# Fairy dragons/ fairy Betta project f1



## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Hey guys! 

Here comes my first attempt at my project. EE dragons! or as I would like to call them fairy dragons ^^
They will eventually be full dragon hmpk with beautiful Dumbo ears. I'm starting with red and want to work into other colors- next will likely be yellow or orange. 

Mortimer- my beautiful EE male. This stunning little guy started pink like most of your red salamander EE but over his year long life he's turned a beautiful red with white bands on his fins.
Pros- Beautiful body form, lovely dorsal and huge ears, lovely asymmetrical plakat anal fin. Very quirky and cute personality
Cons- a few jagged places in his cadual, stubborn spawner* small size for a male ( likely from EE being fairly new)

Rita- approximately 9 months old, she's the first dragon female I purchased, she's a full mask, cherry red dragon hmpk with beautiful symmetrical fins and a full hm spread.
Pros- Beautiful body form, full hmpk spread, no scale problems, smooth fin edge's. Personable and friendly

Cons- has the beginning of diamond eye (never using her for a full dragon spawn), jumpy with aggressive males but willing to spawn

The only reason I'm using Rita is because I'm not spawning her with a male dragon, by outcrossing I should mostly eliminate the diamond eye. Im using her smooth hm fins to help with Mortimer's jagged cadual and her symmetry to balance out the fry 

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Right now they are attempting to embrace- i think his ears are getting in the way a little ^^ she's been willing since I introduced them Saturday evening but mort kept switching from courting to chasing then ignoring her. I conditioned them on mini mealworms and fly larvae ( and a few scuds) Rita became eggy very quickly on the fatty diet ^^ 
Flareing Rita was easy, she flared up at anyone willing to flare back, but Mort... He ignores anything outside of his tank except me with food XD so i had to make an exercise mirror to even get him to flare

Mortimer is handling the extra strain beautifully and has even blown his first real (and impressive) nest. He rests often because of the huge ears but I'm not worried, the water is shallow end ill be adding plants for him once they finish spawning. 
I have a free 25 gallon tank to move the front to at about 3 weeks, I have vinager eels, Microworms, banana worms, walter worms and brine shrimp ready ^^ along with seeded sponge filters and meds to treat anything that might pop up. I also have newborn guppies! They can teach my Betta fry to eat non-living food ^^

Sorry I don't have pictures yet x.x I should have gotten them before they spawned but I'll get them as soon as i can i promise! The babies will be in a tote for the first few weeks so I'll try to get photos but no promises x.x


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

Subscribing!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

This is going to sound mean but I might actually have to trim Mortimer's ears 😫 they are so large they reach his anal fin and are a real hindrance for them, they have been trying so hard to wrap but she can't get a grip on him. I'm making sure they are ok but I'm getting worried about them getting exhausted


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## kitkat67 (Mar 10, 2015)

pics?


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I'm waiting on them  although I might have to separate them for a day or two to get them going. I didn't get pictures before I introduced them I wish I had


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## youbettawerk (Jan 3, 2017)

why are you calling them Fairies? I'm looking forward to pictures. Good luck with the fin trim!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Find trim went well, although he was mad at me for a couple of hours x.x he's back to his normal self ^^

Fairy dragons are mythically the smallest dragons, with insect type wings, and at most a foot long wing span. Looking at Mortimer's ears before the trim it REALLY fits ^^ small body big wings

Three of Rita now, one of Mortimer in his bowl a couple of months ago


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

They're soo pretty! I cant wait!


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## trilobite (May 18, 2011)

Interesting project. Looking forward to seeing the development of this line!


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

IMO I think it'd be really cool if they were a green (any shade of green) just to match the mystical dragon feeling I get from this prodject


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I might work on blue and green "dragons" at some point  just not right now. I need more room for fish x.x with the blue EE coming out I'd really have a reason to find a pair! But green and blue show up in the iridescent layer meaning even though I could get the dragon gene to show up it wouldn't be the original white scales they would have the heavy appearance but be blue or Green. 

