# Cross's Downward Spiral into MTS



## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

A reboot on my journal, this time with an intention to keep the thing up and going.

I got into bettas when I was around 6 or 8-ish. I had a red/blue bicolor VT male named Rainbow. My mom had a royal blue VT who's name I don't remember. I remember loving to watch him swim around and flare up. He was kept in an unheated, unfiltered bowl and cared for by my mother. We were forced to get rid of him and my mother's when we moved as we often did when I was young due to on and off relationships with her ex-husband. I didn't get anymore fish until March of 2014. However, that didn't stop me owning pets. I owned a hamster, several dogs and cats, helped with my mom's rabbit and our iguanas, Izzy, Lizzy and Garfield and then when I was 15, acquired two male Red-Eared Sliders, Big Mac and Speedy Gonzalez who are with me to this day. After getting them, I knew I wanted snakes. Always had since I was little. Before moving out, I saved up and bought a corn snake and a red-tail boa. My cornsnake is still with me while the red-tail was relinquished due to an ongoing fight with mites I couldn't get rid of. I have since owned a Savannah Monitor which died due to a genetic defect in her jaw that kept her from eating enough to grow and thrive, a ball python that
died due to getting poisoned by aerosol, which was the fault of a cousin walking in wearing too much Axe cologne and a baby corn snake whose death I have never figured out the cause. I had fed him a couple days prior and he was eating and drinking as normal. I left for work that morning, having checked on him and refilled his water bowl. When I returned for work 4 hours later he was dead. No outer injuries. After that death I swore off reptiles. I had no luck keeping any of them except my adult corn snake. Then my journey with bettas began, 3-4 months after the death of my baby corn.

3/26:
Mako was half-planned but mostly an impulse rescue. I had hovered around the betta section of my local Walmart because I've always loved fish. I looked at them whenever I was in the store. Especially the bettas. On a whim I inspected them closer and found him. He was perfect. I had never really paid attention to the crowntails until him. His colors were dull and despite some lethargy, I think from loneliness, when I picked him up he swam to me and blew some bubbles. I put him back, staring at my empty bank account and knowing I got paid in two days. I couldn't leave him.


3/28
In the two days since, his water had gotten worse and was the nasty orange brown of a neglected betta. His fins were in slight tatters and his color had dulled out more. I bought him almost immediately, scooping up everything I thought I needed and spending way more than I should have to set him up in an unheated 1.5 gallon which at the time I thought was more than enough space and was the right conditions. When I got home and broadcasted the news to a friend they *quickly* corrected my error in judgement. They said they hoped the 1.5 was temporary and that I needed a heater quickly. They pointed me towards a 5 gallon tank, which I relayed to my roommate who had bought a female royal blue at the same time I got Mako. 


4/6
Then I really began to do my research. I asked a friend there for help with the information I already had. She pointed me toward affordable tanks and helped me pick gravel, a filter that wouldn't harm his fins, live plants, decor, and got me all set up. That was when I found...Thanatos. He was shy and small but a gorgeous Black Devil dragonscale crowntail. I was in love. Until I found out his less than personable personality. I ended up spending over 130$ getting my boys set up and not a single regret about it.

Weeks went by with my boys getting prettier and prettier.

Weeks turned into months, and Thanatos had gotten bigger and Mako is a beast. He dwarfs my other bettas. I got Thresh and Erebus, and battled some slight ick with them both that apparently hadn't cleared up after I deemed it treated in the hospital tanks. Thanatos comes down with a particularly stubborn case but several treatments of Ick Guard. Mako's ick was more easily treated and cleared up in a few days.


6/22
I impulse rescued Natal and Red Fish, both suffering from Walmart neglect and fin rot.I got them set up in 10 gallon tanks and began to try to save them from their neglect.

6/23
Natal was doing well and had settled in nicely. "Red Fish" seemed to have perked up.

6/26
Red Fish's swimming had turned erratic and is worrying. He favors the top of the water and darts about. A small bubble nest can be seen in the corner of the tank however. Natal has built a substantial bubble nest.

6/27
Before heading to work, I noticed that Red Fish had seemed to calm but still favored the top of the water. Natal's fins have begun to grow back. Returning from work I found Red Fish dead. No clamped fins, only the erratic swimming as a sign something was amiss. Now having had experience with Natal and some SBD and bloat I can only wonder if it was something like that.

