# The little adventures of Guang Ci



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

I'm starting a journal for our baby betta, Guang Ci!

My wife and I adopted Guang Ci because he was living in an awful water situation, and we were taken with the idea of a little boy fish to sit tanked next to our lovely baby white crown tail female. Unfortunately the baby girl passed away last Friday, but it just made us more dedicated to make sure that Guang Ci has long and healthy of a life as possible. 

We bought him Thursday, August 11, 2016. He's a shy little guy who is only just feeling good enough to greet us when we come talk to him, which we do frequently. Because he's a baby! 

His name is actually one of my wife's characters' names from our current publishing project. This little guy seems to be taking his namesake seriously; he very studiously sits in his pagoda, presumably considering his responsibilities, and wastes little time consuming every meal so he can contemplate his life in the corners of the tank. 

We'll be moving him to a new, 5 gallon tank in three or four days! He'll have lots of plants and a filter and heater and he should be a happy guy. So, world, here is our little warrior. We will grow him into an exceptional fighter...who will of course never see battle.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Remember to do daily water changes even when he's in the 5gal! Even if there aren't toxin's in the water, he'll still be emitting the growth stunting hormone and it will backfire on him unfortunately! Try for 25-50% daily if you can! Feed twice a day and he'll grow ^_^ Congrats on the baby :-D

Oh and I couldn't find the other thread but he'll be Black bodied with red fins. A Bi-color is what it is. And of course, he's a little Double Tail (DT) and yes, it is a he very likely.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

That's all great information! 

I had a question about this growth hormone thing. Does his eating less have more to do with how it works, vs. just...the hormone floating and stunting his growth? He was VERY hungry today, he fought a blood worm, hand a micro-pellet and a small flake! After reading that awesome thread quoted in my other thread, my wife and I looked specifically for that lightly rounded belly and he had it after the final piece, so we stopped. 

He's slipped back into his pagoda for today. He was out a lot yesterday so he deserves a rest, I think, being so tiny.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

After losing the first fish girl I'm so paranoid that I was 99% sure in 2 hours he'd contracted fin rot when they're actually just so thin they looked the same color as the stone colored pagoda he was hovering in front of. 

Yes, this is going to be an anxious time.


----------



## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Glad to be of help!

No, it does not relate to how much he eats. He's going to emit the hormone whether he eats or not. But he should be eating twice daily. Stay away from flakes if you can, they're difficult to measure and can often lead to bloating. Best to stick with pellets and frozen foods, not freeze-dried. If you do feed freeze-dried, best to rehydrate it in a cup of water for a bit so they're softer.

A fish does not simply contract fin rot, usually the bacteria will infect an open wound such as if the fish bit its own fin. But it can sometimes just attack if the fish is stressed out enough. If the water is clean and warm, you shouldn't have an issue. Do your best to make sure the tank is nice and tightly planted so he can have all the plants to swim in and out of! It helps reduce stress from bright light and gives him a hiding place of his choice if he feels threatened.

And here's another thread for future use: http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=346377
But you can see real fin rot there which may help you identify it in the future if it does happen to show up.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

We've been finding the tiniest flakes, and very careful (my wife took 4 minutes choosing one earlier today). But we can find a new food, definitely.

We need to get some more plants for our 5 gallon, and he goes in the day after tomorrow! He loves hiding, so he should be happy, I hope 

So many links! I'm so grateful you're showing me where to go!!

My wife finally got a better picture of him. I'm not very good with cameras on phones.


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

He is so cute! I have been feeding little Destiny crushed Betta Buffet flakes and she enjoys those.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Mmm flakes. He loves chomping those and fighting with blood worms and snatching micro pellets


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

That moment...when you spend a huge chunk of work time writing a journal entry and the site signs you out in the meantime so you lose it all. 

I'm just gonna stick this in here for now. Hello, Xu Liang <3



















We got him on camera! Mute your computer if you can, I'm reprimanding the dog and my voice isn't great, LOL!


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Okay! So I'm sure it's obvious that Guang Ci is not the only gilled member of the household any more. About 4 days ago my wife and I made the horrible mistake of going into the adult betta section, TECHNICALLY looking to see if they had an adult female that looked like Adrasta, the juvenile white and pink crowntail we lost the friday before last. Well, they didn't. But they did have these beautiful guys, who, three days later, we decided to take home. 

