# Betta Testing



## DaytonBetta

Welcome to my aquarium journal. I thought this might be a good way to keep track of the trials and tribulations and of course, the joys of my latest fish-keeping endeavor. 

My aquarium is really not mine, it is a pet that my 6 year old son earned for consistent good behavior. My 8 year old is working on earning a pet cockatiel, so I may share some thoughts on that too from time to time.

We have a 29 gallon set up that I got free from a friend. We officially started the process on January 13, 2014.

Here are the specs:
gravel and laterite
Aquaclear 50 hang on back filter
Aqueon Pro 150 heater
20W GE plant and aquarium bulb



After much encouraging research here and on other forums I decided to add live plants. This is what we started with:

Java Fern and bronze wendtii cryptocoryne - given to me by my friend
The others we bought at PetSmart

Anubias congensis
Microsorium pteropus – Windelov Java fern
Marimo


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## DaytonBetta

This is our tank. My husband reminds me often that it is not mine, rather our son's aquarium. Hence, the sand castle and blue/purple plant.


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## Betta Nut

What a great way to get your kids to "earn" pets!
The tank doesn't look half bad for a 6 year olds, either, hah!
I guess you haven't got any fish yet? Plans for what you'll get?


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## DaytonBetta

We ran the tank for 10days with just the plants (my son had to earn ten more good behavior stickers to get the fish)


On 1/23/14 we added


10 Neon Tetra
Hygrophila difformis – Water wisteria
Bacopa caroliniana - Bacopa


I also added Tetra Safe Start bacteria solution.





While at the store I saw Black Neon Tetras. I was so taken by how vibrant they were. My son wanted the regular neons so we started with them and decided to add the black neons down the line.


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## DaytonBetta

My plan had been to wait a week before adding anything else, but my son really wanted to get the betta asap. 

the neons were doing well. Our water parameters were great, ammonia and nitrites 0. Trace nitrates. So we headed out the next evening to pick out our betta. 

My son wanted a red betta, so I showed him 4 of the best looking ones of the pathetic lot available. There were 2 that were quite unique, a dragon and a crowntail, but he really liked the solid red veil tail. 

He named him Sammy right away. I said, "That's a nice name."

When we got home my husband asked him, why the name Sammy? My son replied, "It's a nice name"


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## summersea

Hahaha I love your son's logic there! Sammy is a lovely fish! I look forward to reading more about him an your exploits!


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## DaytonBetta

The neon tetras are really a lot of fun. They school together and chase each other. I love how small and colorful they are. They seem to enjoy swimming in and out of the plants and caves. I'm feeding them Omega super color flakes.

Sammy the Betta is very timid. He spends almost all his time in the cave or the cryptocoryne. When he does swim around he seems to be doing fine with the filter flow. He didn't eat much at all the first week. I started feeding him Nutrimax Betta (that's all the pet store had) and then switched him to the Omega Betta food.

The neons chase and nip each other, but completely ignore Sammy and he seems to not even notice them.


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## DaytonBetta

On 1/30/14 we added 4 otocinclus. Our tank had a bit of algae and the chemistry remained stable. The neons and Sammy were settled in well.

The otos were quite cute and set off to work right away!


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## BettaLover1313

Loving your tank and reading about how you and your family are enjoying it!


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## DaytonBetta

2/1/14 First water change. Our chemistry was good, no ammonia, no nitrites, 10 nitrates, but I felt like it was probably a good idea to do a water change since the tank had been running for a little over 2 weeks. I siphoned out 5 gallons since that's the size container I have and can lift to my kitchen sink. 

Previously I used a python clean and fill system. Now I have a fancy kitchen faucet, so I can't hook one up. I loved that method and would recommend it to anyone with a large tank (I used it for a 70 gallon). 

So anyhow, now I just start the siphon by mouth, lug the dirty water over to the sink and have my husband re-fill the tank, since it's too high for me to reach. I'm using Prime as a conditioner.

Since I couldn't get the python, I got the EHEIM quick vac pro. It's a battery powered gravel cleaner, that can be used without removing water from the tank. I didn't like this product at all. It is expensive ($50) and really doesn't do well at all. There is a mesh screen for collecting debris, which is fine for big fish poop, but everything else goes though and then is floating in the water. The tank looked terrible after using it and was cloudy for 2 full days. Since we have quite a few plants there is only a small area I can vacuum. 

I also added API root tabs to the gravel for the Cryptocoryne, Wisteria and Bacopa. 

I got the wisteria for 30% off because it looked so pathetic (it was the only one they had). It started getting new leaves within 2 days so I think it will do well.

I rinsed and squeezed the Marimo in tap water and rolled it in my hands. It looked much nicer and greener after rinsing.

I think I will probably do water changes every 2 weeks, since the filter and plants seem to be doing a nice job. I'll watch my ammonia and nitrites and see.


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## DaytonBetta

Here begins the Testing part of the Betta Testing Journal!

2/6/14 Everyone was doing great so today we added 7 Black Neon Tetras. There color at the store was not as nice as the ones I had seen last month, but they told me they were stressed from being transported to the store and would be fine when I got them home. We acclimated them slowly over about an hours time and then left the lights off until the next morning.

I also started fertilizing my plants with Flourish.

When my tank was so cloudy after the weekend I ordered Purigen online, after reading many great reviews. By the time it arrived two days later everything was clear. I plan to replace my carbon insert with the Purigen in a few days, when the neons are adjusted.

Well, hindsight is 20/20, but I should have waited to get the Black Neons until they looked good at the store. By the next morning two of them were dead and so was one of the oto's. Of the remaining 5, 3 were swimming together and two were off toward the bottom by themselves. UGH! 

Water chemistry was fine.

2/8

I cleaned the filter sponge with de-clorinated water. Wow, it was filthy, but the water in the tank is completely clear and water parameters are good. 

The Black Neon situation is the same. All are pale. Everyone else is fine and Sammy seems to be out and about and less fearful now.

2/9

Another Black Neon died, now we have 3 swimming together, one by itself. Plus, surprise, surprise... all 4 have Ich! The other fish are not visibly affected.

I started raising the temp in the tank from 78 to 82.

So, I took the frozen, dead neons back to Petsmart and exchanged them for Ich Attack. I chose this particular product because it's safe for planted tanks and doesn't stain decorations or silicone joints. I will update as to how it works. 

I tossed my carbon filter, and did a 5 gallon water change. I started dosing Ich Attack and increased the tank temp to 86, gradually over the next 12 hours. I checked on the fish frequently and didn't note any respiratory distress. My filter does a pretty good job moving the surface water, so I think oxygenation will be ok.


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## DaytonBetta

While exchanging my poor little dead fish at the pet store for ich medicine, I also purchased the TopFin Aquarium Gravel Vacuum. 

I've been doing a lot of reading about Ich (Ichthyophthirius multifiliis). The paramecium infects the skin and gills causing the white spots. Then it falls into the water as tomites and can be killed by temperature or medication (or it rapidly multiplies and attaches itself to fish again.) The tomites are most prevalent on the gravel and at lower levels in the tank. I wanted a gravel vacuum that actually removed the tomites, rather than just stirring everything up like the EHEIM vacuum.

I bought the medium size (10 -20 gallons) even though my tank is larger. It seemed like it would be easier to use between and around my plants. It was $12.99 They have 3 or 4 sizes for a variety of tanks. 

The vacuum has a bulb to start the suction and a screen to prevent fish from being completely sucked up. There's also a clip to attach it to your waste water container.

I thought the TopFin Vacuum did a great job. The flow and suction for the medium size was fine. It worked so well I suctioned about a gallon of water onto my kitchen floor. So, do keep an eye on your bucket if you're using one.


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## DaytonBetta

2/10/14 This morning I can only find 3 of the Black Neon Tetras. The 4th is MIA. The number of white spots on the 3 Black Neons has really increased. I expected this with the increased temperature. 

No other fish seem to be affected, and there's no apparent difficulty with respiration. 



I'm continuing to dose Ich Attack 1T twice a day. The water is a little bit darker and smells like an unidentifiable ethnic restaurant. (There must be a lot of garlic in Ich Attack)



My heater is on almost all the time to maintain the temp at 86.


One thing that is really cool today is that Sammy is on the Betta leaf hammock! I came in the kitchen after the tank light was off, but the ceiling light was on, and there he was sleeping on the leaf. He looked so cute. 



Then I started to worry maybe he was sick (b/c that's what I do). I went and got my husband. He said, "Isn't that the purpose of that thing?!" I had to laugh.


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## BlueLacee

wow Sammy is a beautiful boy.

I have no experience with it myself, but I've herd some stories about bettas attacking Neon Tetras. Just something to look out for.

I wish I could earn a pet for good behavior, although if that was the case, I would have about a million pets. Maybe i'll use it in my next "can I get another fish?"


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## DaytonBetta

2/11 I'm continuing to keep the temperature elevated and dosing Ich Attack twice a day. The ich on the Black Neons is significantly improved. Everyone seems to be eating and swimming well.

I performed a 5 gallon water change and had my son help me by watching the waste water. Together things were much neater. My son is very sweet and loves to participate in the fish care. 

During the water change I moved some of the plants around and found the very dead Black Neon I couldn't locate. It was stuck in that awful purple plastic plant. I am hoping the live plants grow in so that can disappear, but my son is proud of it, and so happy. And, purple is my favorite color, so I guess it's not so bad, lol.

One of my Anubias plants has a yellow leaf which I removed. I moved it to the front of the tank because I think maybe it was getting too much light. The Bacopa has grown quite a bit and all the plants have some new growth. I'm hoping the high water temperature for the ich treatment doesn't affect them too much.


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## DaytonBetta

2/12 This morning Sammy was dead on the bottom of the tank. There were no outward signs of disease and he was behaving normally. I think probably his gills were infected with ich and that killed him. The water tests fine. Poor guy...

My husband asked if I was going to try to just replace him while the kids were at school. That's not an option as much with Bettas as other fish. Eventhough Sammy was a common color and shape, he did have some distinct markings, like a little blue here and there, that my son has commented on. Besides, there's no way I'd throw a healthy new fish into a tank of ich.

I told my son after school. He didn't cry. He wanted to see him. He looked at the body and said, "That's sad." I thought he was going to cry, but I patted his head and gave him a hug. Then he asked about getting another betta. 

We'll get another when this whole ich situation is behind us in a couple weeks. 

The Black Neons are looking really good, 2 of them have just a couple very small white spots. I also noticed one little spot on 2 of the regular tetras, I'm not positive on that because they swim and dart around so quick. That's frustrating, but I think the outbreak is controlled and I plan to stay the course.

I've been doing lots of reading about ich and find it very interesting. I wish I had a good microscope or was still in school. It would be interesting to autopsy the dead fish and look at the water and gill/skin scapings under the microscope. Hopefully though, once this is ich problem is over, it will be a very long time before we have dead fish again!

I was really hoping not to have to set up a quarantine tank and I know that's the root of my problems. I was hoping to get lucky, get things established in the main tank and then coast. I'm not sure what I'll do when this is taken care of and we're ready for new fish. I want to have a full school of the black neons and a betta.


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## summersea

Aww so sorry to hear about Sammy! SIP little fishy! At least your son took the news well. When my first betta passed my little nephew (3 at the time) cried and was so upset!

Hope your ich clears up soon! Glad you are seeing progress!


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## DaytonBetta

2/14 “A towel, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have..." 
Things are going well. There are just a few tiny spots on the fish. Plants look ok, I fertilized with Flourish.

I did another water change (see quote above). I didn't have my son help me and the tubing came apart at the suction bulb junction. Of course it took me a few minutes to notice! Fortunately, I do have plenty of old towels. 

2/17
Two of the black neons and two of the neon tetras each have one white spot each. One of the smallest neons died today. The plants look ok.

Water parameters are fine. We continue to keep the temperature up and dose with Ich Attack twice a day. 

We did another water change without incident!!




Our other big news is our new pet cockatiel, Charlie. This is my almost 9 year old son's bird. 'A' loves birds of all kinds. He is particularly good at identifying wild birds. He can tell you what a bird is at the feeder, in the air or by it's call. He really wanted a falcon, but we thought it would be best to start with something that didn't require a federal permit.


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## DaytonBetta

I've now been treating for ich with heat and Ich Attack for 10 days. There are still a few little spots on 3 of the fish, but definitely a steady improvement. The plants are definitely getting weary of the increased temperature. They are getting a little pale/yellowish. 

My plan was to start lowering the temp after 2 weeks if the visible ich was gone. I think it's going to take longer than that. 

I'm trying to decide whether to suck it up and start up a quarantine tank for when we're ready to finish stocking the main tank. I want to avoid this disease fiasco, but I really don't want to set up a second tank.

Our cockatiel, Charlie is doing great. He steps up on command and is really sweet. He will sit on my shoulder and plays with the kids. He seems to be adjusting well. He is pretty quiet; I hope that continues.

My little dog, Shrapnel is oblivious to the bird. She is 14 and acts like a puppy when she's awake, but she spends much of her time sleeping. The bird has seen her and was frightened, but she didn't even notice the bird. I don't get the bird out of the cage when the dog is around.

 
Shrapnel, miniature pinscher, 14y. She wears a sweater all the time because since she's gotten old she is always cold. Sorry the tag is still on in the picture! I had just bought the sweater and then she was so happy when I tried it on her, I had to take a picture.


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## DaytonBetta

Today we did another water change. I only see one white spot on one of the black neons. 

I bit the bullet and set up a ten gallon quarantine tank. The tank, filter, and hood cost a dollar less than the heater! That was frustrating. But it is up and going now. I used Tetra Safe Start again and we put in 3 African dwarf frogs. They are cute, each is a little bit different color. I've kept these little frogs in the past and found them to be very hardy and easy to take care of. 

I bought the aquarium at Petco. while I was there I checked out the bettas. There is a blue-green crowntail male that I really liked. There was also a beautiful lavender veil tail. I'm going to take my son to look at them tomorrow.

My goal is to quarantine the betta and frogs for two weeks and by that time our ich problem should be fully resolved. Then we'll probably quarantine a few more black neons and then we'll be done.


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## jaysee

Quarantine tanks are the best investment you can make. Quarantining new fish is essential for making sure new additions don't infect current residents. You'll be happy with your purchase I'm sure.


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## DaytonBetta

This afternoon we went back to Petco and picked up a new Sammy. He's a crowntail and I really like his coloring. My son, E is excited. We acclimated him and he seems to be doing ok in our 10 gallon quarantine. Hopefully he turns out to be easygoing, but not as bashful as Sammy1.



The frogs are doing fine. They like to hide or behind or in the decoration and even try to hide under each other. They ate this morning. 





I don't have any gravel in the quarantine. I figured it would be easier to clean. I can just use a straight siphon tube; I don't want to contaminate my gravel cleaning siphon. I don't think the frogs like the flat bottom and it makes it really hard to get a decent photo. I'm sure they'll be so happy in the planted tank so hopefully they'll do well the next 2 weeks.

The 29 gallon is the same. I've been treating ich for 2 weeks. The Ich Attach says it can take up to 5 weeks. I'm hoping with the increased temperature and water changes/gravel cleaning it will be faster.

Our cockatiel, Charlie is doing well. We have him out of the cage a lot and my son, A is doing very well with the feeding, watering and paper changes.


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## jaysee

I would quit using the ich attack. It is useless if it takes 5 weeks. Should take 5 days. You said the heat is at 86. I would bump it up to 88. That can make the difference.


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## summersea

I love your new betta! Beautiful color! Hope he does well in quarantine for you!


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## DaytonBetta

jaysee said:


> I would quit using the ich attack. It is useless if it takes 5 weeks. Should take 5 days. You said the heat is at 86. I would bump it up to 88. That can make the difference.


My heater is actually set to 88 (that's as high as it goes), but my probe thermometer only reads 86.

Is there anything else you'd recommend for a planted tank?


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## jaysee

If the heater is set to 88 and the water is only 86 then you'll need to dial up the heat past 88 to get the water there. 

I don't know much about planted tanks - some plants can handle the heat better than others. That's all I got


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## Hallyx

I've forgotten what the minimum age is for a falconry license ---maybe fourteen?. I do believe it is a state permit. In California an apprentice falconer must be sponsored by a master falconer (licensed two years). He is then permitted, for the first two years, to keep an American Kestrel, Red-tail hawk or (I believe) a Cooper hawk. Maybe it varies by state.

The wonderful thing about keeping a raptor is you can take them places and *fly them*, something you can't do with parrotiforms. And they're really not much harder to maintain than a cockatiel, as long as you can build an outdoor muse. They're certainly a lot quieter.

I haven't flown hawks in nearly 40-years, but I still miss it. A well-manned Kestrel is a joy to fly and to just be around. Did you know they smell good?


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## DaytonBetta

Probably in 5 years we'll have a Kestrel then, lol.

We went to a presentation by a man who trains the eagle who flies at Great American Ballpark and trains the birds at the Cincinatti zoo. He was a really interesting person and had gotten started with falcons at quite a young age. My son is almost 9.


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## jaysee

Hallyx said:


> I haven't flown hawks in nearly 40-years, but I still miss it. A well-manned Kestrel is a joy to fly and to just be around. Did you know they smell good?


What do they smell like??


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## Hallyx

Kestrels smell like a cross between baby powder and pine. Red-tails and Coops are a little muskie, like dried weeds and cinnamon.

Falcon breath is indescribable. I'd wear it as an after shave.


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## DaytonBetta

Finally we seem to be making progress with the Ich! No spots yesterday or today. I am just hoping the tomites are dead and don't hop back on the fish tomorrow. The water is very dark from the Ich Attack, but ammonia and nitrites are 0. Nitrate 5. I plan to do another water change tomorrow.

Our new Sammy seems to be doing alright and the frogs are fine. Ammonia is 0 today.


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## DaytonBetta

So far, so good! This is the fourth day without any outward signs of ich. 

I'm happy to be writing this journal; it keeps me on task. Since I said I was going to do a water change yesterday, I was compelled. I got it done at 11pm last night. 

You can see even after the water change, the water is quite dark from the Ick Attack. My bottle is almost gone, so my plan is to finish it off and then slowly lower the temp back to 78.



The frogs and New Sammy in quarantine are doing well. Sammy came over to where I was standing when I approached the tank today. I changed two gallons in that tank yesterday, too.

The frogs are really cute, but seem to be more active at night. I can't tell if they are boys or girls. I read that if they have a bump under their arm they are male. I don't see that so I think they might all be girls?


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## DaytonBetta

Dosed with Flourish today.


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## DaytonBetta

This morning I finished off the last of the Ick Attack. Everyone looks good. My plan is to do a water change tomorrow and then gradually lower the temperature.

I did a water change in the quarantine tank tonight. Ammonia and nitrite are 0, but it's been a few days so I figured it would be a good idea. I was worried about one of the frogs because he spent most of the day near the top on the betta leaf. But, he came down this afternoon and ate. He's been palling around with the other two this evening. So, hopefully he's fine. The frogs seem to be growing a little and plumping up. Right now it's easy for them to find the food since the bottom of the tank is bare and it's a small space. I'm thinking about putting a little glass dish in for them to eat out of when I move them to the big tank. I'm not sure how to get the food to stay or land in the bowl when I put it in the 29gallon since it's about 16inches from the water level to the gravel. 

Sammy is doing fine and really likes to eat. We feed him 3 Omega Betta Buffet pellets twice a day. He eats some of the frog food if it doesn't sink right away, too.


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## DaytonBetta

Today I started lowering the temperature in the 29gal and did a water change tonight. 

The plants have continued to produce new leaves, but the Anubias older leaves are yellowing and the Wisteria looks wilty. The Bacopa has grown quite a bit, but is also a bit yellowed. Hopefully getting the temperature back to 78 over the next few days will help them perk up. 

Sammy and the frogs are doing well. Reading this board makes me a little paranoid. I keep checking Sammy's fins. I think they are growing a little, but then I can't be sure if the tips are clear or grey. I don't think he has fin rot, but them I'm not sure. His water is clean and warm and he's eating good food. I can't seem to get a clear picture of him. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.


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## DaytonBetta

Tomorrow is the big day, moving day for Sammy and the frogs. They've been in quarantine for two weeks. 


Sammy looks rather demonic in this photo. I'm having a difficult time figuring out the best settings on my camera.

Today one of my frogs shed her skin. When I checked on them this afternoon there were little pieces floating in the water and I could see a couple clear pieces hanging on the frog's chest/chin. My understanding is that they shed every 1-2 weeks. Someone posted a link to a frog site and I had just been reading it yesterday. http://aquaticfrogs.tripod.com/id14.html This is the page about the shedding. I was so glad I had just read this because otherwise I would have been freaking out today! The pieces of skin were nowhere near as interesting as the one posted in the link, but they were clearly little shreds of frog skin. Pretty neat. 

My bigger tank is now ich free and back to 78 degrees. I added a carbon filter 2 days ago and the water is clearing and no longer garlicky from the Ich Attack. I did a water change and trimmed the yellow leaves of my two Anubias plants this evening. 

 

I also added Flourish root tabs around the Bacopa, Crypt and Wisteria. I used liquid Flourish on 3/5.


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## Hallyx

My best camera settings are open the aperture as far as you can and shoot ap- priority (Av) so you can get the fastest shutter speed to stop motion blur. 

I wish I could defeat my autofocus. I get too many shots like yours, with the large (body) or bright mass in focus and the eyes out of focus.


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## DaytonBetta

Yesterday I transferred the frogs and Sammy to the 29 gallon. Everything went smoothly and the tank is looking nice. 



Here's a photo of my now ich-free black neon tetras and a regular neon tetra. since only 3 black ones survived we now have 3 new ones in the quarantine tank. I wanted a few more, but that is all they had at Petsmart.



My son, E and I went to the Newport Aquarium (near Cincinnati) yesterday. He really enjoyed it. It's a nice aquarium, but very crowded. They had a large display of cardinal tetras that was cool and they have a jelly fish room that is pretty neat. They also have the biggest group of shark rays in captivity. They have a few reef tanks, but I would have like to have seen more. There is a good selection of freshwater fish. There is also a frog room that I really liked.

I'm considering turning the 10 gallon we're using for quarantine into a vivarium for frogs or toads. Petsmart has firebelly toads that are cute. I need to read and research more about that before I tell my husband, lol.


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## DaytonBetta

Today I did a water change in the 10gallon quarantine tank. Before water change, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10. It's been nine days since I changed the water and the tank has only been running 3 weeks so it seemed like a good idea. 

