# My Sorority Journal (Picture Heavy)



## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

I wanted a place that I can keep a running journal on my sorority. There are currently 7 girls and today was their first day in the 20 gallon tank. I'll mostly be posting pictures and text when necessary. 

Before adding the girls


















Acclimating to the new tank


















Girl 1, needs a name!









Girl 3, needs a name!









Lily









Princess Peach (The current bully)









Girl 6, needs a name!









Aquabid Girl 1, needs a name!









Aquabid Girl 2, needs a name!


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## IndigoChild311 (Jun 26, 2013)

For girl 3 what about Luna? She reminds me of the moon with her colors.
Aquabid 1 looks like a Jetta (it means dark)
Aquabid 2 could be Rowan (it means red tree or something)
Girl 6 maybe Bonnie or Wisteria?
Girl 1 to me looks like a Dahlia (I don't know why)


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

IndigoChild311 said:


> For girl 3 what about Luna? She reminds me of the moon with her colors.


Aww, I like Luna for girl 3 that's a keeper! Thanks for all of your suggestions

*Thank you for naming me!!*


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

*Day 2 Updates*

So far so good. I forgot to mention yesterday that someone or something tore up Aquabid Girl 1's dorsal fin. However, I am happy to say that has been the only injury thus far. I'm terrified of some kind of catastrophe to occur and I end up with only 1 female left or something. Hopefully I have done everything correctly and can catch a bully when I see them to prevent this. Like Princess Peach who was being a royal pain in the butt!
Now for pictures!

Some of the girls having a meeting on aquarium etiquette









"I'm a little cory short and stout..." So far Lily has been keeping stripes, but I'm not sure why. I don't really feel like it is stress, maybe submission?









For some reason she really wants me to see her belly. Maybe it's her sexy pose.









Here's the girl with the injury, but you can't really tell in this picture









Trying to make escargot


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## karenluvsbettas623 (Jul 13, 2013)

they're all so pretty! nice sorority. I have 4 separated females but i'm reluctant to form a sorority because I don't want any torn fins or injuries. I know its supposed to be temporary but it still freaks me out


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

I'm having the same trauma right now. All of my girls look fine except for the girl with the torn dorsal and now Lily has either been bitten or torn her fins as well.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah torn fins are going to happen no matter what. My sorority has been up since mid-March-ish and I still get torn fins! Of course I did just add a new girl and it usually takes a little while for them to settle again but there will always be someone with ripped fins and that's why I use Stress Coat all the time (lol sounds like a infomercial XD)

I love your girls though! Loving the AB girls too ^_^ nice intense colors and the CT's! I only have one and I really want some more but I'll just have to look around more is all


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Yes, my Petco had nearly all crowntail girls. Makes me happy 
Today's update will be up soon. I just got back from doing elephant research at the Nashville Zoo and I'm gonna get a bite to eat.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Well didn't get around to taking pictures today, but not much has changed anyway. Luna has a tiny amount of her anal fin missing.
However, poor Lily has been picked on a good bit. She's got tears in all of her fins so I placed her in the breeder box to relax for the day. She's almost twice the size of everyone else, but is definitely the most submissive female. I released her this evening and no one is giving her a hard time at the moment, but I am keeping a close eye on her.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Things have settled down a little, but not before seeing a few more nips. I am going to put them in order by their current rank in the hierarchy. Everyone has a name now too!

1. Delores Umbridge (she acts all sweet and innocent, but is really evil)









"I will have order!"








"All of the plants are mine!!!"

2. Mulan (her tail reminds me of one of the chinese fans so I went with that idea and decided on Mulan because she is beautiful yet tough)










3. Princess Peach (She kind of looks like a peach and thinks she needs to be treated like royalty)










4. Nova (she's like a little explosion of energy and her colors remind me of space)

I had to chase her around the aquarium for 5 minutes to get a picture!









5. Luna (she reminds me of the moon and Luna Lovegood because she is a little strange) 










6. Lily (she is the soulmate to my male Severus Snape)

You can see the tears in her fins, but she doesn't have stripes anymore









7. Meg Griffin (No one likes her and she doesn't fit in)

You can see a little chunk of her anal fin missing
"Mr. Snail will you be my friend?"


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

OMG obsessed over all your names! Love them! Aww poor Meg lol

Ooooh, who's your Severus?! I shall hunt for his picture if you have one up of him!

I'm glad Lily is feeling better!


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Haha yup poor Meg!

