# I was just going to get my kid a pet fish...



## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

It was my Daughters birthday and she had been harassing me since forever for a pet fish. Every week we would go into the pet shop for dog food, and while I was in the dog isle, my Daughter would be at the tank displays looking at all the fish. She would then run back to me and ask me to come see 'spotty' ... the latest fish she had named. Come see 'zoomy'.... come see 'one eye' .... and so on. Sometimes the same fish would be there the following week and she would be so excited to see them again.

So, on her birthday, we went to the pet shop as usual, I got the dogs food and as we were heading to the till I stopped by the tanks and told her to pick out a small tank :-D she was really excited!
She picked out a tank kit that came with everything but the fish. I asked at the till about a pet fish and they said to come back 3 days after setting up the tank.

We got home and set up the tank, which is when I noticed the tank was actually designed specifically for a Betta fish. I just thought Betta was the name of the tank! So I did a spot of research online and that is when I first discovered the Betta Splenden.
When we returned to the store, we asked what fish were suitable for a 7litre tank, and we were shown the Betta, some tetras and mollies. My Daughter wanted 2 mollies, but looking at the size of them, I just knew there would likely be a lot of waste from them and I convinced her to stick to the betta, which the tank was designed for and I knew, from my little bit of research, would produce a lot less waste.

We came away with a little red betta fish, and a live plant.

Within an hour of getting him home, he developed bloat, from eating unsuitable food (generic tropical flakes). And his filter was battering him about the tank, as the flow was too strong!
I naturally rushed to google to find a helpful forum and became a member of this forum, to get help for the fish... that was so new, we hadn't even named him yet!

And that is how it all started... and how I became an addict :-D

And this is LitteRed!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

My Daughter almost didn't name little red anything, fearing he was going to die :-(
But with the help of this forum, I obviously looked more hopeful, and that made her feel more happy. She named him Fredrick :-D

He was fine after 24 hours, and while he remained shy and quiet. He had obviously had an impact on me, because I was soon considering getting a second...


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

I went from being harassed to getting a pet fish and not knowing much, or being particularly keen on fish... to being a 2 Betta household within a week 

I was at the pet shop getting the dog food, and some more Betta stuff when I noticed the shop had a new delivery of fish, so I checked them out.
The tanks were all in darkness, with 'RESTING' signs up. When I saw a flash of green whizz past behind one of the signs. I was like a kid in a candy shop and I am ashamed to say I might have squealed and bounced a little bit 

I had turned into my Daughter...

I told her, we HAD to return later to buy THAT fish! And if he was already sold, I would be throwing a tantrum, I would probably also die and be depressed for a week. I was unbearable to love with for the next hour or two while I waited for the fish to become available for sale. I think the kids were on the edge of phoning the mental house to get me locked up... I had become obsessed with fish seemingly over night, and they didn't like this new 'fish addict' Mom that they had become burdened with. My Daughter even said, I had put her off fish!

It was a blurr to be honest, one minute I was sane, the next I was no longer to think of anything but Bettas. And there was now two extra fishy mouths to feed in the house :shock: I did momentarily go through 'OMG, what am I doing' phase, but I think it lasted for about 5 minutes, before I returned to being obsessed with the fish.

I named my new fish Glade, as in a forest clearing. Because he was a beautiful iridescent turquoise colour, and it just reminded me of when you walk into a forest clearing... you have the lovely open blue of the sky and the greens of all the foliage that surrounds you. As he swam he would flash ble and green, he was gorgeous!

I decided to put Glades tank on my work desk, so I could sit and watch him while I worked. He proved to be quite an entertaining distraction!

And here is the beautiful boy himself.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

We were a happy 2 Betta household, and all was going well, when I noticed a tiny baby snail in Glades tank. It had obviously been hiding in a live plant that I brought.
He grew up nicely, but a few times I would see him drop from the leaves, or tank sides and land heavily on his shell. A few cracks appeared and his shell grew a bit funny, my Daughter named him Frank.

