# My First Tank Journal



## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

As it says up top, I'm going to keep a journal of my first tank experience. 

I had a betta fish a couple years ago, and that was when I got bit by the betta bug. I named her Gilgamesh. She had been kept by my sister in a tiny, half full water bottle in her truck for at least a week. I didn't know better at the time, so I got her a betta cube and a leaf hammock, something with less than half a gallon of water.

She ended up dying and when I researched why, I found that I had been torturing the poor creature with cold water and tiny spaces. Likely she got ammonia poisoning because I left a few days and asked my sister to take care of her.

Now, a state move later and armed with more knowledge, I walked into a PetSmart...to buy guinea pig food with my friend. I needed a new doggie diaper for my Shi Tzu since he has a tendency to mark literally everything, a habit that started out of stress and my depression only let it get worse, so it's slow going to train him out of it. 

They had bettas in cups, and I started tearing up because I remembered Gilgamesh immediately. My friend wouldn't let me get too close but promised to help me rescue one of them. We looked at tanks in a few different places and decided on a 10 gal one from Wal Mart. It's got a HOB and a heater in it, neither of which are controllable, but I plan on buffering the HOB with some plants and keeping a close eye on the heater when I start cycling.

Unfortunately, it didn't have any hood or lights, so that will be bought separately, along with a CFL light to keep the plants alive as need be.

I did get a master testing kit, dechlorinator, some cheap fish flakes, and amonnia, but sadly didn't get a chance to wash the gravel or set up the tank yet because when we got back it was time for game. I'm kinda just sitting here while someone makes a character, waiting. I might go wash the gravel now.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I've got the tank starting its cycle process. Still need to purchase a hood with light and plants. I've decided for budget's sake, I'll buy silk ones until I can afford to maintain live plants.

All the decorations are silicone and very, very soft. If there's any trouble with any of it, it'd be removed immediately. I've baffled the filter because it was far too strong. But now there's very little current from what I can tell, and the heater is working it's way up to a good zone. I'm still keeping an eye on those and if need be replacing them for something better and setting everything else aside for a hospital tank. 

Had to flip the hidey hole too so it wouldn't hit the bottom fins. Right now, my friend and I are thinking of a male betta, a moss ball, and a snail. Seeing how small the tank is now, even without plants, I'm beginning to doubt chili rasbora will be in the next year's future.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Today is going to be my official day one of fishless cycling. I measured pH and ammonia levels while my friend was throwing scentsy stuff at me. Ammonia is between 4 and 8 PPM, so I think it's an okay starting does considering I added a few flakes of the cheap fish food that's probably more filler than anything useful to the tank too. pH is far too basic for my tastes at 8.0, especially if I want to add some tankmates like a snail. I'll do research on how to lower it.

I also plan on buying something to put over the intake of the filter to muffle it. And replace the carbon filter with something less gross too.

The thermometer is doing is showing it's 78 F so that's a plus. I was worried it wouldn't stop in the safe zone and I'd have to replace it immediately. 

Things to get: silk plants, gravel vacuum, and hood/cover with light. 
Things to research: moss balls, apple and nerite snails (which is better), live plants, pH stabilizers, betta food

Dream List: 20 gal long planted community tank with a male betta and panda cories. More to be added to this


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Just a quick update. I got some plants! I even have a live anubis plant. I tied it to the pinky-purple spiral with fishline so the rooty bits aren't buried. I'm hoping to keep the tank divided - the silk ones to further baffle the filter, real ones on the left side to watch over. 










I replaced the carbon filter with ceramic as well. It's all in a bag, so I can pull it out and rinse off in tank water easily. I read a lot of stuff talking about how the carbon could leech out everything it had collected. The filter had a sponge too to create a home for bacteria, but I feel best with both and no carbon.

The water is a bit cloudy. I admit I didn't rinse the gravel very well, so messing with it and the plants is probably what made it rise. If it's not down by tomorrow, I'll probably do test on my parameters and a partial water change if anything seems off. I did rinse everything off before putting it in, and gave the Anubis a light scrub to get all the gel and any potential parasites off.