On that note ^^ I plan on doing other colors too. Black included ^^ I'd love yellow too


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Eggs!*

At 3:15 my time she dropped her first few eggs ^^ now that those blasted ears aren't in the way the can wrap properly! She's being obsessive trying to get him to keep embracing and he's trying to pick up eggs XD feisty lady 

If I don't get many fry this batch I'll try again in about a month and trim Mortimer's ears before I finish conditioning them -_- luckily it doesn't hurt him if it did I would have scraped this pairing and waited until March when my EE girls are old enough


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

They have been successfully embracing for about 3 hours o.o marathon! XD 
The last bunch of eggs I saw she dropped about 30 ^^ I'm sooo looking forward to the babies


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Mortimer is being a busy body ^^ he's usually a rather lazy fish I'm very proud of him, I would post more pictures but he's in a plastic tub and the water it's tea colored. I'll try to get some after today's water change ^^


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Here are a few of the tiny eggs 😊 he's not eating them as far as I can tell them being a good daddy and even pulled a plant under the nest to rest on ^^


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## KodaPlusMore (Jul 14, 2016)

How cute!I love how you're calling them little faeries. And oh my goodness, his ears a huge! No wonder they were having such a hard time! Hoping those huge ears carry on?


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Well maybe not THAT big XD I don't want to have to trim all my male's every spawn ^^ 

My little juvenile girls will be ready in March or April ^^ so I can reverse this cross and keep my gene pool diverse. 

In-between these I'm probably going to breed my ct EE Geno to my adult EE lady, for a color explosion spawn ^^ 
If candy really is EE Geno breeding a sibling pair or back to candy will clean up the ct easily ^^and keep the ears


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Nee! I just spotted the first little fry! The tiny wiggler dropped out of the nest right after my diligent Papa put it back XD


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Officially All hatched ^^ I thought for a little while he was tending dead fry o.e they were white and not moving I guess they were just still in the eggs. I'll try to get a count soon


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Free swimming babies!*

I've found about 8 babies so far, I didn't expect a huge spawn with both parents being virgins. They also took nearly a week being in the spawning tank not really wanting to eat the whole time so she likely absorbed a portion of the eggs before they spawned. 

I don't exactly know how many babies there really are I probably won't for a few days these are the ones I found - one of which is very light colored ^^


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

So cute!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

My breeding tote is completely full of tiny little creatures the fry can hunt. I've been watching them munch on ve and some microscopic crustaceans, that showed up out of either my scuds culture, or the water from my community tank I used to jump start the infurosa for them when I set the tote up. I've been able to see anywhere from 5-20 at a ^^ I love watching them


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

*sits and stares creepily, waiting for an update* I'm so ready to see these fry! I can't wait to see how this spawn turned pht


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I ll get pictures today for you. By the way try taking pictures of microscopic fry through plastic, with a PHONE! X.x I actually have a couple of azteca scuds in the bin I guess the parents missed them XD they aren't predatory so I'm not really worried

Mort is doing great he was NOT happy when I moved him but ate like a pig last night 

Rita is Still missing some scales and has a few rips in her fins but otherwise is back to her happy social self ^^ I've given them each some Phoenix worms( black soldier fly larvae) which they loved I'm thinking about conditioning my next pair when I move these guys to a grow out


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Babies ^^*

These guys are still so tiny o.o

The EE line likely carries blue, so I'm probably going to have to weed the blue out to get the results I want but that's ok! It gives you guys a chance to grab them!


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

Wow! They are tiny. I'd love to get a blue EE from this spawn and I'm sure others would too! Thanks for satisfying my crave to see these little guys 


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Blue wash, most likely. Mom is red dragon hmpk so no true EE this time around, if I don't have many fry this time I'll re-spawn in about a month I might have 20 I'm not sure


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Babies ate BBS all day yesterday ^^ I had to harvest them about 12 hours in or they get too big o.o collecting most of them in the morning and feeding my guppy babies the extra, still leaves enough eggs hatching throughout the day to feed them twice before I start another batch of eggs

I'm doing a 1-2 gallon water change every day on the 3 gallon tote


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Little updates on the fish family - Guessing game at the end!*

I took a really good look at Rita today during the water change to see if she still needed a little tlc, she's doing fantastically ^^ to my surprise the cloudy spots in her eyes are gone! I don't know what it was but I'm glad it's not diamond eye x.x 

Mortimer is SO active now ^^ happy to come interact with me say hi and dance for food, I guess trimming his ears did more good than I thought ^^ 

Babies are doing so well  I'm still counting between 15 and 20 ( I know tiny spawn) at this point most people probably scrap the batch and try again but I want to see what comes out of this and if I can keep them alive to adults x.x now that Mortimer knows what he's doing I'll probably get many MANY more when I spawn them again

-my first spawn ended disastrously with me caring for 5 of 200 fry for weeks before they died one by one. Not. Willing. To. Repeat. That.


I have hints to a surprise ^^ I have another fish on the way! My SO and I's jaws dropped seeing this little odd ball. He is hmpk but can anyone guess his color? I'll post pictures of him in a few days when he comes home and gets settled


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

Lemme try. Something uncommon? Purple?


