# Royal's Triumphs and Tribulations.



## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

I started a natural planted tank or walstad tank and want to journal it. It will not be by the book because I've not read it. I'm still learning and will adjust and adapt accordingly and will share the whole process even if I'm left with my foot in my mouth 😂 

this is day 3 of the tank I made a very impulse betta purchase. We are drip acclimating him to his new home and I am calling him Royal. I always like to test the betta cup for ammonia. His was reading 1ppm.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

It didnt take him long to adjust. Just a little timid but it was his first day in a new place!


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

Argh! 1st morning I wake up to see he had scalped himself! And he was missing a few scales 😫 not a good start, Royal.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

Added some mosquito fern for his tank.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

I got some airline tubing to Make a feeding hole. And stuffed the back compartment with fittonia plants since I wasnt running that. I think Royal likes the coverage the floating plants provide. Thoigh after a few days I'm already annoyed with the fern. The roots have a curl to them so they do catch on his fins sometimes and takes him a good effort to free it. I added some duckweed in the mix. The goldfish really like eating the batches when I go in to thin it.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

His head healed completely! Just a minor scar. We are in our 3rd week. Everything reads 0. I'll post weekly here on out. Likely every Tuesday about pics or changes I did throughout the week!


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## Shifa (Nov 15, 2018)

He's really pretty  as for them scraping scales... I have a SUPER active PK who's kind of clumsy since he's partially blind and he knocks himself into stuff on occasion, as long as the water's in good shape they have no issue healing right up  Love the tank btw, that's a nice idea with the fittonia, I have a pink angel that's outgrown its pot, might be a good idea to put some in the back area.... 

at second glance I have a very similar tank to yours  (might actually be the same now that I think about it) do you not use the filtration system it came with?


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## AetherTheBetta (Mar 30, 2018)

He is gorgeous!!


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

Shifa said:


> He's really pretty 😮 as for them scraping scales... I have a SUPER active PK who's kind of clumsy since he's partially blind and he knocks himself into stuff on occasion, as long as the water's in good shape they have no issue healing right up 🙂 Love the tank btw, that's a nice idea with the fittonia, I have a pink angel that's outgrown its pot, might be a good idea to put some in the back area....
> 
> at second glance I have a very similar tank to yours 😮 (might actually be the same now that I think about it) do you not use the filtration system it came with?


Shifa I'm not using the built in filter because this tank is dirted and capped with pea gravel. I didnt want the dirt being sucked into that compartment. I do have a mini hob on this tank though for water movement though. I'm watching parameters closely though but for now, the plants seem to be doing a fine job keeping the ammonia and nitrites at 0. It is a bit of a small tank at 2.5. Yet less water what with the gravel taking up some space. But he has such heavy fins he isnt intensely active like my veiltail. He just swims and then sorta fluffs his fins out all big and beautiful showing off but he isn't built for speed, that's for sure 😂 I'm suspicious it is the old filter output so I'm going to stuff something in there soon.


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## Shifa (Nov 15, 2018)

Ahhh okay, I didn't notice you had soil in it 👍


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## OrchidxBetta (Mar 18, 2016)

Good looking fish and nice plants! Where do you get mosquito fern from? Looks cool.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

I found some locally but I'm sure you can easily get it online. Some states it is illegal as it is a very invasive species, like a lot of other aquatic plants, so be responsible with it! 🙂


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

I have a fluval flex I've been slowly decorating and I didnt really plan on this betta going in. But plans change. Especially when I stumbled upon this adorable pink betta! I wanted to see how he grew and colored out. Hard to tell if he was a dalmation or a marble with just nice spots so for $3 I went ahead and got him to hold me over through the cold months as I had planned on going through a breeder for the next betta. Unless he ends up being really nice! Which I sort of am already pretty attached to him. He has a pretty good character to stay in here with my nano fish inhabitants. Pretty calm and collected. Doesnt bother my itty bitty baby pygmy Cory's so maybe I won't take the risk and just keep him here! Name suggestions welcome! He has blue drop eyes (brown on top half blue on bottom half) so he sorta has a crying appearance lol! He is also extremely picky with his food lol may need to get creative because he can't live off only bloodworms and mysis shrimp! I've tried the bug bites to try and round off his diet but nope. I've tried omega one and that was a big no too lol maybe he just needs a few extra days to settle in. But name suggestions are welcome.


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## Ratvan (Oct 31, 2018)

He's beautiful, congratulations. I'm not great with Name's I usually give them a few days and pick one based on their personality. I also love a PUN


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## OrchidxBetta (Mar 18, 2016)

Ooowee he is stunning. Have you picked a name yet? I'm not good with names either. 

Since I'm fairly new to the hobby, I was captivated by the mosquito fern, hah. I have the typical floatings plants, dwarf water lettuce, salvinia and frogbit.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

End of week 3 for Royal. I removed the mini hob filter this week because it was making a mess of the floaters. I also added a nerite snail to help with algae. Though I'm thinking I'll remove him soon and replace with an amano depending on Royal's tolerance. Tested the water in case it threw the parameters off but everything is still great! 0 for ammonia and nitrites but the nitrates are showing 5ppm but I think thatll take time because when I first set the tank up I was not thinking and added water from the faucet instead of my RO water for half of the volume. My faucet water has over 80ppm nitrates lol anyhow, I noticed he seemed just a tad uninterested today. Water felt chilly so I added a thermometer and turns out his heater isn't running well! 74°F argh! The first heater made it 86 and this one makes it too cold. So I'll be getting another heater tomorrow. Royal did not like the intrusion 😂 doesn't make me hopeful for an amano lol I did trim the plants but didnt think to grab a pic before trimming.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

OrchidxBetta said:


> Ooowee he is stunning. Have you picked a name yet? I'm not good with names either.
> 
> Since I'm fairly new to the hobby, I was captivated by the mosquito fern, hah. I have the typical floatings plants, dwarf water lettuce, salvinia and frogbit.


No name yet lol I'm sure one will come to me eventually. Royal only has his name because he was already named for me 😂 the pink guy is pretty mellow dude. I have hope he wont destroy the colony of shrimp I plan on adding in the future lol he is such a picky eater! Giving me a run for my money.


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## bighollywood (Jan 25, 2018)

What plant is on top of the water...sort of pink looking... growing out of the water...not floating... and how do you have it in the water?

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

bighollywood said:


> What plant is on top of the water...sort of pink looking... growing out of the water...not floating... and how do you have it in the water?
> 
> Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk


It is fittonia. I just cleaned the roots and submerged them in the water of my tank.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

This week has been crazy and the poor guys went a bit without food. He was none too pleased lol I did give them a special meal to make up for it though lol I did a huge trimming because it went neglected and the hornwort overshadowed darn near everything and the bacopa was really struggling. I'm sure itll make a comeback though now that it isn't so dark.


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

Din din!


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## Tammy0173 (Nov 5, 2016)

Man he is not bad for a $3 fish. Best impulse purchase I've made lol


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