# An Apple's Perspective



## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Hi Everyone - welcome to my Journal. Not quite sure at this point why I'm making one, but it seems like the thing to do round these parts.

May as well introduce myself a bit while I'm here. My name is Allison - I'm a Network Administrator from the Chicago Suburbs. Or, at least I *was* until my health spiraled out of control last year. Right now I'm off work due to said health down-spiral, but I hope be be able to return to work sometime soon. There is a lot up in the air still - I'm just hoping some of that begins to stabilize.

Outside of my recent brood of finkids, I kept betta as a child. Unfortunately...this was during a period of time when information on betta was sorely lacking and resources to *find* information were limited. To this day I still feel awful about what my early betta went through. In truth - after watching my last two boys suffer in early High School I pretty much stepped away from fishkeeping as a whole. They each lived for 4 years....but "survived" was a better way to describe it. I remember feeling awful for my boys daily, and didn't want more betta to suffer the way they did.

Then - close to 20 years later, I started just looking online for information as to the care of betta *JUST IN CASE* I ever got one. I had a small tank in my closet that my best friend had given me when her cats made keeping *her* set of fish impossible, and with that tank held just a whisper that maybe - one day, I'd pick up a betta again. *Maybe.*

This was all very theoretical until the Day after Thanksgiving this past year. My best friend and I were out - but given it was Black Friday there were limited things we could do to amuse ourselves that weren't jam-packed with people. So, we escaped into Petco. Anytime I was in a petstore for *years* I'd look at the betta - this day was no different. Until I saw - HIM.

On one the shelves was a mostly white and black doubletail with raggedy fins. He didn't look like much, especially when compared to some of the other fish on the shelf. But - something drew me to him. I picked up the cup and looked at the little guy. And - something in me knew at that point I wasn't going home empty-handed that day. I bought a cheap heater (quickly replaced...I spent *SO* much money on stuff I replaced early on), and some Aqueon food and water conditioner (again....replaced). I already had a tank at home, but I didn't have any plants - so I picked up some plastic plants for the tank as well (once again - since replaced). And before I knew it - I had a $50 bill on my hands for a fish *I ALREADY HAD A TANK FOR*. The madness had begun.









_Early Callisto - Day 2 Home from the Store.

_In the next two weeks - I watch nearly *DAILY* changes from the new member of my household. Before entering the store - I had *no idea* what a "Marbled Betta" was. This changed by the end of night 1 - and while I had *some* idea what might be in store for me, I wasn't prepared for how *QUICKLY* Callisto transformed in front of my eyes to a completely different fish.









_Callisto Day 3_









_Callisto - End of Week 1_

Within a week, Callisto was in a larger tank (5gal) with better plants and a better heater thanks to the lovely people at this website. My parents had given me two tanks when they learned I'd bought a fish that had been sitting in the basement since I was a child, but the 5gal was leaking and with pre-Christmas sales it was cheaper to just buy a kit than it was to rehab the old tank. So and *this* introduced the hazards of having more tanks in my house than fish. 

At some point in all of this, Hrutan was looking to rehome a spawn - and I claimed a couple. I had the space for them. I just couldn't *get* them right away because I lived in Chiberia in winter and I didn't want them to turn into bettacicles on the way. In preparation for these guys, I *DID* pick up some aquarium sealer just to see if I could rehab the 5gal for future use....and I as able to seal the tank appropriately. I just figured the tanks would wait until those fish could ship.

Yeah - *THEN* I learned how dangerous it is to be in Petco the day that the betta shipment arrives. So much for that.









_Neptune, just home from the store_

So - with the addition of Neptune, one fish was now Two. Within a few days, I then had Enceladus as well. A couple weeks later - another member here was looking to rehome Pallas - so I took him in as a "Foster Fish" until I can get him to another forum member as a permanent home later this year. Then a few weeks ago - I was in the petstore and saw this stinkin-cute tiny little female.

So - yeah. 6 months ago I would have told you I would probably never own another betta. Now I have 5, with 3 more on the way (Hru's two boys, and another boy from the "The Ones That Got Away" thread) that should arrive next week. (Obviously, more tanks have been purchased along the way as well.)

So...yeah. We'll see how this all goes. 
*
Next To Come: Introductions to the Brood*


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Introductions*

So - lets get everyone acquainted with the finkids.

*Pallas - the "Foster Boy"
*Pallas came from another member on these forums. This member rescued him from Wal-Mart - where Pallas was kept in terrible conditions. This member says that Pallas was clinging to life when found. I don't doubt it.

When *I* first got Pallas - he was emaciated, dealing with some SBD or some Muscle atrophy that made it difficult for him to swim, and had very clearly been recovering from fin rot. I've had him a little over a month now, and the change in him has been substantial. He's now at a healthy weight, his tail has doubled in length (though is still quite ratty and is still healing), and he went from scooting himself around the bottom of the tank to a wiggleworm that won't stop swimming.









_Pallas is hard to get a good picture of - he doesn't stop swimming when I'm near the tank_

*Dione*
My baby girl. I mean that almost literally - she was sold as a "female crowntail" but I realized after I got her home that she wasn't much bigger than the baby betta in the store. I think Petco may have relabeled and recupped her as soon as her sex was clearly evident.

Dione NEVER STOPS MOVING. Without the burden of long heavy fins - she just darts across her tank. She *does* come to greet me whenever I enter the room though. Cutie.


















*Enceladus*
My beautiful blue butterfly.

Enceladus has actually been a bit of a frustration lately. Feeding him bloodworms was the biggest mistake I ever made with these guys. Shortly after the first feeding - he stopped eating, started losing weight and a suspicious long, white\clear object was found in his tank. So, I treated for parasites. He initially did better after treatment - but even after a day or two beyond THAT he started refusing food again. Unless I offered bloodworms - those he gobbled right down.

I tried offering nothing but pellets for 2 weeks. He might eat 1 pellet - maybe - every couple days. Tried flakes...no deal with those either. During this time he started looking quite emaciated and started biting his tail, so it looks like bloodworms is what it's going to be for now. We'll try this again after he heals back up and gets back to a healthy weight.

















_WHY must you refuse to eat anything except your tail and bloodworms Enceladus? WHY?!?!!_

Neptune
My Beautiful Rosetail. Neptune is just a great fish. He's also my most aggressive boy. He takes some wonderful flaring pictures!

Neptune is fin-nipping as well....but I'm actually not all that surprised given he's a rosetail and his fins are quite large and heavy. I'm flaring him to keep his muscles strong - but if his finnage becomes a problem I might have to look into trimming for him in the future anyway.

















_~Someone~ decided to make their displeasure of having their picture taken known!_
*
Callisto*
My Mamma's Boy. The little stinker who started this whole mess.

Callisto has not *completely* settled on what his colors are since I brought him home. He's a lot more stable now than he was, but it still varies a bit from day to day. Last week he had quite a bit of green irids for example - today he's mostly dark, dark blue. Watching him is fascinating.

Callisto is a big sweetie. He's not really very aggressive - it was a couple weeks that I had him before he would flare at all (and that was when I had a very sick 'rescue' that I was floating in his tank....and even that flare only lasted a minute). Now he'll occasionally flare at his nerite buddy Milky Way, but that's brief and he moves on as well.

Callisto's tank is right by the couch with me and my computer, and he'll hang out by me and watch me while I work on my laptop. He won't follow my finger, but if I put my finger up to the tank wall he'll swim to it if he's on the other side of the tank. I've been able to calm him down doing this. He's my BOY. <3

















_Here's how my boy looks.....today._

Otherwise - I'll have a handful more next week if the weather holds, LOL. So I'll have to introduce those boys once they arrive.


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## JHatchett (Aug 24, 2014)

Your story reminds me so much of myself. It starts with one...then a tank upgrade...then ten bettas later you are scratching your head and wondering what happened.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Subscribed.  Really loved how you told your story, and I like your fishes, too! Looking forward to reading more.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

@JHatchett - Haha, yeah...the "scratching my head wondering what happened" has definitely hit. A part of me understands that this is all madness. The rest of me just doesn't care.

@Elleth - Thanks! I'm sure there will be updates next week as the new boys arrive. After that....I guess we'll see how much I update. I'll try to, but I have trouble seeing my story as something anyone else cares about. I suppose it shouldn't matter though - those who are interested will follow and those that aren't....won't.


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

Welcome! Beautiful fish. I look forward to hearing more about your aquarium adventures!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

So - I got all of these guys as a RAOK today! I'm sure I'll find a place for them! For now though - in to QT they go.