I just hope I can get everything properly cycled by Halloween. I want to come up with a Halloween name and my friend wants to get one of the pumpkin decorations and add it in as a temporary hidey hole. 

I also decided on a nerite snail instead of a mystery or apple for now. I read that the other two's bioloads can get rather large, and I want to start small.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Been keeping the room light on today for the Anubis. The water is cloudier than ever, but the ammonia test only shows that it's definitely 4 PPM. The nitrites aren't active yet, not that I expected it to be. 

Temp is still at a solid 76 F too, which is good. I just hope this cloudiness is due to a bacterial bloom and it'll settle in the new filter rather than something I'm missing.


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## Innerbeauty (Jul 31, 2014)

It's looking really nice!  I love the cave. 

I would splurge on a good betta pellet, if I read correctly you bought flakes? I did that too to begin with and they will cause bloat and overall the fish just isn't as colorful. (Stress, I would imagine.) Spectrum is what I feed. (They really do well on it!) It has high quality ingredients and I noticed better color, flaring, etc after trying several brands. Plus, for one betta, it will last its entire life.  HERE is an ebay link.

I look forward to seeing the betta you choose!


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I didn't buy flakes; it came with the tank as one of those set up things. I'm only using them to feed the bacteria.

Been debating what exactly I want to use. Gonna get something local and probably a betta treat a day thing too.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Third test - I'm doing it every other day for now until I see a change. 

I'm still somewhere between around 4 PPM of ammonia and I just realized I'm using ammonia hydroxide. Is that stuff still safe to use for cycling or am I going to have to do a full water change? Is my anubis going to be okay? I can put it in a tub of clear dechlorinated water otherwise.

No nitrites yet, but I found the fish I want.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Yep, even despite all my research claiming that the ammonia should be okay, it seems to just not be true. 

I don't trust the bubbles and can't seem to find a store nearby with pure ammonia.

Fish in cycling it is then. I'm home most of the time, so I can check the ammonia and nitrite levels 2-3 times a day and do major water changes easily. I already pulled out 2.5 gallons and got it down to between 1-2 PPM. I'll do another in a bit and get it below .5 

I also found a fish! The breeder is holding him for me right now, but I'm definitely getting him. I'll be bugging my friend to go out and buy both a hood and light and boxes for my side business this weekend before we get a moss ball. Then I'll message the breeder for the fish.










I'm naming him Narak (nah-rock).


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Continuing frustration came to a head today. I did a 90% water change to get rid of most of the ammonia, and while I was doing that went and did some better landscaping.










Right now it says it's somewhere between .25 and .5 PPM ammonia. I'm keeping an eye on my heater, wanting to make sure it kicks on when the water cools (I went too hot for a couple of gallons), and setting up my list of things to buy tomorrow. If the heater doesn't kick on and keep it right, I'll have to add that to my list and do another water change, probably 50% to get rid of that excess ammonia.

Basically at this point I'm just removing that terrible ammonia and waiting to get the rest of my setup before telling the breeder I'm ready.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Fi-nal-ly, my tank is back to 0 PPM ammonia. I had to take everything out, rinse it off, including my ceramic filter and heater, rinsed the gravel, and put everything in again.

I've contacted the breeder to tell him I'll pay tomorrow and to send me an invoice. Saturday I'm purchasing the last two things I need - a cover and a sponge to put over the intake. And probably a snail. If I introduce the betta after the snail, it should be okay, right? Or maybe I should wait.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

My tank had to get rearranged yet again because the hood we got kind of forced me to move the filter. Since it's a HOB filter, I wanted to keep it well away from any open swimming area. 










And I decided it was best to get the snail first and let him establish his home before Roanoke arrives Monday. A tiger striped nerite snail. I named him Houdini because when I got home (mind you, it was dark), the car light came up and I lifted the bag to check on him. Now, he had been in the water in the bottom, so I look there. And he's gone. I panic ("oh my god where did he go he's gone!") and my friend is like, he's on the side of the bag. So he's Houdini instead of Aubie now.