Welcome Xu Liang, also named for one of the characters in my wife's current series:










He looks so turquoise this morning, I think his color is going to come in really well! Still haven't gotten him to flare, but he has some fin damage so I think a few weeks of direct care is going to come in handy for him to regrow these fins. I can't tell if it's rot or biting, but I suspect it's biting as they're all really long. 

We had him in a hospital tank, 1 gal, at first, but he was just depressed there and barely active. We moved him to his 3g and he's SO HAPPY and swimming around ALL OVER an kissing the dark stones at the bottom of his aquarium, and he's just lovely. Set him up right next to my wife's side of the bed. 

Also, the big boy. The King. The...BOTROS:


















Please excuse the tannin-brown water, his log has let off tannins like crazy! It's supposed to be good for him, though, so I'm going to do a change once I get a REAL vacuum that actually WORKS instead of this $10.00 piece of junk we picked up that did nothing. If anyone has a good vacuum suggestion, I'll take it. 

He's been blowing bubbles, getting into fights with his reflection, and swimming around his tank. He seems very happy, if a bit industrial as he started fighting for his territory IMMEDIATELY with his own reflection, and once he settled that he was the boss and not the glass, he started blowing bubbles. Not a full nest, but he was busy last night and got angry when I did a water change. But then again, he's angry about everything.

We love them both, but we haven't forgotten about Guang Ci! He got into his 5g and he is SO HAPPY. He loves sleeping in his dragon mouth!


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

I just use an Aqueon vacuum. Any vacuum with a bulb works great, though they do also make battery powered ones, but I'm not sure how they work.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

CollegeBettas said:


> I just use an Aqueon vacuum. Any vacuum with a bulb works great, though they do also make battery powered ones, but I'm not sure how they work.


Since you said that you used the bulb-based, and that's what I have, I decided to try again.

I was using it backward. 

*cough* Yes. 

So, for two days in a row, all three boys have gotten 1/3 - 1/4 water changes and they're all happy, active, and friendly. 

Botros has accepted that I can open his tank and take out water whenever I damn well please. Good boy. I do happen to weight 2000x his weight 

Xu Liang freaked us out last night by being in the DEEPEST SLEEP IMAGINABLE, immediately after a flare that barely relaxed while he (apparently) drifted off. Heart attacks all around, and a 2 a.m., no less.

These fish will be the death of us.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Xu Liang has been active all day, and is also hungry all of the time. He's started recognizing my wife's voice and will come to the near side of his tank to stare straight at her.

So glad she has a little social fish. Makes the pain of the baby girl's death just a little duller.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Ok, so there has been further addition to the household. But first, Guang Ci. He's grown so much! His head is getting darker, and his scales are starting to be outlined in black and his fins are getting seriously red, with black edging. He's going to be a pretty boy, and he's SOOO EXCITED! ABOUT EVERYTHING! To see him do anything but glass surf and beg for food you have to sneak up on him before he notices you. He says he's training for his duties as bodyguard. 

Xu Ling tore his tail yesterday, little toad .He wants to fit EVERYWHERE and apparently found a sharp spot. Little trouble maker!! He's sooo much thicker now, though, after a week of regular food. He's such a flirt, every time my wife talks to him he lifts up and dances for her, and eventually begs for food. What a sweetheart. 

Botros is just a giant toad. Smacked his head and scraped off some scales, so now he's got a big silver scar across his forehead. We moved the filter so he wasn't playing the 'fun' game of swimming into the filter's flow and getting pushed around, and ending up smacking into his drift wood. Ugh. Thankfully he's durable, and doesn't even seem to notice the scratch. It looks a lot better today than it did yesterday. 

New additions! We got my wife's dad his own fish. Meet Archemidis, the wizard fish with a serious silver goatee:


























We caught him this morning with his little face sticking out of an open trunk at the top of his wizard house. So freaking cute. Once he realized we'd spotted him he slipped out and flared at us. <3

The next addition is my new baby!! His name is Tora, found him yesterday at Petco; a koi plakat! I LOVE his colors, and he's very friendly; he slept last night at the top of his tank in the bubbles, and when I come up to talk to him he opens his mouth like he's talking back. I almost got a blue EE yesterday, but his colors caught my eye so fast. Haven't gotten a great picture yet, though!


