Here is my Severus


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

asdlkfjasdlfkj he's beautiful! Oh god, probably 100 points from Gryffindor if he heard me say that! :shock: lol


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh no, I think he might have heard you!

*hits you on the head with book*

hahaha


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lmao! I don't know what I'd do if I were hit on the head with a book by Severus Snape....probably just giggle and get into more trouble, most likely detention XD lol too funny!


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Update time!

So, I was going to upload some pictures of my two injured girls and their new fin growth. Took the pictures, uploaded them to my mac, look back over to the tank, and.... Lily has a brand new chunk taken out of her dorsal!!! I can't turn my back for 5 minutes lol

Anyway here is the picture of Lily before the dorsal bite. You can see some clear growth on her caudal.









And the 5 minutes later picture with a piece of her dorsal gone!









Meg managed to escape anymore injury thus far, and her anal is showing some clear growth.









Here are some random group shots of everyone. They are spending more time together than they had been.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

I have and outbreak of ich in my tank. I have posted in the diseases section to discuss possible treatment options. Please feel free to make any suggestions.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Just bump up the temp to 85-86 and it will take care of it in 7 days. If you can do daily water changes at around 50% then that will help get rid of the free floating particles and prevent it from growing again but the Ich cannot live in those temperatures and will die in a complete life cycle in 7 days so that's the easiest, least stressful way to handle Ich! I've done that for my 33 sorority and worked super well!!


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## Elsewhere (Dec 30, 2012)

10asartin said:


> Things have settled down a little, but not before seeing a few more nips. I am going to put them in order by their current rank in the hierarchy. Everyone has a name now too!
> 
> 1. Delores Umbridge (she acts all sweet and innocent, but is really evil)
> 
> ...


I _died_ at this! Tears are in my eyes! Beautiful girls, though, and sorry about the ich problem :/


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Just day 2 of the ich problem and most of the girls have no more white spots on them. I will maintain the temperature at 86 degrees for 7-9 days to make sure I kill off all of the parasites. 
More good news, there have been no new damaged fins or injuries since my post on 7/22! I don't want to jinx it so I won't say more than that


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Just be careful that the ich isn't just going through its life-cycle rather than being killed off completely. As you probably know, it can only be killed when it is off the fish, not when it is protected in the white cyst you see on the fish. 

I have a very resistant strain of ich in my tanks and even though my tank has been at 86 degrees for well over two weeks now it has had no affect on the parasites. Apparently some strains can survive temperatures of 90 degrees now. 

Sometimes people think they have cured it, but then it crops up later down the track because the parasite wasn't killed off completely. I have found mild infections usually only show up on the pectorals and other fins of the fish so make sure you check these areas carefully to ensure the ich isn't still present in your tank.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Right, it is just like many diseases in all animals and people. Just because you no longer see it, doesn't mean that it is gone for good. A lot of people assume that once they no longer see something they can quit treatment, but that just isn't so. Hopefully the strain in my tank isn't one of the tough ones.

Thanks for your contribution!


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

No worries. Having dealt with it just repeatedly coming back in one of my grow-outs over the past month or so, I know how frustrating it can be so just wanted to make certain you were aware of how tricky this parasite can be. 

As an aside, your females look happy. With those plants I think your tank will be a jungle in no time.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Okay, so I ran over to Petco JUST to get some things for my dog and walked out with....

TADA!

















I have a feeling she's going to be a wild color when she gets bigger, I really hope so at least. For now she is going into a 1.5 gallon QT tank for 2 weeks and then will float in a breeder box for a few days in the main tank so that the girls can become accustom to her.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

So cute!!!!!! Ugh, so beautiful! I hope she marbles out but keeps the cello fins and looks like she's got some red/orange on the anal along with the green! Or is that cello there and is the background color?

Have you got a name for her? I keep thinking Ravenclaw's ghost the Grey Lady but I think Rowena would be a really cute name for her. Another that pops up is Myrtle XD lol but I think she deserves a prettier name


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Yes, she does have some red in her anal fin. I'm really excited to see how it develops. Her colors remind me of an artist covered in paint splatters, so I'll probably try to come up with an artist's name for her depending on how her personality is in the sorority.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Most artists are males unfortunately but one of my girls is named after a male artist; Matisse and I just call her Maddie most of the time  but the artists I think of that do splatter would be Pollock and Kandinsky, both do beautiful abstract drawings! But hard I think to get a female Betta name from that lol


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

There are many, many female artists, but they just aren't as well-known as their male colleagues. Georgia O'keefe, Frida Kahlo, Mary Cassatt, and Elaine de Kooning are some of my favorites.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

However, I am certainly not against using a male artist's name if it fits her well


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Sorry, I didn't word that right. I meant to say that the more popular ones are mostly males lol, I know there are plenty of female artists, I'm one of them! haha one of my favorites is Janet Fish....funny enough XD


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Haha, Janet Fish! Sounds like you need to name one of your girls that


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol yeah, I want to but then I want to stick to my Marvel theme too! Although....I do have two artists so far...so what's another? lol actually I might just name the new girl I won who is a white marble dragon with blue on her tail and red on her head, Janet Fish just because it's so cute lol


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Great idea!


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Tomorrow will mark 7 days that I have been treating ich. I have maintained the temperature at 86 degrees and performed daily water changes and everyone including the cories are doing fine with it. However, a couple girls still had a couple white spots on them yesterday so I feel like I should continue the treatment for at least 3 more days to be sure all of the ich is gone from the tank.

Will it be safe for me to maintain the temperature a bit longer?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah the temp is fine. You should continue treatment usually a week to two weeks after you see the last white spot. So you can keep the temp up just fine, your cories might become short lived after a while but it's not like they're going to die tomorrow or anything, it just won't be the normal 2-3 years they live or whatever it is. I don't know exactly how long they're supposed to live.

So since they still have white spots I would look into some Kordon Rid-Ich or Ich-Attack, easy to dose and I used 2x the amount for my 33, so I was using 6 teaspoons at that time every day with the water changes. But since you're still seeing the white spots I'm wondering if it's one of the strains that is resistant to heat....either way I think it would be good to invest in some least stressful medicines like the Kordon stuff. That worked really well for me and my girls and no one seemed effected by it negatively. it's also safe for plants and inverts too so that's a plus!


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Do you know if Kordon is a product Petco would carry or will I need to purchase online?
Hallelujah! A med that won't kill every other living thing in my tank!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lmao yeah, I used Kordon in my 33 which is planted and had rabbit snails at the time!

Yes, I bought mine from PetSmart, PetSmart is normally cheaper than PetCo for supplies but both generally carry it ^_^


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Okay, I will be making a trip today


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

So I have been treating the tank with 86 degree temperature combined with the Kordon ich-attack, and all visible white spots have been gone for 2 days. Two more days and I will begin lowering the temperature back to normal and stop dosing the meds and see how things go


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You're supposed to dose at least one week after you see no more white spots. You can start lowering the temp but I think you should keep dosing Kordon.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Oh, okay. The bottle said to only dose 3-4 days after you see the last white spots.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ah okay, well if you feel comfortable with that then you can go for it. I believe the week extra is more of a precautionary measure, especially if you're just using heat.


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

I will certainly continue the treatment for a whole week, I trust your judgement on this. After all it is herbal and won't hurt to continue for 1 week.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah that's why I like the Kordon products, they're quite good at what they do ^_^ And in this way you can start lowering the temp, do a water change if you need to and continue for the week since the last white dot. Since that was 2 day's ago I think you said, 5 day's left ^_^


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Something that I have found to be kind of odd with this tank is that it has been running for about 1 month and I have yet to get more than a 0 reading for ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate. When I first set up the filter I placed a piece of filter sponge from my established tank inside. It was about the size of a playing card and I didn't really expect it to do much, but is it possible that the sponge provided enough BB to establish a cycle in the new tank so quickly? 
I use the API master kit and I tested on my new girl's QT tank just before a water change to make sure my testing equipment is good and the ammonia reading came out at 0.25ppm. This tells me my tests are indeed accurate, it is just hard to believe.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Plants, live plants act as a buffer against those levels so when you have enough live plants to handle the bio-load, you'll never get a reading. And yes that little piece could have enough to help kick start it with the addition of the plants ^_^ That is what's called the Silent Cycle and I definitely try to promote that as much as I can because it's so simple and it's the least stressful way to cycle for both you and your fish (well can be stressful for your wallet but at least you don't have to do a gajillion water changes)

^_^


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## 10asartin (Mar 28, 2013)

Wow, I had heard of the Silent Cycle, but never really grasped the concept because I didn't do too much research on it. WOOHOO for plants!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

YES!! I LOVE the Silent Cycle!! Seriously my favorite thing, as I said, might be stressful on the wallet but totally worth it in the end! But yeah, I really want more people to know about the Silent Cycle, it seems that no one really knows! So I try to advocate it wherever I go ^_^

So yes, congratulations on your completely cycled tank! lol


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