I got a thing of shrimp pellets for him to eat, but he went and hid in the cave almost immediately. He'll only get one a week, if he even eats it. Just a supplement to his diet since there isn't any algae growth yet.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I found the perfect piece of driftwood. Between research and talking to the employees and just branding, I ended up getting a piece of driftwood that claimed i was for reptile tanks but was literally no different from the same branded wood in a smaller pet store that was more expensive (and too big for a 10 gal anyway). So I rearranged again.










I really need more plants, but I potentially have a job lined up, so we'll see how it goes. The driftwood was boiled for two hours and is still releasing some tannins, but I don't mind the water being a little brown. I'm hoping to get some indian almond leaves for future use.

I also took a look at the "tank" my friend's brother has. It's a sad affair of too small, broken filter, and all sorts of residue in it. I cupped the single guppy and measured the water. There's about a gallon in it, ammonia was .5 PPM. Then I scrubbed out the water and rinsed it out before filling it up again. The crappy filter got thrown away and the new one takes up half the tank. My friend insisted on getting a guppy for the one already in there despite me being  the entire time she mentioned it, but I tried to get the fish properly acclimated. 

I was doing a water change in my own tank so my friend went to release the fish properly since I had done the grunt work. I had told the brother to put the lid on despite it not fitting properly with the new filter to discourage jumping. Friend didn't put the lid on.

Both fish jumped. We ended up finding the new one, and he's survived the night, but the older one jumped into a toy box and is dead. We have craft mesh over it and the lid as well now because hey maybe people should listen to me.

So if I get the job like I want, I'm going to upgrade that tank ASAP to make sure we don't lose anymore fish. It's also the tank Houdini will go in if he and the betta don't get along.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Roanoke has arrived and wow, I was really upset because the mail was running late.

The box he came in was a bit crushed on one side, and the mailwoman had no idea there was a living creature in there. I have the feeling the poor guy was shaken quite a bit during the trip. The tank is set up on a desk in the basement where I work (plenty of pics) and it's pretty dark in there. I stop a little short, close to a window, and open the box up. 










I didn't snap any pics of the box closed because I didn't want to give out my personal information. But I was relieved to see such a sturdy styrofoam box considering.










Lifted the lid, packaging.










Roanoke in his bag. He didn't move until I lifted it and actually set it in my hand, then he twitched. I returned him to the box and set him on a table next to the desk, tank light on for now, box open. It was pretty dark. He sat there for half an hour, and when I lifted the bag again, he reacted with a stronger twitch.

I left the tank light on while I unbagged him (double bag), then cut the top off the second bag. The tank light was turned off and the bag was clipped into the tank to acclimate to the temperature. 










Super dark picture, but you can see his tail a bit. The light is coming from the other room.

So he stayed like that for half an hour, then I started adding water to the bag every 10-20 minutes until it was nearly full. That went on for an hour and a half, and I started holding the tank light angled at the tank (it was off and sitting in front of it at the time) to try and adjust him to the light too.










This is the last picture I took before releasing him into the tank. He went from looking white all over to being very pinky red, like his breeder picture. He was very hesitant in leaving the bag. I didn't scoop him out but slowly unclipped and pulled the bag away to let him out.










The room lights are on and the hood is in place in this picture. You can see Houdini in the background, next to the intake. He was slowly exploring, for awhile, didn't seem to like the filter all that much because he went darting about and seemed to struggle a bit.










Exploring his handmade log. It's free floating so he can push it around or float in the current.










Still quietly exploring. 










The pouty bugger above his rock hide. He's so adorable.

Tonight I'm going to introduce him to the gravel vacuum and measuring cup I use to scoop out water. Try and teach him they're safe things, like the rest of the things in his tank and Houdini.


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## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

Great journal - and I love Roanoke's coloring. Very jealous you were able to get a nerite snail as well, as I haven't found anyone around me that sells them yet.

Keep up the good work - looking forward to reading more posts!


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Thanks! That's what drew me to Roanoke initially; I'd been eyeing a blue and orange betta until the auction ended and he disappeared and was looking at in-state breeders to try and chill my own nerves about a fish arriving DOA. This boy was only $15, but the breeder held him for an extra week, so I paid $20. And he looks like a cherry blossom petal in his breeder pic that I saved! 

I introduced him to the gravel vac and measuring cup while doing a water change. Though the tank is a 10 gal tank from Meijer, it holds more around 8-9 gallons between substrate and decorations and the gap I leave for air on top. I tend to change out 4 gallons at a time unless the ammonia climbs too high, then I'll do 6 gallons (at which point I have to remove decorations and shift gravel around to get at it with my cup)

The little butt, I kid you not, decided to get in the way 99% of the time. He would flit about while I was removing water (Houdini decided he wanted to chill when the water went down, and I felt I was going quick enough for him to not dry out), eventually hiding behind his rock hide, with the fake fern I planted behind it. While I let the water dechlorinate and settle a bit, he came out again to poke at the glass where the bucket was kept. And when the water went above his hide, he decided to first swim where I was pouring water, then where I set the cup in the water a bit to keep from splashing everywhere. He wouldn't move even when I started to actually set it down.

Then I went to remove the baffle from the filter and guess where he had gone to explore? Yep, right under. I waited for him to get out of the way, and he swam oh so leisurely right by Houdini while I watched. 

After it was all done with, he went and hid in the bottom, with the driftwood, and later I saw him wedged where a silk leaf is pressed against the glass. I hope as his familiarity with the tank grows, he'll get more comfortable with the middle of the tank, but he doesn't seem to glass surf too much so far, and he will swim all over, even while sticking to the edges.

I still want to wrap a sponge around the intake of the filter. I just worry it's too strong from him after the weird wriggle he did by it the first time.


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## BettaFire682 (Apr 27, 2015)

Always be careful, and plan what you are going to do, before you do it, i lost two guppies when putting them together without knowing anything about breeding.


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## BettaFire682 (Apr 27, 2015)

Well good luck


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

He didn't get in the way so much this morning when I was doing water change, but first I had to try and feed him.

I have Omega One betta pellets, as well as a treat wheel that'll be introduced next week, and when I opened it up, I was really happy to see they were tiny compared to Houdini's shrimp pellets. I opened the lid and stuck my finger in, wriggling it a bit. I think he ended up coming to the surface on his own though, not because of the annoying finger.

He snapped one pellet up immediately, darting after it when it went down. The second one he didn't get; he snapped at it but it went down anyway and he didn't follow. He reminded me of my dog with food. A third one got completely ignored, so I stopped trying to feed him then.

He is making use of his rock hide. I think I startled him with the tank light and he refused to come out til I turned it off to start doing the water change. It was between .25 and .5 PPM of ammonia, so I did my standard 2 bucket (4 gal) change, keeping an eye on him as I cleaned the gravel where the food dropped. 

Houdini went and is chilling in the gravel under the filter. They are still pretty much eh about each other, though when Roanoke was first added, Houdini had stuck his head out to take a peek. 

I turned the light on again and left the room to work on some other things. When I walked by to turn the laundry over (washing the doge's things) I found Roanoke staring at the side of the tank, fins all flared out. I stared, trying to figure out if he was just alert or fully flaring, and his gills came out.

I was really excited since he's been such a docile little fish so far, but I'm not sure what he was flaring at. Probably his own reflection? I walked around and he watched me, still flaring, but when I went to the side he was staring at, he full on flared again, gills puffing out to make him look so ferocious. I'm afraid to admit I laughed because his little pouty face was just too cute. 

I decided to turn off the tank light and turn on the room's light again. He immediately chilled, though when he was poking around the back of the tank, I could see his reflection? Ah well, so long as he's chill, I'm chill. I plan on getting more plants this weekend to break up his reflection more, and if things go well, get some IAL to tint the water.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

BettaFire682 said:


> Always be careful, and plan what you are going to do, before you do it, i lost two guppies when putting them together without knowing anything about breeding.


Yeah, I'm aware. The 10 gal is too small for me to be comfortable with anything but possibly another snail and more plants, so long as Houdini and Roanoke get along. Houdini has another tank he can be rehomed to if Roanoke becomes too aggressive

I plan on getting a 20 long sand tank for some corycats and rasboras, probably a female betta too. But that's not for awhile.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

My levels were all at 0 today. It was weird because usually I get a .25 PPM after some time like overnight. 

Roanoke continues to be adorable. He swims around Houdini but seems to otherwise ignore him. The only reason he's swimming around him so much now is because Houdini is in his favorite part of the tank (the back).


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Levels are still showing at 0 this morning even though they were 0 last night too. Need to keep an eye on things, make sure there are no spikes.

Roanoke is not a fasting fish. I tried to do it yesterday to keep him from bloating, and he actually knocked Houdini off his rock. I fed him a little bit, but kept it restricted, and this morning Houdini was knocked on his back from being on the glass. Considering, I don't think Houdini fell.

If this happens again, I might have to remove Houdini from the tank.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I'm pretty sure Houdini is dead. I cupped him this morning to give him some isolation and he's not moved a bit.


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## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

He might not be - my snails go into a weird 'hibernation' off and on as well, were they don't move and I think they're dead, but in actuality they're just playing mind games with me. Sadly, they're winning.

If he is dead, you'll figure it out pretty quickly - dead snails smell pretty much like the worst thing imaginable, times a factor of infinity.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

The main reason I think he's dead is because he was on the glass one night and on his back the next morning, after I fed Roanoke to stop his agressiveness. 

I don't have a sense of smell.


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## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

I would give it a few days. Trust me, if you even have the slightest inkling of a sense of smell, you'll know it's dead in a couple of days. I have a mystery snail that spens a ton of time on its back, so I don't think that's a sign of death.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Nerites have trouble righting themselves when on their backs, so I've been watching and looking for him for the past week.

I'll keep Houdini cupped for now and wait and see if he moves at all. But yeah, 99.9% of the time my nose is dead as a board. My friend jokes I cover all my food in salt so I can taste anything at all.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Houdini finally decided to show he was alive a couple nights ago. We decided to upgraded the guppy tank upstairs too, since Petco is doing the dollar per gallon, so friend bought more guppies and I got pellet food since the boy who owns the tank doesn't break the flakes up for the fish. We got some more plants too, and a mystery snail for that tank. 










My tank is consistently .25 ppm ammonia now. I know my cycle's not started yet, but it's nice to know the plants are helping? At least I think because I decided to "test" it and let the tank sit all day and the ammonia never rose. I'm about to feed/water change now because I don't want to be that cruel but it's interesting to say the least.

We also decorated the tank for Halloween.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Bought a milk bottle (orangish), a teeny terracotta pot, and a few smooth "river" rocks and soaked them. I forgot to take pictures though because it was too close to Roanoke and friends' bedtimes to really take care of it. So I'll wait until I get some of the plants I ordered/am ordering to snap a few pics. Java moss for the rock hide, some anubias petite, and hopefully guppy grass and duckweed. I was hoping for cabomba, but it's illegal in Illinois despite being naturally occurring. Boo.

I do have a cool little bubblegum machine that I'm waterproofing to make into a micro plant tank. I ordered that anubias petite for the machine, but if it's big enough, I'm going to cut it in half and put some in my tank. 










Meanwhile the guppy tank is already ****ty and I'm most likely going to had over the gumball tank for it so he won't overfeed the poor fish.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Pictures!










Rocks, milk bottle, and teeny terracotta pot. The anubias petite half is going to go into the teeny pot. I thought the milk bottle would make an alternative hide for Roanoke but he's not noticed it as of yet. Considering how twisty he is, I don't see him getting stuck, and the opening is plenty big and smooth for his pretty fins.

I started going for a more natural, bottom of the lake look. 