The three new black neons seem to be doing well. I also threw some Anacharis in with them. It seems to be doing fine. It was in a tank at Petsmart, and the fish guy told me those plants often had snails so I tossed it in the quarantine after rinsing it. I plan to plant it in the 29 gallon when I move the new black neons over. I like the idea that it will grow tall. Most of my plants are pretty, but short. 

My Bacopa is doing quite well, it's even a little red on the upper leaves closer to the light. I am really loving the live plants. The frogs and Sammy seem to enjoy them too. Sammy wedges himself in between the leaves in various plants and hangs out. He's getting along fine with the other fish and frogs. 

Here's another product review:
SeaChem Ammonia Alert Monitor - This is a little chemical sensor with a suction cup that you mount inside your aquarium. It costs between $5 and $8. It has a colored dot that changes color if there is ammonia in your water. I've used this device in the past and currently have one in each of my tanks. I use the liquid API master kit and have found the Ammonia Alert to be accurate in my tanks. I really like that I can easily monitor ammonia every time I glance at my tank. However, I still do test occasionally and test if I am worried or notice any problems. Any tests you see reported here on the journal are from testing, not the Ammonia Alert. 

I would recommend this product if you like to be a little bit paranoid. If you have a good test kit it is definitely not a necessity. In my opinion, it's a good product and I like having it in my aquarium.


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## jaysee

I've used the ammonia alerts as well and fount them to work perfectly. However, if I recall correctly it only measures free ammonia so you may get a different reading than your test kit. 

Also, the scale of the product is much much smaller. What's it go up to again? 0.25 ppm? Point is that it's NOT for cycling tanks. It's strictly for cycled tanks.


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## DaytonBetta

jaysee said:


> I've used the ammonia alerts as well and fount them to work perfectly. However, if I recall correctly it only measures free ammonia so you may get a different reading than your test kit.
> 
> Also, the scale of the product is much much smaller. What's it go up to again? 0.25 ppm? Point is that it's NOT for cycling tanks. It's strictly for cycled tanks.


The highest it reads (toxic) is 0.5ppm.

You are correct, it does read only free ammonia. The product info also says if you use Prime and the Prime is bound to ammonia, it will not detect it. 

I completely agree that you can not use it alone in lieu of testing to cycle a tank.


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## DaytonBetta

I dosed with Flourish today.

Things seem to be going well. The tank is pretty interesting with the little schools of fish, our trio of frogs and Sammy the betta. I just drop the frog food in underwater so it sinks right away. I do put it in the same general area every day. Sammy only seems to eat off the surface of the water. I figure the frogs will find it eventually. 

The new black neons in quarantine are doing well.


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## DaytonBetta

I'm very excited. I was watching the frogs this evening and I could see the underarm bump that I read about on two of them. So now we know that we have two males and one female. I went to get a camera to take a picture, and he disappeared into the castle.



Evidently, the little bumps under their arms are called nuptial pads. In some types of frogs they secrete pheromones during mating season. Some people also think the pads are useful in helping the male hold onto the female during mating.

Here's another pic of Prince Charming in his castle:


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## DaytonBetta

Today we scraped algae, rinsed the filter foam and did a water change on the 29 gallon.

I pulled out a significant amount of moldy frog food from the gravel. Maybe we'll feed a little lighter this week.


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## DaytonBetta

Over the past two days the quarantine tank has experienced a brown diatom algae bloom. 



I don't think it was really doing any harm, but it looked pretty gross! I did a water change to lower the level and wiped it out with paper towels. It looks much better now.

The 29 is doing well, but there is quite a bit of algae growing on the stems of the anubias and the decorations. I keep the light on about 12 hours a day and it does get some sunlight. I'm going to gradually reduce the amount of time the light is on and see if that helps.

The plants are growing. The water wisteria has some newer leaves that are the pretty, jagged shape I like. The bigger Java fern has some new leaves coming on too.



I'm actually not sure where I'm going to plant the Anacharis I currently have in the quarantine. I think it will go in the back between the Java fern and the Bacopa.


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## DaytonBetta

I reduced the light by 45 minutes today and dosed with Flourish today. The water wisteria seems to have grown even from yesterday. The Anubias, although algae covered (stems and leaf edges) are no longer yellowing.


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## DaytonBetta

Yesterday I did a water change in the 29gallon. I scrubbed algae off the castle and tried to clean off the Anubias a bit. They are looking pretty pathetic.





The cuteness of the frogs is a good distraction, though.

Today I moved the new Black Neon Tetras out of quarantine into the 29. They seemed to be happy to see the others and schooled up right away. You can also see some of the Anacharis (Elodea) that I planted in the lower right of the photo.



Sammy seems to be ok. He's eating well and looks ok. He is always hanging out on the heater when I have the camera out. 

Here's another pic of the Water Wisteria. I just love the leaf shape. the other interesting thing is that it produces roots along the stem and pulls itself downward, so now it looks like there are two plants side by side.



I went out to Petsmart this afternoon and picked up 5 little Nerite Snails. I tossed them in the quarantine. I plan to move a couple over to the 29 gallon in a few days and leave a couple in the quarantine to keep it cycled while I'm traveling next week.

I've decided to look for a 20 gallon long to set up a FireBelly Toad terrarium. I've been finding great set ups on Youtube and trolling Craig's List for used tanks. I hate to pay full price for aquariums. I was lucky to get my 29, stand and hood for free. Hopefully I can get a good deal on something for the frogs. I'm going to set it up in my living room, so I need a nice looking stand. I think it will be beautiful and so unique. I'm really looking forward to the project.


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## ArrowheadShark

DaytonBetta said:


> This morning I finished off the last of the Ick Attack. Everyone looks good. My plan is to do a water change tomorrow and then gradually lower the temperature.
> 
> I did a water change in the quarantine tank tonight. Ammonia and nitrite are 0, but it's been a few days so I figured it would be a good idea. I was worried about one of the frogs because he spent most of the day near the top on the betta leaf. But, he came down this afternoon and ate. He's been palling around with the other two this evening. So, hopefully he's fine. The frogs seem to be growing a little and plumping up. Right now it's easy for them to find the food since the bottom of the tank is bare and it's a small space. I'm thinking about putting a little glass dish in for them to eat out of when I move them to the big tank. I'm not sure how to get the food to stay or land in the bowl when I put it in the 29gallon since it's about 16inches from the water level to the gravel.
> 
> Sammy is doing fine and really likes to eat. We feed him 3 Omega Betta Buffet pellets twice a day. He eats some of the frog food if it doesn't sink right away, too.



I just finished reading your forum journal; great read! I'm sorry about the fish you lost, and happy that things are coming together well after the ich problem. The Falconry stuff was fascinating; I hope your son keeps going with his love of birds; it's good to have a passion and talent to work with.

Your probablly wondering why I quoted this part of your blog; It's because you mentioned using a glass dish. I actually have a palm-sized, deep clam shell half I use as a food dish for my albino bristlenosed pleco... Pleco. Yup, her name is Pleco. It stuck ;P 

As for getting the food in; Most the time, i just drop it in and hope it lands in the sea shell. Shark (My bettafish) and Pleco live in a ten gallon currently, so it's not a very far drop from the water's surface. Alternatively, I use a turkey baster I got from the dollar store. I stick the piece of Pleco's tablet in the tip, bring it underwater to the seashell, then nudge it off into it. 

Will you post a picture of the vivarium when you get it set up? I love frogs; I used to raise toads, actually, for several years when I was a little kid. Now I just have my two fishies (more planned for the future, though!), and a leopard gecko named Bingo that I adopted from my middleschool when it closed years ago.

Your (son's? ;P) fish tank looks beautiful! I love the live plants you have. I want to do a planted tank, but I'm so nervous on what kinds to get, and how and if I can take care of them. It seems a very daunting prospect to me, but I suppose it's probablly easier and simpler than I'm making it out to be.


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks for your kind words! I will definitely detail the setting up of the paludarium/terrarium when I start. Right now I'm looking for a tank and stand on Craig's List. Good idea on the shell. Maybe I will look for one while I'm at the beach this week!

This update is way overdue! 

3/26 We're getting ready to go on vacation for a week. I changed the water in the 29 and added 3 of the nerites from quarantine. The other two I left in the 10 gallon to keep it cycled. Hopefully everything does well while we're gone. I debated getting a fish food block, but I think it is better to just let them be hungry a few days. 

My husband will be back tonight (4/1) and will feed them. 

I wanted to report something really cool that I heard last week. About two hours after the light timer went off I was checking the tank before bed, when I heard a funny sound. Kind of "mmmmm-meep, mmmmm-meep" I am positive it was the frogs! It was the cutest little noise. Quiet, but definitely coming from the aquarium and not the filter. I listened for about ten minutes and heard it a number of times.


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## DaytonBetta

Yay! My husband got home and said everyone is accounted for and looking good.


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## ArrowheadShark

I've heard bad things about the food blocks; polluting water quality, not actually containing the right things for the fish to eat, things of that nature. I personally think it better to just let them be hungry for a few days; I leave my fish over the weekend at the dorm when I return home, and they do just fine. (A betta and a Bristlenosed Pleco, albeit she gets an algae tablet piece she noms on) It actually works well for Shark, my betta, I think; instead of fasting him a day, he gets two days to let everything move through his system.


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## jaysee

The ingredients in the vacation food are terrible. Better to go hungry.


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## DaytonBetta

Everyone did well during the vacation. However, I do have a new issue.

Snail Invasion!! :evil: About a month ago I got some Anacharis at Petsmart. They warned me it probably had snails. I washed it in tap water and looked it over completely. I put it in quarantine for two weeks. Nothing! I did not see any snails. 

I washed it and checked it again before planting it in my main tank.

Now, a month later, I have a snail invasion. The quarantine tank where I left some of the Anacharis, has hundreds of tiny snails and a couple bigger ones. I don't really care about that, because it's a temporary set up. 

The main problem is that I am also seeing tiny snails in my 29 gallon planted tank. My question is, will they eat my plants? Should I do something? I have lots of algae so I have 5 nerites in there now. If the little snails will help the algae and not mess with the plants that is ok with me.



The good news is that the Anacharis has done quite well and is really tall now. (The snails in the picture are on the Bacopa)

Here's a picture of Sammy today:


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## DaytonBetta

Today I dosed with Flourish. 

I posted in the planted tanks section about my snail invasion and got some good information. It turns out the Nerites I was sold were actually Ramshorns. They were small when I got them and so I thought they looked like the pictures I'd seen of Olive Nerites. After comparing them to some links posted on the other thread they are clearly Ramshorns. GRrrr! curse you Petsmart! There are also some pond snails.

It sounds like it shouldn't be a huge problem. My plan is to let it ride. I have a lot of algae. If I notice any damage to the plants I will get an assassin snail from a reliable source. 

My son, E wanted his picture taken with Sammy. 



The plans for the fire belly toad terrarium are progressing! I got a tank and stand from someone on Craig's List today. It's a 29gallon with a black wood stand with doors. I got it for $70 which I think is a pretty good deal. It included a hob filter, an under gravel filter, a hood with light and heater (none of which are useful to me right now. But I'll either save them for another project or sell/give them away). I need to leak test it and make a plan for the land and waterscapes.


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## DaytonBetta

The snails finally seem to be getting to work and cleaning up a bit. So far the tank is not completely over-run.



My plan is to do a water change this weekend since it's been 2 weeks. The fish and frogs are doing well, except I haven't seen the oto today. I don't see a body, but I suppose the snails could have eaten him. It's difficult to keep track of everyone with all the plants and hiding spots, he's usually out on the glass at some point during the day though.

Today I got the filter for the toad paludarium I'm starting. It's the Tetra Decorative Reptile Filter for up to 55 gallons. I got it on Amazon for $28, http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ICNM96/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1#

It's quite a bit bigger than I expected, but I think it will work perfectly. It is designed for water that is 4-6 inches deep. The paludarium will have water 2" to about 5". The fiter is inside the plastic rock structure and the water flows over it like a waterfall. It looks quite realistic in person.

Here it is in the tank


I plan to leak test the tank and test the filter this weekend.


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## DaytonBetta

Yesterday I saw the oto, so he's ok. The frogs were croaking last night again! Such a cute little sound.

I tested the 29 today before doing a water change:
Ammonia:0
Nitrites:0
Nitrates:5

I'm thinking the Nitrates are pretty low, but it's been 2 weeks so I changed out 5 gallons. I took out the carbon and switched to Purigen which is a Seachem synthetic filter medium. I've read great reviews so I'm excited to see how it does. Honestly though, the plants do such an amazing job taking care of the nitrogen.

I moved the Java Fern a little so the Water Wisteria is not shaded so much by it. The Java is not my favorite, kind of boring and slow. It does have new shoots and it's leaves are more substantial, so if it ever get going and fills in a bit more, it might be a good background plant.

Here is a picture of Sammy looking at his reflection:


I made a little progress on the terrarium/paludarium. I joined a facebook group, Ohio Froggers and met a couple who had some random supplies they wanted to sell. They are having a baby so they need to stop making new terrariums.

I bought some wood, rocks, coconut fiber, and other miscellaneous stuff from them. This couple had three frog terrariums and gave me some good tips on building. They also had three huge saltwater tanks that were beautiful. It was nice to see some functioning terrariums in real life and talk to some frog keepers.


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## KatNDog292

About your "snail invasion"... I personally like snails because they're cute and do some cleaning. No, they will not eat your plants! I also have Java Fern and mine are good for my 5-gallon tank. They are actually starting to overrun the tank but I've had them for at least a year. Mine sprouted babies last summer- kind of annoying since I have two and they'd get eaten in our fish emporium (guppies, plecostomus, crown loaches...)


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## summersea

Sammy is looking great! I love the little ramshorns! I had a few hitch hickers on some plants I bought. I will warn you that if you have enough algae and plant debris they will breed rapidly (they are reproducing like crazy in my 10g) but if your algae stays under control it won't be so bad.


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## DaytonBetta

Yesterday I got quite a bit done for the terrarium. I leak tested the aquarium and tested the waterfall filter. 

It will be half land half water so I need to create a false bottom. I found some great information on the frog forum so I'm following those instructions. I used a black washable marker to draw my land form on the bottom of the tank.

I bought 3 inch PVC pipe at Lowes. These will be the supports for the land. My husband cut it into 4.5" sections and helped me drill holes and notches at the bottom for water movement. 



I also bought light diffuser grid at Lowes. This will be the base for the land. I cut it using tin snips and then used zip ties to attach it to the PVC.





Next I covered the whole structure with landscape fabric. I used invisible thread to sew it at at the corners. this step was a little tedious. I was careful not to leave any openings for the frogs to get through. 



So far, so good. It is coming together well!


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## DaytonBetta

The terrarium project is going well. 

A few days ago I went to the local hydroponics store. That was really a trip in itself. One of the other customers was obviously growing weed, but he and the shopkeeper were using all kinds of euphemisms to disguise that fact. It was really cracking me up. Anyhow, I bought some net pots:



These are the 3 and 4 inch size. From what I've read, 2" is too small to easily maintain plants. I also bought some enhanced potting soil (not enhanced with pot, though.)

Today I glued the net pots to the back wall of the tank with silicone. First I cleaned the glass with rubbing alcohol, which is supposed to help with the adhesion. After the silicone was set I put paper in the the pots and then applied Great Stuff for Ponds. Great Stuff is an expanding foam for sealing doors and windows. You can use the regular Great Stuff, but they also make a product specifically for ponds and water features that is black instead of yellow.

I practiced with one can and then used two to complete the background. This picture is the tank on it's side. Hopefully the seam in the middle blends as it all dries. I had to go out to the store to buy more after doing the first half so they are at different stages in the curing process.



Of course once it started to dry, I realized I wanted to add some sticks and rocks to the background. I stuck them in, but I don't know if they will stay. 

Once the background hardens I will apply glue and coco-fiber to give it a more natural texture.

The aquarium is doing well. I still have a major algae problem. I may remove the decorations and clean them. The fake decorations and the Anubias are the main algae magnets. The snails are going to town, mainly making new snails... 

Sammy looks good and the frogs are sooo incredibly cute. They are just so goofy. Here is one hanging out on the Java Fern:


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## DaytonBetta

Happy Easter!



This weekend I've been working on the terrarium project. I mixed TiteBondIII waterproof wood glue with coconut fiber and applied it with a foam brush to the foam background. Then I sprinkled more coconut fiber on the wet glue. I applied 3 coats of this mixture and then sprinkled a little sphagnum moss on top too. The sticks did not stay so I glued them on also. So far it is looking pretty good. Tomorrow I will vacuum the excess off and stand the tank up and see how it looks. 

I ordered a screen cover, a cricket keeper and cricket food on Amazon. I also found terrarium plant assortments on Amazon. I ordered the fern one and the assorted one. I had been looking around for appropriate plants and was having trouble finding anything small enough. These come in 2" pots so that should work perfectly.

I met someone on facebook who breeds fire belly toads. He currently has 400 baby frogs! So I will probably order from him next week. I'll have to pay shipping, but it's important to me to buy captive bred rather than wild-caught (which are what most pet stores carry). He also said he breeds for brighter color so I'm excited about that. I've been told I could have up to ten in my tank, but I think that is too many, so I plan to get 5 or 6. 

Tonight I took on the hair algae problem. I took out the decorations and the Anubias and Windelov Java Fern that were covered. I sprayed the decorations down with a bleach solution and let them sit before scrubbing them. I manually pulled as much algae off the plants as I could and then dipped them in a more dilute bleach solution. I soaked everything in Prime treated water and tossed them back in the tank. I wasn't planning on doing a water change, but moving the decorations stirred up a lot of dirt, so I did a water change too. I added extra Prime just for good measure. Hopefully there is no bleach residue to harm the fish. And, hopefully the snails can keep up with new growth now.


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## DaytonBetta

My terrarium is all set as far as the structural elements. 

I've had one issue so far. When I set it up with the land substrate I realized that frogs hopping around were probably going to push all the loose coco fiber and soil into the water. 



I panicked a bit, and then IM'd the person who I originally got the instructions from on the frog forum. (I love the internet!!!) They gave me a couple suggestions, one of which was, don't worry about the mess, lol. Ultimately, I decided to create a ledge with pieces of a cork tube. My husband cut it into sections for me and they fit on quite nicely. The only problem was that the landscape fabric was wet since I had filled it with water yesterday. I lowered the water and dried it the best I could with paper towels and siliconed the cork down. I don't know whether it will hold or not. If it doesn't I will get some aquarium epoxy.



I transferred one of my Anubias over and some of the Bacopa. Once the ledge situation is stable I plan to plant some of the Cryptocoryne wenditii near the waterfall.


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## Rollo

That looks Beautiful, looking forward to see pictures of it with plants!!


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## DaytonBetta

I finally got around to putting a shell I got on spring break in Florida in the tank as a feeding dish for the ADF's. They have been doing well (they sing every night when the lights go off), but I'm always worried they might not be getting enough to eat.

After I put the shell in I had some trouble getting the pellets into it. The turkey baster method did not work at all. My husband came up with the idea of using a long tube. He cut a hollow broom handle we had lying around. This works really well. I just rest one end in the shell and the other end is above the water so I drop the pellets in and wait for them to sink down into the shell.


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## DaytonBetta

My terrarium is planted and ready for the frogs! They will be arriving overnight from Colorado on Thursday.



The plants on the wall from left to right are: Asparagus Fern 'Plumosa', Pilea 'Aluminum', Pilea 'Ellen' which you can't really see because of the lighting, Cryptanthus 'Red Star', and Holly Fern

The plants on the land from left to right are Korean Rock Fern, Shaggy Shield Fern and Pteris Fern 'Albo Linneata' (in the front).

The aquatic plants from left to right are Bacopa, Cryptocoryne wenditii, and Anubias (behind the ramp)

It should be interesting to see how they do. They ground substrate is wet all the time due to the water wicking up the landscape fabric. If I were to do this again I would use a fiberglass screening over the false bottom, and make the false bottom a little higher.

The 29 gallon is doing well. I started using a little Flourish Excel today to try to keep the algae in check. I am using a small dose because it is my understanding that Anacharis sometimes responds poorly to it and I'm also concerned about my frogs and fish. I plan to dose 2.5ml every other day and I didn't start with a loading dose. I'm not sure it will help the algae at all, but I figure it's worth a try. Usually people who use it to control or kill algae use it at high doses. This can be dangerous to fish.

I also dosed Flourish today.

I am trying to decide whether to add more fish to the 29 gallon. I definitely can since I have a great filter and it's pretty well planted. I'm just not sure if I want to add more. I have 1 male betta, 9 neon tetras, 6 black neon tetras, one otocinclus and 3 African dwarf frogs, plus a boatload of ramshorn snails. Only one oto survived and he is doing well. Since his friends died he only comes out at night. They used to be all over the tank all the time. I'm not sure I have enough of the right algae to support more though, and now I have lots of snails.


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## DaytonBetta

The terrarium:
The person who is sending me the frogs messaged today and said he wouldn't be able to ship until next week. That's really ok with me. I am trying to get the land substrate drier. My husband put a couple shims under the right side of the tank so I could reduce the water level a little so it is farther below the false bottom. The problem I have is that the filter has a minimum water level. I should have made my base for the false bottom taller. I thought it would be fine, but didn't account for the landscape fabric wicking the water so much. I talked online to the person who made the tutorial and they suggested if the water level is at least an inch below the false bottom that would help. 

I may also remove the substrate and add a layer of pebbles for better drainage. That will be a mess, and I'm hoping not to have to do it. 

The aquarium:
So far (only 24h and a minimal dose) things are going fine with the Flourish Excel. 

My son, E, who is the actual owner of the aquarium really wanted more fish. I cleaned up the algae in the quarantine and did a water change. We headed out to Petsmart to get some more Oto catfish. They didn't have any so we drove to the other Petsmart (only about 10 minutes away). They didn't have any either and the girl said they had been waiting for weeks. 

We ended up getting 5 teeny, tiny male Cobra Endler Guppies. These are hybrids created when you breed endlers and guppies. The coloration is really cool and they are quite cute. They get to be about an inch long. They are not schooling fish, and should be compatible with the fish we already have. We acclimated them and they are in quarantine now. I think they'll like our aquarium a lot. 

We may eventually get a few more Oto's when Petsmart gets them in again.