He was a welcomed addition, I'd often play 'spot Frank' on a quiet day and had time to kill :shock:


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

Frank was doing a sterling job of keeping Glades tank free from algae. I had noticed a lot of what I believed to be brown diatoms in the tank, but they didn't last long. And I would often see Frank on the football toy in the tank, eating all the brown algae/diatoms (not sure what is was, but Frank thought it was tasty either way!).

As Fredricks tank was in the kitchen, where there is more day light, it wasn't long before his tank was starting to get covered in algae too. So I decided to put Frank in Fredricks tank, to make a dent in the algae. I watched him closely as I didn't want him to end up as 'lunch'. I know some of you would happily give Frank as lunch to your assassin snails, but Frank had become one of the clan at this point, he was earning his keep and due to his resilience of making it this far despite hatching in an un cycled tank, being chewed on by Glade and having many prangs to his shell... he deserved to live.

Every time Fredrick approached Frank, I simply put my finger on the tank side, which distracted Fredrick enough for him to forget about his belly! I then fed him while Frank continued his work, the distraction of food also worked, temporarily.
So I removed Frank, and put him back with his buddy Glade.

I decided to get a snail for Fredricks tank. But I would get a more mature snail that wouldn't be seen as lunch. We went to the pet shop and told them the snail was for a small tank with a Betta, and we got shown three snails. It was for my Daughters fish, so I let her pick one out and before I knew it was was heading home with a 'long nosed snail'.

My Daughter wanted to call him 'Mr R. Fluffy'. Please feel free to ask what R stands for.
However, when I put him in the tank and got to see him in action, I am ashamed to say I laughed and affectionately named him Gonzo.

You can be the judge of whether or not Fredrick is impressed with his new tank mate...


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

I can't remember if it was an hour or a day after buying Gonzo, that I discovered two baby Franks.

Frank, had had twins :-D 

Well, I don't actually know they came from Frank, but he was looking pretty suspicious at this point. Either way, Glade now had 3 snails in his tank and I was wondering why I bothered buying Gonzo, when I clearly had a snail factory in the making.

Unfortunately after a week or two of seeing the two baby snails each evening, we think one had died, as an empty shell appeared on the gravel. So we named the remaining snail... Baby Frank. Naturally.

I would show you a photo of baby frank, but I can not find him right now, and even if I did. I doubt you would be able to make head nor tail of him. His pretty small. I will snap a pic next time I see him though.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

By this point, I had decided I was content. We had two Bettas, and each had a pet snail and there was potentially a mini snail explosion going on.

I wanted to upgrade Glades tank, as I felt he could do with many more live plants and drift wood etc. I wanted him to have a large and very naturally set up, so he could be as happy as I could make him.

But, I noticed he was already happy. His behaviour suggested so at least.
He had made a bubble nest and he loved to spend the evening searching around for tasty morsels. He would often become focused on something, flare right out and then POUNCE!, and gobble something up. No idea what he was hunting and eating, but he was, as far as I could tell, acting as naturally as a Betta could.

So maybe, to him, his tank was already perfect?


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

Fredrick on the other hand, didn't act like Glade did. He seemed more agitated. Everything had to be done a zillion miles an hour with much gusto. When I would open his tank lid to feed him, he would sometimes launch himself out the water at my hand trying snap up the food before I even had chance to drop it!
My Daughter started to dislike her pet fish by this point and now, she no longer calls him Fredrick. She calls him Fred West, and says he is really mean :shock:

I have decided I will get Fredrick & Gonzo a 5g tank also. And I shall buy the tank as soon as the pet store have their next tank sale on.

Here is the grumpy little red boy... he looks part frog in this pic... very grumpy waiting on his new set up!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

My plan was simple... just get a spare filter and cycle the media in an empty tank ( most will already know where this will end up... ), so by the time I get Fredricks new tank. I will have a cycled filter to go in it and I can use the old tank and filter to house Gonzo as a pet by himself.

Such a simple plan, or so I thought.