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

XD I wish I have never found a true purple


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

Yellow? Black maybe? 


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

He's got some yellow and a little black ^^


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

I lucked out with my first betta when I was four. I kid you not, he was VIOLET.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I am SOO exited right now ^^ I see swim bladders! But that's not the best part  I was checking babies and shined a light to see if I could find more. Well I have shiny fry! 

Mort is non iridescent so ... The dragon from Rita is showing up already ^^ 2 in 3 fry are shining right now. They may be metallic/iridescent instead of dragons but it's a definite step in the right direction!

I also counted 22 ^^


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

I'm soooo looking forward to these guys! 


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Tiny cuteness*

I don't think it's going to show up in the pictures but they are getting tiny dorsals and anal fins! It's adorable


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## KodaPlusMore (Jul 14, 2016)

oh, i can't wait to see how they turn out!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I found a single dark colored fry, he's also smaller than most of the others but at the same point developmentally^^

He's probably going be blue!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

We are almost done making the stand for the grow out tank ^^ I am happy 

I do have pictures of the new boy but he didn't hold still so I have to delete the fuzzy ones XD He's so active and happy ^^ he's also kinda turning green o.o


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

My stand for the 25g grow out tank is don ^^ filters are running and the little "cage" in the corner is for my mystery snail babies to hatch on I have 6 clutches in 2 weeks! All dark purple though my pinks are somewhat younger than the purple's

The stand easily holds 350lbs, i have seeded filters running, I got a new hose set up to fill my Clean water buckets from the sink and my super worms are pupating! Yay!

My daughter takes her own selfies!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Hey guys I have a problem... Hydra EVERYWHERE! I have paragaurd on the way and 4 mystery snails in the spawn tank hopefully something works... They make my tiny babies very uncomfortable


I do have some awesome news ^^ babies are breathing at the surface! I'm going to move the fry after I get rid of those *bleep*ing Hydra I do NOT want them in the grow out with microscopic mystery snails x.x -speaking of, my second clutch hatched and my pinks finally layed ^^

I have another cute little surprise that should be here by next Friday, this time for my community tank ^^


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Seachem paragaurd kills Hydra! A single normal dose killed every single white Hydra in the tub! The little green ones took a couple of days and slowly doubling the dose to kill. I'm vacuuming out the last of the green bodies tonight and will have some very colorful babies to show off ^^ the fry look amazing and are coloring up nicely, one has an exquisitely visible red stripe on the anal fin, a few more half opaque white bands at the edge of the fins/tails a couple look blue pretty much all of them are covered in irridiphores (sp?) And rather shiny 

They are rather happily munching Grindal worms and bbs, waiting in the grow out are 4 very small adult male guppies. These guys are soooo dwarfy it's weird. they are the last few from my community crash and I didn't want them breeding with my metallic purple cobra strain. They can teach babies about dry food! Another pair of mystery snail clutches hatched too x.x so many babies, I'm up to TWELVE clutches already this year.. god help me... 

Oh! I'm waiting on 2 huge Grindal worms cultures to start producing so I can share ^^ I've also got a gallon of vinager eels to get rid of because I have another maturing culture going already


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## ShadeSlayer (Jul 20, 2015)

Yay for paraguard! I'm NEVER without that stuff. It works wonders. I use it in my tanks when I get new fish instead of quarantining and have never had a problem.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I should probably add some to my community tank then ^^ my puffers came in today

I tried parazipro first it didn't even phase the Hydra so i ordered the paragaurd because it was safer for my fry. It took a TON of digging to find out it might work, most people use formalin medicine to kill them but it can also poison fish so that wasn't happening. 

I got a HUGE clutch of pink mystery eggs this morning o.o that makes 13 clutches total! And means 4 of 6 of my pinks are female while 9of 12 of my purple's are female ^^ not a bad ratio if you want babies.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Finally got time to take pictures XD oh my god the stuff I've been caught up in! I got my dwarf puffers in and have been babying them, one was a little thin but has been happily munching on the live foods I give my juvenile guppies; now he's looking really good ^^ 

My cats knocked my mealworms over -_- The pupa container fell directly into the grow out where I had JUST put the babies 2 hours earlier x.x no one was hurt luckily. I had another clutch of mystery snails hatch ^^ the grow out is literally crawling with baby snails from 8 clutches x.x I'm going to run out of room! Unless I get a spare 50g and leave it outside all spring and summer 

Here's babies^^


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## moodynarwhal (Mar 24, 2016)

They look like mini bettas!


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## KaderTheAnt (Jan 19, 2017)

Are any showing any signs of EE?