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## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:

Even with the shimming the land is very wet. Also, yesterday the filter seemed to be running dry even though the water level outside the filter was above the minimum line. It only took me a day to figure out that problem. The filter cartridges were filthy and blacking the water flow. I rinsed them out and it is flowing well again. 

I removed the soil and cocofiber, tossed them, and took out the layer of laterite and dried it. (That stuff is too expensive to toss!) I added a layer of the same gravel rocks I used in the aquatic section. Hopefully that will provide better drainage. Tomorrow I'll add the soil and coco and replant the ferns again.

Aquariums:

The endler guppies in quarantine are doing fine. 

Today I did the 3rd dose of Excel (2.5cc every other day, which is a low dose for my tank). All seems to be well. I saw a couple air bubbles on a few of the plant leaves. I don't know if this is pearling (production of oxygen that is visible by plants during photosynthesis), it could just be a fluke from my crazy little frogs hopping and croaking.

The 2 male frogs are loving the feeding shell. They look great and come right over to gorge themselves. The female is significantly smaller and thinner. She is kind of a dolt. It seems like she doesn't even notice when I feed them. She'll get there eventually when everything is almost gone and the snails have moved in, but I do see her eat a tiny bit. 

Sammy is fine. He spends a lot of time up at the top of the heater. Sometimes I see him in the cave or among the plants. He eats well and isn't clamped. His fins are looking nice.

I got some additional filter sponges because I plan to transfer the one in the aquarium to the terrarium a day or two before the frogs arrive to seed the tank with nitrifying bacteria. They come three to a box and I pretty much never change my filter media (just rinse). So, I decided I would use on of them to baffle the flow of my filter and see if Sammy and the girl frog (who seems to get pushed around by the flow a bit) liked that better. The one problem is that the flake food for the tetras will not sink, even after more than an hour, with the filter baffled. I am going to try taking the sponge on and off for feeding. It's just a pain because I have the back of the tank saran wrapped and I have to remove that to get to the sponge. We'll see if it makes any difference for Sammy and the girl.


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## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:
Everything is put back together and ready for the frogs to arrive on Thursday.

Aquariums:

Today I did a water change on the 29 and a little change on the quarantine just because I had some leftover conditioned water. I dosed Flourish and Excel in the 29. I cleaned a little algae off the Windelov Java Fern and the Anubias. Otherwise, the algae situation is vastly improved.

I do have tons of snails, I probably disposed of 50 or so babies and a clutch of eggs on the Anubias. I counted 40 medium or adult ones just watching my fish eat yesterday. It seems ok and some have pretty speckled or copper shells. I always think of snails as being slow, but man these guys can move! Before I feed the frogs I take my tube and move all the snails that are within 6 inches or so. Once they smell (I don't know if they actually can smell) the frog food they race to the shell! The other weird thing they do is float upside down on the water surface.



I'm not sure if Sammy likes the baffled filter better or not. I do notice him lazing around in places other than the heater so maybe? Here he is hanging out under the wisteria.


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## DaytonBetta

I dosed with Excel again today. I've now been using it every other day for a week. The plants are really doing well. I am not seeing any harm to the Anacharis (they sometimes don't do well with Excel so that is why I'm using it only every other day per the manufacturers instructions.) The algae is completely under control! My fish and frogs are doing well.

Before I started using Excel I read some horror stories on various fish forums. It can be toxic to fish and invertebrates if you overdose. It's very important that you dose the proper amount for your water volume. 

Excel is designed to work with proper lighting and fertilization. It adds carbon to the water which plants need for growth. You can read all about it at the SeaChem website, so I won't go into a detailed description.

It's only been a week, but I am definitely noticing more rapid growth in my plants. (My tank lights are off now, but I will try to take a picture of the tank in the next couple days.)


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## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:

Tonight we went out and got our crickets so they will be ready for the frogs' arrival on Thursday. There are 50 in this keeper; they're small, so you can't really see them in the photo. In the container is a gel for hydration, a commercial cricket food and an organic baby carrot. Beta carotene is important for fire belly toads to make their bellies red. So far, thank god, they are quiet.



Aquarium:

Here are some pictures before and after using Excel:

4/22


two weeks later 5/6


I wish the lighting was the same in both photos. But, the plants are definitely growing. You can also see how beautifully clear the water is with the Purigen.

Here are a couple more pics (Water Wisteria and Windelov Java Fern)


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## BlueLacee

your tanks are AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## ArrowheadShark

The aquarium is looking absolutely stunning; I love reading your journal, it's so detailed and gives me ideas for setting up my own tank ;D


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks for your kind words! I am enjoying writing here.


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## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:

The frogs (Fire belly toads) are on the way! They should arrive here by 10:30 tomorrow morning. I cut up the filter sponge from the aquarium and put the pieces into the waterfall filter along with the carbon cartridges that have been in for the last couple weeks. I tested the water. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 0 Nitrates, which I expected since I just have the plants and a couple tag along snails in there. Hopefully, the combination of the active filter material and the plants will make for a smooth cycle. I will test the water on Friday.

I also added a little glass bowl to the land section. I read on the frog forum that the crickets can't climb/jump out of it, so that should make things neater for feeding. I really wish I made my land section a little bigger, but we'll see how it goes when the frogs move in. I know at Petsmart and many of the tanks I've seen online they are primarily water based with just a little island. 

Even with the lower water level under the false bottom and the layer of gravel, the cocofiber is still pretty damp. I am not happy at all about it. If I were to do this again I would definitely NOT use landscape fabric. The way it's set up with the background there is no way I can take it off without starting all over. Hopefully, it will be ok.

Aquarium:

I just have to say, the ADF's are sooo cute. I just love them. 



Yesterday, I was watching them and here's what I saw:



These are the two boys. The funny thing is the boy being held was not struggling to get away, he was tapping his little foot like, "Really, come on..." They were like that a couple minutes and then swam away. 

Evidently, this is a failed mating attempt. When a male frog holds a female to mate the position is called amplexus. Normally they would be facing the same direction like the pic of them at the feeding dish. (Right before I took that picture the male was actually holding tightly to the female.) During mating season, they just grab onto whatever they can find and I guess sometimes get lucky.


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## DaytonBetta

My frogs arrived yesterday safe and sound! They are very small and much smaller than I expected. Never trust a guy when they tell you how big something is... Just kidding, but the person who sold them to me told me they were an inch. The largest of the six is about a half inch.

Since they are so small there is no way they can eat the small crickets I had. The smallest crickets at Petsmart are the same size as the frogs. I was told they shouldn't be fed anything larger than the width of their head. I messaged with the seller and he said the small crickets they had been eating were 1/8". That is much smaller than anything available around here. 

I got some flightless fruit flies and they really like them. It's pretty neat to watch them catch the flies and eat them. Today I dusted the flies with calcium and vitamin powder. I am using the Exoterra line which instructs you to mix the two together.

My understanding is that they changed from tadpoles 3 weeks ago. It takes a few months for them to change to the adult colors, green with red bellies, but they might stay brown. The seller told me that he breeds for color so I'm hoping they turn out to be bright green. I'll just have to wait and see!

At first I was annoyed and worried that they were so small. But they seem happy and it should be really fun to watch them grow. They are super cute. I'm really enjoying watching them in the terrarium. They can sit on the crypt and anubias leaves and they hop all around.


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## BettaLover1313

They are so adorable!


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## Rollo

They look great in their new home!!


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: Nothing to report. Frogs, fish and plants are doing well. 

Tomorrow will be moving day for the endler guppies since they've been in quarantine 2 weeks. I will try to take a picture tomorrow, but they are super tiny.

Terrarium: The frogs are doing well. On Saturday I took out the carbon filter inserts. They were so clogged rinsing didn't help and the pump was not able to get enough water flow. I have the cut up sponge from the 29 gallon in the filter and I plan to add Purigen in the next couple days.

I did a water change also on Saturday because I knocked a bunch of the cocofiber in the water messing around with the filter. 

The frogs are quite active and fun to watch. All six are still alive. They love the fruit flies, but they can eat so many, I can't keep up. Today I went to the pet store and the very nice girl there hand picked the smallest crickets out for me. I haven't seen the frogs actually eat the crickets, but they were gone later this afternoon, so hopefully they did.

The terrarium plants are a mixed bag. The water plants are doing great. The Bacopa is poking up out of the water. The asparagus fern and Pilea Aluminum are doing great. The Pilea Ellen is ok. The Lineata Alba fern is ok. The Holly Fern, Korean Fern and Shaggy Shield are not looking so hot. They look dried, but maybe it's actually too wet or too much light? I just don't know.

Today I got a pressurized garden hand sprayer at Lowes. I've been using a little hand mister and it's a total pain, because of the angles of the plants. When I tilt it it won't spray. This new sprayer has a long flexible nozzle so I can spray it at any angle. It holds a gallon, so the size is a bit ridiculous for watering tiny plants, but it works great.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Yesterday we moved the Endler Guppies over from the quarantine to the 29 gallon. E netted them all by himself. I have to say I was quite surprised he got them all and none ended up on the floor. We acclimated them over about 45 minutes and they seemed happy right away.

I apologize for the quality of these pictures. These guys are so tiny and so zippy! Their coloration is really cool. They are mutt fish, the products of endlers and guppies. But I love small, bright fish and they are fun.

Aqua-advisor does not approve of guppies with bettas. But our betta, Sammy does not bother with his tank mates at all. In fact it would be nice to see him chase someone around a bit! 





Now that you are nauseous from my guppy pictures we can move on to my favorite topic, FROGS!

I've been trying for awhile to get a picture of the nuptial pad. This is the way you can tell if an African Dwarf Frog is a male or female. The males have the pad under their arm, females do not. the purpose of the pads is not fully understood. Some scientists believe they help the male to hold the female in amplexus (mating position). In some species of frogs the pads secrete phermones during mating season to attract females.


So here you see one of my cute, fat male frogs. The arrow is pointing to his nuptial pad. The other frog is my girl. She is getting fatter, too.

Sammy is doing well. His ventral fins have really grown. 



Terrarium:
All six frogs are still alive. I've seen a couple eat crickets. They all just love fruit flies, but my supply is pretty low and both Petsmarts are out. A couple of the frogs seem to have grown a bit. Two of them have a coppery color on their backs. 

The Bacopa is doing so well. There are a few stems out of the water and they look nice. I've heard it will produce blue flowers out of the water. So we'll see. 

The filter/waterfall in that tank has really slowed it's outflow in the past day, but I prefer that. It's quieter and the frogs can sit on the steps of the waterfall. Before, the turbulence was causing a lot of bubbles and that is gone with the slower flow. It's not making any noise, so I am going to just keep an eye on it. I'm sure the filtration is reduced, but my water volume is only about 3-4 gallons and it's designed to handle up to 50, so I think it will be ok. I'll probably test for ammonia tomorrow. I plan to do a water change Saturday. 

Actually, I'm paranoid so I guess I'll test for ammonia now...


----------



## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:
So, I tested for ammonia. Which was 0. Yay! So I figured I'd better do the nitrites and nitrates. Nitrites 0.25 and Nitrates between the 20 and 40 colors. 

I thought I'd do a little test since I had some test strips for Nitrite and Nitrate. The test strip showed .5 (which is the lowest reading) on Nitrite and 0 on Nitrate. So, I would agree that test strips are not consistent with the API liquid master test kit.

Anyhow, I added Prime to help detoxify the Nitrites and Nitrates and I took a look at the filter. Guess, what was clogging the pump...

Baby snails! Grr! I picked them off and the flow is back to where it was. Since I had the filter open I tossed in the Purigen too. That should definitely help the nitrites and nitrates, also. 

My understanding from the readings is that the cycle is well-underway. High levels of nitrite and nitrates can be toxic, but the Prime should help and pretty soon everything should be smooth. 

My plan is to keep an eye on it and change the water Saturday. Since there's no ammonia I think that should work out. I'll probably add a little Prime tomorrow also.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Today I did a water change and divided and replanted one of the Cryptocorynes. I also removed the Purigen to renew it. In a few days I'll write more about using Purigen. I dosed with Flourish and Excel. 

The quarantine is open again. I'm thinking about getting a few ghost shrimp to add to the terrarium. By the time they've been through quarantine, the terrarium should be stable cycle-wise. I'm also thinking about a few more otocinclus for the 29. Petsmart hasn't had any in more than a month though.

Terrarium:
I also did a water change in the terrarium. I'm continuing to feed crickets and fruit flies. Two crickets jumped out today as I was dusting them with vitamins. They are the same color as my carpet, so I couldn't catch them again. Fortunately, my husband was not around to witness this.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Things are going well. I renewed the Purigen and replaced it in the filter. In my next post I'll do a review of Purigen. I need to look back and see when I started using it. The tank is looking good and I'm very happy with it.



Here are comparisons:
5/6


4/22


3/8


I think the plants have grown quite a bit with the Excel over the last month. The fish and frogs are doing well and the algae is not a problem!

Terrarium:
Today I tested the water. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 5. So that is great! The frogs seem to be growing a little. I mist the plants every other day.

This is one of the bigger frogs, I'd say he's about 3/4"


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## DaytonBetta

Today I'm going to talk about Purigen, a synthetic filter medium made by Seachem. I bought mine on Amazon. The 100ml size comes in a sealed filter bag and treats 100 gallons. I have Amazon Prime so it was $8.15 with free shipping.

I started using Purigen 4/11/14 after my bout with ich. After treating for ich I ran a carbon filter for a few weeks. Then replaced it with Purigen. If you have a HOB filter you put the Purigen in the same area you would put carbon or charcoal. You can also use it in canister filters. I have a HOB that holds a foam block, a carbon bag and a bag of ceramic cylinders. You simply rinse the bag and put it in your filter. You should not use it with slime coat additives because they will damage it. Prime is ok to use.

The instructions say Purigen can last up to six months. It starts as tiny white spheres and progressively darkens to a brown/orange color. Mine was very dark within 6 weeks. I'm not sure if this will be typical or if it is due to leftover ich medication? 

When the Purigen changes to orange/brown you can recharge it. It is a bit of a process and not really as simple as they make it out to be. You remove the packet and soak it in a 1:1 solution of bleach and water for 24 hours. It will turn back to white. Then you rinse it and soak it in a concentrated solution of Prime and water (2 tablespoons Prime per cup of water) for 8 hours. Then you have to buffer it with Discus Buffer or Neutral Regulator for 4 hours. Then you should check for any residual chlorine before adding it to your filter.

So, to recharge you need: Prime, Neutral Regulator (took me 2 pet stores to find and cost $12) and chlorine test strips. 

When I completed the process I noticed that that Purigen smelled terrible. It reeked like dead fish! I googled this and learned that the smell is common. It is even discussed by Seachem in their forum. They said the level of stench varies from recharge to recharge. They said that it is caused by the production of amines and is normal. Just so there is no chlorine, not to worry. 

I was worried. I soaked it in Prime again and the smell was a little better. I tested for chlorine and it was 0. 

I replaced the newly recharged Purigen in my filter and stressed for 3 days, worrying that the tank would crash. 

Everything has been fine. The fish, frogs and plants are all behaving normally, and the Ammonia alert is not showing any ammonia. 

I love how clean and clear the water is with Purigen. It really is amazingly, crystal clear. I feel like it is very healthy for the tank. 

The recharging process is a hassle and worrying about chlorine left from the bleach stresses me out. Plus, the smell was just awful. I'm not sure I will do it again. I'm inclined to just buy a new bag when since it is less than $10. 

I also have a bag in my terrarium filter.

Overall, I think it's a great product and have been really happy with how clear the water is. I will keep updating on this journal, when I have to recharge it again and whether I decide to do that or just pitch it. 

Here is a picture of our cockatiel on a Lego car, for some comic relief after all the filter talk!


----------



## DaytonBetta

What a beautiful holiday weekend! This is a very large toad we found in our landscaping, he was about 4". My husband picked him up and he peed all over him. I didn't try to pick him up, just enjoyed watching him. 



My son, E also found a very nice snake skin in the yard.

I did a water change in the terrarium. The frogs are doing well and growing. I'm continuing to feed them small crickets and fruit flies. Two of them are a pretty good size. One is medium and two are really quite small. They all seem to enjoy swimming and hopping around. 

The aquarium is doing well. I'll do a water change next weekend. I dosed with Flourish on Sat and Excel on Sun.

I have two tiny ghost shrimp in the quarantine. I plan to add them to the terrarium soon. The frogs produce a toxin on their skin which is poisonous to fish and other frogs, but according to other frog keepers, shrimp do fine with them. The ghost shrimp were only $0.39 each so I figured I'd give them a try. 

Happy Memorial Day!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I tested today before the water change:
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20

I am a little concerned and puzzled about the presence of ammonia. I'm not sure what is going on there, if it's the renewed purigen with the relatively new filter sponge (less than one month) or the addition of the endler guppies or all the snails? I'm also wondering if maybe the filter baffle makes it less effective?

Anyhow, no one seems to be in distress.

I did a water change and added Prime to cover the full tank volume. 

Terrarium:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5

I did a water change. Since the volume of water in the terrarium is small, I would say about 4 gallons. I change as much as I can remove with the gravel siphon. (about 3 gallons). 

We transferred the two ghost shrimp over to the terrarium. E, caught them in the net quicker than the girls at Petsmart! 

The frogs are all still alive and seem content. They hang out in the water a lot and sit together looking cute. One is still very small, one small and the other four are a pretty good size. I continue to feed both fruit flies and crickets daily. They are growing. Here is a picture where you can see the size difference between the big ones and the small one.


----------



## FishWhisperer

Cool!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I tested the water on 6/6. Ammonia and Nitrites were both 0. I didn't bother to test Nitrates. 

Now that the filter is baffled Sammy spends more time in the plants at the top of the tank. I think maybe he's had a couple small bubble nests? 

 

Of course he was not willing to pose next to his creation...



I just got Flourish Trace. I plan to use it twice a week and continue Flourish once a week and Excel every other day.

Last weekend I was showing my friend the aquarium and talking about the Purigen. I got it out to show him, and it was brown already! It is supposed to last for up to six months and it's only been about 2 weeks since I renewed it. I ordered a replacement to use while I recharge it again. 

I don't know if it's a Seachem racket? Ie. add these fertilizers, remove them with our media, buy more media, buy more fertilizer... But, the water is so clear and the plants and fish look so good, I'm going to keep on.

Terrarium:
The larger frogs are growing. The littlest one is still very small. I see it eating fruit flies, but it is so small I think maybe there is something wrong with it. I try to keep up with as many fruit flies as possible, but the big ones eat them too. I will be really surprised if the tiny one survives. The big ones are eating crickets well. I've also tried feeding them small earthworms, but I can't tell if they are eating them or not. 

I tested the water Friday, 6/6. 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites. I did a water change today. Now I can only change two gallons of water because I have the shrimp.

The shrimp has been in the terrarium for one week. They are hard to see, but I saw both of them alive this afternoon. I don't feed them anything. I figure they will eat decaying plant matter and the bugs and worms that fall in that the frogs miss. They are neat little creatures. My son, E, likes to try to find them, like a little "I spy" game


----------



## Rollo

Your tanks are looking awesome!!


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## cmwong27

Hopped over here from my journal and I must say, you must have some very well behaved and happy children!

Sammy 1 looks so much like my Ares. :-( Tetras and mollies for whatever reason always seem to have ich, especially from the big box pet stores.

Sammy 2 looks exactly like a betta I sold to my friend (except for the crowntail; friend's betta is a round tail.) My friend's betta is also living with an African dwarf frog. She has trouble feeding the frog because her betta is such a bully when it comes to food.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Water testing: Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 40

It's been two weeks since a water change. Today I trimmed the Bacopa and Anacharis. I replanted the Anacharis trimmings and the Bacopa I just threw in the quarantine tank. I changed about 6 gallons (one gallon to water the kitchen floor, as usual).

I rinsed the filter sponge. The Purigen is brown, but I'm going to wait a week and see if it gets browner before replacing it. 

I also scraped the algae. 

There really seemed to be a lot of debris after cleaning this time, so I will wait a day or two for it to clear before taking a new picture of the tank. 

A couple days ago E and I bought 3 new Otocinclus and put them in quarantine. They were very small. Two of them have already died. If the last one lives we'll put him in the 29, but I'm not going to buy anymore. Right now we have one nice, healthy one in the 29. I feel bad because I know they prefer to be in a group, but they are so small and fragile from Petsmart. 

Terrarium:
Water testing: Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 5.

I did a 2 gallon water change today.

Everyone is doing fine. The two shrimp are still alive. The ferns died back quite a bit and I finally trimmed them up. Two of them have some new growth, one is a goner, I think. The frogs are growing. The littlest is still very little, about a half inch I would say. The big and medium ones look terrific, still brown with cream colored bellies.



She is sitting on the Anubias. It is doing well with the rhizome in the water and the leaves growing out. 

Last week I noticed a little plant stuck on the filter intake of the 29. I tied it to a scrap of driftwood. and put it in the terrarium. I'm not sure if it's Anubias or Java Fern. (The driftwood it's tied to is 2" x 1" so you can appreciate that it's really small). It seems to be doing fine.


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## ArrowheadShark

Awww, the little frogs and the teeny plant are adorable! Glad your water parameters are holding stable. Sammy looks so grumpy xD He's got the betta-fish-frowny-face going on, as most bettas do. He's a handsome boy.


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## DaytonBetta

Sadly, one of the firebelly toads died today. He got trapped behind the filter/waterfall. He was the largest of the group. I feel very badly about it.


----------



## ArrowheadShark

I'm so sorry to hear that ;n; Can you fix that area so that no other toads can get caught behind there?


----------



## BettaLover1313

Very sorry to hear about the firebelly passing.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Today I switched out the Purigen. I am refreshing the old one. As a side note, the brand new one does have a slight fishy odor. The used one had no odor when I removed it, it was a dark brown color. It had been one month since I refreshed it.



Terrarium:
I did a water change today. The five frogs are doing well. I hadn't seen the shrimp since last weekend, but I saw one today, so they are alright too. 

Aviary:
It's official! My son, A's cockatiel is a boy. He used his birthday money to have him DNA tested. He was quite pleased that Charlie is indeed a boy.


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## ArrowheadShark

I didn't know you had to have them DNA tested to find out what gender they are, that's pretty cool that he knows now!


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## mobius981

What an amazing journal! Very funny and also highly informative!!! your tanks look beautiful and I learned a LOT about ADFs, I will be using your ingenious mod to feed mine (as well as a shell)...that is brilliant!! What do you feed your ADFs? 