This is the official snail pile of rocks, complete with Houdini clinging to one side and Horny the glass on the other.










Horny on the glass. He moved quick and then chilled here. He blends in with the gravel pretty well.










Gumball tank. Eventually half the anubias petite will be here.










Size comparsion. The gumball tank can only hold 660 mL of water barebottom, so it'll never be used for a living creature.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I decided to test all my levels today for the first time in a few days. I've mostly been sticking to water changes and the like without testing since I've only had the tank a couple of weeks, but I got some API stuff for the plants and to replace my Top Fin dechlorinator. I need to get something to lower my pH next, and am snagging the SafeStart from the guppy tank to get this cycle into high gear. Got some cuttlebone since the water here should be soft, and I want to give the snails some calcium for their shells. 

Plants are coming in, probably end of this week, early next week. I got a piece of anubias petite and java moss from ebay. I'm getting some guppy grass and duckweed from one person here, and as much frogbit as can fit in a $10 package from someone else. My bubblegum tank seems to be shipshape for the petite when it arrives. 

Amonnia: .25 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 0 PPM
pH: 8.2
Temp: 78 F

The guppy tank upstairs lost the redtail shark my friend got for it. I discovered their max size needs a min 40 gal tank and told her we were taking it back to the shop to be adopted by someone else. The mystery snail we got for it is dead as well, though Horny is fine still. Most of the guppies lost their bloated appearance, so I fed them today, and I'll be checking on the one fatso tomorrow and dosing him with some daphnia in case he's constipated. Some of the duckweed and frogbit will go into that tank when it arrives to give the guppies some more plants to play in.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I'm thinking about changing out Roanoke's substrate. Horny is really hard to see in the gravel, and I worry about siphoning him up.

I kind of like the idea of transitioning over to a naturally planted tank, but I'm reluctant to leave my silk plants behind or to put them in a tank where I won't get to see them and I know the person who does see the tank regularly won't appreciate them. 

Probably a good compromise is to wait for my 20 long community tank, however long that might be in the future, and in the meantime, shift from gravel to pool filter sand for Roanoke. 

I feel like crap today, but I still did a small water change this morning and added some API Leaf Zone for the anubias, fern, and moss ball. I found all the things I need for a sponge filter for like $19 on ebay, but I'm holding off until next month. And then I'll get an adjustable thermometer after that.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Today is a bad day, but I got a lot of my plants (just waiting on the frogbit now). The only thing I tied down for now is the anubias to the pot, not that Houdini was happy being pulled off it. 

Java moss is hidden on either end of the driftwood, sitting. The guppy grass I plan on coaxing roots out of eventually and planting some of it before splitting it to the other tank as well for the guppies. Who tried to eat some of the duckweed when I put it in the tank.

I don't know. I just am not a fan of guppies.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

Today I'm going to see about another job and am having a mild panic attack. I stayed up until five in the morning researching guppies, only to go into the back room and learn that the mystery snail for the guppy tank upstairs is alive. He's in my tank while I keep an eye on him before I take him upstairs again. 

I've dropped my water changes to 2 gal/8 gal twice a day instead of 4 gal/8 gal twice a day. So instead of an 100% change a day, it's 50% a day. This is because the ammonia registers as yellow whenever I do a 50% change and then it takes like 24 hours before it goes, whoops I'm at .25 again (or below, but it's greener so I change the water). And of course some days it takes even longer to change color. 

I hope I get this job because I really want to start a shrimp tank. It can be NPT and either a couple adults will go in with Roanoke to be eaten or as tankmates.

Or I can start off with a single male (plain as I can find) guppy and see how Roanoke reacts to him first. If it's well, I'd get two females and let the guppies and Roanoke take care of the fry. The nice thing about quarantining them is I'd try and teach them to eat at certain times of the day instead of ignoring when I go in for food/maintenance.


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## IsaiahKey (Sep 5, 2015)

I've gotten a guppy tank from upstairs.
One of them has fin rot.
My endler and horned nerite died.

I've been depressed lately


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