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

KaderTheAnt said:


> Are any showing any signs of EE?
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


When you asked? Not that I noticed but today looking at them quite a few have rather big ears ^^ I found one that for sure has normal pecs and for a second I thought he had something genetic going on and would be a "cull" to sell off but turns out the others just show more EE genetics!

They are starting to get the white spots in their scales, but I've got a few copper looking ones ( not what I want :/) I have no idea where THAT came from. Then we have about 3 runts and a tail dragger or 2 I'm hoping the sinkers decide they will out grow it  because unless someone here wants to give them a special home I'm going to have to actually cull them

I'm seeing some very nice ones too! Beautiful white body and no blue shine, dark red in the fins, minimal white banding <3 I just hope I have a pair! They are barely starting to show gender characteristics I don't see many with short ventrals though. Speaking of vents, they all have Both of them! No bends either.

I'm going to have to show you guys my jar system when we build it ^^ gravity drip system draining into a tote. 32oz jars and a 5g bucket, airline hose, flow valves and a couple of gutters


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

So here's what happened dropping snello in the grow out tank o.o I have so many babies we have decided to set up a 50g outside to grow my snails. It's going to be covered and shaded to keep from cooking them in the summer sun.im going to see if we can run a sponge filter off either a) extension cord b) outside power outlet I need to talk to my step dad Glenn and see what we can do XD


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

MysticSky22301 said:


> Seachem paragaurd kills Hydra! A single normal dose killed every single white Hydra in the tub! The little green ones took a couple of days and slowly doubling the dose to kill. I'm vacuuming out the last of the green bodies tonight and will have some very colorful babies to show off ^^ the fry look amazing and are coloring up nicely, one has an exquisitely visible red stripe on the anal fin, a few more half opaque white bands at the edge of the fins/tails a couple look blue pretty much all of them are covered in irridiphores (sp?) And rather shiny
> 
> They are rather happily munching Grindal worms and bbs, waiting in the grow out are 4 very small adult male guppies. These guys are soooo dwarfy it's weird. they are the last few from my community crash and I didn't want them breeding with my metallic purple cobra strain. They can teach babies about dry food! Another pair of mystery snail clutches hatched too x.x so many babies, I'm up to TWELVE clutches already this year.. god help me...
> 
> Oh! I'm waiting on 2 huge Grindal worms cultures to start producing so I can share ^^ I've also got a gallon of vinager eels to get rid of because I have another maturing culture going already


I ordered Paraguard after I read this post. My 8.6g has hydra. Yikes. At first, I thought they were leftover Microworms. When I started seeing more on the glass, I realized they were hydra :-( The Paraguard should be here today.


Did you start dosing a less than a suggested amount? Because of the substrate, the actual amount water should be about 8g.


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Half dose to begin with yes so I didn't stress them out


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

By the way babies made the trip perfectly. I can't get pictures right now because I forgot their light XD I have picked my favorite male ^^ he's stunning


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Thanks! Can't wait to get rid of the tiny suckers...!!


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Beauty in motion*

I am so very proud of these guys! I've got so many beautiful young fish and the EE has shown up nicely ^^ I have a few pics that show their ears ^^


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

Seachem Paraguard worked! I could get rid of most of hydra. Unfortunately, there are still some. Since I got a couple of ramshorn snails as diatom cleaning crews now, I only spot treat hydra with Paraguard. 


By the way, you got cute young bettas  How are your puffers doing?


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

I stopped giving them grindals as a meal all the time and they are destroying the snails XD They absolutely love me and happily come say hi whenever in in the kitchen still not sure if I have 2 females or something else XD BUT they have done amazingly well in my community tank


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## ryry2012 (Mar 31, 2015)

How wonderful! I never thought puffers can do well in a community tank. Did you order them online? I've been wanting to get Chili Rasbora but my LFS hasn't have them for a while. Their supplier hasn't received any. I know some online stores sell them but I'm hesitant to buy online because of the shipping cost...


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

Yes from a seller on eBay ^^ I'm thinking of ordering a 3rd one they are wonderful as a seller and the fish were in wonderful condition


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## MysticSky22301 (Apr 16, 2016)

*Jarred babies!*

All of these guys are for sale except the burgundy male 002 he's for my daughter's grandma ^^ 

Burgundy male 001 was supposed to go with a female but as of right now she's injured :/ most of her tail is missing and I'm not sure how it will grow back :/ I think something happened during a hectic water change.... If her tail heals well I'd still like to sell them as a pair ^^


The little tail dragger will be free, she's otherwise healthy but needs a little special care. she eats really well but needs lots of places to rest. She does swim all over the aquarium ^^


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