I have SO many plants in my QT tank right now. I've planted some, but no where near enough. If I can summon the energy tomorrow, I should add a bit more plants into at least the 10gal that Enceladus and Neptune are in. They've each got a little bit of stemmed plants and some floaters in their sections - but they could do *so* much better.


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

It's been an interesting read.

That's a neat looking plant in Callisto's tank. Can you tell us what that is?

Quarantining snails sounds like an oxymoron.


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## copperfish (Jan 21, 2014)

Thanks for sharing and all the help your provide here. Keep at it!


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## Axeria (Feb 6, 2015)

Subbing for sure! You have gorgeous finkids. I cant wait to read more about them and to see the new kids when they come


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Thanks everyone!

And LOL andakin - basically I want to keep the snails out of any tanks with *fish* until they've stayed alive for a week or two. No point of quarantining them separately or anything - just don't want to immediately drop them into my tanks after a long, cold trip with the postal service.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Tank Rearrangement*

So - I think I might have mentioned that I have a TON of plants in quarantine. For the number of plants I've purchased - the number I have in my tanks is pitifully low. One of the biggest challenges is actually *planting* them - while allowing them to get enough light - and still having enough foliage for my boys to be happy. Plant cuttings are awesome, but they don't exactly make for full size lush foliage right away.

Anyway - since I had some time today, I decided to give Pallas and Callisto a little bit of tankwork while changing the water in their tanks today. Pallas' tank facelift is significant. Callisto's is less so, but he did get a couple extra plants added in.

*Pallas' Tank*

Pallas is in a little 2.5g aquabow that I recently got on Craigslist. I've upgraded the bulb in it to a 6500k florescent - so it *should* have enough light to do at least some plants. I really didn't like how I had it set up though. It really only had two large silk plants, a couple of rocks and a floating tube. I'd recently added some dwarf water lettuce, but...with the large pants it just made everything seem cramped and slapped together.









_Pallas' old tank_

So - I decided to take everything out and tried something else. The larger of the two silk plants left entirely - it was just a bit much for the tank. With live plants being mostly floaters and cuttings - the smaller silk plant stayed but was put more in the center.

In the past I'd tried using terracotta pots, but my boys wouldn't go near them. So - since it was nice enough today to do some minor work outside, I took the pot out on my patio and knocked the bottom out. That went in the tank corner in front of the filter.

I've got a couple of tiny java fern, but I wasn't sure how the best way to secure that in the tank would be. Turns out I had some plastic mesh - I cut a tiny tab of that out and insert a couple of leaflets of java fern through the mesh. This left something that I could insert into the gravel substrate.









Preparing some Java Fern for the tank

Otherwise, I had a little bit of pennywort that I added to the other side. I'm hoping that handles the relatively low light conditions OK.

I think Pallas' tank turned out much better after it's facelift. Its' not so cramped, it looks more composed, and it still offers Pallas places to explore and hide.


















_Pallas exploring his new Terra Cotta Cave_

*Callisto's Tank*










Callisto's tank had much more minor changes. Biggest thing is I wanted to get one of his two remaining silk plants traded out for some pennywort, and I wanted to get some java fern added to his tank *somewhere*. After some thought, I decided that the easiest place to add the java fern was the chunk of Cholla I've got in this tank.

After seeing the idea *somewhere* on these forums, I got a small rubberband, and looped it around one of the cholla legs. I then tucked the java moss in.


























After that - the silk plant at the front of the tank was removed and some pennywort put in it's place. It's a cutting, so while it's starting to root there isn't much rooting going on....so the rock that's already *in* the tank can help keep the water flow from disturbing it too much.










Anyway - that's it for now. Maybe I'll get Enceladus and Neptune's tank scaped a little bit when I change their water later. We'll see how much energy I still have.

As for Dione - all she's got in her tank is an LED, so I'm really not sure she'll be getting many live plants.


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## Starburst44 (Feb 24, 2015)

Your fish are awesome! I'd love to be able to get fish on a whim like that. 

Your tanks look great too!


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## BettaLover1313 (Apr 15, 2013)

Subbing! Sounds like you're already having quite the adventure with your bettas.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Well - I *did* mess around with Enceladus and Neputne's tank today - but you really can't tell much difference in a comparison shot so I'm not going to bother posting. Maybe tomorrow I'll post the end result when there is more ambient light in the room though. Both tank sections got a good helping of guppy grass though, as well as a small amazon sword in the far back corner.

....I wish I actually knew what I as doing with aquascaping. I'd really *like* to have the beautiful planted tanks that I see everywhere on the forums here, but I barely know where to even try to start. 

Oh, and someone asked about the plant in Callisto's tank? The long thin green ones I bought at Petsmart when I first bought the tank....but I threw away the packaging before making note of what it was. >.< I actually posted a thread on the planted tank section of the site asking to identify it - it looks to be some kind of crypt.

In other news though - over the weekend I *really* need to get my other 10 gal divided so that the new boys arriving next week have a home ready. The plan is to have all 3 boys share a divided 10gal after QT - then when Pallas leaves later this year move the divider again. Really though - a 3 way split still gives each boy more room than the boy that would be moved to Pallas' tank would have....so I might just scrap that idea. 

Or...I could just find space somewhere for the other 5gal tank I still have unused. That requires more energy, time, and cleaning than I have energy for in the short-term though.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

....May as well update on Dione too. Nothing major - but she did get one of Sayla's ducks added to her tank today!










I've got two larger ducks that *may* go in with Neptune and Enceladus, or *may* go in with the new boys. Then I've got some floaty ducks just to use as tank toys. Kinda like ping-pong balls....just....duckier.

Kinda annoyed though. When adding this to the tank, I noticed that Dione's tank is *markedly* colder at the bottom than at the top. The temperature seems to change right around where the filter input sits - that and above is temperate, below that is....a bit more frigid.

So - next on project list for that tank.....replace HOB filter that came with the tank for a small sponge filter. I don't like that filter much anyway.


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## Axeria (Feb 6, 2015)

Love, love, LOVE their tank facelifts! Looks* so* good!


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## Bailmint (Jun 15, 2013)

This was fun to read, it's nice to hear your betta story lol. One always turns to ten x3 your fish are so cute and their tanks are so pretty. Glad you still have your first betta though, it's rare to see that IME.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Haha, well...Callisto isn't technically my first. Just my first in almost 20 years. Maybe that counts anyway though, LOL. My betta Renaissance.

Thanks!


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## copperfish (Jan 21, 2014)

Re plants: do you add CO2?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Not at this point. I haven't actually put that many into my *tanks* yet - they've mostly been in QT. Picked up some seachem flouish bit ago, but that's about it.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Dividing a Tank*

Well - seeing as I'm expecting to get a couple new boys next week...it's time to finally divide the 10gal I have sitting around taking up space and collecting dust. That way I one of the boys can spend his QT in his *real* home - and I don't have to fuss around with the tank after the QT period.

So we start here with your basic 10 gal tank. I didn't think to get a picture of it before I cleaned it - but trust me, it needed the cleaning. It got scrubbed out with Vinegar and rinsed well.










Nice enough tank - but I don't want to keep just *ONE* little guy in it!!! There could be as many as 3 that end up calling this tank home! So, time to make dividers. I had a couple of page binders left over from my last set...but was unable to find more at the dollar store to complete the setup. No problem - Walmart had Poster hangers. Better for the sides anyway - I can cut them longer so they're snug against the top and bottom of the tank. I like black mesh - it makes it a little harder to see through to the opposite side of the tank.










Having already cut the mesh and poster\page bindings to size, it's just a matter of lining the mesh with the bindings.










Then - place the dividers in the tank!










But that's not all! We all know that a tank needs a couple of basics to keep a betta comfortable. A filter to cycle the tank and help with water quality, and a HEATER to keep the little guys at a comfy temperature!

For the filter I'm going to give the sponge filter I initially bought for Enceladus and Neptune's tank a go here. When I got *this* tank - a sponge filter just like it was provided with the tank. That filter has been working fine for my other boys, but they have a much smaller middle section. If there is any problem with water flow I may trade this filter out for a small sponge in each section later.










For the heater - I figured I'd test out something new. I've heard a lot of people like the Aqueon PRO series, so I picked one up when it was on sale on Amazon a while ago. We'll see how it works. I've got a 100W Hydor Theo free if it doesn't.










Aaaand - there we go! Now just to add Substrate (I've got some Black Diamond Blasting Sand that I just need to rinse) and some plants\decor. Oh, and water....of course. ;-)


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

and fish.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Yes - yes those too. ;-)


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Looks nice! Can't wait to see it once you've gotten it all set up.