While cycling the media, I noticed something odd happening, I started to put small substrate (ready for Gonzo) and live plant clippings (from Glades speedy growing hygrophila) in it. Telling myself, the plants would help with the cycling, it made the empty tank look nicer and hey, why not put the spare heater in it, make sure it works ready for fredricks new tank, and so on, and so forth.

So I had this lovely little tank. Each week when I went to get the dog food, I couldn't stop myself, I kept on going to look at the Bettas 
I saw a lovely little female in the sorority tank, always looking stressed out and never getting sold. I had an empty tank... why not get a third fishy? 
I can still get Fredrick his 5g and just swap the filters/heaters around.

It all made perfect sense in my head, and before I knew it, the only words I could utter for the next week was 'fish - no we don't need another - fish fish fish - no no no'. Some days I recalled a child trying to be the voice of reason. 'Mom you're obsessed' ' Mom, have you ever heard of the crazy cat lady?' 'How about spend your money on food or bills instead?' 'don't you think the electric bill is high enough already' ... You have probably heard it all before yourselves...

I'm not sure where the time went, but I soon found myself in the pet shop, looking into the sorority tank... my Daughter barely able to maintain eye contact with me, with out rolling her eyes or laughing AT me :shock: I pointed out the girl that was zipping about the tank, with stress stripes across her eyes. She looked enraged, she couldn't stay still... zipping from one female to the next. Flaring and nipping at fins. I pointed her out to the shop keeper, who immediately looked frazzled and said 'she's going to be difficult to net'. I ignored him and watched him prepare everything to net her. I couldn't help but wonder if he had tried to repeatedly catch this one before and maybe that's why she had remained in this sorority. 

He caught her straight away with out even trying, and then he turned to me and said... 'oh my god, that was too easy'.

I handed over my money and headed home. I knew my Son was against me getting any more fish, so I decided I would allow him to name the fish no matter what, to help him bond with the fish. 
When I got home I showed him the fish, and told him he was going to be the one naming her. I then left him to get over the shock of his fish addict Mom bringing home another fish.

Later on while I was finished acclimating her and putting her in the tank, my Son walked in. I asked if he had come up with a name yet, because if he hadn't I joked I was going to name her 'Princess Fishalina'. He just said cereal, because that's what he had gone into the kitchen for. I told him he couldn't name a fish Cereal. Which turned into a debate about crazy celebrity baby names and he could call the fish what ever he wanted. 
Before I knew it I was calling the fish Princess Cereal Fishalina. I'm not one for naming my pets such names. Such names remind me of ladies who call there white fluffy dogs princess snowflake. Yet, for some reason, princess cereal fishalina seemed more comical and nerdy, than girly and lacking originality. So I have a horrible feeling, for the first time in my life, I might have just ended up with a pet named princess. Which, I am not ashamed to admit, actually horrifies me, but cereal and fishalina slightly make up for it.

She is a dainty little thing. I always though Fredrick and Glade were tiny, but princess cereal fishalina (I really need to find a shorter version for that name), is less than half her size! And so speedy, with her nice petite fins. She is still getting used to her new set up, she loves hiding behind the filter and checking out her minimal décor. She has a healthy appetite and already keen to eat everything that is put in the tank, dried/frozen and pellets. Everything gets a nibble, she really doesn't let her tiny little mouth stop her trying to eat everything.

She has this most amazing blue in her eyes, which almost looks like a neon light when it catches the light perfectly. She also has a quirky mouth, I can't tell if it's her actual mouth or just the way her colouring makes it look. But every time I see her blue eyes, and quirky smile, I start singing 'tiny dancer' by Elton John.... 'blue eyed (jean) baby... pretty eyed, pirate smile ... ballerina, you must have seen her .... tiny dancer in my hand...'
It just seems so perfect for her :-D

Enough waffling though, here is my blue eyed, pirate smiled tiny dancer...


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

It has been roughly 2.5 months since we brought Fredrick & Glade home, and all this crazy fish business started.