As you may know, I am NOT a fan of ramshorn snails....I had a BIG one and he tore up the tank and did NOT help with algae...he preferred the live stem plants and was quite destructive. The younger ones may not be so bad. I really tried to keep him but in the end it was too much work. I was feeding him and it made no difference...someday I will have a nerite or two, I think they will do the trick!!!

You are inspiring me to try a paludarium!!! Thank you so much for your beautifully written and helpful journal!!


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## DaytonBetta

mobius981 said:


> What an amazing journal! Very funny and also highly informative!!! your tanks look beautiful and I learned a LOT about ADFs, I will be using your ingenious mod to feed mine (as well as a shell)...that is brilliant!! What do you feed your ADFs?


Thank you so much! I feed my ADF's Zoomed Aquatic Frog and Tadpole Micro Pellets. Many people recommend a more varied diet including live and frozen foods. But, this works for me and my frogs have grown and seem healthy. 

So far, the ramshorns haven't eaten my plants (just a few tiny holes on the water wisteria). If they do, I will get an assassin snail. I've also heard you can put a piece of lettuce in your tank overnight and a lot will collect on it, then you can throw them away. I may do that soon, because I have so many.

Terrarium:
Tonight I worked on the frog suicide prevention program. These frogs have no sense of self-preservation! 

Since the untimely demise of the big one behind the filter/waterfall, I chased another one out and discovered they were also going around the other side on the back wall. This space is very small, about 2mm. It's pretty amazing how they flatten themselves down to smush between the filter and the glass. It's also very scary to see them scootching along underwater. I used a flat metal ruler to direct them back out.

I'm not sure how long they can hold their breath and I'm also not exactly sure why the one died. His face was above the water when I found him. I think maybe he just got stuck and then the position was hard to breathe and he got more swollen and more stuck? 

Anyhow, I feel badly that there was a flaw in the terrarium that led to his death. I never would have thought they could get into such a small space. If I were to do it again, I would silicone the filter onto the glass. 

Since it's not practical to silicone the gaps now, I used drinking straws vertically to block both sides of the waterfall. You can't see the straw on the back at all. On the side you can see the straw, but as the Bacopa continues to grow, it shouldn't be noticeable. I added more gravel to the area they were using to get to the back wall so their access to get behind the background is cut off. 

Hopefully, this does the trick. They are just the cutest little creatures and I want them to have long, happy lives.


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## DaytonBetta

I just saw this Discover Card commercial. It's perfect for me!

http://youtu.be/50U5fLlQvIg


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## ArrowheadShark

I watched that video three times. Hillarious! And aren't they the same guys? They sure sound and look like it, wow! Thanks for sharing 

Glad you were able to find fixes for the terrarium. I used to raise toads when I was a little kid, and while I never had issues with them hiding places they ought not to, I was somewhat freaked out when I couldn't find them when they were buried in the dirt substrate.


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## cmwong27

DaytonBetta said:


> I just saw this Discover Card commercial. It's perfect for me!
> 
> http://youtu.be/50U5fLlQvIg


I love when he pets it with his pinky! :lol:


----------



## ArrowheadShark

I know, it's so adorable! >w< I love reptiles and amphibians.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Today we caught an interesting event! My son and I saw one of the ADF's shedding and eating his skin. He had a long piece that he was pulling off his hind foot and stuffing in his mouth. By the time I got the camera working he was almost done. But, you can see the last of the skin hanging out of his mouth in this photo.



ADF's shed about once every two weeks and they usually eat the skin because it is nutritious. 

On another note I'm currently refreshing the Purigen that was in the 29. I bleached it and am now treating it with Prime. After the bleach it didn't have a fishy (amine) odor at all. As soon as I started soaking it in Prime it smelled fishy. I'm wondering if a different de-chlorinator might be less smelly?


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
It's been 2 weeks since I've done a water change. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: 20. 

I did a water change today. Since I have so many plants I can only clean the gravel in a small area. Last time I noticed there was a lot of debris in the water after the water change. I figured out it was actually happening when I poured the water back in. I think it's probably a good thing to stir it up and let the filter catch as much as it can. I poured water in on both sides this time rather than all in the same spot. In a few days I'll rinse out the filter sponge. 

The tons of ramshorn snails really add a lot of dirt to the tank. I'm pretty sure it's them because when there are only snails and plants in my quarantine, I can't believe all the poop. I've decided that I will remove 30 snails a week. I'll see how that goes in about a month. 

Everyone is doing well. Today the neons were really interested in the gravel suctioning. Usually all the fish hide. We didn't feed them yesterday. Maybe they thought their food was coming up from the bottom instead of down from the top?!

The sole survivor Oto in quarantine will be moving over to the 29 tomorrow. He's little but, seems to be hanging on. Hopefully he enjoys the bigger tank and finds enough to eat.

Here's a photo from about a week ago:


Terrarium:
I also did a water change in the terrarium. The frogs are doing well. The other night my husband and I heard them calling! I'm really surprised because they are so young. I didn't expect to hear it until they were about a year old. People say it sounds like a small dog barking in the distance and that is exactly what it sounded like. We have a little miniature pinscher and it sounded like her bark from far out in the yard, but she was sleeping in her bed. And the sound was coming from the terrarium! My husband heard it too, so I know it's not just my imagination. 

The plants in the background wall in in the water are doing well. The tiny one I found in the aquarium hasn't really grown, but it hasn't died either. 

The ferns on the ground are not doing so great, I think maybe they are too wet. I'm thinking about getting some of the semi aquatic plants they have in the tubes at Petsmart. They have a Peacock Fern that looks nice. I need to research it more, and see if that would work. There is one on the wall that I think may be too dry. I may replace it with some type of succulent like a small Sedum. 

I took some great pictures of the biggest frog, but my children have been playing with the camera and they erased them all. I'll try again tomorrow.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:

An update about refreshing Purigen: 
This time I noticed the fishy smell when I started the dechlorination step. I ended up leaving the Purigen in the Prime for 24h rather than the suggested 8h. The smell was less at that point. Then I soaked it in Neutral Regulator for 24h rather than the suggest 4h. The water smelled but the Purigen only had a faint odor at that point. This was much better than last time. The smell at the end was comparable to brand new Purigen. I'm pretty happy about that. 

Since I already have Purigen in both tanks I put the refreshed one wet in a ziplock bag. The instructions say it can be stored if kept wet. My plan is to put it in the tank while I refresh next time. 

So, if you are thinking about Purigen, I would suggest buying two so you have a backup while you take the 3-4 days necessary to refresh with less stink. 

-------

We transferred the little oto over to the big tank. He seems to be doing pretty well. Here he is on the Water Wisteria.



I closed down the quarantine and will be storing it. It had tons of algae and I don't have a good place to keep it. Also, I don't want to be tempted to buy any more fish or frogs. Hopefully I don't need a hospital tank anytime soon, but if I do I can start it up again. 

Terrarium:
I had a bunch of Bacopa in the quarantine. I thought I might as well try planting it on the land in the quarantine since it's so damp in there. Well, that didn't work at all. Within hours it was a wilted mess. I'm going to leave it a few days and see if there is any hint of new growth, but I'm not optimistic. 

Here is a picture of a big frog and the littlest. I see the tiny one eating fruit flies, but he's not growing at all. My husband says, "You keep saying that, but he's still here."


----------



## mobius981

Love that little oto!!! he serves such an important purpose! Hope he does well! Good on ya for removing some of the snails too. I see I have a few babies...not many so far...not a problem as yet...we shall see...may only be when they get huge that they take over. If so, i will donate to the LFS.

P.S. Froggie very happy and active and eating (your recommendation, thanks!) Zoomed Frog and Tadpole Food. This morning, I found her (?) laying in her shell waiting for the manna to drop from heaven.


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## cindygao0217

Awesome tank


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## cindygao0217

Nice african dawf frog


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## DaytonBetta

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We marched in the parade with scouts. I am the leader for my son, E's den. 



We also went to a baseball game and hosted a party for my co-workers this weekend, so it's been busy!

Aquarium:
I topped off the 29 gallon and rinsed the filter sponge. I will confess that when I rinse my sponge I do it in tap water. I figure that I have two other media in my filter so even if some beneficial bacteria is killed by the quick rinse in chlorinated water, things will be fine. It's so much easier to clean in running water than to condition water and try to clean it in a bowl. It's probably not the best thing to do though. 

Everyone is doing well. The Java Fern has some babies! It's kind of interesting because they are little plants including roots growing off a leaf. 

The larger arrow is the main plant. The small arrows are pointing to the roots and leaves of the new plant.


Terrarium:
I did a water change on Saturday. Everything is going well. Both ghost shrimp and the 5 fire belly toads are looking good. 

Today I saw the biggest frog steal a cricket out of the mouth of one of the smaller frogs. They wrestled for a minute and fell in the water, but were fine. I tossed in a few extra crickets too make sure the medium one got his meal too. 

Here's a picture of the biggest. His coloring is looking much lighter to me today:


----------



## BambooTikiBettaGirl84

I saw your name and was like OMG fellow Ohioan! I'm over near the Cleveland area  I just love your tank and you also have the same rock cave I have. I might be replacing it with a different decor because I wanna get some driftwood for my lil pleco.

I saw you had a cockatiel too, about 3 months ago I had a girl that looked just like your Charlie. Her name was Willow and she was the most calm amazing girl I ever raised. She passed away one day when I was cleaning my fishbowls. She wasn't sick or anything, I think she was just old.

Keep up the great work on your animals, it's an awesome reward to see other creatures happy.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thanks!

I am sorry to hear about your bird.

I've never been to Cleveland,but we're planning a trip to the rock and roll hall of fame this September.


----------



## myexplodingcat

Ferns reproduce from spores underneath mature leaves. In the right environment (which isn't hard to produce for the super un-picky Java Ferns), they'll make babies like mad. When the little ones get larger than your thumbnail, you can gently pull them away from the adult leaves. The size thing is because they're awfully difficult to keep rooted, while keeping the rhizome in the water, if they're too small.

This is why I love aquarium ferns--they're always giving you more plant than what you originally paid for!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Today I did a water change and trimmed the Bacopa and Anacharis. I dosed with Flourish and Excel. I also added new root tabs since it's been four months. 

The fish and frogs are doing well. The female frog has finally gotten the hang of the feeding shell and is now usually the first one there. Consequently she is now bigger than the males. It is typical for female ADF's (and many frogs) to be larger or fatter shaped than the males.

Here's a picture of Sammy:


Terrarium:
I did a water change. The frogs are really growing, except the tiny one. They are so cute and fun to watch.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I've been using Flourish once a week, Excel every other day and I started Trace twice a week about a month ago. The only plant that doesn't look great is the Windelov Java Fern.

It starts with brown spots on the older leaves, then progresses to yellowing, then the leaves become completely brown. There is still new growth. I'm wondering is it too much of something in the Trace, or is it a deficiency. I will post on the planted tanks section too.


As a side note, the little arrow is pointed to a frog shed. he came back and ate it right after I took this photo.

This next one shows the younger leaves at the bottom of the plant which look ok.


Just for fun, here is a close up of one of the boy frogs, this is the darkest color one. The darkest and lightest are boys and the medium one is a girl:


Terrarium:
The tiny one is still alive. The big ones are looking great. I haven't seen the shrimp in almost a week.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I posted about the Windelov Java on the planted section and did some more reading about it elsewhere, also. A couple points to clarify, if anyone is interested, I use city water treated with Prime, Flourish once a week, Excel every other day and Trace twice a week. The plant is tied to a small piece of driftwood. I've had it about 6 months and the problem started about 3 weeks ago and is on the older leaves. It has nice new growth.

A few people suggested Potassium deficiency or Phosphorus deficiency. I ordered Potassium and will give it a try. I also looked at some other planted aquarium forums and many people suggested that dying off of older leaves is just the typical growth pattern for Windelov Java Fern. The other thing that was noted on the planted tank forums was that Java Ferns are slow growing and not a good indicator of nutrient deficiency. Typically if there is a deficiency you will see changes in fast growing stem plants first. 

Enough about plant problems... Here's a picture of my Water Wisteria that is doing great!


This was how it looked in March. I took this picture because I was excited about the growth. When I first got it it was really pathetic! I got it for 50% off because it was almost dead. I wish I had a picture of it then!


Terrarium:
Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 40. I was hoping to get onto an every other week water change schedule like I do with the aquarium, but I'm not comfortable with the Nitrates being that high. I did a water change today.

I am wondering if adding another Marimo ball would help the nitrates at all? With my other plants I don't have much room for anything else.

I have a noisy cricket! One of the crickets I got was a lot bigger than the others. If I had noticed that before I shook them in, I wouldn't have put him in, He's really too big for my frogs to eat. Now, he's been chirping the last two nights! I tried to catch him, but he hides. Hopefully he dies or my biggest frog gets him before my husband and A return from cubscout camping. 

I saw my shrimp this morning so they are still alive! The tiny frog is also still hopping along, not growing at all though.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Today I got the SeaChem Potassium. The instructions say to dose 2-3 times a week. I'm going to do it twice a week. Now I am using Flourish once a week, Excel every other day, Trace twice a week and Potassium twice a week. I've had to resort to marking on my calendar when I do each, it's just too much to keep track of!

Terrarium:
All is well, the huge, chirpy cricket is still alive and so is the tiny frog. 

I don't think the frogs are going to change to a brighter green as I was hoping. The seller originally told me he breeds for color, and I told him I was looking for bright green. He told me he would choose good ones for me. But based on his facebook postings I think my frogs were some that he was trying to breed to be melanistic (all black). I am pretty annoyed, because I feel like he was not honest about their size and now it seems that he also misrepresented their color. 

I am still glad that I have captive bread frogs and I still think they are incredibly cute and fun. If I were to do it again I would ask for pictures of the parent frogs and a stronger assurance that I would be getting what I asked for in terms of size and color.

As I think about this more, maybe I should not assume this. I may send him a note and see what he says about my frogs parentage. 

Enough of that! How about a cute picture of my little pooch by our fountain and petunias? E, does a great job watering them. He always asks, "Can I grow the flowers?"


----------



## BambooTikiBettaGirl84

That is such a neat lil fountain, where did you get it? Don't you have to keep it going in the winter to make sure it doesn't freeze?


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thanks! We got it at Lowe's last summer. We just empty it and put a tarp over it in the winter.

I was right about my frogs. Their father was completely black. I'm not sure about the mother. Only 2 of the 500 babies turned out to be black. There was also one that is partly purple in color. I suppose the rest are shades of brown like mine. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have brown frogs...


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## ArrowheadShark

Sorry to hear that he wasn't honest about the frogs you got  Either way, they're still really cute!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thank you, I love them regardless.

Terrarium:
I just finished cleaning my living room carpet because I spilled cricket quencher all over the place, so I thought I might talk a little about maintaining crickets and my routine.

I have two small Lee cricket keepers. When I got them I put tape over the rectangular holes above and below the tubes per advice on Amazon reviews. This prevents escapes. The tubes are hiding places for the crickets and make it easy to dump them out. 

Each week I get 50 small crickets in a plastic bag from Petsmart. You have to plan ahead because the crickets need to be gut-loaded before feeding them to the frogs. That means you feed them nutritious food for at least 24 hours. 

I put two baby organic carrots, Fluker's cricket feed which is a vitamin fortified grain and Fluker's cricket quencher in the keeper. (That brand name just cracks me up!) the crickets need water but they will drown in even the smallest amount. The cricket quencher is a gelatin substance, it looks just like chopped up lemon jello.

Take a second to imagine spilling hundreds of 1/4" - 1/8" pieces of lemon jello on your living room carpet... Don't even think about getting out the vacuum!

Since my frogs are still young I feed them everyday. The cricket keeper makes it really easy. You just pull out one of the tubes and tap it against the side of the tank and a bunch of crickets hop/fall out. The keeper has a little flap to keep the crickets still in the keeper inside. I haven't had much of a problem with them getting away.

Many people also dust their crickets with vitamin powder and calcium once or twice a week. I'm dusting fruit flies and feeding them so I don't bother. Once I'm done with fruit flies and they are bigger I probably will. 

I used to have a glass dish to put the crickets in, but it took up a lot of space and didn't seem to work that great. (Supposedly, crickets can't climb out of the dish). I think it may not have worked well because it got the dusting powder and water on it from the crickets and frog feet and made a film that they used for traction. I may try it again when I change the water this weekend.

When all the crickets are gone I rinse the keeper, tubes and little dishes in very hot water and let them air dry.

The crickets themselves have a rather disgusting smell.I keep them in the terrarium stand and you can only smell it when it is open. You definitely want to keep them in a closet or cupboard, and not a food or clothing closet!!

The small ones do not make any noise. The large ones do!

Anyhow, keeping frogs is a little like keeping two sets of pets since you have to maintain the crickets too! It's very easy though, if you have a routine and a convenient place to buy the crickets.


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## hrutan

That spill...

Is the gut loading something you do to pass on nutrition to the frogs?


----------



## DaytonBetta

hrutan said:


> That spill...
> 
> Is the gut loading something you do to pass on nutrition to the frogs?


Yes, that's correct.


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## ArrowheadShark

Heh heh... Crickets.

We have cricket song year-round (even through the Minnesota winters!) because occasionally they escape from our leopard gecko's cage (Bingo), and then hide in the house, often behind the fridge.

You're glass dish, depending on how deep, may also not have worked because crickets can hop quite a nice height, even the tiny ones, especially when determined.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I did a water change yesterday. The baby Java Ferns came loose so I stuck them in the terrarium. They look very healthy. I also trimmed up the Windelov Java Fern so I'll be able to tell if the Potassium is working.

I've been removing 5 snails a day for the last couple weeks and that has been an easy way to keep the snails under control. 

I meant to clean the algae off the front of the tank before doing the water change, but I forgot. It's a very light film, but I should clean it and let the filter run a bit before taking a photo of the tank. 

Here are a couple pictures of the guppies and neons from last week. The guppies have grown a bit and their colors look really sharp. 


I know neons are so common and everyone has them, but i just love them!


Terrarium:
I did a water change. The froggies and shrimp are doing well. 

I put the little dish back in and it seems to contain the crickets pretty well. A couple bounce out when I shake them in. But once they are in, for some reason they don't try to hop, they just try to climb and slide back down. The frogs are really funny. The edge of the dish is about a quarter inch above the ground level. They sit and look through the side at the crickets. The frogs open there mouths and watch them intently. I have seen two frogs hop in and eat and at one point the other frogs were watching this. So they should all get the hang of it fairly quickly. I think if I wash the dish in hot water every few days that will keep it smooth and they won't be able to get out.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I used to obsessively count the critters every time I walked past, but now there are so many plants and fish it's very difficult to do. Tonight I sat down for a few minutes and tried to account for everyone. I think I may have lost one guppy and one neon tetra. I saw all the frogs, all the black neons, one of the oto's (I think I saw the older one last week when the tank was dark) and of course Sammy. 

I scraped algae today, there really is very little with all the snails, the oto's and using Excel.

The Windelov Java Fern broke away from it's driftwood and is floating behind the cave. I kind of like how it looks there. I may buy another plant and attach it there. I plan to put the current one back in it's regular spot when I do my tank maintenance this weekend.



Terrarium:
The frogs are doing well with the glass dish.


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## BambooTikiBettaGirl84

I just did a before and after look at your aquarium and your plants are looking amazing! They have grown so much since your first journal entry about them. It's a nicely organized planted tank I must say. It has a nice theme of having the caves and small castle, then having the plants as a backdrop.


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I reattached the Windelov Java Fern to the driftwood. I think the potassium is helping. 

I did count all nine neon tetras. I am pretty sure one of the guppies died, but otherwise everything seems fine. 



Terrarium:
I did a water change yesterday and switched the cricket dish out for a clean one. 


The tiny plant I found a few weeks ago is a cryptocoryne. (Here's the pic again just as a reminder) I took it off the driftwood and planted it by the crypt plant that is already in the terrarium. I tied the baby java fern to the driftwood.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Terrarium:
Tonight I went to Petsmart to get my weekly cricket and fruit fly supply. I was super excited because they had a bunch of the TopFin plants in tubes marked down to $1! Granted, they are in sad shape, but I know from my Water Wisteria which was really pathetic (and I only talked them into 50% off on that) that they will probably take off growing in a few weeks.

I got a Peacock Fern (Selaginella willdenvowii) which is labeled as semi-aquatic. I planted the minimal roots in the gravel of my terrarium behind the bridge so the leaves are above the water. Upon further reading I think I should plant it on the land part. I will probably move it when I do my water change this weekend.

Here is a photo of the terrarium. It's been up and running 3 months. I'm really happy with the aquatic plants and the plants on the back wall. 



Yesterday another frog attempted to squish himself by getting behind the waterfall. Due to the straw, he didn't have much space, but I was worried he would be able to push it out of the way and get back there. I switched the straw for a chopstick that is wedged in better.

The tiny one is still alive, but looks so small and thin. I measured him from head to bottom when he was up against the glass. 1/2 inch. Here is a picture comparison:


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I did a water change yesterday. I spotted the bigger oto. It was great to see that he's still alive. One of the $1 plants I got at Petsmart the other night was a Windelov Java Fern. It only had two decent leaves, but a few new shoots on the rhizome. I tied it to the back of the large cave. 

Terrarium:
I did a water change today. I have not seen the tiny frog since Thursday. 

I replanted the Peacock Fern on land. I have my doubts; it really looks wilted and yellow. The other $1 plant was a Narrow Leaf Java Fern (Microsorium pteropus). It is small but looks healthy. I stuck it behind the bridge with the base in the water. My plan is to have most of it above the water line.

I bought an air plant (Tillandsia) at a local garden center and placed it in the pot where the fern died on the wall. It is a neat red color. I'm hoping it does well. 

This photo shows the Air Plant and the Peacock Fern. 


Here's a photo of the baby crypt I talked about in the last post. You can also see two of the frogs enjoying the plants.


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I sat down with the camera tonight and happened to catch one of the Black Neon Tetras. This particular guy has a tail deformity (he came like this). It doesn't seem to slow him down a bit! His tail is very small and a different shape than a typical black neon. I highlighted his tail in solid and the normal shape in dashes in the second photo.





Terrarium:
I haven't seen the tiny frog since last Thursday. I'm almost positive she died. I'm a little sad, but have been expecting it. She was so small and so thin. I'm pretty sure she had a metabolic disorder. She ate, but just never grew.