6/28
Natal is still doing great! To fill the empty tank left by Red Fish, I set out to find someone to fill that hole. I found Nereus, my goofy delta tail.

7/6
My first bout with Nereus' tail biting. He had gotten stressed due to my cat ripping the heater out of the water and the water cooling. I did a water change and he perked up for a while

...to be continued.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Thank you for your story. Hopefully you will keep it up - the rest of us with MTS need the reassurance, haha.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

7/13
Natal gorged himself on leftover food in the bottom of the tank and became extremely bloated. He recovered from his bout with SBD, but it certainly scared me and gave me a sleepless night.

7/14
Brought home Vincentius after a long internal battle over buying him after going to the store for....Java Moss and Daphnia. Instead I walk out with a new 5.5 gal, heater, gravel and a cute, grumpy little spazz.

7/15
I decided to start planting my tanks, so I delved into the research of planted tanks with the help of some members on the board.

7/17
Work on planting my tanks begins! My tanks started as low tech tanks with incandescent bulbs with laterite, gravel and FloraMax.

7/18
Tanks are still fairly barren of plants.

7/20
Convince my roommate to get another betta, Serafino the Luvdisc joins the family.

7/27
All of my tanks with the exception of Natal's go to 50/50 CFLs. My plants are starting to grow.

7/28
Ordered a large mass of plants, had a scare with Natal bloating again but being fine not even 30 minutes later.

7/29
Betta tubes by ricepattyfish5 arrive.

7/30
Nereus shreds his tail during a water change. Treatment begins to repair his fins.

7/31
Plants come in. Tanks are planted that night, drop my phone in the turtle tank. Phone survived. 

8/1-8/22
Nothing much happened. Had a couple scares with a few of my fish, like thinking Vince had velvet and realizing it was his iridescence instead. My plants grew in like mad, fought with algae in Nereus' tank.

8/23
Brought home Agrius the giant for my birthday present to myself. Total tanks in the house:

40 gallon wide terrarium - Maizey the 2 year old creamsicle Corn Snake. Lazy little bucket of sass.

40 gallon wide viquarium - 5 year old Red-Eared Sliders Big Mac and Speedy Gonzalez. Doofuses. That's all that needs to be said of either.

10 gallon long - Nereus the blue/red metallic DeT. I have nicknamed him my Parrot Fish.

10 gallon long - Natal the chocolate dalmatian VT. He is my rescued show off. Also a spazz.

5.5 gallon aquarium - Mako the steel/red bicolor DDR CT. My big sweet boy, hates his reflection.

5.5 gallon - Vincentius the salamander EEHMPK. He is my spazz.

5.5 gallon - Serafino the red something or other DT. Nicknamed "Luvdisc" or "Fino".

5 gallon Minibow - Thanatos black copper/red bicolor "Black Devil" CT. He is my little antisocial doofus.

3 gallon Kritter Keeper - Agrius the blue and red bicolor( as far as I can tell for now) giant.

8/24
Found out a couple of my tanks got some duckweed and pond snails. For now they'll stay. The duckweed isn't particularly big or bothersome, yet, and the pond snail is adorable to watch zoom around the tank.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Tuesday, 8/26.
I did a gravel vac on Nereus' tank to clear out some poop and algae. His fins are looking much better. Agrius is settling in nicely. I have caught him building bubble nests. The silly guy sucks in so much air he goes vertical, nose up every time. Totally adorable and hilarious to watch. Natal spazzed when I came to feed him, making laps around the tank before attacking his food. You'd think I never feed him! Going to start uploading some fish videos to my photobucket. My pictures don't do my boys justice on their personalities. Today is the 5th month anniversary of meeting Mako in two days will be 5 months since I got into the hobby. I fed Fino and he swam away from the final pellet before turning around and getting it when I told him "You missed one!" Agrius eats like a horse. Today will be the ninth day of my drawing-a-day challenge I put on myself.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

hrutan said:


> Thank you for your story. Hopefully you will keep it up - the rest of us with MTS need the reassurance, haha.


Well, I'm not so sure I'll be reassuring to other MTS sufferers. I'm at 9 tanks and still want a few more, maybe get into breeding haha. But we'll see. I can fit a 29 gallon and 3 more 5.5 gallons into my little area that my other tanks are in AKA the living room lol. And there's the fact that I still want a Koi, a MG, and a Yellow and have played at the thought of a sorority more than once.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

The reassurance is "Don't worry, you're not the only one." Bwaha ha.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Haha, well that reassurance I can give you. Cause I got multiple tank syndrome AND obsessive betta disorder lol. No one warns you of the dangers of fishkeeping or that bettas are like potato chips. At least you aren't the only one engaged in seeing how far you can go without increasing flood insurance ;P


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

*Betta Videos! 'scuse my silly voice when talking to them*

Mako's First Water Change:


Thanatos in a cloudy laterite covered tank.