I'll get a better picture later so you can see him from the side. So pretty! And I'm just totally in love with plakats. I'll let my wife have her floweys, and I'll have mine and it'll be a really pretty house <3

Also, the dogs are alarmed that we keep paying so much attention to giant containers of water. Poor babies! They'll get lots of attention tonight since all of the tanks are set up


----------



## mingking (Mar 7, 2016)

Archemidis' tail is so beautiful!!!! And Tora looks like my new koi plakat as well, from Petco too! Maybe they're bros haha

I feel ya. I pay so much attention to my fish that my cat has also decided to pay attention to the fish. I've had my tanks up for months and only recently, he's decided to find out why I keep staring at glass boxes. Now I seem to find him sitting in front of my tanks all the time and pawing at my frogs. 

Maybe you can baffle the filter flow? That should help prevent any further scars for Xu Ling. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

I agree on the plakat - I bought one just bc I liked the yellow koi I found and now I only want plakat. I really want another koi.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

mingking said:


> Archemidis' tail is so beautiful!!!! And Tora looks like my new koi plakat as well, from Petco too! Maybe they're bros haha
> 
> I feel ya. I pay so much attention to my fish that my cat has also decided to pay attention to the fish. I've had my tanks up for months and only recently, he's decided to find out why I keep staring at glass boxes. Now I seem to find him sitting in front of my tanks all the time and pawing at my frogs.
> 
> Maybe you can baffle the filter flow? That should help prevent any further scars for Xu Ling.


It was Botros that had the scars, but you're totally right. We'll get some more plants soon. For now the flow is repositioned to travel the length of the tank vs. across the short way. He love swimming head-long into the flow, so idk if he'll be happy with me when the plant goes in >

All of the fur babies are jealous! Thankfully ours haven't seen the fish yet. The cat will love trying to poke them through glass too much and maybe freak them out! 



fernielou said:


> I agree on the plakat - I bought one just bc I liked the yellow koi I found and now I only want plakat. I really want another koi.


They are so pretty! Tora just caught my eye and it was like 'yup, this guy right here.' He's pretty small, I think he might not be fully grown yet, I'm not sure.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Woke up to more torn fins on Xu Liang. Since we've gone over his room 3x for rough spots, we've concluded that it must have been something else. A few minutes of observation showed us that he was constantly trying to dig through rocks with his nose, and that he wasn't doing the light flaring thing to his reflection in some blue stones that he used to like to do. So, we got some more blue stones and he started kissing them and flaring lightly like usual. Five minutes later he tried to dig again, and lo and behold...there were some pieces of old food caught under two layers of stones. 

So, 20 minutes of moving stones with a spatula and vacuuming the pieces he kept pointing out, he's now acting 100% normally. Phew. So he likes flirting with his reflection and hates a dirty room. I suppose it's not too much to ask 

Everyone else is doing great. Botros' scraped head is already getting blue again and no one's acting stressed or alarmed. We picked up some stress coat to help everyone calm down, and I think for a while we're set! Also picked up a nitrite tester to go with the ammonia tester, and will get the nitrate in a few days. Had to do it piecemeal as we couldn't afford 30 bucks all at once. No worries, though, we're still letting tanks cycle and are doing 1x a day to every other day water changes. 

Now I need to get to work. Publishing is extremely rewarding, but combined with my book design business I have a TON of responsibilities and taking about 15 hours total to set up 4 fish tanks in the last 10 days hasn't helped me get ahead at all. My wife is over a third done with our next release, though, so that's awesome!!!! I'm excited on that front  I just have to get the print versions of book 2 up and keep on promotion, and we'll be gold 😎

Onward!


----------



## fernielou (May 19, 2015)

I think you and your wife need some stress coat 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

fernielou said:


> I think you and your wife need some stress coat


Thank goodness, we have some already, or else we wouldn't make it through the day 😵


----------



## mingking (Mar 7, 2016)

Publishing was something I thought about doing when I was doing my undergrad. It's still something I'm considering but right now, I'm taking some time off to explore my options and also work. Hearing a bit about your publishing and book design business reminded me that it's something I should really look into again!! 