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## Axeria (Feb 6, 2015)

Oooh! This is exciting to follow! Can't wait to see how the end result looks


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## copperfish (Jan 21, 2014)

Thanks for sharing. looking forward to the setup w dividers


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## gracem2002 (Dec 27, 2014)

SUBBED SUBBED SUBBED. I only have one betta right now, but I'm already making plans for a future ADF tank and a sorority!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Well - it looks like it will be another week before my next set of new guys come. The weather locally didn't get the memo that it's spring now - I had to clear 4 inches of snow off my car this morning to get to my medical appointments. *sigh*

Might have a silver lining though - as it gives me more time to deal with the (now cloudy) water in the newly-divided 10 gal. It's got Black Diamond Blasting Sand as substrate - and though I rinsed it for 30-45 min and let it run clear several times...it's still really cloudy in the tank. This will give some time me to do some water changes and the give sponge filter in the tank to help take care of the issue before the boys arrive.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

....In non-fishy news, it's been a very long day. And - it's just the start of a very long week. Today I had the first 3 of this weeks 7 medical appointments. For anyone that doesn't know...I'm currently off work in the aftermath of a major medical event on top of chronic issues. While I didn't expect the outcome to be different, today cemented in that it will be a while before I can return to work. Another of my appointments was just exhausting. Wednesday will be almost as bad as today was....another day of 3 appointments. Friday I get off light with *just* an allergy shot.

In addition to the appointments I'm already dealing with though - I'll now have physical therapy to schedule in as well. And - a different type of therapy that I need to schedule for vocal cord\breathing issues.

It's all just a lot to take on, and there are days where it's really had to get through it all without getting overwhelmed.


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## Starburst44 (Feb 24, 2015)

If I may offer a suggestion:

I would make the dividers 2 sheets of mesh instead of 1. This will make it harder for the fish to see each other, especially if you offset the holes. I myself have a 10 gallon divided into 3 and find that this helps minimize flaring.

Also, I would make the dividers as tall as possible while still fitting under the hood to prevent jumping from section to section. They should stick out a good amount above the water level.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Starburst44 said:


> If I may offer a suggestion:
> 
> I would make the dividers 2 sheets of mesh instead of 1. This will make it harder for the fish to see each other, especially if you offset the holes. I myself have a 10 gallon divided into 3 and find that this helps minimize flaring


Something I considered, but I don't have enough mesh on-hand. If I'm able to pick more up, I may do this.

At the same time though - I'm considering moving Neptune into this tank specifically *BECAUSE* he needs more flaring time. He's a rosetail, so he needs to be flared throughout the day to keep his muscles strong to support his heavy tail. Unfortunately - while he *used* to be my star flare boy...lately he's taken to flaring at his mirror for only about a minute before going to hide.

Depending on the temperament of the new guys when they arrive, I'd actually like to be able to set that tank up so that he can have a flaring buddy. Obviously I'd need to be sure it's planted enough that all of the fish would have hides and places to disappear to, but another fish to interact with throughout the day might actually be a good thing.

The other thing I'm considering? Remember I keep mentioning plants in QT? I've got quite a bit of java moss in there. I'll probably be attaching this to the divider to provide it a growing surface.

I'll have some time to decide. I've got enough tank space where I don't *have* to use that center section right away.

Thanks for the suggestion though!


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## Starburst44 (Feb 24, 2015)

The java moss on the divider seems like a great idea! I'm personally not too familiar with plants but it seems like it would really help. 
Also you could set up the tank with two larger sections and a skinny section in the middle which is awesome if you don't need the middle section.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Yeah - I probably will end up using that center section eventually though. Just one of my boys will be.....um....delayed. There is a very long story involved that I'll go into in detail later...but let's just say that when Hrutan was getting one of my boys ready to ship she realized she needed to hold onto him for a while. Until right around the time spring show season is done. ;-)

But yeah - I've got the "skinny middle" section going in Enceladus and Neptune's tank right now. I even have a bunch of silk plants in the center to 1)block the view and 2) make it pretty.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Oooo, I might have to steal that idea for my future divided. Looks awesome and I love it blocking their view. Great idea!


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## copperfish (Jan 21, 2014)

Nice! High fives


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Love it! Awesome idea!


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## MikeG14 (May 31, 2014)

That looks really good, great use of the space.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

A couple of random updates....

First of all - Enceladus is eating pellets again!!! He's eaten them for the last 3 days STRAIGHT!!!! MY GOOD BOY!!!!!

Haha - forgive me if I sound like this is exciting news, but it kind of is. The silly little brat started absolutely refusing pellets about a month to a month and a half ago. I tried to just keep offering them - no dice. Tried to offer flakes as well....no interest whatsoever. At some point he decided he'd rather nom on his tail than eat these silly pellets I kept thrusting at him. The ONLY thing he would eat was thawed frozen bloodworms - which he would attack with fervent violence. So, once his weight started to drop....I really didn't feel I had much choice but to give him *something*. Poor kid is borderline emaciated.

And really - that's where pellets is going to *really* help with the weight issue he's gotten himself into. After the weight loss started I'd feed him bloodworms until his belly was visibly stuffed 2x per day....but that was barely keeping him stable. Hopefully now I can feed him something that is nutrition-dense enough to get his weight *stable* again. Until his weight stabilizes, I'll be giving him 4 Omega One pellets 3x per day. He's not *that* interested in them to begin with, so I'd rather push what I can get him to eat while I can to get his weight back into a healthy range.

In other news - remember Pallas?










Pallas has a temporary tankmate! Callisto's had a nerite snail buddy in his tank for some time now. Well - I recently added a HUGE ramshorn to the tank as well to help clean up some of the plant detritus that the nerite wouldn't touch. Unfortunately....it seems the little ram bugger really likes algae as well...and is faster than the nerite is.

Meanwhile, Pallas' tank was starting to get some brown diatoms. So I figured....why scrub algae when I have a hungry nerite? May as well let the nerite nom on the algae in THAT tank while I grow some natural algae on river rocks.

Milky Way (the nerite) has been in Pallas' tank for a little over a day now. And - when I peeked into the tank this morning, I found that he'd done quite the preliminary job at stripping the biggest growths of algae. I really think the little guy gorged himself though....which I found kind of hilarious this morning.










Anyway - that's it for right now. Should be an eventful week coming up....and *some* of it will make it to the journal. Assuming the weather holds, I should get the boys I've been waiting to have shipped...so that should be a fun day. Interestingly....right now it looks like they'll ship on my birthday. So maybe I can consider actually *getting* them a birthday present to myself, even though they've been claimed a while now. LOL.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Some updates!

Firstly - the weather has FINALLY cooperated enough for one of my boys to ship! Still waiting on my fish from Hrutan (really hot there compared to moderate there - we're nervous about shipping in 85+ degree local weather with a heating pack), but the climate where this other boy is coming from is more temperate. Hopefully I should see him on Thursday!



In other news, the $1\per gallon tank sale is on again. With that - I decided to get myself a birthday present and pick up a 20 Long tank. Looks like I'll be breaking down one of my 10Gallon tanks! Still trying to figure out how I want to divide it - I'll divide it either 4 or 5 ways. While in theory dividing 5 ways gives 4 gallons each, I'll want to get a look at slot sizes before I go any more than 4 tank slots. Should help with tank maintenance though! 

Next question is....do I set it up *NOW* or get a tank stand first. Tough call.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Oh, MAN that's a pretty butterfly!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

I know!!!

I'm incredibly nervous about him coming tomorrow. I just hope he gets here safely.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*A Freakout with Pallas*

Ugh - so in the past 30 hours or so I've been dealing with some stress with Pallas. His fins *were* making such progress! Now....I'm just trying to figure out what happened. Stressful day or two either way.

Pallas got a water change on Sunday. On Monday, his fins were fine. Yesterday (Tuesday) when I got home after some running about (was my birthday...and I spent a good part of the day out with friends) I come home to see that a good .5-.75" of Pallas' tail had just....disintegrated. It didn't look to be biting; edges too....melty. Cue frantic scramble to try to get things remedied.

Pallas was cupped - then I took all decor, plants, and equipment out of the tank and rinsed the everliving heck out of both the tank and substrate in hot water. I'd already been adding a low dose of Aquarium Salt to Pallas' tank (1 TBSP per 5 gal) - so considering this happened *WITH* salt already present and a recent past water change I treated as aggressively as I could with what I have on-hand. Namely...I upped the salt dosage to 1tsp per gallon and added a couple drops of Methylene Blue. A drop of MB was added to Pallas' cup while he waited for me to maintain his tank as well.

Once the tank was set back up - I acclimated Pallas. He wasn't happy with the whole situation - kept darting around his cup trying to get into the tank. I felt so bad for him while acclimating. After acclimating I kept tabs on him for a couple of hours into the evening - he seemed well enough. 

Then this morning - I had to leave the house early and was gone almost all day. While I was getting ready I went to check in on him to make sure there was no more fin loss - and found he'd completely paled out. So...panic mode for me. I stop getting ready to leave to do a 50% water change in case it's the water....all the while hoping that he's just freaking out that the light in his tank went on hours sooner than it usually does. I then had to leave...and spent most of the day super-worried about my little kiddo.

I come home....he's fine. He's colored back up, and is swimming at me all super-wiggly style wondering why his dinner's late. Fin's aren't looking any better...but they're not looking any worse either. He'll keep with daily water changes for a bit and I'll keep an eye out for if flares up again. I'm thinking now might be a good time to actually order the kanaplex I've been meaning to keep onhand...just in case.

....I'm just not sure what happened. I've been keeping tabs on water parameters, there was already a maintenance dose of aquarium salt in-tank. A 50-60% water change with substrate vac had been done less than 48 hours previous. I know fin rot is normally a water quality problem....but I've been on top of his tank maintenance.

Poor little guy. His tail was starting to get so *long* too. Still very ragged-looking...but growing. Now he's back to a short tail again. I know the past owner was treating for rot as well. I'm hoping this doesn't become a recurring problem. :-(


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

So weird  Maybe make a post about it anyways, just in case someone has some insight? I think I remember hearing about some strains of fin rot/melt that were rather aggressive even with salt.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

I considered a thread - but I don't need help treating at this point. Especially given it hasn't progressed since a 20-30min "bath" in a strongish Methylene Blue dose followed by Methylene Blue in-tank.

I'm just more baffled at where it *came* from. Parameters were good - I was testing daily even though the tank was cycled because I wanted to make sure that Milky Way wouldn't cause an ammonia spike. I thought of Milky Way being a potential source - but he's been in Callisto's tank for 2 MONTHS and was quarantined before being added. We know that parameters don't tell the whole story on water quality, but he'd had a water change less than 2 full days before.

Whatever it was also progressed quickly. I honestly considered biting at first because of how much damage there was in a day. Looking at it closely though....it's not biting. The fin edges looked almost like the curled wax you see at the edge of a candle - not the sharp jagged edges that you see with biting. There were also several rays that were left protruding (made it easy to tell how much fin was lost....) but those rays were completely naked and curling under.

Either way - I may end up getting some WC supplies just for Pallas' tank for a bit. I just don't want to buy another siphon right now - and seeing as I want to make sure that gravel gets attention I don't want to use just a turkey baster or airline tubing. I want something that will actually get *into* the substrate.

*sigh* Oh well. I'll keep an eye on him. If it gets beyond what I can handle I'll probably post something.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Hmm... could you get a close up of it? I know he can be a pest to photograph, but I'd like to compare to some of my tail biters damage. Shreddy commonly left rays that were kinda.. wispy? I wonder though if Pallas was biting and got a touch of fin melt, especially since we know he's had a rough time with his fins to start with?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Unfortunately no....I had to offer yummy food to get him to stay still enough to take the one I posted as is!

His fins have never been....right though. Even though his tail has gotten longer it's still been ragged and goofy. It's been....brittle too. I'd risk a split *any* time I flared him, even if only for a couple of minutes. And - the major one that split early on has never healed.

So...yeah. Not sure. I'll just have to watch him.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Introducing Eclipse*

Guess who arrived today!!!!

So....um....anyone who follows the "The ones that got away" thread may remember that a gorgeous green butterfly showed up there in California not too long ago. Sadly - I don't live in California. However, the original finder was kind enough to get him and ship him to me!

When he first arrived today, I had a bit of a panic. His shipping box was....wet. I had another box of plants arrive today as well - so even though it rained early in the day I'm pretty was sure that it was not the source of the wetness given the other box was pristine. I nervously opened the box not sure what to expect...

And immediately saw a little bit of movement when I pulled back the flaps! My new boy was inside...with still more than enough water to be relatively comfortable (if not a bit confused). I picked up the bag, and more nervous flitting ensued. My guy had most certainly arrived OK!

So, he got transferred from his zip-lock baggies into a cup









His cup then got floated in his QT tank to acclimate...









For acclimation - I added a drop of Methylene Blue to his cup. I figured this would do two things...1)Help with any effects he might be dealing with from ammonia during shipping, and 2)Help me judge the concentration of his old tank water in the cup.









Then - I kept adding water from his new tank into the cup. When that got full, I started siphoning a bit out before adding a little more in. I have no idea what the water parameters in California are...but I'm sure they're different than here. I probably ended up acclimating for 3ish hours? Poor little guy was SO eager to get out of his cup....it was so hard not to just let him loose.

Anyway...he's free now, and happily exploring his temporary new home. He'll stay there until his QT period is done....by which time I'll hopefully have my new 20L up and divided. :-D









_Exploring about his plants_









_Lookit that face!!!_









_So green!_

I've decided to name him Eclipse. I figured it suited him....PLUS there is a total lunar eclipse later this week! :-D

(No, I'm *not* obsessed with astronomy and the night sky, not at all! The fact that this is the first fin-kiddo that isn't an astrological object... Not at all significant! I'll just ignore you when you point out that he still fits with the subject matter.  )


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

*sprinkles magic no-marbling dust on him*


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Haha - I wish!

Don't get me wrong - I LOVE marbles. They're so much fun. Callisto was a blast watching him change and watching how *quickly* he changed.

But this guy just looks awesome as he is. I know marbling is a risk, I just hope this guy doesn't.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Congrats! Glad he arrived safe and well. He's a cutie!


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

Ohhh, he's beautiful! Congratulations!


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## Reccka (Jul 20, 2014)

Ooh. I was curious about what his name would be! Love it. I know exactly what you mean with how eager he was to get out! I had wished I had more room to give him to swim around. He wanted out of the 1 gallonish container I was keeping him in SO bad lol!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Lol - yeah....he's an active spunky little guy. Right now he's in maybe a gallon and a half of water - but I'll get him into more swimming space as soon as I can.

It was actually kind of funny while he was in the cup. I had left the room - I come back and see *huge* waves on the top of his cup from the other side of the room. I come back, and he's trying to swim into the cup side like it would get him somewhere! As soon as I got near the tank....it stopped. He just sank to the bottom and looked up at me. Little stinker.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

A couple of things tonight. Some good news, and some less good news.

The good news first. My fish from Hrutan Shipped! I'll still have another guy coming - but the guy that I've been saving a space for since....January is finally on his way. SuperGoof the Veiltail should be here on Thursday. He'll need another name as well. Probably Pulsar or Quasar.

As for the less good news....I'm pretty sure Enceladus is going blind. :-( I'm....not really sure how or why. I'm not seeing anything wrong with his eyes. He just doesn't seem to be reacting to anything visual very well.

I started wondering if he was losing his vision a couple weeks ago. Little things - he wouldn't react initially when I came up to his tank, he wouldn't pay attention when I put a pellet in to feed until I put my finger in the tank and wiggled it around. A couple of times when this happened he'd start - then go to the corner of the tank where the feeding ring I'm using for him is located. He'd have an easier time finding a moving or sinking pellet than a stationary one - and would seem to look right over a pellet on the surface until I poked it. Today I decided to try to push things further - I put a floating mirror in his tank. He reacted - eventually. The mirror was right in front of him for a good 5 minutes before he reacted though - and when he *did* react he flared as expected.

After this I cupped him (poor guy hated that and striped right up), and brought him into the kitchen to try to get pictures. Unfortunately - I don't have very good lighting to get good pictures of his eyes...but his eyes don't *look* any different than they did. Or any different than Pallas' eyes...and Pallas was all over flaring at Enceladus while Enceladus was cupped in front of his tank. Enceladus, meanwhile....just kept bumping into the cup sides and was completely oblivious to Pallas being *RIGHT THERE* flaring up a storm.

This brings up a couple of questions. Firstly - WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED TO MY BABY?!?!?? He was able to see fine when I got him. Maybe two months ago he stopped eating after he'd been introduced to bloodworms. I treated for parasites around this time, after finding a long thin suspicious object in his tank. It's been only in the past couple of weeks that I've been able to get him to eat pellets again. But I can't think of how any of that might affect his vision.

Next thought was maybe something akin to diamond eye. I suppose it's possible that there may be something there that I can't see - the coloration surrounding his eyes is black. But I can see his eyes move, and they *look* to be OK. They don't look scaled over. If anything there is some pigmentation there that I can't see because again - black. But there really doesn't appear to be.

Next question is - what do I do *now*. I have a 20 Long tank that is replacing the tank he's currently in as soon as I can get it divided and set up. If I'm disturbing the environment he's used to - I really don't want to turn around and throw him in another divided tank. At the same time....a 20 Long would be MUCH easier for me to maintain long term, and I don't really want to *not* get it set up.

One thing I'm considering is swapping him out with Pallas. Pallas has been in a 2.5gal because he's not as strong a swimmer and has been recovering from *a lot* since I first got him. Pallas is doing much, much better than he initially had though. He could probably manage in a divided tank....I just wish his fins would be in better shape first.

Otherwise - I've got a 5gal that isn't currently in use, but I'd need to figure out where I'd want to set it up. I'm also considering going to Petsmart and getting one of the Great Choice 2.5's....but a big part of me doesn't see WHY I would do that when I have larger tanks open. Especially if I'm looking to make my maintenance load *easier*.

Whatever I do - I'd like to decide soon though. I want the 20 Long set up before the end of the week....and I want to figure out what I'm doing while Enceladus still has *some* sight left. And after today....I'm know there is a little bit there, but I really don't know how much that is. :-(


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Ok - WHAT?*

Ok - late breaking update on Enceladus.

On a whim, I put the flaring mirror in his tank after turning the tank light off. He responded almost immediately.

.....So my best guess is the poor guy has really, REALLY sensitive eyes?

It looks like I'll have to find a new tank for him - the tank he's in has one of the decent plant lights for growing plants. I'll have to move him somewhere dimmer and see what happens.

.....This would have been easier to manage if I didn't have all of my heaters claimed for QT purposes. Not in use yet, but as of Thursday....they will be. And....I'm not so sure about how I feel about cutting Eclipse's QT short. He'll have been here a week when the new fish arrive - but I'd really prefer QT for at least 2.

*sigh* Enceladus really is my pain-in-the-rear end boy. I still love him though.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Hmm, I think, seeing as Eclipse was already under the care of another betta owner for a while, that a week in QT should be enough.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

If it weren't for shipping - I would probably agree. Given that shipping itself is stressful though and that can lead to a lowered immune system\illness onset, I really would prefer to stay with 2 weeks or more.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I'm going to be on pins and needles until those boys arrive safe and sound.


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## Missik (Jan 21, 2015)

I would suggest using an LED lighted tank, and block off most of the lighting with tape so its really dim. I wonder though, if his water was really stained with tannins, if it would make a difference?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Minor Updates*

Firstly - look what I saw the other day from Eclipse. He seems to be staking quite the claim of his QT tank...









Otherwise....I should have fish today!!!! We've had thunderstorms all morning, so I'll be stalking the front door around the time mail normally arrives. Hoping all goes well!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Fishies!!!*

My package has arrived! Yay!!! 

My doorbell rang - actually a bit earlier than mail usually comes. Not arguing. The box is a little bit wet...but I'm not worried about it for this shipment. It's been thunderstorming all day so a bit wet is to be expected.











So I open the box. And securely nestled inside I see my new little buddy - who we've been affectionately calling the SuperGoof for a while now. And what's this? He brought a long a friend! :shock2: 











Even right out of the box - SuperGoof is living up to his reputation. I think I'm going to *actually* call him Pulsar.



























His buddy is a little bit more shy. This little guy isn't actually mine - there was still room in the box for him and so I'm now going to be caring for him until I can get him over to a friend. Since he's not mine to name - he's currently Nameless.



















It's kind of hard to get them acclimated in a closed shipping bag, so I got them transferred over to cups...


























....And they are now acclimating. I haven't gotten Nameless' QT tank set up yet, so they're both floating in a divided 10gal right now. That gives them both time to warm up and start getting used to the water here while I get another QT container set up. It is so tempting to just keep them in the same tank - but that wouldn't be a quarantine if they were kept together! I know that shipping is stressful. I'll have more pictures of the two later.

And - with the arrival of these guys, there is just one fish I'm still waiting for. He was initially supposed to ship with these two...but just when he was getting packed up to ship (attempted a couple weeks ago) he started flaring...and it became understood that my other little guy needs to stay in California for a little while. Until....approximately the end of show season there. And possibly a little longer for breeding. ;-)

Here's the little guy I'm still waiting for. LOOKIT that FACE!!! His face is what got me. Those huge eyes are adorable.


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## bullseyejoey (Apr 8, 2015)

It's not just those big eyes but his beautiful red fins...


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## logisticsguy (Sep 7, 2012)

Oh he is just adorable!


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Cuties <3


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Freedom!!!*

Nothing like getting out of a tiny little cup. ;-) Now time for some exploring.

Boys are already coloring up.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

They're so cute!


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## JHatchett (Aug 24, 2014)

Pretty Primus babies!


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Colored Up!*

OK - I promise I'll stop with the photo spam of the new boys after this.  I just am astounded at how much they colored up in just a few hours.


So - let's remember Pulsar looked like this:









He now looks like this!









Nameless' coloring up is even more substantial. He was also a bit more camera friendly.

Nameless went from this:









To this!!!

















Cuties. I can't get over how small they are. I mean - I suppose I *shouldn't* be surprised at how small they are, seeing as I know exactly how young they are. But still - they're just little guys. Itty bitty. Should be fun to watch them grow.


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

They are extremely handsome. Hrutan did an excellent job.


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## JHatchett (Aug 24, 2014)

So cute. Now that they are in a tank they are likely to grow a little more. I know mine did.


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

Such beautiful colors! It looks like they were worth the wait.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Augh - my body hates me right now. On the bright side though....I have completed a project that I've been meaning to do for close to two weeks now.










That's right - I've broken down my 10G in my living room and put the 20 Long in it's place. Only 2 slots are in use right now....but I have bettas in quarantine. ;-)

The lighting situation is temporary. I have another florescent hood - I need to get a replacement bulb for it though. That's assuming I don't put the one hood in the center and use suction cup LED lights on either side - which I could do. I have them on-hand already.

Eventually I'll just get a 30" stingray. I spent quite enough on just the tank, lid, and stand for now though.

.....Now to get the old tank stand and tank stored. Meh.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Stored before the temptation is too great, right  ?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

That and there isn't room for it in my living room now.

.....And my bedroom is too much of a disaster to take another tank stand and tanks right now. One of these days I'll have to buckle down and actually get my house in order. I just haven't had the motivation or energy.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

So....updates. Um, yeah.

*The 20 Long*

So - Eclipse is now out of QT and in the 20 Long! He's enjoying himself tremendously there. His neighbor Neptune - not so much.

I had been hoping that the two would be flare buddies. Neptune's been getting harder and harder to flare with a mirror, and as he has a RIDICULOUSLY heavy tail. I was hoping another little guy on the other side of the divider would give him something to keep him occupied. This worked briefly, but even then not for long. Neptune came over and put up a fuss for about 10 seconds....then retreated to his floating tube. Then came out again and flared....then retreated again. No he mostly just hides from Eclipse. I may have to figure something else out.

Part of the issue may be a huge discrepancy between their personalities - Eclipse is a spitfire and is incredibly aggressive and active. Neptune *used* to flare beautifully - and I have some awesome pictures to prove it - but it has been increasingly hard to get him to. 



_Such a pretty boy_

I'm honestly starting to wonder if Neptune's tail is just getting *too* heavy. It's definitely rosed more since I got him, and he was a clear RT THEN. Now he's starting to struggle to move in the water, both swimming down to the bottom of the tank and then swimming back up again. He spends almost all day floating at the top, nose slightly skyward. Trying to figure out what to do for him. I'm trying to consolidate my smaller tanks, but putting him in a small heavily planted tank may be an option. Otherwise - I might need to find out in what situations trimming is appropriate.

*Pallas*

Pallas' tail has finally grown back! No, not completely back and healthy, but it's reached the length it had before it randomly....dissolved a little bit ago. Either way, I'll take the progress. 


_The tail has returned!!!_


*Nameless

*In less happy news - Nameless has been STRESSED OUT. His (half?)-brother Pulsar is doing _swimmingly,_ but poor Nameless has had a really rough time. He was super pale when he arrived, but he acclimated well the first day. After that though - he started deteriorating rapidly. By Sunday Evening I honestly thought I was losing him - he was severely clamped and barely swimming.

I added a couple drops of Methylene Blue to the tank and covered it with a towel. That towel has been on the tank ever since outside of feeding and tank maintenance. He's definitely _improved_...his ventrals have unclamped and he's swimming more normally now. He'll even nibble a little bit of food if I put some in and leave it for him. But - he's still not looking good. Any time I even so much as pull the towel back he stripes up - usually horizontally but today he actually had vertical barring as well. :?

Poor little guy. I hope he starts thriving soon, I'm not sure what more I can do for him than I already am. He's been here a week now.


_Poor Baby_

What's even harder with Nameless is he isn't even *mine*. I'm hoping he recovers so that he can get where he's going. I'm also hoping that I can somehow get him stable and settled - and that his next move won't be so rough. I'm really kind of worried about that, actually.


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## Tress (Jun 6, 2014)

Urgh, I know your pain with nameless. Xander got his tank overhauled and "compacted" to see if less flow and more hiding places would calm him down. No such luck. I swear he has been pale for a month now. 

Why must our bettas be so frustrating?

Also I remember reading on facebook of someone having had to trim their RT for the same reason you are wanting to. She said it helped immensely. I saw find out exactly how to go about it and do it. Gaston has trouble with his despite his biting thanks to his on/off SBD, he kinda drags his tail some days.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Poor Nameless! There's probably big differences in water quality between here and there, but you'd think he'd be used to that by now. I wonder if he's agoraphobic? He's pretty used to small containers... but clamping is usually a sign of velvet or stress...

Do you keep your fish with salt?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

I'm not *seeing* any velvet, but that doesn't mean I might not have missed it. I really think he's just super stressed out.

He actually *does* seem a little, ~tiny~ bit more social today though, and actually is looking a little bit better. He really didn't appreciate me shining a desk lamp in to get light on him, but he *did* come to the front of the tank when I pulled the towel back and started looking at the top corner where I drop food for noms. Actually ate a couple pellets immediately after I dropped them in.

If nothing else, that allowed me to get a couple of pics. His belly looks white\gray, but it doesn't look like a dust. I'm not seeing anything anywhere else that looks like dust either.





Generally, Pallas is the only guy I'm keeping with a maintenance level of salt. I can can add it in for Nameless though, just in case he is fighting something. I'm really not seeing anything though.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Velvet can attack only the interior of the gills and not be visible. I asked about salt at least partially because he's used to it, so it might help him adapt. It would also help him fight off velvet if that's the cause.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

I'll get some added in then. Hopefully it'll help.

I'll keep an eye on him also. I don't want to treat with copper unless I *KNOW* there is velvet, but since he's used to a dark tank anyway maybe slowly bumping up the temperature after adding salt wouldn't hurt.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Random Updates*

So, random updates...

*Nameless
*Nameless has continued to improve. I think he's finally coming around - the towel has stayed *on* his tank but the front has been open for the past few days. When I'm in the room I'll see him swimming around the front, and he'll come to greet me when I go to feed him. For a while he had me really worried, but I think he'll be OK.

He's actually really funny to watch with pellets. He has trouble getting them into his mouth - so he'll grab one and then swim around the tank with it like a dog carrying a bone. At some point I should try to get a video - before he figures out how to gulp it down like his brother. 






*Pulsar
*With all the activity with Nameless, there really haven't been many updates with his goofy brother Pulsar. Pulsar for the most part has adapted *very* well. Last night I noticed he's starting to look a tiny bit constipated though - so he's earned a couple days fasting and had a flare session with Dione this morning. I hope this doesn't leave Dione even *more* eggy than she has been - but....I really didn't want to flare him against Nameless just yet and the other guys are downstairs.

It does look like Pulsar may have just a little bit of fin nibbling going on, but his fins looked a tiny bit rough when he arrived as well. We'll see what happens. Either way, he remains a goofball.




_Pulsar continues to live up to his reputation of "SuperGoof"

_*Before and After
*I'm not going to go too deeply into details - but long story short after the issues with Nameless, Enceladus and his tailbiting\finicky eating, Neptune and his increasingly heavy tail, and just a really hard week in personal terms, I need something to try to remind myself despite the challenges I've faced - I'm not a terrible betta owner that can't provide for my finkids. The week with Nameless was rough - but he *pulled through*. I have no control over Neptune's genetic makeup, nor can I really make much of a difference if Enceladus decides he wants to try to make himself a plakat. Logically - I know these things. Logically.

So, I decided to post Before-And-After pictures of some of the little guys I've had that have changed the most. I didn't get all of them, but hopefully I'll post updates on some of the rest soon. Either way, maybe this will help remind me that some of my little guys *are* thriving.

_Callisto
_My first little guy. He's a marble, so change is a given. He really looks *nothing* like the fish I brought home though.




_Pallas
_My little "rescue" Foster Boy. When he first got here, he was borderline emaciated and still in recovery from Fin Rot - after his previous owner saved him from terrible conditions at Wal-Mart. His first week with me he could barely swim - he would mostly just scoot himself along the bottom of the small tank he was quarantined in. Now - he's active and at at a healthy weight. And, while his tail *still* looks ratty, it is *much* longer than it used to be (even with a recent setback where he lost a good chunk of it again).



























_Dione_
Dione was a tiny little squidget when I got her. She's still small, but she's MUCH bigger than she was. Of all my fish, she's the one that is always most excited to see me and most eager to meet me. My baby girl. <3




























I'll try to get Before\After of Enceladus and Neptune sometime soon. Enceladus has grown a lot too, but his tail is in rags. Neptune's been nibbling his dorsal too. They're also in a tank that it's hard to get good light on, so pictures will be a bit more of a challenge.

Eclipse, Pulsar and Nameless haven't really been here long enough for before\after pics, so....yeah. Not much change to show, discounting Pulsar and Nameless coloring up after shipping.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

Those are lovely pictures. I know it can be hard, sometimes, and maybe you even wonder what the point of it all is, but keep your chin up! You've made a world of difference to those little fishies.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Well - It's been awhile. I'm still around, and I'm still here. I've just...had a lot going on in my own life lately. I don't want to get into too much of it, but most of the motivation I've had to write at all has been devoted elsewhere - mostly to my thoughts dealing with depression. 

*Enceladus

*Remember Enceladus - my spunky little butterfly boy?










Yeah, that's him. In the past few months he's turned instead into my chronic little fin biter who refuses to eat half the time.

This was a big part of why I didn't include him in the "before and after" shots last update.



Anyway, after a lot of thinking and consideration - Enceladus has a new tank. I've thought back on the months I've had him, and I've realized that in the time he's been with me - he was happiest when I had him in his little critter keeper. I pegged him early on as needing a small tank with a lot of cover - so I got him a 3 gallon. He - didn't like that tank much. It was a tall circular tank, and left a lot of open space at the top. Later - he moved into a divided 10. I knew his existing 3 gallon wasn't suiting him, and was hoping a divided tank with a huge visibility block would give him a better environment than the 3 while making my maintenance easier. That - didn't work as planned either. Later, he got moved to a divided 20 with a completely open section next to him. That didn't work either. I also learned in my time with him that he's light senstitive - he doesn't do well in bright light. 

So, now I'm back to basics, and my first gut instinct. I've gotten him one of the small 2.5 Grreat Choice tanks, and have stuffed the thing full with silk plants. I know it might not stop him from biting, but I *hope* it does. If anything, I'll be happy if he starts eating more consistently and gaining a little bit of weight back.



Enceladus really doesn't like being moved, and he really HATES being cupped. So I really feel bad any time I have to do so. He stripes visibly. Poor little guy.




Not that long after being released into his new home however, he started exploring. And, I started to see glimpses of his personality that I haven't seen in a while. He's starting to act just a little bit more confident, though he *DOES* spend most of his time hiding in the plants.



Of course though - changing tanks and exploring is a lot of hard work. It's....*yawn*.....enough to make one.......ZzzzzZzzzZzzzz



I hope he continues to improve, and I hope that this is a better fit for him. As much as a divided tank would be easier from a maintenance perspective with less tanks to handle, I would really like to see my spunky little guy back.

*
Random Snail Antics*

Otherwise, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures from the more....slow and crawly side of aquatics.

My nerite snail travels to whatever tank is most algae filled at the time. For a while, he was in with Pallas and one of my little MTS guys. It looks like the two may have become buddies.



Otherwise, in Callisto's tank the nerite (Milky Way) managed to get himself into an....interesting hiding place. Can you find him?



Callisto wasn't too thrilled about the nerite sinking his tube, but little Milky Way released it quickly enough. That did leave him on his back though - grasping desperately at the gravel. I'm just glad I was around to see that little (mis)adventure.

Anyway, that's it for now.


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## charliegill110 (May 19, 2014)

wow i'm definitely subbing! love hearing about your tanks!


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## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

I'm so subbing! I love seeing your boys and the tanks!! I feel you with the biting, he really took a chunk off his tail didn't he?! Hopefully moving him will help.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Enceladus*

Ugh. I'm thinking Enceladus may have been sicker than I thought.

Last night, as I was getting ready to give him his night feeding, I noticed that he just didn't....look right. I watched him for a few minutes, and realized he was starting to very, *very* slightly pinecone. I started him on Epsom Salts - we'll see if they help. 

Part of me is kicking myself for not seeing it, but there is very little to see. Most dropsied fish are notably bloated. Enceladus isn't. He looks normal from both a side view and top-down. Now that I know he's dropsied I can see just a *tiny* amount of bloating, but there really isn't much to see. When the light catches him *JUST* right I can see fluid building up though - so I know that this isn't something I'm imagining.

So now - I'm watching my baby be simultaneously seemingly better and worse than he's been in a while.

He's actively coming to greet me, and he begs for food. This is a huge improvement. He still can't eat more than two pellets. He's not constipated - he poops fine. It's really easy to see on his bare-bottomed tank, but it was easy to see against the black sand he was in too. I'm realizing there might be something to what I thought was just a curiosity of him though. His poops have always been the exact color of the pellets he's fed. My other guys tend to get more brown.

I'm also seeing periods where he's actively exploring, interspersed with periods where he's on the bottom of his tank with labored breathing.

So - yeah. This is hard. Part of me is wondering of the stress of moving him triggered something, but on the other hand he's *happier* than he's been in a long time. (It's also good that I *did* move him, as now he's essentially living in a tank that can double as a hospital tank.) I'm also realizing that if he's been having latent kidney\liver problems, that could explain some of the behavior he's been showing particularly with the loss of appetite. But again - he never looked clearly dropsied. There was never anything solid to go on.

I know what the outlook for dropsy is. I'll treat him, to the best of my ability. But - especially given he hasn't really been what I'd consider *healthy* for a very long time, this could be congenital. I understand there might be nothing I can do.

Right now he's exploring and weaving through his silk plants. If nothing else, I'm glad that he's at least in a place where he's comfortable.

I'm sorry, Enceladus. I know that this probably isn't my fault, but I keep kicking myself wondering if I missed something. I do hope that I can get you better, but at the very least I'll do my best to keep you comfortable and happy from here on out.


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

I posted basically as you posted that^, so I'll amend, considering the circumstances. I went through similar with Tycho, my first. He bit like crazy, and I managed to get his tail to a stage where I thought it was getting better... and then I had to move. Only an hour, but the packing up, drive on terrible MI roads, and unload must've weakened him immensely, because three days after we moved, he pineconed real fast, and the next day, he was just... gone. It was so devastating. He was so happy to see me, all the way to the end. He was so bloated, but he tried to come to the side of the tank to greet me... he tried so hard.

We buried him under an oak tree at my boyfriend's parents. It's been about a year now without him. His compatriots, Sherlock and Esmeralda, are still going strong, happy and healthy. 

I'm sending you and Enceladus good vibes. May both of you find peace, however it comes.


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## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

That's heartbreaking. Maybe catching the pineconing so early on he'll pull through with the treatment. Sending well wishes and prayers your way.
I hope tail biting doesn't lead to dropsy. when they bite do they actually swallow the parts that are bitten off?


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

Tailbiting doesn't lead to dropsy - dropsy is essentially the failure of the kidneys\liver.

After seeing a couple of other threads, in Enceladus' case...it's probably his liver. This would explain him pineconing with very little fluid retention\bloating. Unfortunately, once pineconing sets in dropsy very, very rarely has a good outcome. I'm treating, but I'm fully expecting that I'll likely have to euthanize once he starts going downhill.

I'm wondering if this was something latent though. It very well could be congenital. Particularly if it is his liver, that could explain why his poops have always been so light colored. I'm also wondering if he was sick for longer than I realized - and if the tailbiting and loss of appetite were as much him not feeling well as him not liking the tanks I had him in.

It doesn't matter at this point though.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I'm sorry, Greenapp1es. Sometimes they don't thrive, no matter what you do and no matter how hard you try. All you can do is accept that you have done your best, and the rest is up to Nature.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Enceladus*

I put Enceladus down yesterday. He was just deteriorating so fast. Poor baby.

On a related note - it seems that my asthma and clove oil don't mix well. Good to know.

I'll miss my blue butterfly - but at least he isn't suffering.

SIP baby. Mommy loves you.

IMG_0678 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_0674 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_1890 by Green Apples, on Flickr

https://youtu.be/C9QyE3G09II

https://youtu.be/p7Ou1ASWsDU

*Neptune

*Neptune's fins are starting to become a larger and larger problem. Neptune is a rosetail - and he's definitely...um....continued to rose since I got him. Enceladus and Neptune were bought within a day or so of each other, so when I was looking for old pictures of Enceladus I saw some of Neptune as well. At that point - I realized that his tail is now easily twice as long and AT LEAST twice as full.

This is becoming a problem as it's affecting his ability and willingness to move around the tank. He pretty much spends his day hiding at the moment until I go to feed, then it takes some coaxing to get him out, he gobbles down two pellets and wiggles his flippers as fast as they can take him to his floating tube.

Poor guy. I'm trying to build up the courage to trim those fins of his, for his own health and safety. At least I have clove oil now. But, especially with everything with Enceladus, the idea of tackling that right now is huge. Doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done though.

*The Rest*

Everyone else is doing well enough. 

Callisto spent some time getting all flarey at the the big Ramshorn in his tank yesterday - that was kind of hilarious. Earlier this week the ram was spending some time on some dwarf water lettuce right by where Callisto was nesting - which Callisto didn't appreciate. Callisto nudged him until he fell down - but it looked like he was nuzzling the guy. 

Dione is getting harder and harder to feed - simply because she's so freaking impatient and she watches my fingers with such intensity that she sometimes doesn't see that I drop the pellet. This leads to her flipping across the surface of the water like a jumping bean while I have to find the pellet I dropped - and hover my had over it like I'm dropping another one. It's adorable, but I do kind of wish I could stop the behavior.

Eclipse is doing well. I'm really considering taking the middle divider out of the 20 long and giving him the whole center part of the tank - he gets restless and paces in the space that he has. That tank is currently only at half capacity - though I'll probably move either Pulsar or another guy into the end slot that Enceladus had before he moved to the 2.5. If I extend the middle section I might make that a community section with a couple male guppies or maybe some pygmy cories - haven't decided yet.

Pallas is doing well. His tail is mostly healed - it's still a little rough in spots but the brittleness that it had when it first started growing out is mostly gone. I can actually flare him now without his tail straight up splitting again - which it would do initially. He's started jumping occasionally for food as well. I have mixed feelings about that - on one had I don't want to encourage it, but on the other he's come a long way since scooting himself along the bottom of his small bare-bottomed QT tank.

Pulsar and Nameless are currently happily sharing a 10 gallon split 3 ways with an open center slot. Nameless has done *SO MUCH BETTER* since moving into a smaller space it's not even funny. As soon as he went into the divided 10 he nearly immediately became more active, more social, and more curious. It's definitely something I'll to let his future owner know when they get him - he really does do better in a confined area. Pulsar is goofy as ever. Having him is reminding me how much I actually like VT's.

We'll see what the future brings. I still have another fish coming. There is a part of me looking at the fact that I now have 5 completely empty tanks (not to mention empty spaces in the ones I have - or my snail farm) and realizing exactly how many fish I can continue to get - but I really don't think that's in any way responsible. There are days where the ones I have feel overwhelmed by the guys I have - but some days EVERYTHING is overwhelming so I'm not sure that's actually the fish.

That just leaves a question on what to do with the tanks. It would be a shame to waste them.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

I am so, so sorry for your loss.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

I'm so sorry for your loss. SIP Enceladus.


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## DangerousAngel (Mar 26, 2015)

It breaks my heart you lost Enceladus. You did what was best for him. He was very truly loved and well taken care of.
If you decide to trim Neptune's fins, post about the process, I find it interesting how someone would go about that.
I know how you feel about the feeding difficulties, Angel is so hard to feed, I have to lift his lid to get him to notice the food.
I also know the overwhelming feeling. I have 3 empty tanks, but no room or ability to care for more. They'll be QT tanks.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*So....Uh....STUFF HAPPENED*

It's been a while. It's been eventful. I've just been too caught up in physical therapy, allergy shots, doctor's appointments, helping a friend move, and helping yet another friend keep her sanity while babysitting small children to have much energy left to update everyone on exactly HOW eventful.

Anyway....let's see if I can get you caught up to speed.

*Plants*

First off - the plants in my 20 Long are finally starting to thrive. They've still got a long way to go, but are actually at a point where I need to trim them. The goal is to trim and replant until I get enough plants to fill the tank out.

IMG_2063 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2062 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2061 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2060 by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Arrival of Comet and Swain!!!*

So....um....I didn't have enough betta, right? *cough*

Someone in my area had a couple of rescue fish that they were looking to rehome (actually the same person who I got Pallas from). I had a fondness for one, and the friend of mine who I had been planning on giving Pallas to was interested in another. So a couple weeks ago now, I went and picked up Comet (my new boy) and Swain (named by my friend that decided to claim him).

While not a long car ride, I decided that the easiest way to transport two fish without worrying about them tipping would be to use Styrofoam Cups and a drink tray. The styrofoam would help to insulate them from any temperature changes, and give them a nice, dark place to hopefully calm them for the ride. Here's them riding in style!

IMG_2025 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Upon returning back at my house, Comet was eager to get out of his travel cup and see what all the fuss was about. Meanwhile Swain was, if anything, a little reluctant to come out of his bit of a nap. 

IMG_2031 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2036 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Both then went into cups to acclimate. Check out Comet's grump face!!!

IMG_2039 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2042 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2043 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Then - of course, into Quarantine. I was initially going to move Dione into a divided tank with Nameless and Pulsar temporarily to QT Comet - but Dione got wormy a day or two before. Ugh. At least that happened BEFORE I tank juggled. (She's fine now, BTW).

So instead, I set up an unused 5gal to QT Comet in. Swain spent his QT in the 2.5gal tank that Enceladus once used. Comet is an incredibly curious and spunky boy, and immediately started checking out his tank. I was able to get a couple of decent pictures there. Swain, on the other hand, started off incredibly shy. 

IMG_2045 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2052 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2054 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2049 by Green Apples, on Flickr
_It's kind of sad that this is the best early picture of Swain in his tank, and you can only see his reflection. LOL._
IMG_2050 by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Comet leaves QT!*

At the end of Comet's QT period, I put him in the divided 20 long. He's doing great there. Eclipse is on the other side of the divider, and Eclipse is....rather aggressive. It's not stopping Comet. He's definitely a spunky little guy. Comet is about 2/3rds Eclipse's size and will happily charge the divider and tease Eclipse. Eclipse definitely seems happier with a flare buddy (Neptune REFUSES to provide this), and Comet's personality makes for an awesome match! :-D

IMG_2074 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2076 by Green Apples, on Flickr
*
Nameless and Swain go to Their New Home*

On a bittersweet note, Swain and Nameless left me this weekend to go to their "forever home." Nameless is still awaiting his forever owner, and is now in care of that owner's future roommate. That future roommate is also the person who was interested in Swain.

Initially, Pallas was supposed to make this trip as well. However, I've become really attached to the little squirt, and my friend and I agreed that it's probably just as well for him to stay with me anyway. He's improved SO MUCH since arriving with me, and is quite settled and happy in his current tank. I've also got a bit of a bond with him. He's my buddy. It just didn't seem worth it to shake that up - little guy's already been through a lot in his life.

Anyway, pictures of the move!

Like Comet and Swain's trip to my home, Nameless and Swain made the trip in Styrofoam Cups. This was even more important for this trip, as they LITERALLY traveled to the other side of the state in this move. Swain was a bit more willing to be photographed before taking off, while Nameless has turned into a cheeky little boy and wanted nothing to do with staying still for the camera.

IMG_2077 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2078 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2088 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2095 by Green Apples, on Flickr

After a long day in the car, both Nameless and Swain were eager to get out of their cups and into critter keepers set up for them at their new home. I brought several Ramshorn snails along as well - and they were put in with Nameless until they can be added to my friend's larger tank. Nameless didn't know what to think of them! It was adorable!

IMG_2102 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2103 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2109 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Plants were added to each tank after I left, and I hear they are both settling in quite nicely. I'll miss the little guys.

On the bright side though, my tanks won't be "empty" for long - Nameless' brother was shipped to me today! "Show Boy" never actually got big enough to show, sadly. Either way, I now have a couple of days to prep that 2.5gal tank again for his QT, and he'll go into Nameless' spot in the divided tank afterwards.

So, yeah. Stuff happened. Hopefully everyone was able to keep up with it all! :-D


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## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

I'm liking the plants.

Some of the rotala branches look ready for replanting.

That plant on the front left corner, is that a sword, or is it a crypt? I have a plant that looks similar to that, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

andakin said:


> I'm liking the plants.
> 
> Some of the rotala branches look ready for replanting.
> 
> That plant on the front left corner, is that a sword, or is it a crypt? I have a plant that looks similar to that, and for the life of me, I can't remember what it's called.


Thanks!

The plant I think you're thinking of is an amazon sword. I got two of them in a plant package from someone on here.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Meet Nebula!*

OK, so...I'm *EXPECTING* this to be the last addition to my fishie family for a while. My family has gotten a little larger than I'd intended, but this little guy is one I've been expecting for a while. We'll see if I can hold myself to that though - LOL.

I've mentioned in previous entries that I'd been waiting for this little guy that had been held back for the show season. Unfortunately, he never grew big enough to show. He's still and adorable little OHM though, and I'm happy to give him a home now that show season is over.

IMG_20150317_112538010 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Anyway, let me introduce you to Nebula (aka Show Boy :-D)

Nebula, like his brother Nameless and half brother Pulsar, made a long cross-country trip to get to me. Thankfully, the USPS got him to me in 2 days as expected.

IMG_2162 by Green Apples, on Flickr

He was sent with an IAL leaf! Awesome! Otherwise, he was well packaged, as his brothers were.
IMG_2163 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2164 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Then - the moment of truth. Every time I have fish shipped to me taking them out of the box is unnerving. I lifted the bag, and got a pair of very confused fishy eyes staring back at me. I'm pretty sure I woke him from a nap, LOL. Nonetheless, I'm happy that he arrived alive and well.

IMG_2165 by Green Apples, on Flickr

Given the trouble I had with Nameless, I wanted to acclimate him as carefully as I could. I used a knotted airline tubing to start a slow drip acclimation, and put a drop of Prime and Methylene Blue in with his shipping water. I figured the prime would take care of any ammonia immediately, the while the MB would help recover from any exposure (and give me a way to tell the concentration of his original water). He started to color up even before the drip was done!

IMG_2166 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2169 by Green Apples, on Flickr
IMG_2170 by Green Apples, on Flickr

After being released into his new tank, he's been pretty shy. I had to be pretty patient to even get a quick shot of him. I know he's been through a pretty big ordeal though, and it's normal for him to be stressed. Either way, he's looking like he's settling in well!

IMG_2175 by Green Apples, on Flickr

I hope he continues to thrive for me, and I hope he doesn't give me a scare like his brother did. He's in a smaller tank for QT, and that seemed to be one of Nameless' hangups. Hopefully he'll get through the couple of weeks after arrival without any scares, and settles in nicely to his new home!


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

So pretty! Congrats on Nebula and the other new fish.


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

*Picture Time!*

Well, since I've had some changes in my Crew, I guess it's time for a picture post to show my current lineup of finkids.

*Dione*
Dione by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Pulsar*
Pulsar by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Pallas*
Pallas by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Neptune*
Neptune by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Eclipse*
Eclipse by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Comet*
Comet by Green Apples, on Flickr

*Callisto*
Callisto by Green Apples, on Flickr
*
Nebula*
Nebula by Green Apples, on Flickr

Getting pictures of everyone is HARD. A couple of my boys move so fast that it's hard to even take a video and get a clear frame in a screenshot. Eclipse and Nebula, I'm looking at you.

That said, I *do* have a rather adorable video of Nebula. He's been settling in well. :-D

https://youtu.be/r4p1TpC7NQo


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## Missik (Jan 21, 2015)

*Where's mommy?*


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## Greenapp1es (Dec 4, 2014)

^LOL, I haven't had a chance to post about him yet. <3 Everyone, meet my new boy! He's across the state at the moment.

I'll give more details when I have a few minutes to document the day (it was a really, really eventful day.) I love my new baby though, he's gorgeous!

Now just to decide on a name...


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## Tealight03 (Nov 15, 2014)

Subbing. Beautiful fish!


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

That post made me laugh out loud in my office.


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## Elleth (Feb 23, 2015)

Lol! He's is too cute! Can't wait to hear the name.


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