I'm thinking about taking out the Bacopa, it's gotten to be a tangled mess in the front corner. I was hoping it would grow up out of the water, but the frogs like to get in it and trample it down. So the stems are about ten inches but all curled and bunched under the water. It is the shrimp's hideout too, so I will put something else there. I'd like something that stays short since the water is only a couple inches deep. I like the light green color of the Bacopa too.


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## Pandanke

Have you considered plain common Water Wisteria? You don't even have to plant it, just tie it in place. I have a few here. The only issue is when they grow out of the water, the leaves become thicker and less lacey & pretty. It can get quite dense if you let it grow, and my smaller critters love it. It's also hardy enough that I think it may hold up better to your froggies.


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
One of the neon tetras died the other day. My husband didn't tell me when it happened, and could only describe it as "a dead fish, a blue and red one". So, I don't know what happened. I'm not too worried. Things seem to be alright with everyone else.





Terrarium:
I did a water change Saturday. I accidentally sucked up a shrimp in the gravel cleaner, but he seems fine now. 

I took the Narrow Leaf Java Fern out for a few hours and superglued it to a stone (it doesn't have much of a rhizome to tie it to anything). It looked really shriveled when the glue dried and I put it back in the water. I don't know if it will make it or not. The peacock fern is not looking any different than last week. 

The frogs are doing fine!


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: I switched out the Purigen and am refreshing it. It's been almost 2 months since the last refresh. The Seachem literature says they can last for up to six months. I do have some driftwood, and we feed a bit heavy I think so those two things probably oxidize it faster. I do think it is an excellent product.

This is a link to some art I think many of you will enjoy. http://www.boredpanda.com/3d-fish-resin-painting-optical-illusion-keng-lye/

The artist uses acrylic in resin. It is really cool, especially if you like fish! This is just one of the pieces. Kind of looks like our Sammy, right?!


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## BettaLover1313

Thanks for sharing the awesome art! Very neat indeed!


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## Hopeseeker

Yeah, saw that art webpage linked on Facebook the other day! It's awesome! I kinda want one......lol!


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: Today I did a water change and trimmed things up a little. Everything is looking good. 

Here are my frogs hanging on the Water Wisteria:




Terrarium: I did a water change on the terrarium also. The peacock fern has not done anything except wilt and turn more yellowish. The Narrow Leaf Java Fern doesn't look so hot, but I think in time it will do ok. The frogs are doing well.

E, took some pictures in the last few days. Actually he took hundreds of pictures, but here are a couple good ones.

Our tomatoes:

We have a a planter on our deck with a cherry tomato and regular tomato plant. They really produce a large amount of tomatoes. The funny part of it is that the only way we can have the tomatoes is to have an electric fence around it. The raccoons kept pulling out the plants out, so my husband rigged up a little electrified fence around the planter. It works great, but, wow, it is a shock. I felt the need to test it out, lol. I said, "Yeow! He (the raccoon) is not going to like that!"

A's bird, Charlie:


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## LovelyLavender

Mmmmmmm....tomatoes.... *drools*


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## DaytonBetta

Today is National Dog Day! My sweet baby girl, Shrapnel turned 15 yesterday.



Strangely, it is also Pavlov's birthday today...
_Pavlov is sitting at a bar, when all of the sudden the phone rings… Pavlov gasps, “Oh crap, I forgot to feed the dogs.”_


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## hrutan

Lol


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Things seem to be going fine. I have only seen 3 of the guppies the last few days. I saw both oto's today. The older one has gotten quite big. 

Here is Sammy hanging out in the Bacopa, his favorite plant.


Terrarium:
I did a water change today and also switched out the Purigen. Those frogs! One of them jumped right in the filter. Thankfully, I saw him do it and was able to scoop him out easily. It is the only time I've touched one. He felt just like any other little frog. Fire belly toads have toxins on their skin, so it's not a good idea to handle them. Also, they can get sick from germs or chemicals on human hands. It was kind of neat to be able to hold him for a second though. 

The frogs are definitely growing and doing well.


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## niQ

Lots of cute animals at your house DaytonBetta, esp your puppy dog. She is very cute.


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## DaytonBetta

Thank you! 

Aquarium: Sammy gave us a scare today! He was floating upside down in the Java Fern. I thought for sure he was dead being completely upside down, but his color and fins looked so good. I tapped the glass and he flipped over and swam away. He's been acting fine since. I hope he's ok.

Today I did a water change. I noticed that the filter flow was quite a bit slower. It turned out that the the intake was clogged with snail shells and Bacopa leaves. I cleaned it with hot water and it's working well again. 

I trimmed the Bacopa and Anacharis quite a bit. I replanted the Anacharis trimmings. It is now at a thickness I am happy with. The Windelov Java Fern is doing much better now with the addition of twice weekly Potassium. The new $1 Windelov is also growing.







Terrarium: I did a water change today. I also started dusting the fruit flies with paprika in addition to the calcium and vitamins I've been using. According to some information on the frog forum this should help to turn their bellies red. I also noticed in the past couple days that one of the frogs has small light green patches on her back legs. I would love it if the color spread across her back, but I don't think it's likely. We'll just have to wait and see. Hopefully I can get a picture sometime. 

I trimmed the plants in the terrarium too. I cut the Bacopa way back. The $1 Java fern was completely brown so I cut the leaves off. I think I killed it gluing it to the rock. I'll just leave it in the water and see if anything happens. The free Java fern and Crypt babies from my aquarium are doing well. The peacock fern looks awful. The other land/air plants are doing ok.

Today was the first Tiger Cub den meeting for E and I. I'm the den leader. I was nervous but it went really well. I'm excited for a fun year with the boys! We have 3 first graders in our den. These are our tiger puppets we made at the meeting.


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## hrutan

Adorable puppets =D


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
Yesterday it seemed like the Ammonia Alert was a touch greenish (yellow is no ammonia, lt green is .02). I tested the water. Ammonia: 0, Nitrite: 0, Nitrate: 10-20. I added a dose of Prime just in case. 

"Curse you Ammonia Alert"


"I showed you, I'll be on my way now..."


I also rinsed out the filter foam. 

I noticed a tiny bit of algae on one of the castle turrets. I may spot treat it when I do the next dose of Excel. The regular Java Fern had a few yellow and brown spotted leaves. The Windelov Java is much better, but still some brown spots. I may order Phosphorus next time I'm on Amazon. 

Terrarium:
Since I was testing water, I did the terrarium too. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: 40. I did a water change. Since I haven't seen the shrimp in 2 weeks, I went ahead and drained as much water as I could with the gravel siphon, just over 3 gallons. I'm hoping that maybe larger water changes will allow me to go 2 weeks between changes like I do with the aquarium. I'll test again next weekend.

The frogs are doing well. I've been dusting their fruit flies with paprika along with calcium and vitamins for one week. This is supposed to make their bellies red, which is their natural color in the wild. I don't notice any change yet. I'm going to start dusting the crickets as well.

The frogs are really cute. They spend nearly all the time in the water. They like to hang out in the Cryptocoryne. To me it looks like they are resting under a blankie.


----------



## niQ

Cute pics! I really like the last pic, ur frog looks so deep in thought & his coloring is cool.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Terrarium: One of the frogs seems to be sick or injured. When I changed the water Sunday they all hopped up on top of the waterfall filter. One of them has not come down since. He is still alive. He ate a cricket and quite a few fruit flies. I've only seen him move a little, so I'm not sure if he is hurt. I'm thinking maybe he got hurt when I poured the water back in during the water change? I think the best thing is to just let him rest and see if he improves on his own. If he stops eating or shows any outward signs of disease, I may get out my quarantine tank. 

On a lighter note, here are some pictures of Charlie the cockatiel taking a bath. Cockatiels are very dusty birds. They lose a lot of dander and downy feathers. This can be unhealthy for people's respiratory systems, and makes your house dusty. If you mist or bathe them frequently it cuts down on the feathers in the air. I just put him in the kitchen sink and turn on the faucet like a little shower. He doesn't mind and sometimes stretches out his wings under the spray. We should probably do it every day, but I try a couple times a week. My son, A also puts him in the bathtub with just an inch of water occasionally and I sometimes put him in the shower with me on a rack out of the direct spray.


----------



## niQ

Charlie is so cute! Thats great that he enjoys showering. How long has he been trained? How long has your son A had him?


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## hrutan

Cockatiels seem to in general like showering. I had a pair when I was a kid, and they enjoyed being sprayed with a squirt bottle. They'd lift their wings, and turn from side to side so that the water would reach every place. :lol:


----------



## DaytonBetta

niQ said:


> Charlie is so cute! Thats great that he enjoys showering. How long has he been trained? How long has your son A had him?


Thanks! We got him when he was almost 3 months old in February, so we've had him 7 months. The place we got him from, The Sugarcreek Bird Farm http://www.sugarcreekbirdfarm.com/, breeds and raises all kinds of amazing birds. He was already trained to step up (when you put your hand in front of him and say, "step up" he will step onto your hand) when we got him. We played with him several times at the store before bringing him home. He is very tame. My son has him out of the cage almost all the time that he is home. A really loves him and does a good job taking care of him. 

Aquarium:
I decided to check the nitrates again today, just for kicks. They were 20. This is my normal week for water change, but I thought if I could get the terrarium on a 2 week interval, I would wait another week so they would be on the same schedule. Not yet on the terrarium. So I did a water change. 

I also spot treated the small amount of algae on the castle turret. I used a 1cc syringe of Excel twice. (My normal dose is 2.5cc every other day). 

This is a picture of the algae, if it changes in the next few days, I'll show another one:


I started Phosphorous this week. I think the Potassium supplement has helped the Windelov Java Fern, but it still has some spotting and yellowing. 


This is a general photo of everyone swimming around after the water change. Sorry it's a bit dirty since everything was just stirred up.


Terrarium:
The best news is that all the frogs are fine! The one who was hanging out on the waterfall for a few days got back in the water for a little while on Thursday, and then was in the water all day Friday and almost all the time since.

The nitrates were 40. I'll keep checking them every so often. As the plants grow, hopefully someday I'll be at a point to be able to do every 2 week water changes. 

I did a water change. I decided to change the way I put the clean water back in after last week's scare of possibly injuring the one little guy. Today I siphoned water back in using the gravel pump. I filled my container with two gallons, started the siphon with the pump and then lifted the container up above the tank to get the flow going. It is much slower and I have to do it twice to get the 3-4 gallons back in, but it's worth it to keep the frogs safe. 

I bought a new Narrow Leaf Java Fern yesterday. I tied it to the dead stem that was previously a live Narrow Leaf I killed supergluing to a rock. Most of the leaves are out of the water. A couple are looking a little withered or dried at the ends, but I'm hoping they'll be ok. The base is completely underwater. 

Here's a picture of one of the frogs underwater after the water change. They don't spend much time completely submerged. Mostly I notice it when they are scared or startled. One night I timed how long he stayed under/held his breath. It was 4 minutes, 42 seconds.


----------



## autojoy

Wuaahhh the picture of Charlie taking a bath is too cute!!!  I'm glad your frogs are okay


----------



## BettaLover1313

Charlie is adorable! Glad to hear that your frogs are all doing well.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: The targeted Excel worked well to clean up the small amount of algae on the castle turret. I repeated it once and it is now gone. I found another baby Java Fern floating around so I added it to the terrarium. It was too small to tie to anything, so I don't know if it will survive. 

Terrarium: I did a water change Sunday. The frogs are doing well. No change in color that I can see. 

My parents came to visit for the weekend. We had a nice time at the Apple Festival and both kids tested for new belts in Taekwondo. A is a red belt now and E is a purple belt.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium:
I did a water change and trimmed up plants yesterday. Everyone is doing well. The female frog is getting quite fat. Maybe she's producing eggs? Today I saw her shed her skin. Here's a picture of all three of them hanging out in the Bacopa. Sammy wasn't crazy about that because that is his spot. He didn't try to chase them away though.



Terrarium:
I did a water change today. The Narrow Leaf Java Fern is doing well. 



Here is a picture of the frog with the blue green color on his hind legs.


----------



## LadyNightraven

It has been a joy to read about your lovely aquarium and terrarium. Sammy seems like the perfect betta for a community tank, and the frogs are so cute, both the ADFs and the firebellies. I love the pictures of Charlie and Shrapnel, too. I'm looking forward to your continued adventures with your houseful of critters.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thanks so much for your kind words!

Today I was at Petsmart getting my froggies' crickets and they had some plants 50% off. I bought Cyperus helferi. It is a grassy looking plant. The info I found online said moderate light, CO2. I don't have CO2, but I use Excel. The price was right so I thought I'd give it a try. I had to trim off quite a few brown areas, but I planted one piece in the aquarium and one in the terrarium with root tabs. I've wanted a grass-like plant, but I don't think I have enough light for most of them, so we'll see how this goes. 

I'm excited that it is October. I dressed up our little dog in a Halloween dress. She's not too crazy about it.


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## LadyNightraven

DaytonBetta said:


> I'm excited that it is October. I dressed up our little dog in a Halloween dress. She's not too crazy about it.


But she's so cute in her little dress!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: The new Cyperus seems to be doing ok. The Water Wisteria has grown like crazy. I decided next weekend when I do a water change I'm going to re-arrange the plants a little. I plan to move one of the Cryptocorynes that is back by the heater to the front corner and replant the tall Bacopa in it's place. That way the heater will be better camouflaged.

The topical Excel completely cleared the algae on the castle turret. I would definitely recommend that technique, just be sure the amount you are using does not exceed your tank dosage.

This morning Sammy had a pretty sizable bubble nest going. He was making it in the Wisteria leaves right near the filter outflow. When I came over to take a closer look, he swam away and pushed it into the current.


The new Cyperus is the plant behind the Anubias in the left foreground.

Terrarium: I did a water change yesterday, Monday, which is a day late. 

Sunday we went on a bike ride. It was a beautiful day for a ride. We went 15 miles! E did really well on the tandem. He was actually doing all the pedaling for part of the ride. At one point he and my husband decided to go as fast as they could. E said, "Mama's so far behind she's back in the 90's"



The new method for adding water back to the tank is going really well. The frogs are cute because they all hop out onto the land when I take out the water. It looks like they are supervising as they watch me put the water back in. Once the water is back they all jump in again.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: Yesterday I did a water change and re-arranged a couple of the plants. I moved the Bacopa in the front right to the back to cover the heater and moved the Cryptocoryne to the front. I trimmed a lot of the Water Wisteria, the Anacharis and the Bacopa. Here are before and after pictures.

Before:


After:


It had been 3 weeks since I changed the water so I tested before changing. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: 20. I'm really happy with that!

The fish and frogs are doing well. Here's Sammy before I trimmed up all his plants!


Terrarium: I continue to change the water weekly. The frogs are well. I added another baby Cryptocoryne and a good sized piece of Water Wisteria to the water area.

E's birthday was Saturday and he turned 7. We had a costume party with games, prizes and ice cream cake.


----------



## autojoy

Awesome! Must be fun to have a birthday so close to hallowe'en!


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: The repositioned plants seem to be doing fine. 

Terrarium:
I did a water change yesterday. I ordered some aquarium epoxy to replace the moldy chopstick that is blocking the filter death trap. Hopefully that will work out. 

I continue to add cuttings and baby plants to the water. The frogs are well. They've been croaking a lot. 

Last night I finally watched the PBS Nature show, "Fabulous Frogs" that I TiVo'd back in June. Unfortunately, it's no longer being streamed online, but if you like frogs you can check out some of the segments on Youtube. Here is one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUbx1tBnpG0 I thought it was really good. I liked it because they didn't show any frogs dying like they sometimes do on nature shows. It was interesting; the variety of frogs is amazing. It's also funny because the guy who hosts kind of has a froggy look.

Yay! Today was the last of my Halloween parties. I had a Tiger cub scout party, a birthday party and today, a Webelos cub scout party. We made some cool crafts and a fun snack.





Today I dressed up like a witch. Last week we were Ghostbusters!


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## DaytonBetta

Terrarium: I got the aquarium epoxy today. I used it to seal off the fountain and the little gap in the front I had been keeping a rock in front of. 

It was actually kind of strange. I opened the package and went to feed the frogs when I got home from work. One of the big frogs had somehow pulled the rock away and was wedged between the glass and the liner in the front. He had obviously just gotten in and was fine. He got out on his own with no problem, but it could have been a problem if he swam in the opposite direction and got stuck underwater. So, I think I got the epoxy in the nick of time.

I think I have everything sealed up now. Here's a pic of the terrarium with the epoxy and without the moldy chopstick. The plants on the back wall have grown quite a bit. As I was taking the picture I moved the light forward to try to reduce the glare. It changed the whole appearance of the tank! My husband and I both like it better with the light in front. I'm not sure if that will give the wall plants enough light. I might have to work something out to have lighting in the back too. 

Light in back 


Light in front






Happy Halloween! Can you tell I love this holiday? Tonight was trick or treat. It was cold and rainy, but we went out the whole time. The kids got tons of candy. I couldn't believe how heavy their bags were.

We have a Halloween train and village set up in our living room. We've done a Christmas train and display around the tree for years. I love it so much that I decided to branch out into Halloween. Next year maybe we'll do an Easter layout. I really enjoy setting it up and looking at it. The kids, especially E and my husband like playing with the train.


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## DaytonBetta

Well, It's been awhile! My husband and I were on vacation for the last seven days in Cancun, Mexico. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. My parents stayed at our house to take care of the kids. They did a good job taking care of the fish and frogs and everyone seems to be doing well.

Today the kids were on a 2hour delay. We got about 4 inches of snow overnight. It looks really pretty on the trees. Unfortunately our camera broke while on vacation.

Aquarium:
Nothing new, the plants look great, the fish and frogs are well. 

Terrarium:
I changed the water yesterday.

Since I can't take any pictures I thought I'd share these fish teabags that were featured on Bored Panda this morning: http://www.boredpanda.com/gold-fish-tea-bag-charm-villa/


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## Schmoo

I wish I liked tea because those are adorable!


----------



## Zhylis

Hello DB! Just stopped by to wave the old scarlet and grey. 

O.O Those teabags!


----------



## AngelFins

This is a good idea for a child  Parenting win


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: It has been four weeks since I did a water change. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: 20. I'm very happy with that. I did a water change. The new Cypreus seems to be doing fine, not doing a lot, but not dead. All the other plants are growing well and the fish and frogs are doing fine. 

I changed out the Purigen and am refreshing the dirty one. I also rinsed the filter sponge. It was really dirty.

Terrarium: I continue to do weekly full water changes. Today I removed the pathetic fern in the front corner of the land. The water plants and the wall plants are looking good. The frogs are cute and fat. 

A few weeks ago I purchased some custom digital prints from Doggie Drawings on Etsy, https://www.etsy.com/shop/doggiedrawings. She has almost every breed imaginable and will customize the hair color and background and add your dog's name. I had them framed and they turned out so well. 





This is my dachshund who died about a year and a half ago. He was almost 17 years old.


I think they would make a great Christmas gift.


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## DaytonBetta

We had a nice Thanksgiving with family. Hope you did too!

Aquarium: Sammy was very hungry and snapped up his food right away when we returned. Everyone seems to have done fine with the four days off.





Terrarium: I changed the water Monday. One of the frogs has been spending a lot of time on top of the waterfall. I'm a little worried, but he ate ok. Otherwise they are as cute as can be.


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: No changes. Everything is fine. 

Terrarium: I did a water change Monday. Before the change nitrates were 40. The plants are all doing well, just not enough to control the nitrates the way I'd like. The frogs are enjoying all our Christmas lights? They have been spending a lot of time at the front glass looking out since we set up the tree.



We have a Christmas village and train set we add to each year. We now have a passenger train, a freight train and a trolley. It goes around the tree and across half our living room. It's a lot of fun to set up and play with. 







Here is Shrapnel worn out from terrorizing the villagers. Godzilla!!


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## Aqua Aurora

no wonder they're staring at the tree
Frogs: "Ooooo sparkely"
Is that a live or fake tree? Looks fake being so thin (use to supper bushy bottomed trees here). If its live what variety is it?


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## DaytonBetta

Aqua Aurora said:


> no wonder they're staring at the tree
> Frogs: "Ooooo sparkely"
> Is that a live or fake tree? Looks fake being so thin (use to supper bushy bottomed trees here). If its live what variety is it?


It's fake. I like it because it's not messy and doesn't cause allergies.


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: Today I did a water change and trimmed the plants. I replant the Anacharis, but just toss the Water Wisteria and Bacopa. After the holidays I may go on Craig's List and offer trimmings free to whoever is willing to come get them. I don't want to bother to sell them or ship them, but I feel bad just throwing them away.

The fish and frogs are doing well. Here is a picture of one of the adf's engaging in a common behavior called burbling. They hang out at the surface with their nose in the air. I always worry a little that there is something wrong when they do it. Their bodies look so stiff. It's discussed in scientific literature as a common behavior in the wild. Sometimes they eat small insects in the wild when they do this. Maybe I'll give them fruit flies sometime. Sammy might like them too.



Terrarium: Today I did a water change. Yesterday I got another air plant. It is sitting on a piece of cork tube so it is not directly on the damp ground. The red one in the back wall has done well, so I'm hoping this one will too.


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## Aqua Aurora

I can see how the frog looks weirdly dead in that pose  I'd want to poke that belly!
Nice, Tillandsia, do you know which exact breed it is? I was thinking of giving those plants a try this spring when its warm enough to order some.


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## Elysium

I know the feeling of not wanting to simply toss out nice plants. Sometimes the LFS will take them depending on what they are/how nice. My regular store offered me two bucks a pop for peach pit-sized clumps of java moss. 

Cute critters by the way! Ive been thinking of getting some frogs too. My friend has a bunch and sometimes they like to sing! It's pretty sweet.


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## DaytonBetta

Aqua Aurora said:


> I can see how the frog looks weirdly dead in that pose  I'd want to poke that belly!
> Nice, Tillandsia, do you know which exact breed it is? I was thinking of giving those plants a try this spring when its warm enough to order some.


I don't know the type of Tillandsia, the garden store I bought them at just has a bunch in a box with care cards that apply to the entire genus. They are supplied by Russel's Bromeliads. I just chose the ones I thought would coordinate best with what I have.

