# Leviathan's Journey



## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

*Leviathan's Journal*

Hello, hello! I've been putting off starting this journal for almost a month now, but now that I've finally picked up my little Levi and a few of his sisters from logisticsguy (a fantastic breeder, I highly recommend) there is no more procrastinating! So, where to start? From the beginning I suppose.

I'm not completely new to betta splendens, in fact I had owned one for I think a few months when I was younger before it unfortunately passed to, what I now know was a fungal infection (he had white cottony fluff growing on his body). Of course then, I had no idea what I was doing, poor guy lived in one of those large glass vases, I think it was only about a gallon or so of water. I knew enough to condition the water, but there was no heater, no filter. It's amazing he survived as long as he did. Now that I'm a little bit older, and a little bit wiser, I wanted to try my hand at betta keeping again. I have been doing research on and off for several years, never really committing, just continuously researching. But this year, I decided to take the plunge, I think I'm ready and hey, gotta start somewhere right?

I began collecting aquarium necessities March 4, 2015 and have slowly been accumulating goodies. Along the way, I met an amazing local breeder who told me about a fish auction that was happening that weekend! I talked to my parents and convinced them that we should check it out.... and ended up coming home with a 20 gallon tank, 9 guppies and a few plants! It was a mad scramble to get everything set up. I first set up my little 5 gallon tank and with the help of my sister and father, got the 20 gallon tank set up. We let the 20 gallon run for 24 hours before putting the guppies in, and left the 5 gallon to do a fishless cycle.

Fast forward a few weeks, the 20 gallon tank is now planted with nutrient rich gravel and sports a community of guppies, 3 cory, 2 algae eaters and the newest addition of 5 female betta. I definitely think that the 20 gallon tank is overstocked, so I'm doing my best to convince my parents to get another tank . The 5 gallon is sparse in comparison, it has 2 small anubias plants, a moss ball and some duckweed. No decorations as I've been super duper picky, but my plan is to pick up some fun decor at he LPS this week so he can have something to play around in.

Haha, didn't mean to bombard you all with a wall of text. I also cut out quite a bit as it has been... 3 weeks I believe since initially starting the tanks. I'll post some pictures and maybe do a follow up post with extra stuff. Without further ado... I present Leviathan! The first 2 are of yesterday when I brought him home, and had him acclimatizing. The 3rd one is him exploring his new home, and the last shot is of him striking a pose when I got home from work today~ I don't have as many shots of the girls, but I'll post them as I take them =) Ms. Koi in isolation, she got fin nipped really bad by the big mean alpha guppy (who also go isolated for bad behaviour).


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

*Calendar, Supplies, Etc.*

Gonna fill this in, one sec, pulling up my lists.


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Im mad at the mean Guppy for roughing up that sweet little koi girl. Meanie. Your off to a nice start and the research you did will really pay off. It was so nice to meet you and I will be subbing your journal.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Dakky said:


> Gonna fill this in, one sec, pulling up my lists.


Sadly this forum does not let you edit posts after 20 minutes (or is it 30?) which kinda sucks.


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

logisticsguy said:


> Im mad at the mean Guppy for roughing up that sweet little koi girl. Meanie. Your off to a nice start and the research you did will really pay off. It was so nice to meet you and I will be subbing your journal.


Yeah that one guppy is a meanie. She thinks she's all that and swims around like she owns the tank. I think the girls have put her in her place now though 



Aqua Aurora said:


> Sadly this forum does not let you edit posts after 20 minutes (or is it 30?) which kinda sucks.


Ohh haha, oops! Oh well, it's not important information anyway


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

Levi is quite the little piggy! He ate two pellets this morning, my dad gave him two pellets @ 13:00, and I gave him 3 pellets (I didn't know my dad had fed him) when I got home around 20:00. He's quite the little show off too and will dance around in front of the tank when anyone draws near.

It was super cute just a moment ago, I was on my phone replying to a text and glanced up to see Levi in the corner closest to me, staring out at me! As soon as I looked over he started dancing around like... come play with me~ Haha he's too cute. We played the "follow my finger" game for a bit and I caved and gave him a soaked bloodworm. I need to learn self-control :lol:


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

*Girls, girls, girls~*

Okay, from top to bottom: Sophia, Elphie, Tinkerbell, Alexa, and Ms. Koi (her name will probably change) =)


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

*New home?!*

Hey guys!

Haven't updated in a couple of days as well... there really hasn't been much going on. I have established the hierarchy between the girls though, it was a tense hour or so of watching the girls flare up at each other.

Sophia (purple) - Alpha
Alexa (red)
Elphie (blue/green)
Tink (yellow/green)

I'm thinking I'll get Missy her own little 2.5 gallon with filter & heater cause after all this seclusion, the rest of the ladies won't take her in. The latest news on Levi, I've purchased a new ornament to go into his tank yesterday. Gave it a good rinse and left it in conditioned water to soak.

My parents decided to pick up a 10 gallon tank from a local person that's going traveling for a few months. The seller was a very lovely young man who only recently got into fish-keeping. He sold us a 10 gallon tank + submersible heater + filter + a bunch of accessories and 3 fish (a pleco, cherry barb and cichlid). We're gonna play some musical tanks though as my mother had intended to give me the 10 gallon tank for Levi (yay!). Still trying to decide where some of the fish will end up though so hopefully happy endings for everyone.


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## SiameseFightingArt (Jun 17, 2014)

Subbing


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## Dakky (Mar 6, 2015)

*1 Week Update*

I meant to write yesterday but... was just too stressed out. I have both good news and bad. What to start with first? Maybe the bad news so I can get it all out.

Ms. Koi (Missy) has been returned to CJ's care so that she can have an expert look after her. CJ and I both decided that it would be best for her recovery, especially after I noticed her doing a funny little tail up sort of swim around her little QT container. The day I was going to bring her over to CJ's (Sunday), I peered over into the 20 gallon, as I usually do to admire the girls, and to my horror discovered my first ich outbreak. There was a lot of panicked texts to CJ (haha poor CJ), and with my parents hovering around me asking me what to do, it was stressful to say the least. CJ gave me some advice and sent me some helpful links to read up on the best treatment, then we packed up Missy and took her over to CJ's. CJ was absolutely amazing and gave me all the advice I needed on how to treat the tank and key things to remember. He showed my father some of his show fish and gave me a few IAL to bring home for my tanks. As soon as I got home, I set to work.

- 50% water change
- 2x dose of AQ salt
- turned up the heater to 86F
- Dosed with Paraguard

While dosing the tank, we gave the fish a Paraguard, AQ salt bath for approx. an hour and then turned out the lights. We're still not sure where the Ich came from, we're currently suspecting the change to new lights may have boosted the Ich's presence. The girls have the worst of the Ich on their body & fins. The guppies and platy have minimal spots while the algae eaters and cory cats show no signs of spots. We lost two of the cory cats today, I think partially due to the increased heat.

Onto the good news! I have set up, planted and moved Levi (and Po) into their new mansion of a tank! The 10 gallon looks amazing with new gravel, plants and even a faux-stone structure inside. The filter and heater have been switched as well, the previous tank owner had the tank for 3 months, though I'm not certain whether his tank has been cycled. I'm keeping an eye on the tank regardless and using Stability just in case. I have a feeling that the current from the filter is a tad too strong. Levi looks like he's sliding down a slide when he swims through the current. He's learned to swim around it, but on the occasion he'll get caught in it and end up at the front of the tank. In the picture my sponge filter is in the tank, I was hoping that it would help the bacterial cultures transfer over to the new filter. I dosed the tank with Paraguard as well as most of the equipment is shared between the tank. I am very glad I didn't move Po into the 20 gallon tank yet. I would be extra sad if I lost Po too.

Okay, I'm gonna try and get some sleep. I think I'm coming down with a cold not to mention other ailments which are affecting my overall health =(. I'll leave you guys with a pictures of Levi's new home though.


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