Mako in laterite clouded water


More Thanatos


Mako following me


Shortly after Natal comes home


Nereus before his fin biting


Mako wiggle-dancing for me:


Natos being anti social


Natal's Tank exploration


Vince's Zoomies aka Flutterbutt Adventures


Natal's Zoomies feat. Nereus


Mako flare party


Agrius builds a bubble nest feat. Nereus


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Wednesday, 8/27
Had a power outage late last night that scared the daylights out of me. All fish seem to be fine and heaters, filters and lights are operating normally. However,the power out stressed Nereus and Agrius. Luckily, Nereus left his fins alone. 

Boys were fed breakfast this morning. As usual Agrius and Mako ate like horses while my other boys nibbled. Natal and I engaged in chase-the-bloodworm, where I hold a thawed worm with a pair of soft plastic feeding tongs and he chases it around the tank. Vince's pond snail has been happily scooting along the tank, and is the most adorable thing. Vince tried to nibble it once, then gave up. The plants are still growing in nicely and the duckweed is slowly spreading. I can't wait until my tanks are ready for snails, shrimp and/or cory cats. So far the plan is:
The 10g longs
7-8 cory cats(I forget what I put on AQadvisor)
3-4 ghost or cherry shrimp
1-2 snails

The 5 and 5.5s
3-4 shrimp
1 snail

The 3g
Either 2 shrimp or 1 snail


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Crossroads said:


> Vince tried to nibble it once, then gave up.


You're so lucky. When Mystique was introduced to snails, she rammed into them until they fell over and then killed and ate them. It was pretty horrifying. :shock:


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Wow, talk about some serious aggression! The worst aggression I've had is Mako fin-nipping the pleco that used to be in his tank! It probably helped that he's small and this is an adult pond snail and he tried to eat it shell first xD


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Hahaha. She was introduced to Ramshorns that were still juvenile, and somehow her initial snap got stalk and not shell, so she knew food when she saw it. I can't really blame an insectivore for being pleased about a snail lunch...


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Thursday 8/28
Not much happened today really. I rearranged some of my plants. Found a slight case of velvet on Vince that isn't his iridescence so I'm treating for that. My Rose Sword is finally growing back in after all but melting from the shipping. Nereus' tank is finally growing back so I have hope that with a little more love and care it will be better. I also found some baby snails and detritus worms in Vince's tank. They're super cute.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Friday 8/29
Not much happened, I went to work, came home, fed my boys.

Saturday 8/30
Can't find my Leaf Zone to dose my tanks. Pretty disappointed about that. Changed around some lights and moved my single bulb reflector lamp to my turtle tank for the heat lamp. The lamp is more concentrated so it'll create a better basking spot, and moved the double dome lamp to Natal's tank to get a 50/50 lamp on it as well as the sunlight bulb and moved a Sunlight lamp to Thanato's tank temporarily. I don't much care for the Sunlight bulb, its too dim. I'll be replacing everyone's lamps with 50/50s soon. Not fond of the "Colormax" bulbs with red light either. Both my tanks with the 50/50s are growing like mad while the reds are just....surviving? 

Rescaped Natal's tank since removing the big rock after I discovered he was scratching off scales on it. Found duckweed in Vince's and Nereus's tank as well as the duckweed in Thanato's tank. Been "rescaping" tanks as stuff grows in and I get better ideas of where everything will look better

Things are starting to grow in Nereus's tank. I think the algae was choking them out. However it still needs some plants. I think having two CFLs on it is forcing everything to stay short. If Natal's and Vince's take off more within the next month I might just start transplanting across tanks.

Grocery List for my Pets thus far:
Plants for Nereus' tank
Four 50/50 lights for the tanks with Colormax bulbs
Root Tabs
CO2 Booster/Excel
Leaf Zone/ Flourish Comprehesive
Bigger tank for Agrius


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Woops forgot to update:
8/30-8/31
After the above maintenance on my tanks I went to my parents and celebrated my 21st. There was a bit of drinking to be had, but I was pretty much sober and in my right mind by the time I fell asleep. I returned home in the early morning hours of 9/1 (about 2 am by the time I got home). I missed falling asleep watching Vince swim while listening to St. Petersburg Chamber Choir's Tranquility album. That puts me to sleep in seconds. Didn't fall asleep on the 30th til like 4 am. I'm usually out by 1 at the latest.

9/1
Did some water changes but spent most of the day sleeping and playing videogames with my dad. Good day overall.

9/2
Found out Agrius has ick. Yay. Treating for that now and hoping for it to pass. I also acquired Angelos, an orange dalmatian VT. He is set up with Natal after I DIY divided Natal's 10 gallon.

Some recent pictures some of my boys and their homes:
































Probably going to do a better shoot later this week that has all my boys.


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## Pandanke (Jun 16, 2014)

Bettas really do seem to be the gateway drug into aquariums. I was up to 8, then two passed and now I sit at 6 + a shrimp aquarium and some empty ones from their upgrades.

I wouldn't keep cherries with the boys, I find that although they're far cuter, the bettas also agree. I've only had one boy ignore them. Ghosties though, they hide really well.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Well with Natal's being divided I can't do cories in that one but I'm hoping that I can get Nereus' going plant wise and hopefully get a school going in there. But that's a ways off. Hopefully I can get my tanks to fill in more. I might try a couple cherry shrimp in Nereus' tank seeing as he is the most tolerant of other creatures in his tank and ghosts for everyone else.

9/3
Vince's velvet seems to be gone, but I'm treating for a couple more days just to be certain. All the boys got a treat today as well instead of their standard NLS pellets. Frozen bloodworms with spirulina, brine shrimp, daphnia and some other goodies. 
Angelos is in love with his plants. He purposely squeezed himself into the Windelov fern and sat there, staring at me until I dropped the frozen food in.
Agrius is getting more colorful and is actually blue now! I can't wait to see his full transformation!


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/4 and 9/5
Not much transpires. Some minor maintenance is performed on tanks.

9/6
Big exciting day. First off, it was pay day! I went to investigate a LFS I found after forever of searching. Bought Bacopa, Purple Waffle plant, Fluval liquid ferts and frozen daphnia from them. Also admired their jumbo clown knifefish and massive oscars. The knifefish had to be like 20 pounds at least.

They didn't have liquid carbon. So I ran home, planted the Bacopa and killed my purple waffle plants by sticking them in my snake's tank after finding out they'd die in my tanks. Oh well. Guess they were doomed either way.

Then it was off to the only Petsmart I bother with anymore, being the one closer to my parents. Learned that the fish lady there (see this post) has *152* animals! Horses,snakes, lizards, fish, just everything under the sun! And boy is she awesome. So I picked up CO2 Booster (they didn't have Excel in stock) :roll: Flourish sure, but can't have Excel, nope. The fish lady comes up and asks how my tanks are doing and if I need help with anything. I decide to pick up my cories for Nereus' tank as well as some more 50/50 CFL bulbs. As I was getting in my car I heard the dreadful click of a car not starting. The one where you have a dead battery? Yeah. That one. Except it wasn't my car. A truck nearby had left his lights on. I gave him a quick jump and headed home. I got home and proceeded to grin like an idiot and stare at my cories for several hours. Then it was off to get my room mate. Somewhere during this time I dosed my tanks with the Fluval and CO2 Booster. Hope the ferts do my plants good again. They were really taking off when I had both CO2 booster and Leaf Zone going and Fluval seems A LOT more potent.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/7
Welp. My MTS is getting worse. Found out my light bill is due after my next paycheck....so I went and got stuff. Lots of stuff.
I bought a 20g long to divide for Vincentius, Thanatos, Agrius and Mako. Sand, a heater, a Versa-top and one LED later and I'll have just about everything I need.
Weellll this is where it gets bad.
I found a Mustard Gas CT at my Walmart, which has begun taking A LOT better care of their fish. But everything I needed wasn't in one store so this was my predicament:
Tank, Sand, and Heater from Petco
Mustard Gas and Craft Mesh from Walmart
LED and.....two Halfmoons from Petsmart.

AND get this. the reason I couldn't leave those halfmoons? One is a blue butterfly with a white stripe over his eyes. The other? Possible *Dragonscale KOI!!!* I'm going to have to get another opinion but
if it is a koi at Petsmart...I just hit like the chain store jackpot.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/8
Woke up and did some maintenance on my tanks. The cories are doing great. Fed them some San Francisco Bay "Emerald Entree' which they went nuts over.

Here's a rundown of the ingredients:
Ingredients: Artemia Franciscana(brine shrimp), mysis, krill, plankton, spinach, romaine lettuce, red leaf lettuce, spirulina algae, menhaden oil, sodium alginate, Vitamin premix: wheat flour, Vitamin A acetate, cholecalciferol (source of vitamin D3), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfate complex, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, inositol, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate, betaine, d-alpha mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E)

Guaranteed Analysis: 
Crude Protein Min 6.20%
Crude Fat Min 1.20%
Crude Fiber Max 0.50%
Moisture Max 90.00%
Dry Protein 62.00%

I'll probably switch between it and the Freshwater Frenzy for them. Plus the boys like it too:

Bloodworms*, Brine Shrimp, Water, Cyclops, Daphnia, Watercress, Sodium Alginate, Spirulina Algae, Astaxanthin, Yucca, Vitamin Premix: (Wheat Flour, Vitamin A Acetate, Cholecalciferol (source of Vitamin D3), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Riboflavin, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Folic Acid, Menadione Sodium Bisulfate Complex, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Biotin, Inositol, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate, Betaine, D-Alpha Mixed Tocopherols (source of Vitamin E)), Garlic, Paprika.

Guaranteed Analysis :	
Crude Protein Min	3.4%
Crude Fat Min	0.6%
Crude Fiber Max	1.1%
Moisture Max	93.7%

Everyone else is settling in nicely...Kyprinos already started a bubble nest. Can't wait to see him color up more...same with Phobos.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/9
Went to work, came home. Played video games with my dad.
9/10
Went to work, came home, videoed my fish. 

9/11
Went to work, got my Myrio from Lilnaugrim and Peacock moss from Aluka. It looks great, can't wait to get home and get things planted. Need to check my bank account and get my Swords and Bolbitis Heteroclita ready to ship. Some of my tanks are going to look super empty without the swords. Probably going to store them in Vince's section of the 20g until tomorrow morning when I wrap them up to ship.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/11 Evening update
Rescaped most of my tanks with myrio, threw moss in all of them with hopes it'll carpet since I had absolutely no luck with DHG. Have some more moss coming in saturday from AmbiantNight along with some bacopa, ludwigia, and frogbit. In return she's getting all my swords I don't want haha.

The myrio's not even 20 minutes in my tanks and I love it. It works nicely with my rotala nanjenshan but still has a nice contrast.

Put one of my parent Alternanthera plants back together with all of its separated sprouts. Before I moved some of the sprouts to another tank it was a really nice bush. However, I have a feeling that the new plants will be going to Lukianos' tank. Removing the swords really emptied out his tank.

Natal's side of the tank is looking really barren as well. I have a feeling the new plants will be hitting his side too...

Rotala is a ridiculous plant. Between the nanjenshan and the rotundifolia I swear I'm just going to have rotala tanks.

Natal has taken to pecking at his moss.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/13
Horrible day. Lost Vince to velvet on top of the horribly stressful day.

9/14-9/20
Nothing much to note. Went to work, came home. Rinse lather and repeat. Found out that both Kyprinos and Lou were marbing. Kyprinos was a little less expected than Lou

9/21-9/24
Generally okay days. Same rinse lather, repeat schedule.

9/25
Big exciting day. I took my roommate to work this morning and decided to stop at the Petsmart...conveniently across the street. I went in to look and pick up cory cat food. I walked out with...








Her name is Commander Shepard and am literally laughing every two seconds watching her.
I moved Mako by my bed and put her on the other side of my divided 10.
She has so far...
Attacked her food so hard she pooped
Took a breath of air so aggressively it made her float to the side
Pestered Mako until he gave up sleeping on the heater just to get away from her 
Patrolled her tank more than all my boys combined
Pecked the divider "to death". Several times. In the last 30 minutes.
Found a way on top of the floating betta tube and was content to sleep there. There is less than an 1/8th of an inch of water up there so I shooed her off of it rather quickly.

Also I got a job offer for $10/hour and I start on the 9th of October. So yay more money for stuff and less stress.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Congratulations on the new job! And LOL at Commander Shephard!


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Thanks hrutan! I'm really excited. I'd be making $400 a week paid every Wednesday.
I literally make 400$ every other Saturday so you can only imagine why I'm giddy as heck.

She's a..character. To say the least xD

It was hilarious to watch her pester Mako. He was sleeping on the heater and was content and she was just like pecking at the divider. Like Hey. Hey you. Hey. Big Guy....Hey. And he finally saw her and like rocketed to the front like MOM! MOM THERE'S A THING! MOM! MOM DO YOU SEE THIS?! MOM! This happened twice before he gave up and went to sleep first in his little craft mesh pyramid and then curl up on a nest of Myrio.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/25 
Not a lot happened yesterday, I went in early for work after waking up exactly when I should have been leaving; I was a minute late. The snails are getting bigger, except for Snuffle Snail who is tiny compared to his snaily brethren. I can't find Chug the pond snail. The Snuffle Squad goes nuts at feeding time. Yum yum, shrimp pellets. First four ingredients are whole shrimp, whole salmon, cod and whole herring. 

9/26
Fed cory cats again. Nereus gorged himself stealing bits of shrimp pellet from them so the whole tank is going to need to be fasted. Luckily there's enough plant matter and algae to at least hold the cory cats.

Tanks are filling in nicely can't wait to get new lights for the 20 long. I might get another LED and a CO2 diffuser(like the small Fluval one) for Nereus' tank. The plants are coming in nicely....but so is the algae.

Want to get more plants for the 20 long, maybe fill in some of my other tanks as well.

Shepard has settled in nicely. She's finally unclamped and has her fins all spread out.
Mako is still finding the oddest places to sleep.
Angelos and Kyprinos want some ladies. They have bubble nests that span most of their divided partitions in the 20 long.

My next plans after I get my new job and get my debts paid:
Upgrade Nereus and the Cats to a 20 long or a 29g.
Get a Co2 diffuser for Nereus and the Cats.
Teach Nereus that he is not a cory cat.

Upgrade Mako and Shepard to a 20 long or Upgrade that section with a 40-55g
Start a sorority- maybe use above 40-55g and divide with Rocks? Like a mountain with a cliff? 
Divide= 10g for Mako on one side (he'll get depressed if he's not near me.) 30-45g for sorority?

Scape the tanks better. Get Cholla from Russel, Possibly Slate or some form of nice looking rock to get a hardscape going

Buy more substrate!

Get Toni(my pitmix) a better kennel. Possibly one of those pretty table ones!

Get more storage for the house! Bookcases! Shelves! Organize!

Get a better camera!

Get a blue HM from Blu

Make it through Christmas....

Learn breeding

Stop putting off getting rid of Erebus the pleco

Stop putting off getting an API Master Kit


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## Pandanke (Jun 16, 2014)

Just so you know, corydoras aren't herbivores and they don't eat algae ^^ They should be okay to fast, but don't do it with the thought they'll eat other things, they wont.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

I thought cories were omnivorous? Huh. Well I guess I could remove him if I need to feed them //shrug I have a 3 gallon he can sit it while they eat. Cause they're definitely eating something in my substrate? I don't know.


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## Pandanke (Jun 16, 2014)

They eat leftover food for the most part, and that is probably what they are eating as they are a true bottom feeder, they're not algae eaters, and wont simply get by through grazing for it. 

Otto's may be what you're thinking of, they love algae and basically wont eat anything else (even most wafers)...


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

I could probably remove him and feed them frozen while he's needing the fast since frozen sinks better and has a better chance of getting vacuumed up quickly.
I'll just see how long he'll need to be fasted and if its more than a day or two then I'll take him out to feed them

Thanks for the info! :>


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

9/27 and 9/28
Fortunately not much happened over the weekend. I got some rest, did some house chores and tank maintenance. The 5s and 10s got their second WC of the week. The 20 will get its water change tomorrow.

Plants are growing like mad again. 