Aquarium:
Today I accidentally double dosed Flourish. Usually I do half a tsp (2.5cc) twice a week, I wasn't paying attention and used a full tsp. I don't think it will be a big deal, I hope. The filter is running a bit sluggishly so I need to clean out the intake. That always happens after I trim the plants, I seem to get Bacopa leaves all over the place.

The older Windelov Java Fern has a baby! 


This is a picture of the $1 Windelov. It's doing pretty well.


I was very excited to see both oto's together! I rarely see them. I drew arrows on the photo because they're kind of hard to see.


I also got a halfway decent picture of the black neons:


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## DaytonBetta

Aquarium: Today I cleaned out the filter intake and rinsed the sponge and Purigen. It's flowing much better now. I was reading the SeaChem site again yesterday and it said to wait to renew the Purigen until it is dark brown/black. I'm pretty sure that previously it said to renew when it was orange/brown. Mine currently is just a little bit brown. 

Terrarium: I did a water change today. I added a little bit of Flourish. I also added a root tab fertilizer near the Water Wisteria. It is growing pretty quick, but it's yellowish, not a nice green color.

We took some Christmas pictures of A's bird, Charly. I have always spelled his name "Charlie", but A made him a stocking by writing his name on one of his socks and it said "Charly", so I guess that's how it is. I wasn't too happy about A writing on one of his new socks or trying to hang it on our mantle. But, he felt bad because our dogs have always had stockings with their names on them. So we bought him a little red stocking with the initial C on it.









Merry Christmas!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Merry Christmas!

I'm very excited because I'm going to be setting up a new aquarium! I mentioned to my husband about a week ago that I was thinking about it. He didn't completely shut down the idea so I started researching Dwarf Puffers after seeing some videos on facebook. 

Then my friend told me a few days ago that her husband (who gave me my first 29 gallon and the Java Fern and Crypts in my tanks) was done with fish keeping and she cleaned out his tanks and they were going to sell them. 

Today my husband and I looked around the house and found 2 places I could set up. I'm going to get a 55 gallon from my friend. (He has a 70 also, but right now that's bigger than I want.) I'm going to put it in our dining room. I'd really prefer smaller, but the 55 is a fabulous deal that I can't pass up.

I'm heavily leaning toward Dwarf Puffers, but they only get to be an inch and don't get along well in a community. I think I could have about 10 in the tank, but I'm just not sure about a whole planted 55 with just a handful of little fish. Will it be too boring? They are super cute and have funny behaviors, but there won't be big flashes of color like a community tank. It will be planted which looks nice on it's own in my opinion, and this time I'll do a better job aquascaping than my thrown together 29. 

So it could be really beautiful, natural and interesting or it could be boring. I just don't know!

I don't really have any other fish that I'm drawn to right now. I love my current community. I've had gouramis in the past and they don't do much for me. I've thought about angels, I think they are beautiful, but reading about them they sound like a pain territory wise. I won't do salt water again. I definitely want a planted tank. I'm jsut kind of excited about a new project.

Let me know if you have any thoughts about the puffers or other suggestions!

Here is what they look like: Copyright - Practical Fishkeeping
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=6358


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## DaytonBetta

Today I got the 55 gallon from my friend. I cleaned it and leak tested this afternoon. I ordered two Aquaclear50 hob filters and an Aqueon Pro 150 watt heater. I decided to go with two smaller filters rather than one big one so the outflow is not overwhelming, and I can alternate cleaning the filters.

These are the same products I've used on the 29 gallon for almost a year and I've been really happy with them.

My plan is to start aquascaping now and then add some neons and black neons and maybe a couple from adfs to hold the cycle until I'm ready for either dwarf puffers or angels. Then when I am ready for the new fish, I'll add the tetras and frogs to my 29. I have room for about 6 more black neons, 6 more neons and a pair of frogs. 

I'm going to get a plain black background. On the 29 I got a photo of plants for the background. It looks ok, but I think it would be less fakey to have just plain black. I definitely want something because I hate the look of the heater and filter cords, and even with a lot of plants you can usually still see them. 

My next step will be getting gravel (or sand) and driftwood.


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## DaytonBetta

I went to our local fish store, Gerber's, today. I got two pieces of driftwood that I am super happy with. The owner was very helpful. They had a similar tank (60gallon) and let me tryout the pieces in it. Since it's an independent operation I was also able to bargain on the price. They told me $69 for the big one and $30 for the small, but I got them for $60 and $25. It's still a lot, but I am in love with the big one, and the tank and stand were only $75, so I feel ok about it. I wish I wrote down how much we spent on the decorations for the 29 gallon. 

They didn't have any dwarf puffers in stock, but he said usually they do. He also said that I should go ahead and try a couple angels and a bunch of puffers since it is a large planted tank. Now, I love that idea, but everything I've read says the puffers will constantly nip angels (or any fish). The owner said puffers are nippy if they're not well-fed, but if you feed them well, they'll leave other fish alone. The store will let you return fish, but I'm not sure I'd want to deal with the hassle. On the other hand, it would be super cool to have both types of fish in one tank if it works. 

I stopped at Petsmart and got my Laterite and gravel. I got 50 pounds of the same gravel I used in my other tanks, I like the size and color of it with the plants. I also got a background. It's blue on one side and black on the other. Once I cut it to size and held up both I couldn't decide which would be better. My husband preferred the blue so we went with that. I'm thinking about getting another bag of gravel to build up some areas a bit and have more depth for planting. 

I soaked the driftwood in hot water (it had been in an aquarium previously, so it shouldn't leach too much), rinsed the laterite and gravel and put up the background.

Here's where I'm at:


small driftwood:


large driftwood:


----------



## FishWhisperer

Neat! Hope you get your puffers!


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## BettaLover1313

I hope you can get your puffers. Your driftwood is lovely.


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## DaytonBetta

FishWhisperer said:


> Neat! Hope you get your puffers!





BettaLover1313 said:


> I hope you can get your puffers. Your driftwood is lovely.


Thanks guys!

Aquarium 29 gallon: I did a water change on Sunday. When I was out at Petsmart I picked up the 50ft Aqueon Water Changer. I decided I didn't want to keep lugging 3 gallons at a time if I was going to have a 55 gallon tank to fill. They did not have the Python brand. I had a Python in the past and really liked how easy it made water changes. I'll let you know down the line how the Aqueon does. One nice feature is that it has a shut off valve on the gravel cleaner. I can't use it on my kitchen sink, but it works on the bathroom faucet.

Anyhow, the aquarium is fine and I'm planning what plants I'll thin and move to the 55.

Here are a couple pics:

Sammy


ADF, the female I think

Terrarium: I did a water change on the terrarium today. Three of the frogs were lined up together and I thought they looked especially cute.



55 gallon: I got my filters and heater today! I think I should have gotten the higher wattage heater. I got the 150 watt. Our heat goes down to 63 degrees at night, so I'm not sure if it will be able to keep up. Once I get the water in I'll have to check it on cold nights and see. I don't know why I didn't just order the 200watt. I have two Aquaclear50's and I plan to run them with the included sponge and ceramic biomedia and replace the carbon with purigen. I got glass lids. My light, GFCI powerstrip and timer should be here tomorrow.

I think I'll start calling the 29 Bettatopia and the 55 Puffer something...


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## BettaLover1313

Your frogs are adorable! Especially the three all lined up in your terrarium.


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## DaytonBetta

The 55 gallon is coming along. My light arrived yesterday. I'm very excited about it! I got the Finnex FugeRay Planted+ LED (with moon lights). I've heard great things about this light. I'm not sure if I'll use the moon lights. They can't be put on a separate timer. 

I filled the tank and started one of the filters and the heater. I decided to fill the other filter with one sponge and both the new biomedia bags and run it in the 29 gallon for a couple weeks. That way when I'm ready for fish I'll transfer the filter and media. Hopefully I'll have plenty of active bacteria, and the 55 should be all ready to go. I'll still probably do a few weeks with tetras to make sure everything is stable before the puffers.

I bought a small piece of driftwood and my husband cut it into pieces so I'll have something to attach rhizomes to. I think I'm going to do Anubias and Windelov Javas in the foreground. I'll have Water wisteria and Bacopa in the back and moss, Java fern and Windeov on the big driftwood pieces, and Crypts in the middle for a little color.

Here's the tank filled with the lights:


Here's and updated picture of the terrarium. The plants on the back wall have grown quite a bit:


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia! (29g) - Today I removed plants from the 29 to plant the 55. I had to lower the water, so Bettatopia got a water change, too. I also added a few root tabs since I was moving everything around.

I got rid of all the Anacharis. It was constantly floating up, I had to trim it all the time, but it still had a scrawny look. I didn't feel like it did much for the tank. I thinned out the Water Wisteria, the Bacopa by the heater, the Crypt in front and the Cyperus. I took one of the Java Ferns and I found two baby Windelovs.

Here's how the tank looks now. Hopefully it all grows back in quick.


55 gallon: The water has been a little cloudy since yesterday. The heater seems to be doing fine, but I still need to check it when it's colder here. 

I took out some water in order to plant. Somehow my husband accidentally broke one of the glass lids. I had to go to two different Petsmarts to get a new one (one is 5 minutes away, the other 10min, so not a big deal). But, of course I had to check out the plants while I was there...

I bought an Anubias nana, Staurogyne repens and 2 Windelovs which were 50% off. These are all the TopFin packaged plants. I've had great luck with them in the past.

I came home and planted the 55. I added root tabs and dosed Flourish, Excel, Potassium and Phosphorus. I'll follow the same schedule as with the 29. Here is the whole tank:


I can't wait for it to grow in and block that blue background. I'm regretting that a little. It seems so blue! But, I glued it on and the tank is full, so hopefully once the plants grow in it will be a nice backdrop.

This is the Staurogyne repens. It is a low growing plant that can be used as a carpet. Most of what I've read says it's pretty easy to grow. I divided the package into 5 little clumps and planted them in the front. The roots were almost nonexistent, so it was kind of hard to plant.


This is one of the baby Windelovs for future reference. I just wedged it in the driftwood. It's too small to tie on.


Also for future reference, one of the Cyperus helferi, the Cryptocoryne wenditii, the Anubias nana, a bit of the Water wisteria and another Staurogyne. The Anubias is tied to the driftwood. 


My plan is to let the 55 run for about a week and a half. My husband and I are going on vacation on Wednesday until Monday. When we return I am going to order some Willow Moss online to put on the big driftwood. Then I will transfer the filter and media and add some neons. Once I'm sure that the tank is stable (couple weeks) and the plants have filled in a bit, I'll transfer the neons to the 29 and get the puffers.


----------



## LadyNightraven

I'm so excited that you're getting dwarf puffers in a couple of weeks! I've been wanting a dwarf puffer since I saw one for the first time last year, so it's going to be so much fun reading your experiences with the adorable little guys. The new tank looks great so far. I really love the driftwood in particular. I think your puffers will be happy when you get them.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thanks Lady!

We're leaving to go on a cruise tomorrow so my in-laws are here to take care of the kids (and the aquariums). I'm confident everything will be fine, but still a little nervous. 

Bettatopia: 29g. I tested the water today, just to make sure I'm leaving everything in good condition. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites: 0, Nitrates: 10-20. Sammy was hanging out a little lower in the tank and in the cave today, but he ate fine and looks fine. 

Here's a picture of our Black Neons:


Terrarium: I changed the water last night. I dosed Flourish again. The Water Wisteria that is partially out of the water is still yellowish. I did a job on the little Anubias. Last week I decided to treat some BBA algae that has been on it's roots and rhizome since the algae problem way back last spring. I was over zealous. I put it in a little dish and soaked the whole thing in Excel for a couple hours. In retrospect, I should have just done a quick dip or a quick bleach dip. The algae is gone, however the leaves have melted away too. We'll see if it recovers. 

Pufferville: 55g. The water is looking clearer and the plants look pretty good. I think when I get back I may start dosing Excel daily rather than every other day. 

It's very cold here so I'm really excited to be on the cruise! Keep warm everyone!


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## LadyNightraven

Have fun on your cruise! Sounds like a great way to get away from the cold weather for a bit!


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## BettaLover1313

Your tanks are looking great and I hope you have a fun time on your cruise!


----------



## DaytonBetta

Thanks guys! The cruise was great. Good weather, and we had so much fun with our friends. I went snorkeling in Cozumel and saw a ton of beautiful fish and a pretty large (more than 3ft across) stingray.

Bettatopia (29 gallon): Everyone is doing fine. I started dosing Iron. I was doing some reading on planted tanks forums and it sounded like it might be helpful. 

Puffer Paradise (55 gallon): The plants are looking good. I've had one filter running with just a sponge in it. There is some pretty nasty algae on the larger driftwood. It looks kind of like light brown clumps of mold. The lights are off now, but I'll try to take a picture tomorrow. I'm going to start dosing Excel daily.

Water parameters: Ammonia:0, Nitrites:5, Nitrates:5. So it looks like the cycle has begun.

I transferred the filter I've had running in the 29 over. It had both biomedia and one sponge. I added new Purigen to both filters, and dosed the whole tank with Prime for the Nitrite level. I will check again tomorrow. Hopefully with both filters going with bacteria from the 29 it will be smooth sailing.

I added 8 neon tetras and 5 black neon tetras. The neons are so tiny! I can't believe how much mine have grown. 

Terrarium:
The frogs and plants are doing fine.


----------



## DaytonBetta

PufferParadise (55g) - I tested the water last night. Ammonia:0, Nitrites: 5, Nitrates:5. I added Prime. I plan to do a water change this weekend. I think i lost one neon. I don't see a body anywhere but the other 7 are all swimming together. All five black neons are accounted for. 

I found a great article about different algae types in aquariums: http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_freshwater_algae.php It seems like the brown algae I have right now is caused by diatoms. It's pretty common in new set-ups. Here are some pictures of the moldy looking algae:




And the whole tank:


Terrarium:
I did a water change today. The frogs are doing well.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Pufferparadise (55gallon): Yay! My nitrites are under control. The reading was 0 today. 

That's where the good news ends though. One of the black neons has a white spot on his anal fin. I noticed it last night. Grrrr! I'm almost positive that it's ich. Only this one fish is affected with only this one spot. It's been 24 hours since I noticed it. 

Now, you might think, "Gee, this journal started out nearly a year ago with a tank full of ich. You'd think she'd learn her lesson about quarantine..." Well, unfortunately, not. 

So, anyhow, my plan is to treat with heat, and see what happens. If these fish all die, I'll wait a couple weeks for the parasite to die off, keep the cycle going with ammonia and get the puffers. I just thought it would be easy to cycle with fish and then add them to my 29. 

I turned the heater up 2 degrees last night and another 2 degrees this morning. This evening I tossed the 50 watt heater I had for my ten gallon quarantine in so hopefully that will help to get the heat gradually to 86. 

My husband wanted me to just get rid of the affected fish. While that sounds tempting (that sounds really wrong to say that), ich affects the fins and the gills, so chances are that the other fish are infected, but not visibly. 

Tomorrow I plan to do a water change. I'm going to do the 29 first, so I don't cross contaminate with the hose. When I change again in two weeks there shouldn't be anything left alive in the tubing.


----------



## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Today I did a water change and trimmed and replanted the Bacopa along the back wall. I want it to fill in where the Anacharis used to be. The plants seem to be enjoying the daily Excel. 

I also got a couple good shots of the guppies.







Puffer Paradise (55g): Well, it's probably much less like paradise for everyone today. The temperature is now 86 degrees. The spot on the Black Neon's anal fin is gone, meaning the ich tomites have dispersed. Hopefully the increased temperature will kill them. Unfortunately, another Black Neon has a single white spot on his tail. No one else has spots and no one is flashing or having trouble breathing. I'm hopeful that catching it early will make this a short ordeal.

I did a water change and cleaned the brown algae. A website I was reading recommended using an old, soft toothbrush to clean the algae. This worked great! It really made it easier to get the wispy algae out. 

I ran into another problem! The heat (I think) caused the background to bubble and peel off. It looked terrible. I ended up pulling it all off and then switching to the black side and taping it back on. It was not easy because the tank is against a wall and too heavy to move now. 

The black is much more forgiving as far as looking ok without being perfectly smooth. Honestly, I wasn't crazy about the blue. I'm liking the black better. I think it will look great when all the plants grow in.

The product I used to adhere the background originally is called SeaView. I am really unhappy with this product! It is supposed to adhere and illuminate your background. It was a pain to use, and obviously doesn't work well with temperature variations. 

The background I have on the 29 is one of the self stick, static backgrounds. It was super easy to put on and stayed with no problem when I treated ich in that tank. That's the only type I'll use from now on.

Anyway, here's the new black background, not perfect, but a big improvement over the bubbled blue:


----------



## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Today I cleaned the glass. All is well.



Puffer Paradise (55g): Still roasting at 86, but I'm not seeing any white spots and everyone looks good. 

I got my Willow Moss (*Fontinalis antipyretica) *from AquaticArts.com. They are based in Indianapolis and specialize in shrimp and invertebrates. They also have some interesting fish and plants. It's run by a couple and they seem to be doing a great job. 

The reason that I want moss is because I read some articles about Dwarf Puffers and evidently they like moss to set up territories and breed. I'm not looking to breed them (although that might be super cool if it happened), but I want them to have a nice habitat that they enjoy.

It was a large amount of moss! It came wet, packed in a little ziplock bag. I wasn't sure how to attach it to my driftwood so I settled on using green rubber bands. I'm hoping in a week or so I can cut them off. I'm really not sure if Willow moss is the look I'm going for. I got it because I heard it was nicer than Java Moss and a brighter green. I'm not sure because it is kind of long and scraggly looking. I'll see how it looks in a month or so.





Toad Abode (29g): Since there was so much moss, I put some on the land in the terrarium, too. The moss grows terrestrially in nature, so I'm hoping it will work. The land in the terrarium is constantly wet. Fortunately it hasn't grown mold, but nothing I've planted on the ground has grown. If it does grow, I think it will look pretty sharp. 

Two babies fell off the Cryptanthus. It keeps popping out of the wall. When I stuck it back in the other day, I broke the babies off. This was another design flaw in the background. If you are putting pots in a background they should all be tilted up; horizontal doesn't work well. 

I wedged the babies into the top of the cork log. I have no idea if they'll live there. This picture was taken before I put the moss down. If it takes, I'll share a new picture.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): The adf's were all eating together at the shell. They've also been singing again at night. It's just the cutest little sound. Mmmmmm-meeep, kind of a buzzy tone.



Puffer Paradise (55g): Today I cleaned the algae with the tooth brush again. I need to get a scraper for the glass. I think one of the Black Neons has a white spot on his tail and anal fin, but they are super tiny, so I can't be sure. Everyone else is fine.

I tested the water today also. Ammonia:0, Nitrites:0, Nitrates:5. So it looks like the cycle is stable.

I've been throwing ramshorn snails in from the 29gallon every day. They seem to be enjoying it in the 55. There are 4 egg clusters on the back wall that I can see. Who knows how many are on the plants. This should be good because the puffers will eat them when they get here.

I was reading the Planted Tanks forum and someone was asking about PlantedAquariumCentral.com. Well, I made the mistake of going there! It's a very nice site. I think I'm going to order a few plants. I'd like something with a pink or red color for accent. I think I'm also going to get some plant weights to make it easier to replant cuttings.

Toad Abode (29g terrarium): I changed the water tonight. The frogs are fine. I misted the moss on the land. I think I will do that daily for the next few days until it greens up or dies. 

The Anubias I over-Excelled is hanging on.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): I have a little bit of Black Beard Algae on the big cave. I've been using a 1ml syringe to apply Excel to it directly yesterday and today. There is also some on the roots of the Anubias. I won't make the same mistake I did with the Anubias in the terrarium! I'm going to treat it with hydrogen peroxide. 

Here's a cute frog picture, you can see a little of the algae on the bottom of the Anubias:


Puffer Paradise (55g): I'm not seeing any spots today. The fish are all still swimming and acting normal, eating fine, etc.

The moss seems to be getting a little greener. I got a MagFloat algae scraper and continue to brush off the brown algae every other day. I also increased the Excel a little bit in an effort to get the algae under control. It looks pretty good today. 

Last night I ordered from PlantedAquariumCentral.com. I'm very excited! I ordered 4 types of plants and also some plant weights. I have trouble replanting cuttings in my gravel, so I think the plant weights should help with that. I ordered a tool set on Amazon with long scissors and tweezers.

Toad Abode (29g): The moss looks about the same. The Fire Belly Toads are as cute as ever. I don't think they are ever going to get red bellies though. I'm dusting the crickets with calcium, vitamins and paprika and they (crickets) eat carrots.


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## DaytonBetta

Puffer Paradise (55g): I'm frustrated. Today one of the Black Neons has a spot on his dorsal fin. Everyone else is fine. The temperature has been at 86, which should be enough to kill the ich, but it seems to be hanging on. My 150 watt heater is at the maximum setting. I turned up the 50 watt to see if I can get it to 88 degrees. I feel like the ich isn't going crazy since it's just one or two spots on a single fish every few days. If I didn't spend so much time watching my fish, I wouldn't even have noticed it. But obviously, I can't lower the temperature until I'm sure it's all gone. It's just annoying!! 

Plus, I worry, will I know when it's gone? Maybe it's on all their gills and they'll infect the 29 when I transfer them in a few weeks? I don't want to do salt or medicine because of the plants.

I'm just going to think about our vacation and hope this is the last ich spot! Here's a couple pictures from our cruise:


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## DaytonBetta

Puffer Paradise (55g): Last night I dug out another heater and put it in the tank. This is a heater that came with the used tank I bought for the terrarium. I think it was manufactured in 1950 or so! It is adjustable but there are no temperature settings and no indicator lights. It is 150 watts. The temperature is now 91 degrees. 

The white spot on the Black Neon's dorsal is gone this afternoon and I don't see anyone else affected. This temperature should definitely take care of any living ich. Surprisingly, the fish are acting fine. I have quite a bit of surface agitation with the two filters and I'm keeping an eye on the ammonia. At higher temperatures there is less oxygen dissolved in the water and ammonia is more toxic. 

On a happier note, I found a very cool website with ideas for planted tanks. http://tropica.com/en/inspiration/ when you click on the pictures it shows you the names of the plants, layouts, videos and information. It's really cool to see.

My favorite is #78:


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## DaytonBetta

Puffer Paradise (55g): ARgh!! This ich is driving me crazy. Today one of the Black Neons has a spot on his pectoral fin. Once again, just one spot, everyone else is fine. The temperature is steady at 91-92 degrees. I just don't get how this is continuing on. The research I've read says ich won't reproduce above 86 and dies at 89.5. There have been cases of strains that are heat resistant, but it sounded like that was pretty rare. 

I'm going to give it one more chance. If I notice another spot after this one goes, I'll remove the fish to my ten gallon that I should have used in the first place to quarantine, medicate them there, and leave the 55 empty for two weeks to clear any remaining ich.

My plan had been to get all my puffers at once and put them directly in the 55. Now I'm reconsidering that. I just don't know how to properly quarantine them all in a 10 gallon. It seems like it would be really stressful for them and result in more problems. I want to get 15 total. They are territorial, so I'd like to put them all in the 55 at once. 

Maybe I should just do 3 sets of 5, each set 2 weeks apart. Put them in the 10 to observe, then into the 55. 

Or, I just get them all and throw caution to the wind and toss them in the 55.


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## DaytonBetta

All fish are clear again today.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Yesterday morning just as I was heading out the door I noticed a Black Neon was dead. I fished him out and added a dose of Prime since that's all I had time to do. 

Later in the afternoon I tested the water. Ammonia:0, Nitrites:0, Nitrates:10. I did a water change anyway.

I got my order from http://www.plantedaquariumscentral.com/! Here it is on the counter:


The plants are (left to right): Alternanthera reineckii roseafolia ( I ordered 2, but they sent 3), Didiplis diandra, Golden lloydiella and Crypotocoryne spiralis

I'm very happy with the shipping and the quality of the plants. 

Since there was an extra Alternanthera I planted it in the 29. This is the only one I planted without the plant weights. The stems kept popping back out of the gravel so I decided to keep the weights on the others. I put the Alternanthera by the heater in the back right corner. The Bacopa I planted there was really scraggly so I pulled it out, trimmed it up and put plant weights on bunches of three and replanted them in front of the new plant. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): I'm not seeing any ich, but 2 of the regular neons died. I'm pretty sure they died because of the heat. 

I did a water change and planted the new plants. I'm hoping they are ok for a few days with the high temp. It's about 91-92. 

Toad Abode (29g): I did a water change. The moss does not seem to be taking to the land. Here are the frogs:


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Everyone seems to be doing well. Thankfully no one has died since the single Black Neon the other day. 

The Bacopa is quite short right now, but it should fill in nicely in the next couple weeks. Hopefully the new Alternantherea takes off too (it's in the back right corner). The black beard algae is gone on the cave thanks to the Excel. I haven't done anything with the small amount that's on the Anubias rhizome.



Puffer Paradise (55g): There's been no sign of ich for at least 4 days so I started lowering the temperature today. It's at 88 now. I plan to keep it at 86 for a couple days and then gradually back to 78. 

Sadly, I think all the regular Neons died. I can't find any bodies, but I assume the snails ate them. The Black Neons seem to be doing fine. 

Here's a cute picture of my little Shrapnel in her new Valentine's sweater:


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## DaytonBetta

Puffer Paradise (55g): The temp has been at 86 for 2 days. The Black Neons are looking fine. The regular Neons didn't survive. I feel bad about that. The plants seem to be holding up ok. The moss hasn't done much, but hopefully once we get back to more reasonable temperatures it will look better. I'm still cleaning brown stringy algae every couple days, but it's not awful. Hopefully that resolves itself soon.


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## Schmoo

Lovely tanks. c:


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks!!

Bettatopia (29g): Things are going well. The Alternanthera is getting taller and the Bacopa is looking good. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): I started lowering the temperature from 86 degrees today. The Black Neons are doing well. The moss seems to be a bit greener and the plants are doing pretty well.

Toad Abode (29g): I did a water change today. There was an explosion of snail growth. I tossed at least 20 babies into the 55g. The Water Wisteria was still looking pathetic and yellow, so I removed it. The Cyperus was also doing nothing, so it's gone too. The Java ferns are doing great and making babies and the Cryptocoryne is spreading so I'll stick with those. 

Here's one of the frogs climbing the corner. They do this often when I take out the water. My husband thinks it's really funny:


Here is a frog on the ill-fated Water Wisteria:


And finally, here's the terrarium:


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Sammy is not doing well the last couple days. He's not moving much and he only ate a couple pellets the last 2 days and none today. He looks ok and the water is ok. We've had him nearly a year, so I don't know if he is sick or it's just old age.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Well, after I wrote about Sammy last night I checked on him again and he ate 3 pellets. Then today when I came come from work I noticed a white glob on his tail. He was swimming around some.

Here's his picture and a close up of the glob:




I decided since I was going to do a water change (we're leaving for the long weekend tomorrow morning) I'd catch him in a cup. My plan was to look at it up close and probably trim that fin to remove it.

So, I lowered the water and set off with my net and a cup. Well, when he wants to, Sammy can move! He dove down into the plants and I chased him around a bit. I had given up and was working on trimming plants when he went over to rest in his Wisteria. I got him and popped him in the cup.

He looked fine. The glob was gone and he seemed ok. I apologized and put him back in his Wisteria. I hope he is still alive when we get back from our trip.

Puffer Paradise (55g): I did a water change tonight. The tank temperature is now 80 and things seem to be going well. 

I trimmed the Staurogyne repens, which is my carpet plant in the front. I'm very excited because I was able to replant 7 little starts. The idea with Staurogyne is to keep trimming the tallest shoots so it will put out horizontal starts and spread. Plus you can replant the trimmings. It's really coming along nicely. 

I also trimmed and replanted Bacopa. I've been using flexible plant weights and it makes the process much easier. I bind three stems together and toss them back in the tank.

Toad Abode (29g): The frogs are well. I'll change their water on Monday.


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## DaytonBetta

2/14 We visited the National Aviary in Pittsburgh. This is an amazing bird zoo! If you are ever in Pittsburgh it is a must see. We've been many times because we have family in Pittsburgh. 

My favorite part is the Lorikeet room. You get to feed the birds a nectar mixture. They also have a nice penguin display, a beautiful grasslands (finches) room and a couple different tropical areas. In most of the areas the birds are flying freely around the rooms. 

This is a photo my son, A took so I don't know what kind of bird this is:


Here we are feeding the Lorikeets:


We drove back today and the weather was a little dicey. It took much longer to get home so we didn't get to pick up Shrapnel from the kennel, but we picked up Charly before even going to the house. A really misses him when we're away.

For Valentine's Day I made photobooks on Shutterfly for each of the kids with their pets. They turned out really nice and the kids were excited.





Ok, on to the fish!

Bettatopia (29g): Yay! Sammy is still alive. He seems to be doing pretty well.

Puffer Paradise (55g): The Black Neons are doing fine. The Willow Moss is greening up nicely.

Toad Abode (29g): The frogs are great. I changed the water. The moss did not take. It's dried up and doing nothing. All the other plants look good.


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## Zhylis

=D Lorikeet aviary?? Must go visit! My favorite parrots by far; they are such little hyper sugar junkies...


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## DaytonBetta

I just love Lorikeets! When we picked Charly up after boarding him we asked the girl at the bird farm if they ever sell lorikeets. She said they used to breed them, but it was hard to find the right owners because their diet is so specialized and their poop so gross. 

Bettatopia (29g): This evening Sammy was pretty feisty. One of the adf's was in _his_ Water Wisteria. He dashed over and flared at her. She didn't even blink (haha, no eyelids). He swam around her a few times and then decided it would be ok for them to hang out in the wisteria together.







Puffer Paradise (55g): Things are looking good. I have tried for two days to catch the Black Neons to move them to the 29, but I only succeeded in uprooting plants and kicking up debris. It's really difficult because there is a bar across the top of the tank in the middle. I think I'll have to build a trap next week. I saw a plan using a 2 liter bottle. The other option is to just leave them and see how they do with the puffers.

The Willow Moss is doing well. I cut off the rubber bands last night.

Here's the tank:


And a close-up of the moss:


Toad Abode (29g): The firebellies are well. Just as cute as ever.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Today is Sammy and the frogs' 1 year anniversary as our pets. We celebrated with a water change. I briefly removed the Anubias and wiped the leaves with hydrogen peroxide and doused the rhizome. The leaves have a green algae and the rhizome has black beard algae on it. Overall the plant is doing well, so hopefully, I didn't harm it.

Here are some pictures of the algae so I can compare in a few days:




Here's a couple pics of the frogs and Sammy for their anniversary:






Puffer Paradise (55g): Today I made a trap for the Black Neons. They have not gone anywhere near it. If it works I'll take a picture and give directions. I am doubtful.

I did a water change. I trimmed and replanted several more Staurogyne repens. The new Corkscrew Cryptocorynes are growing too. I replanted the plants I uprooted trying to catch the Neons.

Tomorrow afternoon I plan to go to the fish store and get the puffers if they have them.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Sammy was very feisty today. He swam right over and was jumping to get his food. I cleaned the glass.

Puffer Paradise (55g): I didn't get a chance to go to the fish store today. Hopefully, tomorrow. My fish trap has only caught snails, so I guess I'll just leave the Neons in there and see what happens.

Clearly the plan to cycle the 55 with neons was incredibly short-sighted and flawed! Oh, well... you live and you learn.

Toad Abode (29g): I was very worried when I fed the frogs today, because I could only see 3 of them. I changed the water and all four popped out and were hopping around. So, everyone is fine there. 



The Anubias is still hanging on. The moss on the land is a little green underneath where it's touching the substrate so I'm going to leave it for a bit. 

I am really loving my terrarium and have started thinking about building a bigger one for a Day Gecko when the Puffer tank is complete. This is something I'm just starting to research, so it would probably be a summer project.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Today I cleaned the filter sponge and rinsed the Purigen. I didn't just use running tap water like I normally do. I put water in the kitchen sink and added Prime, then I squeezed and squished. The sponge was incredibly dirty. I had to do it twice. I plan to replace the Purigen in 2 weeks.

Here's the tank:


Puffer Paradise (55g): I tried for two days to catch the Black Neons using my DIY fish trap. I caught 60 snails. It was disgusting. I took it apart and put all the snails back in the tank.

This is the trap, a good idea, but the Neons are either too smart or too dumb for it:


The 55 is doing well. I went to the fish store and they only had one puffer so they are ordering them for me. There will be plenty of snails for them to eat and the moss should be perfect by the time I get them. I rinsed the filter sponges and Purigen today.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): I'm a little worried. I haven't seen the darker male adf in 2 days. I'm hoping he's ok. The plants are so thick it's really hard to see in the back.

Puffer Paradise (55g): Today I got my puffers!!!! I got 12 Dwarf (pea) Puffers. They are super cute and very curious. I'm very excited.

It's snowing again, but I'm warm and happy with my tropical fish!


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## autojoy

ohhh those puffers!! Too cute!


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## Axeria

Awww! I love puffers! Have always wanted some but always felt that they require more care than I could provide. Yours are really cue! 

Subbing!


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## Aqua Aurora

Awesome pea puffers! Whats your main food for them? They love snails (you mentioned catching 60 some snails-which type?) but its good to have at least 1 other food in their diet for some variety. My husband's dwarf puffer gets black worms and the snails are a treat a few times a week or as I find them + some snails manage to breed before he eats them so there is a tiny population in his tank to hunt through the day. Its definitely a good idea to keep the tank seeded with live food for them to hunt as they want to keep them full. A full puffer is less of a [censor] than a hungry one, so it will reduce aggression issues (though those are juvies so you won't see as much aggressions for a few weeks/months).



Axeria said:


> Awww! I love puffers! Have always wanted some but always felt that they require more care than I could provide. Yours are really cue!
> 
> Subbing!


Depending on who you get the puffer from (some sellers like msjinkzd actually try to train them onto frozen foods) it can be a pain to keep them from the need to have 1-2 or more live food sources. They eat any snail including trap door snails like MTS, there is a pretyt good list of other live foods they eat but I went with black worms.. take a bit more care then some cultures but as long as you keep them clean they don't smell (if you forget to rinse them/Prime their water and let them sit a few days they will die and putrefy and the smell is worse than cleaning out a half dead old persons bedpan/diaper).
Some puffers can be trained onto frozen foods but there are plenty that refuse and will only eat live foods.
Aside from food they need a fully cycled tank (cannot tolerate going through a cycle-fishless cycle with pure ammonia is a great way to prep a tank) and the nitrates should be kept low as they don't tolerate as high a levels as some fish (like betta) will. They are messy eaters so its good to pick out snail shells (usually have bits of meat left in them) and do a water change at least once a week if not more often (varies by tank volume, stock, and plant mass). They definitely prefer densely planted tanks and are fun to watch as they hunt for food in them.


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## KitDewStein

Subbing! Cute puffers


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks everyone!

Bettatopia (29g): I thought I saw the missing adf this morning, but the tank light wasn't on, so I can't be sure. No sign of him this afternoon or evening.

Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers are doing well. I've seen them pecking at some little snails and I fed them frozen bloodworms. I know at least 3 or 4 of them ate the bloodworms. They look like they're slurping up spaghetti! Very cute.

Toad Abode (29g): I changed the water late last night. A couple days ago I snapped a picture of one of the frogs completing his shed. He is just eating the last of it. You can see the little "fingers" poking out of his mouth.



Here is the terrarium:


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## Axeria

Aqua Aurora said:


> Awesome pea puffers! Whats your main food for them? They love snails (you mentioned catching 60 some snails-which type?) but its good to have at least 1 other food in their diet for some variety. My husband's dwarf puffer gets black worms and the snails are a treat a few times a week or as I find them + some snails manage to breed before he eats them so there is a tiny population in his tank to hunt through the day. Its definitely a good idea to keep the tank seeded with live food for them to hunt as they want to keep them full. A full puffer is less of a [censor] than a hungry one, so it will reduce aggression issues (though those are juvies so you won't see as much aggressions for a few weeks/months).
> 
> 
> Depending on who you get the puffer from (some sellers like msjinkzd actually try to train them onto frozen foods) it can be a pain to keep them from the need to have 1-2 or more live food sources. They eat any snail including trap door snails like MTS, there is a pretyt good list of other live foods they eat but I went with black worms.. take a bit more care then some cultures but as long as you keep them clean they don't smell (if you forget to rinse them/Prime their water and let them sit a few days they will die and putrefy and the smell is worse than cleaning out a half dead old persons bedpan/diaper).
> Some puffers can be trained onto frozen foods but there are plenty that refuse and will only eat live foods.
> Aside from food they need a fully cycled tank (cannot tolerate going through a cycle-fishless cycle with pure ammonia is a great way to prep a tank) and the nitrates should be kept low as they don't tolerate as high a levels as some fish (like betta) will. They are messy eaters so its good to pick out snail shells (usually have bits of meat left in them) and do a water change at least once a week if not more often (varies by tank volume, stock, and plant mass). They definitely prefer densely planted tanks and are fun to watch as they hunt for food in them.



Thank you for the info! Will deffo look into keeping them when I get a hang on this hobby 

And OP, I love that pic of your frog! Its lovely! And what a palace they live in! Lucky!


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## Aqua Aurora

DaytonBetta said:


> .
> 
> Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers are doing well. I've seen them pecking at some little snails and I fed them frozen bloodworms. I know at least 3 or 4 of them ate the bloodworms. They look like they're slurping up spaghetti! Very cute.


I've not kept groups of puffers that eat frozen food but I suspect that, like adding new fish to a tank with 'trained' fish, if some are eating the frozen foods, others will see, want, and learn to eat it too. Lucky you! My husband's puffer won't touch frozen foods, I've tried a few times... he sucked one in and spit it out then after that only watched it float by...



Axeria said:


> Thank you for the info! Will deffo look into keeping them when I get a hang on this hobby
> 
> And OP, I love that pic of your frog! Its lovely! And what a palace they live in! Lucky!


They're defiantly an interesting fish to keep, and being small, as long as its matured and well planted, they can be kept in small tanks 3g (11L) for 1 fish. They can get territorial and mean as they grow and reach maturity (keeping them all very fat on food helps reduce the aggressions), larger tanks are better if you get groups with lots of line of sight break up.


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## LadyNightraven

I hope the missing ADF turns up.

Your puffers are adorable! I seriously can't get over how cute they are.


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## DaytonBetta

LadyNightraven said:


> I hope the missing ADF turns up.
> 
> Your puffers are adorable! I seriously can't get over how cute they are.


Thanks! I have good news!

Bettatopia (29g): I did a water change yesterday. 

I took out the castle because it was getting some algae on it. Really though, this was an excuse to have a better view of the back of the tank to look for the adf I haven't seen recently. I really love my little frogs and I was worried since I usually see all of them everyday. Well, I found him and he is fine.

During the water change I had a pretty extreme water spill. I'm using the Aqueon Water Changer. I don't care for it too much. The plastic little parts that hook into the sink are already stripped. So, my husband got a new metal one. Anyhow, I didn't realize it until I saw lots of water on the floor, but the back pressure was causing water to leak out under the sink. This was going on for awhile because I ended up with a stack of hand towels and wash clothes, 5 rolls of toilet paper and a whole roll of paper towels that were completely saturated. In addition it took 5 bath towels to soak up the water. My best flooding effort so far!

I bleached the castle and now it is "White Castle" and looks a little strange. I'm sure it will grow some algae again in a few weeks. I also trimmed the Water Wisteria way back.



Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers seem to be doing well. They are really getting the hang of the blood worms. I wish these pictures were clearer.





I found one of the Black Neons dead this morning. His tail was gone so I suspect the puffers attacked him. I feel bad, but I made an effort to remove the Neons, it was a bad idea to cycle with them...

I did a water change tonight. My husband worked out a way to hook the tubing up to our laundry sink, so that is much better. I didn't really need to change the water. Ammonia: 0, Nitrites:0, Nitrates:0. But, it had been two weeks and I thought I should test out the laundry sink while my husband was around. I will test weekly and use the nitrate levels as a guide for the next change.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): The little dark adf is doing fine and I've seen him several times this week eating and trying to mate with the girl, so I'm very happy. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): Wow, these fish are so entertaining. I can't get over how inquisitive an active they are. And, boy do they like to eat! 

My local facebook fish group is having a photo contest this week. I want to enter a puffer picture so I did my best this evening. I would love it if those of you reading this would help me pick which one to enter. I'll number them and you can reply with which one you think is best.

#1


#2


#3


#4


Also, I'm using a point and shoot Cannon camera and I have a really hard time. I use the macro setting and the flash off. Tonight I adjusted something to make it less bright and that helped a little. But if anyone has other suggestions for getting clear photos of fish, please do let me know.

Toad Abode (29g): The frogs have been singing away every evening. My son A even said, "I hear puppies barking," last night.


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## Aqua Aurora

#1 appears to be the least fuzzy/out of focus, I'd enter that or take a ton more photos to try to get more in focus shots. My husband's puffer is terrified of the camera *sigh* I have very few in focus shots of him as he zips all over the tank trying to escape the view of the lens...


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): I changed out the Purigen this weekend. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): I changed out one of the Purigens. I'll do the other in a few weeks. I noticed a few small floating plants. I actually said out loud, "That better not be %$^*'ing duckweed!" Fortunately no kids were around! I hate duckweed. I had it in a previous tank and it was a disaster. I'm hoping it's baby Staurogynes repens.

My friend came over last night and I gave him some moss and some Staurogynes clippings. He's going to create a high tech landscape planted tank in a 60 gallon. 

This is one of the winners of the 2014 AGA contest and the type of thing my friend is looking to do. If you love planted tanks you should definitely check out the contest winners. http://showcase.aquatic-gardeners.org/2014/categories.html









Toad Abode (29g): I did a water change Thursday.


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## BettaLover1313

Your puffers are very adorable!


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## Julie7778

I wasn't even aware dwarf freshwater fish existed! I was wondering if you could answer some questions  so I have a 10 gallon tank. I was planning to get a betta in there but now that I've seen puffer fish I want to split the tank, so 5 gallon each. I have a few questions 
1) would this be okay? Or would the betta try to jump over and fight the puffer
2) how many puffers in a 5 gallon. Or what about a full 10g
3) what's their diet? I know they like live food but can you buy this from petsmart? 
4) they like planted tanks (I will definitely do this)
5) do they like caves?


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## Aqua Aurora

Julie7778 said:


> I wasn't even aware dwarf freshwater fish existed! I was wondering if you could answer some questions  so I have a 10 gallon tank. I was planning to get a betta in there but now that I've seen puffer fish I want to split the tank, so 5 gallon each. I have a few questions
> 1) would this be okay? Or would the betta try to jump over and fight the puffer
> 2) how many puffers in a 5 gallon. Or what about a full 10g
> 3) what's their diet? I know they like live food but can you buy this from petsmart?
> 4) they like planted tanks (I will definitely do this)
> 5) do they like caves?


Depends on the fish's temperament/curiosity, make sure its a good divider and lid, NO GAPS AT ALL! I had 2 betta boys in qt and one got through an itty bitty gap in the divider up against the lid.. 2" above the water line >.<

*1 puffer per 3 gallons minimum*, more space is better though. If you keep multiples you need a lot of line of sight break up, as they get territorial as they get to adult hood (tolerate each other as juvies when you buy them). But it also varies by fish temperament.. my husband has has a 12g long tank, it was densely planted and have 3 puffers (4g per each).. one that's since been dubbed Grim "[censor] of the Deep" (rhymes with rick) harassed the other two into jumping out to their deaths (my personal opinion is he envied their clearly superior hunting skills and saw them as a threat to his survival). Alternatively I've seen some owners that can keep a group without issue. Every fish is different just like people (and bettas). If you give all 10g to the puffers you can keep 3 again with lots of line of sight break up, LOTS of plants and/or decor is a good idea.

Buy the fish or the food? I think the answer is no to both but some stores have better supplies than others. You can always call and ask. They LOVE snails (including trapdoor types like mts (Malaysian trumpet snails)) so keeping a naturally planted tank with pond, bladder, ramshorn and/or mts to harvest from is 1 easy food source. They can eat shrimp (will literally peck them apart).. though my husband's solo puffer doesn't see them as food...stupid fish, tossed shrimp in as a snack and now I have a colony! They also eat black worms (what I culture) and pretty much any micro predator live food culture: dalphina, white worms, I'm drawing a blank on the others right now (need more morning caffeine to wake up fully >.o) but a quick google search will list others. Some (not all) can be trained onto frozen foods but that seems to be uncommon (and very lucky for anyone that does). In which case pretty much any frozen fish food (meat) works:blood worms, brine shrimp, etc.

Yes, and its fun watching them hunt/explore amongst the plants.

Eh.. I asked a dwarf puffer seller about this and they said they'd not seen the fish use any cave decor, but again every fish is different so one might but others not use a hide. A densely planted tank would be better than a mostly open one with a bunch of those cichlid caves.


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## Julie7778

Aqua Aurora said:


> Depends on the fish's temperament/curiosity, make sure its a good divider and lid, NO GAPS AT ALL! I had 2 betta boys in qt and one got through an itty bitty gap in the divider up against the lid.. 2" above the water line >.<
> 
> *1 puffer per 3 gallons minimum*, more space is better though. If you keep multiples you need a lot of line of sight break up, as they get territorial as they get to adult hood (tolerate each other as juvies when you buy them). But it also varies by fish temperament.. my husband has has a 12g long tank, it was densely planted and have 3 puffers (4g per each).. one that's since been dubbed Grim "[censor] of the Deep" (rhymes with rick) harassed the other two into jumping out to their deaths (my personal opinion is he envied their clearly superior hunting skills and saw them as a threat to his survival). Alternatively I've seen some owners that can keep a group without issue. Every fish is different just like people (and bettas). If you give all 10g to the puffers you can keep 3 again with lots of line of sight break up, LOTS of plants and/or decor is a good idea.
> 
> Buy the fish or the food? I think the answer is no to both but some stores have better supplies than others. You can always call and ask. They LOVE snails (including trapdoor types like mts (Malaysian trumpet snails)) so keeping a naturally planted tank with pond, bladder, ramshorn and/or mts to harvest from is 1 easy food source. They can eat shrimp (will literally peck them apart).. though my husband's solo puffer doesn't see them as food...stupid fish, tossed shrimp in as a snack and now I have a colony! They also eat black worms (what I culture) and pretty much any micro predator live food culture: dalphina, white worms, I'm drawing a blank on the others right now (need more morning caffeine to wake up fully >.o) but a quick google search will list others. Some (not all) can be trained onto frozen foods but that seems to be uncommon (and very lucky for anyone that does). In which case pretty much any frozen fish food (meat) works:blood worms, brine shrimp, etc.
> 
> Yes, and its fun watching them hunt/explore amongst the plants.
> 
> Eh.. I asked a dwarf puffer seller about this and they said they'd not seen the fish use any cave decor, but again every fish is different so one might but others not use a hide. A densely planted tank would be better than a mostly open one with a bunch of those cichlid caves.


So 3 would be fine in a 10 gallon tank? Ive decided to completely make it a DP tank. Haha! Thats adorable with the shrimps, I wonder if mine will eat them or not. I was thinking I could have 3 different "sections" not actually divided, but one corner has a small cave plus a lot of plants and then the other corner and the middle. Not sure how to do it though... Would it be better to get all females? I hear its hard to tell their sex at young age. So should I just choose whichever? How do you know if they look healthy (sorry for all the questions it just interests me so much!I love hearing from other people's experiences. Btw would black gravel be okay with the DP or does it have to be sand? usually all plants I buy come with those small annoying snails! I guess now I can actually ask for some with the plants xD hahah


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## Aqua Aurora

Julie7778 said:


> So 3 would be fine in a 10 gallon tank? Ive decided to completely make it a DP tank. Haha! Thats adorable with the shrimps, I wonder if mine will eat them or not. I was thinking I could have 3 different "sections" not actually divided, but one corner has a small cave plus a lot of plants and then the other corner and the middle. Not sure how to do it though... Would it be better to get all females? I hear its hard to tell their sex at young age. So should I just choose whichever? How do you know if they look healthy (sorry for all the questions it just interests me so much!I love hearing from other people's experiences. Btw would black gravel be okay with the DP or does it have to be sand? usually all plants I buy come with those small annoying snails! I guess now I can actually ask for some with the plants xD hahah


Good luck getting dwarf puffers sold by gender, though you can usually sex them maybe mid way through juvenile sage, most seller's don't bother telling gender on fish though cherry barbs are easy to tell (femalerange, male:red).
Here is a link to show what to look for to tell puffer gender:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I1/sexing_puffers/Sexing_The_Dwarf_Puffer.htm
The eye 'wrinkles' take a while to show but the belly and spot pattern on the male make them identifiable.
If you can get all females that would be better than a mix group, if a pair forms it would most likely kill the '3rd wheel' to claim the tank for themselves.
Substrate does not matter for puffers, they do not burrow or sift. But if you plant to keep a live food source in the tank (Malaysian trumpet snails) they do much better in a sand tank than a gravel one. Keeping the constant source of food in the tank so the puffers can eat whenever helps reduce territorial issues/aggression. A fat fish is a happy(er) fish. Black worms can also live in a tank, they wiggle down into the substrate (sand is better than gravel for them too) but come up for food (or air if its not well aerated water). but the worms prefer cooler waters, so dumping in a large batch might not be the best idea but a few here and there that aren't eaten can live in the tank until hunted down and gobbled up like spaghetti.
When looking at puffers if you can buy them local interrelate the employee that feeds fish, find out what they are fed. If its not live or frozen food they're probably half starved already. If possible find out when fish are fed and go watch if its during store hours. If the puffers put out no effort to eat meaty meals they're not healthy. If you see fat bellies after feeding they're good. If you are buying the fish online find a good seller and see if they feed them live or frozen foods (to know what to get for yours).
skinny puffer








fat puffer








That's really fat like right after a big meal, but gives you a rough idea.
If the fish do not move around at all but seem lethargic it is probably sick, they are not scared of other species of fish and should not be hiding, but out foraging/exploring all the time.


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## Julie7778

Aqua Aurora said:


> Good luck getting dwarf puffers sold by gender, though you can usually sex them maybe mid way through juvenile sage, most seller's don't bother telling gender on fish though cherry barbs are easy to tell (femalerange, male:red).
> Here is a link to show what to look for to tell puffer gender:
> http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_4/V4I1/sexing_puffers/Sexing_The_Dwarf_Puffer.htm
> The eye 'wrinkles' take a while to show but the belly and spot pattern on the male make them identifiable.
> If you can get all females that would be better than a mix group, if a pair forms it would most likely kill the '3rd wheel' to claim the tank for themselves.
> Substrate does not matter for puffers, they do not burrow or sift. But if you plant to keep a live food source in the tank (Malaysian trumpet snails) they do much better in a sand tank than a gravel one. Keeping the constant source of food in the tank so the puffers can eat whenever helps reduce territorial issues/aggression. A fat fish is a happy(er) fish. Black worms can also live in a tank, they wiggle down into the substrate (sand is better than gravel for them too) but come up for food (or air if its not well aerated water). but the worms prefer cooler waters, so dumping in a large batch might not be the best idea but a few here and there that aren't eaten can live in the tank until hunted down and gobbled up like spaghetti.
> When looking at puffers if you can buy them local interrelate the employee that feeds fish, find out what they are fed. If its not live or frozen food they're probably half starved already. If possible find out when fish are fed and go watch if its during store hours. If the puffers put out no effort to eat meaty meals they're not healthy. If you see fat bellies after feeding they're good. If you are buying the fish online find a good seller and see if they feed them live or frozen foods (to know what to get for yours).
> skinny puffer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> fat puffer
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> That's really fat like right after a big meal, but gives you a rough idea.
> If the fish do not move around at all but seem lethargic it is probably sick, they are not scared of other species of fish and should not be hiding, but out foraging/exploring all the time.


Thanks so much! I am really excited. Hopefully this weekend I can see them in person! If they do eat frozen food could I feed frozen blood worms? In addition to the snails of course. When buying 3 puffers is it best to look for active ones then?


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## Aqua Aurora

Julie7778 said:


> Thanks so much! I am really excited. Hopefully this weekend I can see them in person! If they do eat frozen food could I feed frozen blood worms? In addition to the snails of course. When buying 3 puffers is it best to look for active ones then?


If they do eat frozen foods they should accept frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp maybe dslphina.
Yes active fish are better.
Please please make sure the tank is already cycled before you get puffers. They do not tolerate fish in cycling like bettas can. If it's not already cycled look into pure ammonia fish less cycling. If you have an established tank with no sick fish you can harvest 1/4-1/3 of that tanks filter media (ceramic/bio media or sponge/foam media is best. Will help speed up the cycle.


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## Julie7778

Aqua Aurora said:


> If they do eat frozen foods they should accept frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp maybe dslphina.
> Yes active fish are better.
> Please please make sure the tank is already cycled before you get puffers. They do not tolerate fish in cycling like bettas can. If it's not already cycled look into pure ammonia fish less cycling. If you have an established tank with no sick fish you can harvest 1/4-1/3 of that tanks filter media (ceramic/bio media or sponge/foam media is best. Will help speed up the cycle.


I currently have the 10 gallon running. It had fish previously, but now I removed everything and all it has is gravel, I did a 50% water change and I'm planning on changing the gravel too. I pretty much am starting from new just with a cycled filter and water. The only thing I'm scared of is that puffers are sensitive and s small change in water could kill them? I'm going to buy the plants and everything before I buy the DP and let it cycle for a bit more I might change the filter to an aquar clear though. I think I can just move the inserts into the aquaclear filter


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## Aqua Aurora

Sorry DaytonBetta for jacking your thread! ^^'' I just enjoy passing on info to people trying out something new that I've worked with.





Julie7778 said:


> I currently have the 10 gallon running. It had fish previously, but now I removed everything and all it has is gravel, I did a 50% water change and I'm planning on changing the gravel too. I pretty much am starting from new just with a cycled filter and water. The only thing I'm scared of is that puffers are sensitive and s small change in water could kill them? I'm going to buy the plants and everything before I buy the DP and let it cycle for a bit more I might change the filter to an aquar clear though. I think I can just move the inserts into the aquaclear filter


What have you done to keep the beneficial bacteria fed in your filter while there are no fish? Pure ammonia dosing? fish food? If you are not doing _something _like this (something needs to be decmposing taht will generate ammonia) your beneficial bacteria will starve and die over a few days (nitrite consuming bacteria dies off first I've noticed).

Drip acclimate when you get them (use their bag or cup/bowl that is clean and an airline tube either tied in a knot or with a pressure adjuster (little black 't" with a knob that controls flow) to drip 1-4 drips per a second. I drip acclimate new fish for 60-90 minutes then bag and float them in the tank 15-30 minutes to ensure they are at proper temp before putting in. Cup to move the puffers DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF WATER via net. They may puff up in defense if taken out of water and can sometimes have complications deflating which may lead to death (or the general stress of being out of water may cause it).

For water changes make sure new water is the same temp and pH (and hardness) as the tank water, I wouldn't do more than a 25-30% water change unless there is a cycling or medical emergency that requires more be removed. They aren't as sensitive as shrimp so it should be ok. You may have to remove emptied snail shells by hand/with tweezers if they don't go up the siphon.


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## Julie7778

Aqua Aurora said:


> Sorry DaytonBetta for jacking your thread! ^^'' I just enjoy passing on info to people trying out something new that I've worked with.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> What have you done to keep the beneficial bacteria fed in your filter while there are no fish? Pure ammonia dosing? fish food? If you are not doing _something _like this (something needs to be decmposing taht will generate ammonia) your beneficial bacteria will starve and die over a few days (nitrite consuming bacteria dies off first I've noticed).
> 
> Drip acclimate when you get them (use their bag or cup/bowl that is clean and an airline tube either tied in a knot or with a pressure adjuster (little black 't" with a knob that controls flow) to drip 1-4 drips per a second. I drip acclimate new fish for 60-90 minutes then bag and float them in the tank 15-30 minutes to ensure they are at proper temp before putting in. Cup to move the puffers DO NOT TAKE THEM OUT OF WATER via net. They may puff up in defense if taken out of water and can sometimes have complications deflating which may lead to death (or the general stress of being out of water may cause it).
> 
> For water changes make sure new water is the same temp and pH (and hardness) as the tank water, I wouldn't do more than a 25-30% water change unless there is a cycling or medical emergency that requires more be removed. They aren't as sensitive as shrimp so it should be ok. You may have to remove emptied snail shells by hand/with tweezers if they don't go up the siphon.


Haha! Sorry too, I just am so curious and have a lot to learn. 

Well I have a product called "marine land Aquarium Bacteria" "advanced nitrifiers instantly remove harmful ammonia and nitrate"
Which I haven't put in yet since I had fish. Now there's nothing and I didn't know it could stop. I plan on taking out the blue gravel from the tank and replacing it with new gravel. Once I'm done that should I start putting fish food into the tank? Or start now? And how much?

This is a bit off track but for DP they like snails, I noticed many plants come with those. If I asked for a few extra snails do you think I could get them free? Also if I kept the snails in a fish bowl would they breed? Or do I need a heater & filter. If not could I have them in a breeder box to breed the, as food?


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## Aqua Aurora

Julie7778 said:


> Haha! Sorry too, I just am so curious and have a lot to learn.
> 
> Well I have a product called "marine land Aquarium Bacteria" "advanced nitrifiers instantly remove harmful ammonia and nitrate"
> Which I haven't put in yet since I had fish. Now there's nothing and I didn't know it could stop. I plan on taking out the blue gravel from the tank and replacing it with new gravel. Once I'm done that should I start putting fish food into the tank? Or start now? And how much?
> 
> This is a bit off track but for DP they like snails, I noticed many plants come with those. If I asked for a few extra snails do you think I could get them free? Also if I kept the snails in a fish bowl would they breed? Or do I need a heater & filter. If not could I have them in a breeder box to breed the, as food?


I don't use bacteria in a bottle, but some swear by certain brands(don't know which). And unfortunately I cannot offer info about fish food amounts for cycling, I've only used pure ammonia. But if you can figure out how much to use you can start now if the filter media you plan to keep is in there. Gravel does not hold much beneficial bacteria in comparison or filter media (bio/ceramic media and sponge/foam are the best for bacteria colonization).
If you buy plants locally ask if you can scrape out some of the pest snails from the plant tank (or an employee harvest some) make sure they understand you're not taking the larger snail breeds that cost $ (mystery, apple, nerite, etc) they may or may not oblige you. If you buy online contact the seller and ask about getting pest snails tossed in with the plants or if the seller says something like "will remove algae/snails before shipping" ask them not to get rid of snails. Don't bleach dip plants you get to allow snails to get in the tank.


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## Julie7778

DaytonBetta said:


> Bettatopia (29g): The little dark adf is doing fine and I've seen him several times this week eating and trying to mate with the girl, so I'm very happy.
> 
> Puffer Paradise (55g): Wow, these fish are so entertaining. I can't get over how inquisitive an active they are. And, boy do they like to eat!
> 
> My local facebook fish group is having a photo contest this week. I want to enter a puffer picture so I did my best this evening. I would love it if those of you reading this would help me pick which one to enter. I'll number them and you can reply with which one you think is best.
> 
> #1
> 
> 
> #2
> 
> 
> #3
> 
> 
> #4
> 
> 
> Also, I'm using a point and shoot Cannon camera and I have a really hard time. I use the macro setting and the flash off. Tonight I adjusted something to make it less bright and that helped a little. But if anyone has other suggestions for getting clear photos of fish, please do let me know.
> 
> Toad Abode (29g): The frogs have been singing away every evening. My son A even said, "I hear puppies barking," last night.


Update on your DP I plan on getting some soon  I really hope my petsttore has them.. can you tell me how you prepared the tank for them and post a pic of their set up ;o thanks

AquaAurora Thanks for all the help, I'm very excited. I hope to get 3 DP but i still have so many questions gahhh


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## DaytonBetta

We're back from our spring break trip to Florida. We had a great time. All the critters here are doing well and I'll update soon.

One of the best things we did in Florida was the Dolphin Explorer Eco-Tour. this is a really cool research project where they track the activities of a group of dolphins near Marco Island. We had a great time! We saw 32 dolphins, tons of Osprey with babies, a Peregrine Falcon, an iguana and found some cool seashells. This is the second time I've done this trip and I would highly recommend it. http://www.dolphin-study.com/the_dolphin_explorer.htm


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks Aqua for answering all the puffer questions in my absence! Julie, I'll give my experience so far in the puffer section below. 

Bettatopia (29 g): All is well. The plants are growing and the fish and frogs seem content. Here's a picture of the tank:



Puffer Paradise (55g): Things are going pretty well. I tested the water. Nitrates are still 0. I do have a hair algae problem, especially on the moss near the top of the tank. I've been removing it with a soft toothbrush and increasing the amount of Excel a little bit. I may need to raise my light higher.

Julie, If you want more info about my set-up for the puffers I have everything detailed a couple pages back.



Close up of the moss and algae:


The puffers are super cute and very fun to watch. I think 4 may have died. I can usually find 8 at any given time. Two are getting big, at least one is getting the little wrinkles behind the eyes that distinguish boys. One is quite small, and I'm a little worried about. 

As far as the question about knowing the sex when you buy: the place I bought them from sells out before they are old enough to sex. From what I understand this is common everywhere. They told me if I ended up with too many males who were aggressive I could bring them back and exchange them. I will never be able to get a live fish out of that tank! There are too many hiding places. Hopefully, that will keep them from fighting too much. 

Mine eat frozen bloodworms very well, and have from the start. That is what the shop I bought them from feeds. I try to feed them frozen mysis and brine shrimp and they do not like those. I have tons of ramshorns, so they probably snack on those too. I put about 10 new ones from my 29 in almost daily. I don't bother to clean them out because my nitrates are so low. 

As far as puffers in a 10 gallon, I would use the whole tank. I would plant it well and use rocks or wood to break up sight lines. Three puffers would be the most. Use a good filter, probably size double the volume. Julie, I hope you'll start a journal to tell us about your progress!

one of the smaller ones:




Toad Abode (29g): The firebellies are doing great. Just the cutest little things, in my opinion! I just love them. I changed their water last night. It's about the only time they hop around on the land.

They are very social and like to be together:


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## DaytonBetta

Happy Easter!

I thought I'd share a few pictures of our Easter train set up. I made the trees using floral picks, air dry clay and paint.


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## niQ

Ur tanks are looking more amazing each time i see them! Beautiful pics, thx for sharing. Puffers can be quite aggressive lil boogers, i gave mine away to start a community tank a while ago. But they are very interesting to watch.


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## DaytonBetta

Thank NiQ!

Tonight we went for a walk at Cox Arboretum. This is one of the Metroparks in Dayton, OH. If you are ever in the area, it is a beautiful park. We go at least once a week. The daffodils are in bloom and we saw a fox!





Bettatopia (29g): Everything is fine. Sammy will not let me take his picture! Maybe tomorrow...

Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers are really growing. Today I saw that one has a dark line on his stomach. That means he's a boy. I haven't named them, but I do call this particular one Pepper because it looks like someone sprinkled pepper on his head. I tried and tried to get his picture, but he's too fast. 

The floating plant is duck weed and I've been removing it. The algae seems to be improving slightly. Today I raised the light by putting a wine cork (so about an inch) under each end. 

Here are a couple puffer pics:




Toad Abode (29g): I changed the water tonight and trimmed up plants. The Toad Abode is just about a year old! I'm really happy with it. You can see that some of the plants have done great, and some have been replaced. The cryptanthus is not doing so hot, so I may replace it with another air plant.

1 year ago:


Today:


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## Fenghuang

Aww, your puffers are so cute! I love your toad setup. It is really neat!


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## DaytonBetta

Well, it was a foxy weekend for us! After seeing the fox at the Arboretum, the next night I ended up out in my yard in socks chasing my 8 lb dog who was chasing off a fox. She was barking up a storm and the fox took off across the street. 

My dog is 15, very feeble and very tiny. So I was pretty scared she could have been eaten. But, it seems the fox was a bit scared, too.

The scrawny, feeble fox hunter, Shrapnel:


Bettatopia (29g): Nitrates:5. The plants could really use a trim, but I'll wait and do that with a water change next week.

Pufferparadise (55g): Nitrates: 0. I think I may need to start adding nitrogen fertilizer. The bioload is just not enough to support all the plants.

I did a lot of plant and algae clean-up. The hair algae is improving. The Didiplis diandra was not looking so hot. I had put it in as it came in one bunch with a plant weight. Much of the lower leaves had died. I removed it, trimmed the tops off and replanted them spacing them out. Hopefully more circulation and light will help. 

I trimmed off 3 good sized baby Java Ferns and added them to the Toad Abode.

I trimmed and replanted the Staurogynes repens. It's looking pretty good.

Here it is after the trimming and clean up. 


Closer, red arrow is the Didiplis diandra:




I'm hoping the Cryptocoryne wenditii beside it and the Alternanthera behind have a bit more room to grow now too.

Anubias and Staurogynes repens:


Toad Abode (29g): All is well.


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## artemis35

> The Didiplis diandra was not looking so hot. I had put it in as it came in one bunch with a plant weight. Much of the lower leaves had died. I removed it, trimmed the tops off and replanted them spacing them out. Hopefully more circulation and light will help.


Your diandra should do _much_ better now.
IME, the diandra is extremely intolerant of having its lower leaves shaded. It is a beautiful plant, though (and one of my favorites in my own tanks).

All of your tanks and their inhabitants are beautiful!


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## bserrano2

wow such beautiful tanks!! Toad abode is just pure awesomeness!


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## Julie7778

You don't understand how jealous I am of your Dwarf puffers :-( Where did you buy yours from? Which store?. they're adorable! Could you post a pic of all of your tanks? your dog Is so cute and has a lot of personality if he chased off a fox ;-) love reading your journal!


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks guys for the nice comments!

Bettatopia (29g): I did a water change yesterday and trimmed the plants up. I ordered a dozen Cherry Shrimp a few days ago. Hopefully they ship soon. My plan is to divide them between the two tanks. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): Water change yesterday also. One of the filters wouldn't restart when I turned the power back on, but I cleaned the impeller and it is working fine now. I bought some cylindrical brushes on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000I21LLC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) The middle sized one works great for cleaning out the filter intake tubes.

The puffers are doing great and growing.

I started dosing Seachem Nitrogen since my Nitrate levels are so low. I should test again tomorrow.

Toad Abode (29g): Water change on Saturday. Everything is fine. 

I've been walking in our local parks nearly everyday. The Redbuds and Bluebells are in bloom and everything is just beautiful. The kids and I saw a cute frog on the trail. I'm just so happy that spring is here!


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## Julie7778

Wow! Beautiful, I wish it was like that here in Canada :roll: I also plan on buying some red cherry shrimp, how much money was yours?


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): