasites but there are also fin deterioration and other symptoms that seem more bacterial-based. I guess it could be both since (aside from the guppies), it manifests itself a little differently in each fish. 

Azazel shortly before he died. He was really bloated (but I found out not actually constipated). He started pineconing right before he passed.



Demetrius did not have the long drawn out illness (or at least not visibly like Azazel did). He wasn't acting like himself one night and then the next day he was severely pineconed. 



Kanaplex/kanamycin helped in the beginning. The first guppies that showed signs of sickness got better but eventually got sick again and just began dropping like flies. So it really just slowed down the process, I guess. I had two guppies that had columnaris-like symptoms pop up overnight, with their flesh sloughing off and fin rot. Methylne blue dips helped with those two (one got better the next day but the other is not getting better or worse so I will be optimistic). I am moving onto trying different medications now to treat the guppies for now. None of this recent patch of baby guppies seem to be sick. No other bettas has fallen ill yet, so fingers crossed. 

Also, this was pretty devastating... I got a new betta yesterday and this afternoon, he shimmied himself up in between the back wall and corner filter and somehow got himself stuck and drowned himself. I thought I had positioned it with enough space for him in case he wanted to swim freely behind there. But there wasn't. That really upset me. He was just swimming around merrily and showing off for me and my camera a little while before I discovered him dead. I had named him Kirin. He was a beautiful fish.









He had a great personality too. It really sucks. :-(


----------



## Fenghuang

Panda is enjoying her retirement. I did attempt to spawn her again once but otherwise, she gets the royal treatment. She has her own planted 10 gallon tank and gets live worms and all the good stuff along with her regular betta food. 







I do regret all the fin damage. Her fins will probably never grow back right but I still think she is one of the prettiest fish I've owned.





Palatyne is doing good. She was in the same tank as Azazel and I was worried she would get sick as well, but so far it looks she has a clean bill of health. She is a little food hog. As soon as the food hits the water, she attacks it. Not bad for a mother of seven! 





Daddy Betta is not so bad himself. I feel like he looks better and better now after I have bred him. Maybe to prove me wrong since I use to say he was kind of fugly. :lol:









Nimbus probably has the most apt land of all the bettas. He is such a lazy little guy. He spends most days just floating around like a cloud. Nothing really concerns him. Except food, of course.



As you can see, he just swims around looking up waiting for food. :-D



Still hadn't figured out what to call this one yet. He has a lot of spunk. He's always flaring and charging the camera. There was a week where he gained some blue, yellow, and black and I got really excited that he was going to marble. But then he lost it all again. Oh well. :roll:









I am very happy with the baby bettas' development. Still not really sure what their final colors will be but I am starting to see some differences. There are some babies with a pseudo-Cambodian pattern. They're red with a pale body. And then there are some that look like they suddenly got red-loss. They are mainly grey with darker grey fins.

A more cambo-looking one.



The largest and the smallest. The smallest is interesting though because he has a distinct black edging on his fins unlike the rest. Also he has a huge attitude.



All the others are a mid-size between those two.



This is the...second biggest, I think. 



This one has "tiger stripes." 







They are definitely sparring more and squabbling. Not too much to warrant separating just yet but they're getting there.



I'll save the rest of the baby photos for the spawn journal.


----------



## Fenghuang

Yay update! :-D

The guppy/cory community tank is way overgrown. The green temple and water wisteria really makes the whole tank quite lush and jungle-y. 



I am sadly down to one original adult guppy for this colony. That wretched disease still going around my tanks wiped out all the right. The survivor is a little male with a beautiful long dorsal. I do have 100 guppy babies and they're starting to color up nicely. These were the second batch of fry (I never saw which female it was, but I'm inclined to say that it was more than one mom because of the exceptionally large amount of fry). About two weeks ago, the babies started to show something that looked like ich. I thought I was going to lose them too going with the trend of bad luck as of late, but a few days of treatment cleared it up. 

The male leading the pack. :-D



The babies are almost the same size as him.





The big mass of hornwort I pulled out of the guppy tank and added to the axolotl's. 



I think like I have at least two different varieties of this plant. I had some that I've gotten from my plant bin outside for my baby tanks that have nice, soft fluffy leaves but the ones from the community feel tougher.

Can you see the difference?









Also I have updated my spawn log, so check it out! 

Down to four adult bettas. Nimbus passed. I can't remember if I had wrote that in. 

Palatyne here. I have a feeling she's got whatever killed Nimbus, Demetrius, Seiryu, Melusine, and Azazel.... And maybe also the guppies but their disease manifest itself a little differently. She looks pretty bloated. That is only consistent symptom so far. I have treated for internal parasites but it's not worked. :-(



Black Orchid Daddy Fish is doing well. His fins really are getting nicer and nicer with age, which I'm pleased about.



A little algae growing on the divider...





Unnamed Marble is marbling again. 











Their tank needs some sprucing up still but I think it's better? Sorry awkward two different spectrum lights, I know...



Panda here. She seems happy and active, but notice the white slightly raised patch of scales on the left side near her face/gill? I have long feared it was some sort of growth. She's had this bumpy area for as long as I can remember, but it seems to have gotten worse over time with damage from breeding and age and everything. But it doesn't seem to bother her yet. She enjoyed a Methylene blue bath today. 







Jericho is getting so big now we forget he's still just a puppy sometimes. He is now around 40 pounds. He is a total hound honestly. Here he is begging for my snack. I don't know where he learned it from, we have never allowed him any table scraps directly off the table or our plate. :roll: 





He's just so silly!

And here he is on an afternoon walk. He knows to sit or lay down and wait now when I pause in the middle of a walk, like I've done here to take the picture. 



We are using something called a prong collar for walking (and only walking). It is something the dog trainer initially recommended for pullers in his class and we have done our own research and decided it was right for us. He may not be a gargantuan dog—he probably will never be—but he is incredibly strong and he pulls very hard on his lead. Once he is outside, he single-mindedly determined to drag you exactly where he wants to go. We have worked with him for months to get him to walk loose leashed but he simply would walk in a straightforward direction or follow the person who was supposed to be leading him. He was always go go go, never mind anyone else. If we're not careful, he tug us off balance. We have watched him choke himself repeatedly on a regular nylon collar and leash combo. 

One time, the gf's grandma was trying to help and took him out and when they came inside, he just dragged her right in. I mean, we have taught him to stop and wait at the door for an "okay" to proceed. But a lot of the family members aren't as consistent as we would like and Jericho unfortunately picks up that he doesn't always have to listen to them... Needless to say, with minimal details (might still be gory, so *warning*...), Grandma was bringing him in and he went to go and the door frame was in the way and the force of him just pulling inward jerk her arm across the _blunt_ edge of the door and tore off a few layers of skin all the way up her forearm. That was actually the day we decided to not wait any longer and finally purchased a prong collar. 