Poor but funny Xu Liang. Hope he heals fast. I usually like to watch my fish eat each and every pellet so I don't have to pick up the uneaten food. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

mingking said:


> Publishing was something I thought about doing when I was doing my undergrad. It's still something I'm considering but right now, I'm taking some time off to explore my options and also work. Hearing a bit about your publishing and book design business reminded me that it's something I should really look into again!!
> 
> Poor but funny Xu Liang. Hope he heals fast. I usually like to watch my fish eat each and every pellet so I don't have to pick up the uneaten food.


Publishing is rewarding, but also not easy. You have to spend years building not just the writing skills, but also months or years cultivating a readership PLUS the business end of everything. We didn't quite know it would be that intense when it started, but well, that was 5 years ago so it's kind of late now LOL. If you're still considering, ,I'd suggest heading over to a place called kboards.com and getting a handle on how it goes. It's a long journey, but worth it when you see people enjoying the stuff you produce!

Or that your wife produces. Same difference, except I didn't spend months writing the books!

We do watch him but he went through a period of holding onto all the pellets and then spitting them out once he got tired of holding them in his mouth. He's funny, but also a toad. He's pretty small so we think he might be a runt, or at least young enough that he thinks he's always starving. 

Thanks for reading >


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

Book design business? As in book covers?
How big is Xu Liang's tank? You could get a Mystery snail to help clean up the uneaten food.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

CollegeBettas said:


> Book design business? As in book covers?
> How big is Xu Liang's tank? You could get a Mystery snail to help clean up the uneaten food.


I can do book covers, but I actually specialize in book interiors, typesetting, and layout. 

Xu Liang's tank is 3g. I'm afraid it might be too small for a tank mate :/


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

That's cool. I used to design book covers in high school.
If the tank is well filtered, you can add one snail.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

CollegeBettas said:


> That's cool. I used to design book covers in high school.
> If the tank is well filtered, you can add one snail.


That's awesome! Do you have any links to books you did covers for? 

That's great to hear about adding a snail! Xu Liang's soooo affectionate, we think he'd love a friend. I have high suspicions he'd be snuggling a snail, and my wife wanted to get a mystery snail and name him Jeeves anyway, haha. 

More pictures!! Xu Liang poses and dances ever morning so of course, there's a ton of him here. We keep trying to get Tora but his life's goal is to meet top speed zooming around his tank and only stops for breaths. 

We also got a picture of one of our fur-babies!! Hugh has been so jealous of these fish, so we took a picture of him to let him feel like he's getting attention 🐕


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

What do you think of that tank? I had one tank before with the under gravel filter and I was not a fan, but if turned into a modified sponge filter, I may like it better.
I did covers for books on Wattpad, so I was not that good, but here is the link to my Imgur: https://justanotherdreamer97.imgur.com/ (most is terrible)


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

WE love these tanks, they're very beautiful and both the boys in them are very happy, playful, etc. There actually isn't a filter yet in either (we're changing water daily), but we're going to get one of those gentler, fully submersible deals where we can adjust the outlet flow arm to wherever is most comfortable for the fish.  

Those covers are actually much better than a lot of premade sites I see for Kindle/Epub sites. If you ever need extra money you could always advertise at that kboards site and you'd definitely have some takers depending on price.


----------



## CollegeBettas (Feb 23, 2016)

That good. I may get one of those if I can't figure out how to order the tank I want (the order now button is missing).
Really? I don't really have the time for that now, but that's definitely a possibility to help to pay for all my fish.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Found a scrape on Xu Liang's head shortly after he shoved himself into the upper floor of his pagoda. Took it out and filled it with rocks so he couldn't get in anymore. And this is why we can't have nice things.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Sorry for all of the updates! This is a thread for Guang Ci, and yet Guang Ci hasn't been featured much!! Poor little guy. 

The problem is I can't get a damned decent picture as he's up to the front and spastically darting back and forth as he watches. I tried anyway. You can't see his deep red in the colors here, or the little black outlines he's gaining around his little scales. He's sporting a little fake egg spot atm, and his gills are coming in dark red, too. I can't wait until he grows up, I think he'll be ridiculously beautiful.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Achemidis the wizard fish is a pretty happy guy. By happy I mean he's claimed his entire tank, loves hanging out in his wizard house, and has tried to leap out of his water to get to the feeding spoon before the pellets have even hit the water. 

Last night he informed us that he's ready for a lady mage and baby magicians. You can see him escaping my phone in the lower-right corner as I took photographic evidence of his bubbly statement.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

The story of Archimedes has been pretty intense so far. First, as a wizard fish, he's largely anti-social as wizard fish should be, and likes to hang out in his house creating and discovering new aquatic magics. He's been breaking in his tank well the last few days, swimming all over it, munching pellets, and finally blew the nest I talked about yesterday.

Then, wizard hell broke loose. That bubble nest was obviously his ultimate claim. Yesterday morning I went to feed him, on the bubble side nest _as usual_ and he flared instantly and slammed his head into the acrylic. It was audible with his force, and I demanded to know what his problem was. He promptly informed me with the biggest fish middle finger I've ever seen in my four weeks of fish keeping:










(No damage as far as my wife and I can see. That dark spot has gotten wider since we brought him home (it was there when we got him), but he seems marbled so I think he's just shifting color. He got a good dose of stress coat anyway.)

He did this to me for an entire minute, before retreating back into the plant in his back corner and giving me the eye until I left. He's flared at me every time I've gone to talk to him since.

Guys, I think I should be looking to be cursed by a wizard fish soon.


----------



## mingking (Mar 7, 2016)

Love the story with Archimedes  He's coming to his full potential soon, it seems. Might have Merlin running for the hills one day!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

mingking said:


> Love the story with Archimedes  He's coming to his full potential soon, it seems. Might have Merlin running for the hills one day!
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


:laugh: He is dedicated to his craft, that's for sure! He hates interruptions, which is why I keep interrupting him. >


----------



## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Ah! I was delighted to find your journal! Beautiful fish family. Very special that both your wife and you share an interest in fish AND work. Very rare. My husband doesn't know any of my fish by name or ever ask about them.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

BettaSplendid said:


> Ah! I was delighted to find your journal! Beautiful fish family. Very special that both your wife and you share an interest in fish AND work. Very rare. My husband doesn't know any of my fish by name or ever ask about them.


Thank you so much! There is a problem with this, though; we're both enablers to this fishy obsession. 5 fish in 4 weeks. :serious:


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

I wasn't going to post again today, but Xu Liang did his first observed flare! It looks like cellophane with deep blue lining


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

With all of the flaring excitement the last few days, my wife saw that it looks cool and actually isn't a state of serious distress, so we're going to start flaring exercises. We don't have a mirror (anywhere. In the entire apartment except the one above the bathroom sink. I am so serious), so we'll pick one up when we get groceries. For today we used one of the oddest things in the house we could find, which happened to be a pack of pumpkin erasers we picked up from Target. 

The offender: 










Opinions on this intruder with an insidious grin were varied. Guang Ci ran immediately beneath the protection of his dragon protector, and waited until the pumpkin lost interest to sneak behind his protective beast and give me they stink eye for letting a predator so close to him. I caught a pic of him racing off:









*Nooooo!!!!!!!!*

Xu Liang flared a lovely full-flare and then swam around, flirting as he seems to love to do. Maybe he's taunting the threat because he's so happy, he doesn't care what their ugly faces say. 

Tora was infatuated, but also wary, and also curious, and also, well...we'll let him speak for himself:









*I'm feeling so many things, it's hard to describe...*

Botros, meanwhile, did the first full flare I've ever seen him do. Little freak coming into *his* tank, being so darn *orange*, and challenging *him*??? Murder. He was glass surfing for a good 5 minutes after that.

Archimedes couldn't be bothered. He's seen so much worse, he says. He's seen my red pajama pants, and they are MUCH more threatening than this piddling little squash-grinning joke. I think I offended him a little.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

Can fry grow overnight? Because Guang Ci seems 30% bigger today than he did a couple of days ago. Now his little earnest eyes, completely hopeful for the promise of food, look tiny and squished together in the middle of his face and he's so long! I wish I could get a picture, but he never sits well enough for me. 

Got a new heater into Archimedes' wizard tank, so it can slowly heat the water with its heavenly heat. In doing so we found that the outlet for his powerstrip was so loose it was falling out of the wall. That's a problem waiting to happen, so we stole a gallon of water from him and moved him into the kitchen, on the shelf below Guang Ci. My wife and I are digging the new layout, and Archimedes has been quite active and—gasp!—more friendly since moving him into the kitchen! Maybe he enjoys the promise of food, or MAYBE he likes the natural light filtering in through the window and illuminating US so we don't all look like potential monsters skulking in the dark. 

Demons, he calls us. Goblins. 

Here's the new set up:










Also, this outlet is far superior. Dumb old apartment building, with it's dumb, old electricity holes.


----------



## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Oh my gosh. I laughed so suddenly and hard I pulled a muscle in my already stretched pregnant tummy. The Serious Pumpkin Threat was halarious! My crowntail, Hatzallah, will flare at anything, which is great. Pencil? Die. Scrunchie? Die, scrunchie. He would annihilate that pumpkin eraser with one flip of his gills. Some, most, of my bettas are love balls, but not Hatzie. He is grumpfest.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

BettaSplendid said:


> Oh my gosh. I laughed so suddenly and hard I pulled a muscle in my already stretched pregnant tummy. The Serious Pumpkin Threat was halarious! My crowntail, Hatzallah, will flare at anything, which is great. Pencil? Die. Scrunchie? Die, scrunchie. He would annihilate that pumpkin eraser with one flip of his gills. Some, most, of my bettas are love balls, but not Hatzie. He is grumpfest.


hehe, I love the grumpfests! I got my King, Botros, because he's a total aggressor, so really..I think I'm mocking him now. Poor guy, but he's so little but in his mind he is SO BIG!

My wife got one of the best pictures of Botros yet! He's getting a lovely iridescence coming in. <3










Meanwhile, I'm still trying to get pictures of Guang Ci. He is just such a spaz right now, he won't stay still for 3 seconds. Rar!! Darn it, little fry!!










Oh, and Archimedes, who loves giving me the eyeball from behind his plants.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

I've meant to post in here for a good week. The next post was supposed to focus on Xu Liang, and I'm determined to stay ON SCHEDULE.

Xu Liang has learned a new trick. It's called 'flaring my gills whenever the phone gets near my tank'. 











> THBTBTBTBTBTBTBTTBBBB


Yet he finds ample time to pose:










> I'm so cute—thbtbtbtbt


What a flirt.

We've got some new additions to all of the tanks! Everyone got an almond leaf, so we can have fish who swim daily in tea...which, for an east Asian culture nerd, is perfect for my wife. We FINALLY also got in Xu Liang and Tora's new submersible filters! Yaaay!!! Tank cycling!! I'm so SET to get these tanks cycled and FAST. Got both microbe-lift's Special Blend which they describe as 'an ecosystem in a bottle' that gets added weekly, and microbe-lift's Night Out II, which is just beneficial bacteria that gets added every other day. 

I feel badly that all of our pics are so darn blurry. Here's a clear one of Xu Liang; I'm still not sure what colors he'd classify, he's so dark in the body and so messy on the fins! But we tend to get animals in this house that are slightly...different...than typical (like a wiener dog that's not long enough to look like one and has a huge barrel chest even when he's a light weight). 

Here's some more of Xu Liang's odd loveliness!


















Also, he's become a bit of a gardener. He very specifically pointed out a rotting plant behind his heater, and look! The java fern is getting baby growths! We were all 'is this algea or rot???' and 5 minutes of googling showed us absolutely not, so there we go. Phew. 










For everyone else, I still can not, for the life of me, figure out what colors Guang Ci will be. He's not losing his baby stripes at all and I'm lost. His water's being constantly monitored, he eats like a pig and he's curious, active, and has lots of energy. I just don't understand. The anticipation is killing me!










He's getting some shiny spots on his fins, though, and that's fun! I'm just so impatient, haha. 

Finally, Tora's tank is keeping a very stable, near-yellow ppm test with no filter. I have no idea why, except that he must just be extremely clean. He does eat all of his food, I suppose. Little piggy.


----------



## astrummortis (Aug 15, 2016)

No real update here, except that we've owned Xu Liang for a month now and he's looking much better. Left is now, right is a month ago:


----------