9/29
Topped a lot of my rotala and myrio. Some of the back of my tanks look bare. Going to need to trim Phobos' Alternanthera back. It's staying short but its definitely a bush. The Alternantheras in Mako and Shepard's tank are looking soo good. They are a deep nice red. The Fluval fert really seems to be working. It melted a little of my Rotala rotundifolia's leaves but they've already bounced back. The Myrio and Rotala nanjenshan in that tank is taking over. It got topped, spread throughout the tank and the extra moved to the 20 long. Still need to trim some more. My tanks are looking a bad sort of unruly haha. Shepard and Mako keep flirting through the divider. Its super cute to watch. Shepard has a silly way of swimming. She's super energetic and almost darty and flares her fins every time she stops. Except she starts and goes like 3 times a second so its flare swim flare swim flare. And if she sees Mako? Nyooom from the other side of the tank to the divider. Mako pretends not to notice, but I see the way he flares his fins and wiggles every time she notices him. Think I'm going to finish trimming up my tanks. They're driving me mad.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

*Obligatory update photo spam (very photo heavy!!)*

The first week of October has been uneventful as is my life typically. The only events of any note was setting up my sorority. Stress and allergies has me eating less but compensating by drinking more fluids. I'm still getting my daily dose of nutrients, I like to drink shakes and smoothies. I just add protein and all is good. 

Today's news- 10/5:
Sorority is calm. Bakara still has a stick up her butt and decides to flare and stare down any female near her. Did another betta shuffle. Moved Agrius to the 5 g Minibow. He seems more content there.


And now ladies and gentle fishes....
Picture spam








































































































































































































Picture legend
Agrius, Kyprinos, Kyprinos flare,Nereus in the old 10g long,cory cat, Jack the 20g long sorority, Liara, Bakara, Bakara playing ninja, Jack and some plants, Jack, more Jack, Tali, more Tali, Bakara, Tali and Jack, Shepard, Bakara, Liara and the Mopani wood, Shepard, Nereus, Mako, Nereus, Mako, Phobos, Phobos, Angelos, Liara investigating Mopani, Natal's tank, the Mini Bow when Phobos inhabited it(now the home of Agrius), Phobos' new home, the divided ten and Natal looking pathetic like normal //sigh


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## JHatchett (Aug 24, 2014)

You have lovely fishies! I particularly like the females.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Why thank you


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

This week started out okay but turned rough real quick. Customers at work are being particularly belligerent lately. And of course all I can do is smile and apologize for them being stupid and not knowing what the words, "My machine is not working optimally" means.

Anyway, enough ranting about my job.

Fish news:
Natal came down with dropsy yesterday and didn't make it through the night despite my efforts.
Bakara tore up Shepard so she got moved to her own tank. The sorority seems better of it. Also put some more plants in to the sorority tank and some pond snails. The females immediately attacked the pond snails. Oops. Not like I don't have a surplus of the things. Maybe it'll keep their attention off each other.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

*Picture updates~*


















































































I've been watching this little one since I got them to check for ovaries but I just can't tell if its a female or male.


































































​


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

First few days of my new job were hot, sweaty but overall, easy. Still kinda down about Natal's death but I have other finbabies to attend to. Everyone in the sorority is finally chill. Everyone is hanging out at the top next to each other with no chasing or nipping. Of course, that tank looks like a jungle, but thats besides the point. I'm worried about Mako. He has a bump near the back of his head under his scales. It's making them protrude. He's starting to get lethargic, but it doesn't seem to be impeding gill movement and he still comes to see me and wiggle dances for me. He doesn't flare like he used to though. I'm worried its an internal tumor, but hopeful that its just a bump. I think Mako is a lot older than I originally placed him to be. I don't know if I could stand to lose him so soon. He's only been in my life since March. 7 months as of the 26th of this month. 
Nereus is active and full of flares. Phobos is still a goober and Atreus is just lazy. The unnamed wild-type PK is plenty active though. All the boys in the 20g long are doing great.
The cory cats are still happily corying.


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## Crossroads (Jun 28, 2014)

Once again being a horrible journal keeper. Mako is doing great now. He got to looking really bad and his eye started to go cloudy and swell. Thankfully I saw it and threw him right on a full round of Kanaplex. Whatever the bump was disappeared with the Kanaplex too and now I just have to worry about some shady looking fins. Odd though that his fins were deteriorating. I keep up on water changes weekly so I'm guessing whatever caused the bump and popeye went after his fins. Or maybe its just age. Who knows. For all I know he could be close to 2 years old. Which isn't old but its older than I thought he was. I am up to 21 fish. 13 or so of those are bettas. Picked up my dream fish yesterday from Petco. He is still unnamed. Can't wait for my 20 sorority to cycle. I got a HOB filter going on it. I'm probably over filtering with one for 40s on it but it'll be better with more fish. I baffled it as well. I want to get some Kuhli loaches for that tank.

Myrio has gone insane. I filled my other tanks with clippings from the sorority. Might start selling plants soon. I don't have a place to put them anymore.


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