I am hoping to re scape Glades tank, upgrade Fredrick to a 5g, and I am unsure about princess cereal fishalinas tank. She will need an upgrade and re scape as she grows I think. I'm sure I will think of what's best as time goes on and her real little personality comes out.

I believe I have levelled up, I feel I was fish obsessed, and now the fish have become a hobby, and I just want to improve the tanks and learn more about the live plants and aqua scaping. Hopefully these hardy little fish, will be happy to tolerate me as I learn.

However, Glade really does love his tank right now and I think he sees me as an intruder... so I might leave him until last!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

*Snail surgery...*

Franks shell was really starting to nag me. Each time I see him, I can see the edge of his shell turning inwards and almost pressing against his head. So, I took him out the tank and with some nail clippers and an emery board, I clipped away the edge and then smoothed it down, to make sure no sharp bits cause any injury to him or Glade.

I put him back in the tank beneath the driftwood to hopefully recover happily. He probably feels like he was just abducted by aliens and experimented on.

3 months ago, I never thought I would be clipping snails shells, and worried about how they recover afterwards. Hopefully, he does fine and will come out of hiding soon, then I can take a comparison photo. But for now, two photos, to show how his shell curved inwards and moments after giving it a very quick and gentle clip!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

Turns out Frank is made of tough stuff, and didn't need to recover. And, I am also realising just how mad I might have become :shock: but, never mind.

Frank was obviously over the moon with his new found freedom of having a shell trim :-D he was straight up the amazon sword to show off how much more athletic he was now feeling, and I was mesmerised.

Glade knows it is dinner time, and seemed to get annoyed that all the focus was on a snail :evil: so while I was snapping photos of Frank, I noticed Glade glaring at me... I snappe a pic of him and then carried on snapping photos of Frank. Which is when I noticed Glade 'stuck' in the driftwood :roll: 
By this point, Frank was delirious with freedom, on his back flailing about in the water :lol: Glade instantly saw I was focused on the snail again and removed himself from the driftwood and went to have a go at Frank.
(now I know the way I talk about it, is not the way the fish or snail was actually thinking, but the journal wouldn't be half as interesting if I didn't put my own spin on their thoughts)

Photos...


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

By 6pm I like to have all fish fed and lights out, and some nights, with a bit of veg in the tank for the snails.

Tonight's menu was frozen Cyclops and cucumber. All tanks are at a happy 80F, the fish seem to be doing their usual routine of hunting around the tank, while the snails are hanging precariously upside down from their floating cucumber. I could have blanched it or weighted it down, but it's more enriching for them to earn their food I'm sure :lol:


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

What a fun journey! I loved reading this 

To weigh down your cucumber, you can boil it in plain water for 2-3 minutes then cool it off. It sinks and stays sunk.


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## CaptainRaikenJack2 (Oct 31, 2014)

*...O_O*

Well I was so entertained from that story I forgot what the question was...but I can help you out with your tanks once I stop laughing :-D

SO - Your female bettas tank is just fine. Females are good in the very minimalistic of conditions, and your tank is just right.
IF YOU WERE GOING TO EVER GET ANOTHER TANK, I suggest using sand as a substrate, as rocks / stones can scrape on the fish and scar him, leading to possible infection.
I hop Glade is doing well, and from this, I have taken a liking to Frederick...hes my type ;-)

ALSO, congrats on being an addict! I caught this addiction when I was like 9, and im 12 now...still continuing with my betta legacy...
(I may be young, but that doesnt mean i cant fishkeep!)
But yeah, I lost track of how many fish, snails and other critters you got halfway through this story :-?
Id love to have an update to see how they are all going! And good luck fishkeeping!


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

This is great! Your stories had me literally laughing out loud many times! Very entertaining and you write well. I love grumpy little Glade and Fredrick and all the snails. I am impressed with all your plants.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

Laki said:


> What a fun journey! I loved reading this
> 
> To weigh down your cucumber, you can boil it in plain water for 2-3 minutes then cool it off. It sinks and stays sunk.


Thanks for the tips, I'll bare that in mind. They still find it floating at the surface, so all is well



CaptainRaikenJack2 said:


> Well I was so entertained from that story I forgot what the question was...but I can help you out with your tanks once I stop laughing :-D
> 
> SO - Your female bettas tank is just fine. Females are good in the very minimalistic of conditions, and your tank is just right.
> IF YOU WERE GOING TO EVER GET ANOTHER TANK, I suggest using sand as a substrate, as rocks / stones can scrape on the fish and scar him, leading to possible infection.
> ...


Thanks, and you are the same age as my Daughter! She has been on the learning curve with me with the Bettas and knows a a fair bit now... but she still leaves all the hard work for me :roll:

The gravel in Glade and Fredricks tank is large and smooth, so they should be fine. The smaller gravel in princess cereal fishalinas tank is much smaller and relatively smooth as it is coated in resin. But I will keep an eye on their delicate bellies and fins, just in case.



BettaSplendid said:


> This is great! Your stories had me literally laughing out loud many times! Very entertaining and you write well. I love grumpy little Glade and Fredrick and all the snails. I am impressed with all your plants.


Cheers


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

This morning I was up early (early for a Sunday!), and I checked on the cucumber to see how many baby snails it might have lured out of hiding.
I counted 5, including Frank.
So I'm thinking of a rename for the snails. We now have Grandpa Frank, Daddy Frank, baby Frank, uncle Frank and Aunty Frank. You get the idea, it's a family of Franks. 

As you can already tell, I am a lover not a fighter. I have allowed them to live this long and I have even made live easier for old (at 3 months) Grandpa Frank, with shell surgery. But I know if I want to keep the tank healthy for Glade, I am going to have to become a mass murderer. All I wanted to do was get my Daughter a pet fish, and now, look at what has become of me. It got dark pretty quickly :shock:

I snapped some photos of one of a the Frank clan, this one must be greedy cousin Frank, he stayed on the cucumber the longest and was clearly enjoying the feast. Again, Glade was not impressed with my attention being diverted. Normally I switch the light on and feed him... but today, I switched the light on and gave all my attention to the pesky snails! So he photo bombed the snail in a few of the photos.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

And just so Gonzo isn't left out... I think it's safe to say he enjoyed his cucumber last night, as he hasn't moved from it all night. There's a hearty chunk missing from it too!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

I'm not going to go through every breakfast routine, as it's pretty mundane! But I will do this once for the start of the journal.

This morning for breakfast it's freeze dried brine shrimp... it was the first packet I grabbed from the cupboard.

Glade was first up and giving a good flare at the food, brine shrimp isn't his favourite. OR maybe it's the freeze dried part. I'm not sure. But I know if there's flaring... he is just going to play with it and not eat it. Playing is enriching for him though, so I just leave him to it.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

Fredrick was keen for food this morning and wiggling all over his tank, waiting in anticipation!

It's difficult to get photos of Fredrick, as the driftwood has put tannins in his water making it dark. Add that to his hygrophila plant slowly taking over. And the fact Fredrick doesn't keep still... so I decided to go for an over head photo! 

He too isn't keen on freeze dried brine shrimp, but unfortunately, when it comes to food in this house... if you don't eat what you're given, you simple don't eat. He likes to play with it though.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

And, last but not least, Princess Cereal Fishalina! 
She gave me a beautiful good morning flare as soon as she saw me, and her pretty eyes were glowing a lovely blue.

She too got freeze dried brine shrimp... the poor girl, she will soon get used to the awful menu in this house. She took a few hearty mouthfuls and then had great fun chasing the bits falling from the clump, and then darting back up to start all over.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

We had to have some clean ups earlier.

Princess Cereal Fishalina needed the waste food removing and she tolerated the baster really well. She is a very confident and curious girl.

Fredrick needed a large water change and gravel vac because Gonzo has 3 poops per second. He poops double that rate after a feast on veg. I'm starting to think I would have been better off with the algae problem! I'm glad I decided on large white gravel for Fredrick... other wise seeing and removing all Gonzos poop would be a head ache.

And lastly, Glade needed his filter dismantling to clean out some of the muck (no doubt the frank clans muck!). While the filter was still filtering water, the air intake had some how got blocked and there was no water agitation happening, so the surface of the water was covered in that bio film, which Frank was thoroughly enjoying a good old munch on!

Our normal water change days are Wednesday, but now and then I will do a second clean up if things are looking particularly grubby - especially as the tanks are on the smaller side. This Wednesday, Glade is going to have a thorough clean up due to all these Franks!


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## CaptainRaikenJack2 (Oct 31, 2014)

Welp what a nice coincidence  Seems there aren't many young fish enthusiasts around right now.
And don't worry. My betta isn't too keen on my freeze dried Bloodworms either.
P.S Just seeing your posts makes me want to get another betta so bad (but I cant until next saturday as Im putting cotton wool prevention medicine in! Argh!)
If the snail overtake gets too bad, dont feel bad to kill some of the Frank family...it wont hurt the others...much!
Also, I promise that the bastering wont last long...sheesh I couldn't sit down and pick up my fish's poop...thats why I have snails in the tank! :shock:

Loving all these updates! Its like Im going through the biography of these bettas, and I havent yet lost interest, and I probably never will!


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## BettaSplendid (Jul 12, 2015)

Glade...move over sweetie, we can't see the Franks.

 

Don't cross a crowntail. So cranky!

For ease, how about Princess Cereal Fishalina is "PCF" for short? I promise to still read it "Princess Cereal Fishalina" in my heart. This will save your sanity, some.


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

CaptainRaikenJack2 said:


> Welp what a nice coincidence  Seems there aren't many young fish enthusiasts around right now.
> And don't worry. My betta isn't too keen on my freeze dried Bloodworms either.
> P.S Just seeing your posts makes me want to get another betta so bad (but I cant until next saturday as Im putting cotton wool prevention medicine in! Argh!)
> If the snail overtake gets too bad, dont feel bad to kill some of the Frank family...it wont hurt the others...much!
> ...


Glad you're enjoying my fishes journal 

I hope your treatments are working for your fish, don't worry, Saturday will soon be here and I look forward to reading about your new fish.




BettaSplendid said:


> Glade...move over sweetie, we can't see the Franks.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I did think of using PCF, I also thought of just Princess, or Cereal... I even thought about calling her tiny dancer, after the song, because it repeatedly goes round me mind when I am watching her! I will eventually settle on something!


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## LittleRed (Jul 27, 2015)

All three fishies are swimming about happily.

Not much has happened the last two days as I have been busy studying, the joys of being a mature student!
I tend to leave the fish be fish on Monday and Tuesday, I simply feed them in the morning and evening, and occasionally watch them as I am pottering around, to see what they are up to. Mostly they are just chilling in their plants or hunting around the tank, trying to eat stuff I can't see.

I brought Princess a new piece of driftwood for her tank today, so she has something new to explore and hide around. But to be honest, she doesn't seem like a shy fish at all. So I doubt she will use it for anything other than exploring. I washed it using some of her tank water, but other than that I just put it in her tank. This is how I did it with Glade and Fredricks tank. 
So I should expect to see lots of tannins in the water over the next two weeks, but with the weekly water changes the tannins will quickly disappear. I think with Glades tank, it took 2 months (50% weekly water changes) before the water was back to being clear. 

Other than that, there isn't a lot to report on.
Tomorrow is the weekly water change, and I will be seeing about getting rid of some of the Frank clan. So I will get some photos taken as I work and give some more updates on each fishy... and snail...


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## sharkettelaw1 (Mar 6, 2013)

Run Frank run!! Lol &#55357;&#56834;


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## CaptainRaikenJack2 (Oct 31, 2014)

Hehe UK time saturday is exactly 3 hours and 40 mins away!


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## CaptainRaikenJack2 (Oct 31, 2014)

And has the driftwood made your tank look very algea...y? I heard it browns the water.


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Sounds like you've had quite the adventure with your two bettas. It's very easy to get addicted to them lol.


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