And it worked wonders. Pretty instantaneously he picked up that pulling wasn't okay anymore. He was walking visibly better within ten minutes of wearing it the first time.

Floofle Fluff (we're not "allowed" to name him because Grandma is still holding onto the hope that he will find a new home and just go away... So I have a whole series of ridiculous nicknames I call him) is growing like a weed. He is so so so so very playful and has absolutely no fear. Funny enough, Floof, like literally every other cat in the house, has decided Grandma is his favorite person and when he finally settles down to nap—he is a baby afterall—you can find him nestled into the crook of Grandma's arms or in her lap... Despite her being adamant about rehoming him. Exhibit A:



He is spoiled rotten. 

He has a feral bio mom but Murdock and Siri seem to have adopted him as their own. The other cats don't mind him either and even play with him sometimes, but these two go out of their way to play with him, groom him, and teach him new tricks. And they tolerate him jumping on them and chewing on their tails, which is saying something because he's so rowdy. And he definitely prefers them too.  They even look like a family lol.





Floof is also a bit of a brat. He has no qualms about pushing his way in and taking food right out from under one of the adult cats. And they're even too surprised or too intimidated to do anything about it. :lol: He _can_ be pretty feral though. If we feed the cats too close together, and a cat approach the bowl next to his, he growls at them and if they don't back off, he'll swipe at them. One night, we were having chicken wings for dinner and set the bones aside on a napkin on the table and he just hops up and saunters over and start gnawing on the bones. Obviously, we try to pull them away from him not wanting him to choke on them and he tries to drag the whole pile underneath him. I reach over to stop him and he nails me with his paw. Actually drew blood. :shock: Gf then picks him up by his scruff and he continues to latch on to one drumlet bone, growling the whole time. We finally wrestled it away from him, but it was just too funny. This was about a month about now and he was just a teeny tiny ball of fluff back then. The growth rate of kittens is incredible.

Another thing he loves to do his taunt Jericho. The silly dog gets so excited when he sees Floof, but he can never get to him because either we're always there or he is safely out of reach. Floof _knows_. And he loves to lay near (or climb on) Jericho's cage when he's crated and dangle his paws inside the cage. Jericho doesn't bite him but he mouths him and drools all over the little cat. Like I said, fearless:

https://instagram.com/p/BIvIsEEAMOZekCwPoCYk9RzdkhOfzHANVbiS2g0/

Tony and Murdock love each other too. Some evidence of brotherly affection. :-D





And that's all for now!


----------



## lilnaugrim

Read or at least look at the pictures on this. I hate when people don't use the prong collar's correctly after learning about. I recognize that not everyone knows which is why I'm sending this to you. I don't know why trainers don't tell people this! I've run into more people who's trainers have recommended the collar (which I have nothing against other than improper use) but do not teach their clients how to use it properly! Anywho, here's the link Leerburg Dog Training | How to Fit a Prong Collar


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Read or at least look at the pictures on this. I hate when people don't use the prong collar's correctly after learning about. I recognize that not everyone knows which is why I'm sending this to you. I don't know why trainers don't tell people this! I've run into more people who's trainers have recommended the collar (which I have nothing against other than improper use) but do not teach their clients how to use it properly! Anywho, here's the link Leerburg Dog Training | How to Fit a Prong Collar


We were shown how to have a dog correctly use one and she has demonstrated it with a GSD much like the one in the article. However, she explained there are exceptions for dogs because how sensitive they are on certain parts of the neck and how they're built and etc. His simply can't sit high on his neck when relaxed like how it's usually worn and granted there is a lot of slack ( plus the angle of the picture). The fit is fairly snug, and we did just add another link because he is growing really fast. But thank you for the recommendation.


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## Fenghuang

Sorry, Lil, I really do appreciate your efforts to educate me/us. So don't take it the wrong way please. I does kind of get under my skin a little... I hate to feel like I'm uninformed or ignorant of proper care.

I have read that sams article and many others like it before when we got it for him. And just spent the last hour or so looking at other photos of him wearing the collar when he's actually walking and comparing them. Admittedly there is a little modification of use from how that article shows it, but that was under the guidance of our trainer.

I guess this sorta shows better usage? But as you can see we were standing kind of weird at the time trying to catch a Psyduck in Pokemon Go.


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## LittleBettaFish

One thing I wanted to suggest (apologies if this is something you are already doing) is rewarding check-ins, eye contact, and when the dog is walking loosely on the lead in the position that you want. We never did this sort of thing with previous dogs, but I've found it's nice to have a dog that _chooses_ to walk by your side, rather than be constantly pulled back into position. 

It seems many dogs become 'collar wise/smart' especially with prongs and e-collars. They behave when the collar is on to avoid correction, but in any other collar they pull. I know our girls used to know the difference between their show collars and their everyday collars. 

Floof sounds like kin to our evil Siamese. She very deliberately taunts the dogs, not that any of them are game to take her.


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## lilnaugrim

No worries! The only reason I didn't respond was because I was asleep lol!
That's not how it was explained to me but if it's working then great! Just didn't want to see your pup hurt 
We personally use the Gentle Leader for Gimli, it's a halter (though many think it's a muzzle which it is not!) and it's sometimes easier to use but other times it's not. Depends on the dog of course as you know.


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## Fenghuang

LittleBettaFish said:


> One thing I wanted to suggest (apologies if this is something you are already doing) is rewarding check-ins, eye contact, and when the dog is walking loosely on the lead in the position that you want. We never did this sort of thing with previous dogs, but I've found it's nice to have a dog that _chooses_ to walk by your side, rather than be constantly pulled back into position.
> 
> It seems many dogs become 'collar wise/smart' especially with prongs and e-collars. They behave when the collar is on to avoid correction, but in any other collar they pull. I know our girls used to know the difference between their show collars and their everyday collars.
> 
> Floof sounds like kin to our evil Siamese. She very deliberately taunts the dogs, not that any of them are game to take her.


Yes, rewards definitely work for him best. He is very food motivated. And relatively toy motivated too. We probably fed him a bag of treats per class trying to get him to understand the concept of loose leash walking. He had to be coax the whole way or he just sat down and refused to move. He was scared of the older puppies in the class (but oddly enough not of any dogs outside of class). Spent many hours and many pockets of treats at the local park. It's one of those things he is still working on... There is much improvement from a few months ago though. 

He learns tricks with just a few repetitions, but he has some habits that are just not as easy to break. Like as soon as he is allowed to come into the house from outside, he runs straight for the kitchen (where the cat are fed). Or he will run and fetch something for you but when he brings it back, he refuses to hand it over and runs off when you try to get it. :roll: Or he want to pull and sniff the path as he walks, and don't you tell him otherwise!

Yeah, Jericho recognizes the difference for sure. We hadn't quite found a better method. 

I know you talk about your GSDs being high maintenance in your journal, but are they typically hard to work with and train? Our trainer has a young GSD (1 yr old) and he came from a great West German working line, but he can still be very challenging. 

I'm sure Floof would make your evil Siamese proud, he is a mega brat. And Jericho's a pushover when it comes to other animals though. He even submits to Ci's mom's tiny chihuahua who's 14 and has no teeth. 



lilnaugrim said:


> No worries! The only reason I didn't respond was because I was asleep lol!
> That's not how it was explained to me but if it's working then great! Just didn't want to see your pup hurt
> We personally use the Gentle Leader for Gimli, it's a halter (though many think it's a muzzle which it is not!) and it's sometimes easier to use but other times it's not. Depends on the dog of course as you know.


Well, I didn't get home and respond til late so I hope you were asleep. Or else you would be a vampire. ;-)

We never tried to the Gentle Leader with Jericho; I have seen them, of course, but where the GF lives, it doesn't really seem like a thing and we never seen it sold anywhere. It's funny people think it's a muzzle though... But there was an image of a boy staying up with one of his family's sick dairy cow and someone in the comments asked how he could say he loves his cow and still use such "cruel" restrictions so it couldn't eat or drink (it was a halter). :lol:


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## lilnaugrim

Fenghuang said:


> We never tried to the Gentle Leader with Jericho; I have seen them, of course, but where the GF lives, it doesn't really seem like a thing and we never seen it sold anywhere. It's funny people think it's a muzzle though... But there was an image of a boy staying up with one of his family's sick dairy cow and someone in the comments asked how he could say he loves his cow and still use such "cruel" restrictions so it couldn't eat or drink (it was a halter). :lol:


Oh geeze! Yeah, it's crazy how many people don't understand halters!
We get ours at the regular PetCo and PetSmart, though they are typically with other leads, prongs, and other training collars/accessories not found with the regular collars and leashes.


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh geeze! Yeah, it's crazy how many people don't understand halters!
> We get ours at the regular PetCo and PetSmart, though they are typically with other leads, prongs, and other training collars/accessories not found with the regular collars and leashes.


Yeah, really. Or even more things you would think are obvious. If you look at videos on shearing sheep (yeah, I lead a pretty boring life haha), you would be astounded by how many people are convinced that this in itself is cruel to sheep. 

The nearest Petco or Petsmart to where Jericho and Gf lives is an hour away lol.


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## lilnaugrim

Oh, I'm aware. PETA at it's finest right there >.< 

I'm sure you've seen this ad, maybe other's haven't and will get a good laugh (cry) out of PETA's stupidity.









Shearing HELPS the sheep! Geeze, ever heard of Shrek the Ram? lol yeah. That poor guy was so relieved to have his wool sheared! And yeah, no worries, I watch video's of sheep herding so I lead just as much excitement in my life lol!


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Oh, I'm aware. PETA at it's finest right there >.<
> 
> I'm sure you've seen this ad, maybe other's haven't and will get a good laugh (cry) out of PETA's stupidity.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Shearing HELPS the sheep! Geeze, ever heard of Shrek the Ram? lol yeah. That poor guy was so relieved to have his wool sheared! And yeah, no worries, I watch video's of sheep herding so I lead just as much excitement in my life lol!


Oh yes! PETA is dumb. I saw a video of them shearing Shrek (at least I think it was him)? He had pink dye around his ears which they explained was local anesthetics since his coat was so matted. But people wanted to lynch the shearer for all the "blood."

I have never been on an actual farm myself so I'm always _sheepish_ about telling people (mainly my roommates when they ask what I've done all day) I spent like five hours watching farming videos lol.


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## lilnaugrim

lol, farming videos are the best though! We had cows for a while and goats, sheep, peacocks, and chickens (only the chickens were ours, the rest visited frequently and the peacocks decided to stay lol) but I still watch farming videos. There was a post on Imgur a few weeks back about a dad getting his daughter involved with the 4H club and how she was able to spend a few weeks training with a cow for showing at the county fair and how wonderful it was to get city-kids into farmlife even if it's just for a little while. She didn't mind getting dirty and caring for the cow, it was wicked cute! So yep, I understand lol!


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> lol, farming videos are the best though! We had cows for a while and goats, sheep, peacocks, and chickens (only the chickens were ours, the rest visited frequently and the peacocks decided to stay lol) but I still watch farming videos. There was a post on Imgur a few weeks back about a dad getting his daughter involved with the 4H club and how she was able to spend a few weeks training with a cow for showing at the county fair and how wonderful it was to get city-kids into farmlife even if it's just for a little while. She didn't mind getting dirty and caring for the cow, it was wicked cute! So yep, I understand lol!


The village my family's from would have chickens and ducks and dogs and cats running loose all around. They belonged to people but it was unheard of for anyone to steal them (because everyone knew everyone  ) and there really wasn't any car traffic in the streets so it was relatively safe. But I lived in cities most of my life. I have always loved farm animals though. My Gf would love to buy up a farm and have all kinds of animals and start a rescue.


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## Fenghuang

Oh lawd.

So... The gf might have gone off the rails... Go back to about an hour ago, I was in my apartment kitchen, unsuspectingly doing my own thing and preparing some food for the week, when my phone starts going off. I hastily stopped what I was doing, washed my hands (because was cleaning some chicken), and gingerly pick up up the Facetime call. She has a sheepish expression on her face that one can both simultaneously describe as excited and totally guilty. Uh-oh. I tell her I'm in the middle of doing something and can't talk. She says, "I know, hold on, I just gotta quickly show you something..." Uh-huh... She pans her phone camera over the interior of her little car. 

:shock:

I would joke that it looks like she bought out a small fish store, but she kinda did. There is a local couple that runs a hobbyist "pet shop" and petting zoo on their country road property. But for whatever circumstances, they were selling off all their stock. 

These are six 10 gallon stock tanks, some with glass lids. Plus driftwood. They were operational up until recently, so I they should be in fair condition. 



Better look at the driftwood... Also you can kind of get a glimpse of the tanks after being rinsed off. Much better.



Seventh tank, probably around 25 gallons. Dat local water tho. Hard water stains galore. 



It came with some sort of under-gravel filter hookup. 





Bags O' Plants



Tug O' Plants (it's 10 gallons, for size reference)





Really nice mother plant.





All these random bits and ends. Including lights, hoods, nets, filters, heaters, and some fake plants and decor. One of the cats is in the picture for reference. 



I only see 3, but apparently there are 4 albino cories. I don't really know... Also some guppies. I guess fourth red one either another livebearer or another livebearer and guppy cross. There is also another mystery baby but I hadn't seen it.



She also got these two juvenile clown loaches. I'm not entirely happy about that, since there's not enough for a school and they grow pretty large, but she didn't want "anyone else to buy them and not take care of them." 





I don't entirely know if I agree with that recent lol. But I do get like that with bettas, so I guess I don't have room to talk... 

There was some more miscellanous things she got with the lot, but they're not really worth taking pictures of. Gf just quickly showed me everything and went to work. I will find out what she plans to do with it all tonight, but for now, I do think it is a little crazy haha. But it really is a pretty impressive haul for what she paid. For the live plants more than anything else, I think. They are probably worth what she paid alone.


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## lilnaugrim

Holy crickies! Congrats! That's insane. We had a similar situation here where the store had a small fire and ended up shutting down. They had everything on huge sale except the tanks. I did end up with some fish, that's where I purchased Romeo the Pearl Gourami I had for a while ^_^ but wow, that's crazy! Good luck to Ci to clean it all! Looks like that big one was used for salt? Or just your insane hardwater calcium deposits lol!!


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Holy crickies! Congrats! That's insane. We had a similar situation here where the store had a small fire and ended up shutting down. They had everything on huge sale except the tanks. I did end up with some fish, that's where I purchased Romeo the Pearl Gourami I had for a while ^_^ but wow, that's crazy! Good luck to Ci to clean it all! Looks like that big one was used for salt? Or just your insane hardwater calcium deposits lol!!


Apparently they were moving out of the area so they were selling everything. They had a whole menagerie; other than aquatics, they had miniature horses, goats, various bird species, rodents, rabbits, chickens, ferrets, hedgehogs, reptiles, and more. They were selling everything. I remember some really crazily cheap listings on their Facebook page, and all of them came with their full setups and supplies. Almost all their animals are gone now. They still have a leopard gecko left (Ci was very tempted because she is really interested in leopard geckos, but she made the smart decision to not impulse buy a type of animal she has no experience in lol) and they were selling him for $50 with everything included. And birds for $5. Like I said, craziness! I have heard of other hobbyist getting lucky with these type of sales, but I never have personally seen one. 

She only paid $80 for all the stuff she brought home today.

Yep, that is very hard water in her locality. It does usually come off with a good vinegar/water soak and scrubbing but it builds up fast and looks unsightly.


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## lilnaugrim

Shoot! I would have taken the Leo, just the gecko though not every thing else. But I'm sure it went to a good home 

And that's an insanely good price! Wow, I sure am jealous lol. Although, I'm also not because I have a bunch of extra tanks myself that I really don't need but I keep around anyway >.< ugh, so hard to give them up because, what if I need them one day??? haha. Good find on Ci though!


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## astrummortis

So. Many. Tanks. So. Many. Fish.


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## Pandoras

I have no idea what I'm going to do with all the fake plants, though! Haha. 

I took pictures of everything and sent to Feng last night, though there is some more filter stuff I didn't show her. 😂

Also I'm not sure about the good home situation. That's partly why I did the no-no with the loaches.


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## Fenghuang

She wasn't lying. She really did send me a bunch more pictures of all the heaters and filters and other equipment she got, but you know me... I was not on top of that... >.< Here are some more, finally. These are more fish ones.

This is actually a new male betta she got. Not with the haul, but about 2(?) weeks ago... I posted some pics of him in a thread in "Betta Pictures," but other than that, I didn't really mention him before.



He is another kind of a wonky finned betta. I feel like a lot of the bettas sold in stores at gf's locale have this sort of round tailed delta shape with more bulky plakat-like body. They must all get them from the same wholesaler or something.



These are the haul fish unpacked and in their QT tank.







Guess the unidentified juvie is some kind of baby cichlid. Acara was the shop owner's guess.



My own betta fry now. Normally I try to limit these to my spawn log, but just a little show and tell for you guys who hadn't seen that thread.







One(?) of the fry built a bubble nest in the growout tank.


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## lilnaugrim

Wow that marble baby is gorgeous! Love those markings!
Also the little cichlid looks like a Kribensis baby. Black Acara or Port Acara don't have horizontal stripes even as babies, they have vertical. Blue Acara are blue even from babies (my LFS has some, super cute!)


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Wow that marble baby is gorgeous! Love those markings!
> Also the little cichlid looks like a Kribensis baby. Black Acara or Port Acara don't have horizontal stripes even as babies, they have vertical. Blue Acara are blue even from babies (my LFS has some, super cute!)


That one was the only solid black orchid until he marbled. I'd like to think of it as a reverse-Trapper lol.

It does resemble of Krib (based on my quick Google search). Ooh, I hadn't even thought of that one. Thank you for the ID, Lil, you're awesome!


----------



## Fenghuang

I want to get a snail or two for my 10 gallon apartment tank. The algae completely exploded, and normally I don't mind too much, but it's growing all over my plants and I am thinking a snail might be able eat some of that? I don't expect them to sustain themselves completely on algae, but a species that has a voracious algae appetite would be nice. Also something that looks interesting, with some color/pattern. Aside from some gorgeous ivory and purple mystery snails we had, I have never kept a more "ornamental" snail (just MTS and "pond snails," but I want to go with something different) and while I love mysteries, I don't want snails that would get huge and be too taxing on the bioload. Does anyone have any recommendations?


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## lilnaugrim

You are literally describing a Nerite snail lol! Loves soft algaes (won't go for hard stuff like string/hair, bba, and green spot), lower bioload, stays smaller than a Mystery (1-1.5 inch usually), and comes in a variety of colorations such as Tiger, Olive, Black Racer, Horned, and Striped! The only issue is females will lay eggs that can become unsightly if you don't like little white dots everywhere. The other thing is they don't like prepared foods so you may have to whip up some snello (snail jello), or best bet is to grow algae on river rocks on a sunny windowsill if you've got one. The nice soft algaes will sustain them for a bit. Just switch them out occasionally and they'll be good! Some of them like veggies too but some are too picky.


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> You are literally describing a Nerite snail lol! Loves soft algaes (won't go for hard stuff like string/hair, bba, and green spot), lower bioload, stays smaller than a Mystery (1-1.5 inch usually), and comes in a variety of colorations such as Tiger, Olive, Black Racer, Horned, and Striped! The only issue is females will lay eggs that can become unsightly if you don't like little white dots everywhere. The other thing is they don't like prepared foods so you may have to whip up some snello (snail jello), or best bet is to grow algae on river rocks on a sunny windowsill if you've got one. The nice soft algaes will sustain them for a bit. Just switch them out occasionally and they'll be good! Some of them like veggies too but some are too picky.


Omg I totally thought I replied to this...

I am looking online for nerite snails and it seems like they're pretty expensive... (Well, I honestly don't know how much snails go for, so my baseline is probably off) Is there a reason why they are more than other snails? Are they are difficult to raise?


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## lilnaugrim

Oh, no worries Feng! lol Id o the same thing all the time >.<

Most Nerites are 2-5 bucks depending on where you get them. They aren't necessarily hard per se. I don't have luck with them but that's just because I don't harden my water at all, your water would be fantastic for snails 

Another you could look at are Rabbit Snails/Elephant nose snail. They don't cruise as quick as Nerites and don't eat as quickly but they do still do a good job with eating up some soft algaes as well. But they're still pretty expensive too. I had mini orange's once, lasted a good year but again, my water just sucks for them so they didn't live to expectancy with me. But Victoria has them and she's been doing really well! They have one baby a month ^_^ They are also the livebearers of the snails, they don't leave eggs everywhere like a Nerite would so that's nice too.


----------



## Fenghuang

Errr, so I finally got two gold-brown stripy nerites. I got them from Petco and they had them with the most suitable tankmates... Loaches. :roll: They are very shy though. I hope they're just hiding and not like sick.


----------



## Fenghuang

Also.... 


Can you say thematic opposites? ;-)


----------



## Fenghuang

As I was saying earlier, I went to Petco for a couple of nerite snails to help get my algae situation under control. I entered the store and immediately noticed they were overflowing with bettas. As in, they were _everywhere_. Pictured below were all different spaces they had crammed the bettas into, they aren't different angles of the same area. I was really surprised. I wondered how they ended up with so many, I have been going to this store for a few years now and only seen around this number once.

This is the main betta display, which customers are greeted with pretty immediately as they walk in the front doors. Normally, this would be where this store kept its bettas.... And normally, there wouldn't be so many here either, maybe a third to two thirds of the shelves/cubbies would be occupied. 



This is the extra betta display shelves on the other end of the aisle that you see from the prior photo. If they had baby bettas in, they go here. But normally, they only have around five babies in stock.



Other side of the baby betta display. These shelves/cubbies are usually empty.



Bettas stacked on top of the stock tanks.



More bettas stacked on top of stock tanks. Okay, this one is a different angle, I suppose.



A couple of bettas on a cart/table thing, promoting betta-related purchases.



They even had bettas in the stock tanks. This one was with the Bolivian (?) rams. 



They had so many different varieties of bettas, all different colors and patterns and fin types. I didn't hover around to take pictures of individual fish like I normally did, because they were busy and there was a lot of people around. Also, while there were some lively ones, many of them weren't looking too happy. Clamped sticky fins, not very active, washed out. So yeah... I only remembered maybe three or four female bettas though, the rest were males.

I did get my nerites. I guess these are zebras? They aren't very active and only moved a little, but I hope they will eventually come around.





I would've liked different ones. They had tiger ones, checked ones, horned ones, and just solid ones in different colors. But sadly they were all empty shells. :-( I guess there wasn't enough algae for them to eat and there were loaches in a lot of the tanks and they got eaten.

I also got three bettas...

I like this little veiltail. I believe she is a female, but she is absolutely tiny, almost Petco baby-sized. She wasn't labelled as one though. She is a very active fish. And very hungry. She was trying to eat all her plants when I first placed her in her tank. I like the name Artemisia for her and I'll call her that, unless she ends up being a he or something better comes along.











I had to do a double take when I spotted this guy. How often do you walk into a pet store and see fins like that?! And he also just reminded so much of my first (and only) melano DTHM, which I lost too soon.















The pictures also aren't good reference, but he is a pretty big betta. I do kind of feel bad though... So as I was saying earlier, the store was really busy and chaotic. He was set near where the bettas stacked on the stock tanks were, on this ledge over the sink (behind where those top of stock tank bettas were). I have seen them put bettas up there that were for sale, along with little decorative fish bowls with plants or cute ornaments, kind of like the promotional table. But this was also where they put fish off to side if they were sick. There was a cup of ghost shrimp and cories in a plastic container that had "Hold" written on them, but he was off to the side away from them with no memo. I asked the worker about him and she said he was for sale, so I picked him up. Later when another worker was helping me get the snails, she looked at the bettas in my hands and frowned. She said someone had asked to have him reserved, that they were supposed to come by later. I apologized and said I was told that he was available and gave him back, but for some reason, she thought about it and handed him back to me and told me it was okay for me to take him. I asked if she was sure and she said yes, it was fine. I was confused, but thanked her and went to check out. As I was leaving, I saw that she paged the other employee and was sort of berating the slightly older woman about not checking to see if fish were on reserve or not. I tried to give him back, but they both said it was fine... So I left the store kind of baffled. I feel rather awful thinking someone really wanted him now.

The third is this guy. He is a doubletail plakat (he is also labelled as a DTHMPK, but I have doubts about the HM). He was looking pretty miserable in the store, but he was different looking. I do not really know if I will keep him. Potentially, I might try to rehome him. We'll see. The pictures don't do him justice at all.



Lol @ my little koi flaring like crazy in the back.



His eye isn't cloudy... That is some debris that was in cup water and it reflected jusf exactly.











He is also a larger betta and a fairly mellow one at that. He will probably be one of those "gentle giants." Or as much as a betta could be.

And lastly, how can I pay so much attention to the newbies and forget about my two other koi bettas with me?

They are really well. This little guy still have some buoyancy issues with staying afloat, but he seems to be doing okay.







Rawr.



Second guy is pretending to be koi, I mean, coy. :lol:











Thanks for reading/viewing! :-D


----------



## lilnaugrim

Such gorgeous fish!! I love that female, her dorsal is amazing for a VT gal!
Your big melano boy would have done fantastically in our show!!!

And yep, zebra nerite! Hope they do well for you! I can never get mine to live >.< I've tried acclimating by drip or not acclimating at all and just plopping them in (best thing to do with corydoras since they emit a hormone that will kill them if they sit in the bag too long) and neither have worked or not worked. Sometimes plopping them in they live longer but my water just isn't good for them sadly! I have so much algae for them too! lol. Anyway, yeah, great tankmates for snails >.< Like....there could have been a better tank, guppy tank? livebearer tank? But noooo, loaches :roll: lol. Gotta love it!


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Such gorgeous fish!! I love that female, her dorsal is amazing for a VT gal!
> Your big melano boy would have done fantastically in our show!!!
> 
> And yep, zebra nerite! Hope they do well for you! I can never get mine to live >.< I've tried acclimating by drip or not acclimating at all and just plopping them in (best thing to do with corydoras since they emit a hormone that will kill them if they sit in the bag too long) and neither have worked or not worked. Sometimes plopping them in they live longer but my water just isn't good for them sadly! I have so much algae for them too! lol. Anyway, yeah, great tankmates for snails >.< Like....there could have been a better tank, guppy tank? livebearer tank? But noooo, loaches :roll: lol. Gotta love it!


Oh crap! I did not know. :shock: I told Ci to acclimate them _longer_ when she brought the 4 albino cories from her haul because their QT tank was cold and needed to warm up and she had floated them in the betta barracks while she set the tank up and one of the cories did die after... In the past, when we got cories, 4 out of 5 died within days of being brought home and I always read that they were sensitive to water paramater changes, so our conclusion was that the local stock weren't the healthiest/strongest stock (well, they weren't) and we didn't give them enough time to acclimate. I have never ever heard about the hormone emitting thing.

How do sellers ship cories then?

They had the loaches scattered. Like 1 or 2 in a tank. I guess they thought it would be better? Did the same with the cories too. They had a tank with a large schooling group of bright red/bronze tetras and they looked fantastic. I think loaches in a large group would have be more impressive anyway.

Also, melano boy is handsome, but so far he doesn't seem to like to flare too much! So show life might not be in his future. :lol:


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## lilnaugrim

Yeah, the hormone thing usually isn't too much of an issue but that could be part of what happened with you guys. I thought the same previously as well and then I started just plopping them in and they were much better and healthier after I did that. I can't say it's 100% success rate but it's sure as heck works for me. Can't remember exactly where I learned it from, I think it was from George but I can't say for sure.


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Yeah, the hormone thing usually isn't too much of an issue but that could be part of what happened with you guys. I thought the same previously as well and then I started just plopping them in and they were much better and healthier after I did that. I can't say it's 100% success rate but it's sure as heck works for me. Can't remember exactly where I learned it from, I think it was from George but I can't say for sure.


Hmm, maybe will try that in the future. Don't think we will be getting any more cories. These albinos were unexpected, but we already have a nice breeding colony of emeralds.


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## Fenghuang

Gosh, I love black bettas, but taking pictures of them can be a pain in the butt!

Probably my favorite picture of him so far. Excuse the smudge on the tank glass. :lol:


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## Fenghuang

One of the nerites died a couple of days ago. Not really unexpected because it never moved more than a few centimeters from where I placed it in the tank. The other one is still alive and moves around (never see it, just that is changes positions), but I only ever see it partially/completely out of the water (often sticking to the rim of the tank or the lid). I assume it must be moving around at night after the lights go out or during the hours I am at school, but it's kind of odd to me that it hangs out of the water so much. Is this normal behavior?

I named the two new guys Quentin (marble DTPK) and Kaveh (black DTHM). The two koi males are still unnamed. :roll: They are all really starting to be more comfortable and not as shy. Artemisia is great. She never had any fear though.

Pictures are out of order. Tanks are full of algae. I need to do more maintenance this weekend.


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## Aqua Aurora

Omg the dorsal fin on that new dthm *drools*!
Also woot for mts promoting gf bringing car full of tanks ^^


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## Fenghuang

Aqua Aurora said:


> Omg the dorsal fin on that new dthm *drools*!
> Also woot for mts promoting gf bringing car full of tanks ^^


Thank you, thank you. :-D I am a sucker for those broad, sailfin dorsals. *drools also* :lol:


That reminds me I need to tell the gf to bring a couple of those tanks to my apartment (she's coming next week yay!)...


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## Fenghuang

A peek at the recent development of my spawn... I'll add more to my spawn log.

A pretty little female. I honestly don't know which particular one this is anymore because they have gone through many stages of coloring up and marbling. 



Blackie is now half black half white. Reminds me of a black and white cookie. Which is incidentally probably my favorite type of cookie.


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## Alouettabettas

Well they do say that Bettas spawn before a storm!


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## Fenghuang

Lol yes they do...

Guess who came?

Gf is visiting for my birthday. She drove down last night and brought my picks of the spawn. Granted there are only 6 fry in my spawn... So all the fry are separated now since there is one fry left in grow out and 2 were already in their own tanks.


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## BlueInkFish

It's been so long! How are you?

You're fish are looking stunning just like before!


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## Fenghuang

BlueInkFish said:


> It's been so long! How are you?
> 
> You're fish are looking stunning just like before!


Hi Blu, it's glad to here from you. I have been good more or less. How about you? How's life? How's the fish?

Thank you, I am so happy because it looks my spawn's finally starting to grow up and stuff and I feel like a proud parent. :lol:


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## BlueInkFish

Fenghuang said:


> Hi Blu, it's glad to here from you. I have been good more or less. How about you? How's life? How's the fish?
> 
> Thank you, I am so happy because it looks my spawn's finally starting to grow up and stuff and I feel like a proud parent. :lol:


I'm really excited this weekend because I have a local club I attend, and this week they are holding a Mega Auction! But what sort of upsets me is that the CBS show (California Betta Society) is being held on that same exact day, they have a Betta auction at the end too (located in San Fran)! Urgh! I don't need another Betta... Or do I? ;-)

Life is good, and my fish are doing great! I just started a journal on my planted 10 gallon! I literally only have 2 tanks with fish in them... Lol.


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## Fenghuang

Went to Petco today. Sad to see that some of the bettas that I saw when I made my three most recent betta purchases were still there. That was a month ago.

They had nice ones, of course. But also rather sad looking ones. Money is super tight right now, otherwise I would have setup the two other tanks sitting empty right now in my apartment and gotten some more to rehome. I don't really believe in "rescuing" from pet stores, so to speak. But when I see fish that look bad, I want to take them home and help them. 

Of course, if any particular one speaks to someone and can be guaranteed a place, I am willing to try to. They would have to pay for the cost and expenses of buying, "rehabbing" (if necessary), and shipping the fish though. :-/

This was a handsome fella. Nice full fins. I would say he is still fairly young based on his small size, but he is already a very nice fish. He is black based, even though color looks more blue. He was there when I got my Kaveh, Quentin, and Artemisia. 



Tiny little koi betta. Skinny and sad... They have it the worst off since Petco prices them at $19.99. I don't know how people get discounts because I have never been able to get them to budge. 



This one was quite interesting, dark blue except for a reddish purple head.



Photo doesn't do this one justice. This one is a very large plakat male He was pretty lethargic. I think I have seen him the last two times I came in, but I can't say for sure.



Nice vibrant red one. Looks like he chewed on his fins.



Red copper dragon PK. 



I really love this one. Large handsome boy...



Liked this one a lot too. More colorful than most EEs I see. He appears to be going blind in one eye though.



Blue EE.



Nice metallic delta.



Shiny multi colored boy.



Yellow.



Another white-copper metallic. Not quite white but I don't know... Maybe he would look different warmed up and in clean water.



Pretty veiltails...





This one is a marble. His color is very faded but he has some faint speckles.



Another yellow.



This one was one of the worst off in the lot. He was very skinny and it looks like he has a bad case of popeye. Still very pretty fish, he is a deep purple with yellow fins. I would have gotten him but for how much they charge for EEs, I just can't afford it right now. :-(





You can see the condition of one of his eyes here.



A lot of them like three below, extremely skinny yet sort of bloated. Also had a bit of a grey cast to them and were generally inactive. I would guess internal parasites or bacterial infection.


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## Fenghuang

And onto my betta fish updates... I have an midterm tomorrow and I'm sorta anxiously half-cramming/half-procrastinating still. I think I should have my gf make her own journal, if she wants to, and you guys can read about all the exciting stuff that happens in The Fish Room at her house. It will probably be more interesting than my updates lol.

Quentin, I suppose, will be going to his new home soon, but for now, have some of shots of his fabulously handsome self.





Grr, this blasted algae. 



Pretty horrible focus, but I thought the shimmery-ness was cool. 







Here is the special koi. He has undergone the least bit of marbling, I think, even though I expected him to change. After quite a bit of a trialing period, I settled on Kothar for him, which is sort of a comparative figure to Hephaestus from Greek mythology.

He still swims dragging his tail end and I imagine it is pretty difficult for him. He rests at the bottom a lot.... All the tall live plants in his section died out because I did not adequate light the tank. Basically the light has been sitting right on top of the tank lid because I have not been able to buy or build a stand for it yet and this resulted in uneven light distribution and half the tank getting way too much (so lots of algae) and the other half being a dead zone. Because there is a shelf over the second tank, the light sits just a few inches higher over the tank and it is faring great. 

I am going to rework the tank to be more functional for him and I'll eventually move him to his own shallow tank on my desk.









This male still unnamed, obviously he should have one, but I just don't know what would suit him. :-( He was sold as a "koi HMPK," but obviously he marbled out. Still, he is a very nice boy and is full of personality, as you can clearly see. ;-)









Kaveh... Oh man, I still can't get over how in love I am with this fish. Shallow, huh? ;-)





He is a really really lazy fish though tbh. But I guess I cannot blame him since his finnage must be really heavy.





This picture reminds me of that part of Finding Nemo where Nemo and his friends at the dentist's office go on a cleaning boycott and the whole tank turned clean. Ughhhhhh, algae.



And this pic cracks me up. That's actually is moss and not algae btw. Kaveh loves to "bury" himself in the java moss/fern ball he has in his section.



Blackie and his siblings











This one looks fiercely determined for some reason.



She is next to impossible to get a good picture of.







Lucky break here.



This guy is too.



It's pretty amazing how different this whole spawn looks. The other three are drastically different too (or were... they are changing every week really).







He looks a lot like his father when he was young.



Artemisia is just soooo shiny. 



She has such nice fins for a female VT too. And on top of that, she is so adorable. Definitely have a huge soft spot for this one.


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## BlueInkFish

Wow great update! I really like Blackie! He's very beautiful!

Lol, algae problems... I hate them.


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## Fenghuang

BlueInkFish said:


> Wow great update! I really like Blackie! He's very beautiful!
> 
> Lol, algae problems... I hate them.


He would be a nice starting point for a traditional PK line, I think. He needs to proper name since Blackie would make more sense for his brother now lol. 

I cannot get rid of it. Need to get a proper light fixture.. It is even on a timer for only 8-5.


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## lilnaugrim

Have you tried Hydrogen Peroxide for the algae? 1ml per gallon. Turn off all filters/aeration for the half hour, use a eyedropper or turkey baster to squirt the H2O2 onto the spot. I focus on one section at a time and eventually the H2O2 will suffocate the algae and make it die out. Then you can remove with some sort of algae brush to physically get rid of it. It won't hurt the fish, you can do it daily. You can also try a 3 day lights out to help starve it of nutrients as well. It will help the plants grow better in the end. But after the half hour of dosing to let the H2O2 sit there, you can turn back on filtration/aeration to get it moving. Excess H2O2 will gas off shortly.


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Have you tried Hydrogen Peroxide for the algae? 1ml per gallon. Turn off all filters/aeration for the half hour, use a eyedropper or turkey baster to squirt the H2O2 onto the spot. I focus on one section at a time and eventually the H2O2 will suffocate the algae and make it die out. Then you can remove with some sort of algae brush to physically get rid of it. It won't hurt the fish, you can do it daily. You can also try a 3 day lights out to help starve it of nutrients as well. It will help the plants grow better in the end. But after the half hour of dosing to let the H2O2 sit there, you can turn back on filtration/aeration to get it moving. Excess H2O2 will gas off shortly.


No, I hadn't tried that, but I think I'll try that tomorrow after I get off from work! My favorite java fern is really suffering. Thursday evening is the start of my weekend (thank goodness).


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## Fenghuang

Quentin (or whatever Nova chooses to name him) went in the mail yesterday afternoon. He is set to arrive at his new home by Thursday. I'm just incredibly anxious about the whole thing since it's the first time I have shipped a fish in a while. All the doubts about whether I packed him well enough, if the bags will stay secured/not leak, if the heat pack will really work, if the postal workers will handle the package appropriately, etc., etc. I even put a drop of methylene blue in the water since I read it helps keep fish calm and protect against stress-induced illnesses. I have never had a fish I sent arrive DOA, so logically, I shouldn't worry, but it's hard. *sigh*


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## BlueInkFish

I hope he makes it okay!!!


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## Fenghuang

BlueInkFish said:


> I hope he makes it okay!!!


Thanks, Blu. I am stalking the tracking and he apparently arrived in Utah yesterday evening and is out for delivery today. So fingers crossed everything goes well!




I am looking at females for Kaveh. You know. Brainstorming and stuff. And I think I want something like this girl as far as color/pattern goes: 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Live-Betta-Tropical-Fish-Imported-Black-Copper-Dragon-HM-Female-1-3-days-/311725431058?nav=SEARCH



I think I can get away with a female with lesser finnage since his fins are excessively branched as it is and he is a DT but I need to find a match with a spectacular topline.

I am really partial to black and partial dragons (if you couldn't tell, almost all my favorite females in the past have been some variation of black marble or black marble dragon). This female is definitely right up that alley, but she is definitely HMPK. 

http://m.ebay.com/itm/1009-14-DRAGON-MARBLE-HMPK-FEMALE-BRED-IN-THE-USA-/282231830409?nav=SEARCH


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## Fenghuang

I got word that Formerly-Quentin made it to his new home safe and sound. Now I can sleep assured lol.


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## BlueInkFish

Yay! Glad he's safe!


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## Fenghuang

I am going back to Petco today because I need some cat stuff. By chance, was there anyone interested in a Petco betta from the last post I made about them and want me to look if they're still there?


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## lilnaugrim

You can also try to get them to price match online prices. Right now the Betta's are on sale online so you might be able to show them to website like this: Male Koi Betta | Petco Store and get the "sale" price for the fish. If anyone does want the fishes. I would love new fishes but I have zero money's lol.


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## Fenghuang

I am talking about the bettas from this post... Or I suppose if anyone is something for a specific kind/variety that they would like me to keep an eye out for.



Fenghuang said:


> This was a handsome fella. Nice full fins. I would say he is still fairly young based on his small size, but he is already a very nice fish. He is black based, even though color looks more blue. He was there when I got my Kaveh, Quentin, and Artemisia.
> 
> 
> 
> Tiny little koi betta. Skinny and sad... They have it the worst off since Petco prices them at $19.99. I don't know how people get discounts because I have never been able to get them to budge.
> 
> 
> 
> This one was quite interesting, dark blue except for a reddish purple head.
> 
> 
> 
> Photo doesn't do this one justice. This one is a very large plakat male He was pretty lethargic. I think I have seen him the last two times I came in, but I can't say for sure.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice vibrant red one. Looks like he chewed on his fins.
> 
> 
> 
> Red copper dragon PK.
> 
> 
> 
> I really love this one. Large handsome boy...
> 
> 
> 
> Liked this one a lot too. More colorful than most EEs I see. He appears to be going blind in one eye though.
> 
> 
> 
> Blue EE.
> 
> 
> 
> Nice metallic delta.
> 
> 
> 
> Shiny multi colored boy.
> 
> 
> 
> Yellow.
> 
> 
> 
> Another white-copper metallic. Not quite white but I don't know... Maybe he would look different warmed up and in clean water.
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty veiltails...
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> This one is a marble. His color is very faded but he has some faint speckles.
> 
> 
> 
> Another yellow.
> 
> 
> 
> This one was one of the worst off in the lot. He was very skinny and it looks like he has a bad case of popeye. Still very pretty fish, he is a deep purple with yellow fins. I would have gotten him but for how much they charge for EEs, I just can't afford it right now. :-(
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You can see the condition of one of his eyes here.
> 
> 
> 
> A lot of them like three below, extremely skinny yet sort of bloated. Also had a bit of a grey cast to them and were generally inactive. I would guess internal parasites or bacterial infection.


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## Fenghuang

Blasted cell service. Sorry!!!


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## Fenghuang

Whoops sorry >>


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> You can also try to get them to price match online prices. Right now the Betta's are on sale online so you might be able to show them to website like this: Male Koi Betta | Petco Store and get the "sale" price for the fish. If anyone does want the fishes. I would love new fishes but I have zero money's lol.


I didn't see this post until now, but thanks for the tip! I'll try that. :-D


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## Fenghuang

I am here now and almost all the fish from the post are still here!


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## lilnaugrim

I would love to try to heal that EE with the pop-eye but alas, still no money and I don't want to put you out either. But here's to hoping they find good homes anyway


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> I would love to try to heal that EE with the pop-eye but alas, still no money and I don't want to put you out either. But here's to hoping they find good homes anyway


That severe pop-eye EE is gone. :-(


This one is still here as is another blue one I saw last.


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## lilnaugrim

Ah that's a shame, he probably died. That's okay though.


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## Fenghuang

lilnaugrim said:


> Ah that's a shame, he probably died. That's okay though.


Yeah, I probably would have caved if he was still there. But yeah, these things happen. :/


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## Fenghuang

I did water changes on my two apartment tanks yesterday. The the little "plakat" is turning out so nice. The difference between him and his brother could not be more striking. You can see the difference here:



Some more shots of "PK boy" because he is on the end of the tank sections and is much easier to photograph because I was lazy. :lol: (In my defense, I have been swamped this week. >_>)







Yeah, yeah, I know the glass needs cleaning... I tried to do some here. I think slight improvement? 





The gf told me today that their dad appears to be slowing down. I hope he sticks around for a long time still, but we're glad we have his children too.


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## Fenghuang

So, I ordered a lot of 50 extra large IAL from an eBay seller who is located in, I believe, Sri Lanka about a month ago. Good ratings and their product description looked good, so I thought I will give them a try... I don't order IAL that often so I don't have a go-to seller. 

Well, the last estimated delivery date for this order has come and gone. Actually, a day before the last estimated delivery date, I noticed the status of the order said it was not shipped yet, but I was patient and tried to just wait and see. 

I decided to finally send a message to the seller inquiring about my order this afternoon. They got back a few hours later (pretty good since it would have been rather late or early there). And they told me that my order had actually been shipped out a few of days ago, but they didn't get around to updating the status or the shipping info yet. They apologized and provided me the tracking (hadn't actually looked yet since I have been busy and mobile interface is messing up). What concerned me was they said they weren't actually able to collect the 50 leaves I had ordered. They said they were only able to provide about 30 leaves. Said most of the region was experiencing some flooding this time of the year and that made harvesting quality dried IAL difficult. Which is understandable since it is monsoon season in much of South/Southeast Asia right now. But I still feel like I should have been informed if/when they couldn't fulfill the order they were selling and I had expected when I placed the order? 20 extra large IAL goes a long way for my setups. Also it is _actually_ nearly half the order. So, I feel like I'm being overcharged, since they weren't offering to adjust (partial refund?) the purchase costs or anything like that.

But I don't want to be rude and just cancel/ask for a refund since I know [things] happen. I dunno. Am I being unreasonable to feel dissatisfied about this?


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## Fenghuang

So I finally couldn't help myself and ended up getting this guy. 

It took a few days for him to settle in. He was fearful and would dart away and hid whenever I got close to the tank or made any motions in front of the tank. He wouldn't eat at first for this reason too. But after about a week, he calmed down and now he seems fairly confident. He is still camera shy though, so I had to enlist Artemisia help to get some pictures.

He is eventually going to end up going blind, I think. He has pretty thick scaling over the top of both eyes. He might already be partially blind since he seems to favor the surface of the water and sorta of traces it as he swims. You can see the issues with his eyes in some of the pictures.

Also bonus pics of Artemisia who looks like she wants to beat him up. :lol:

I am thinking Guilliver for the name.


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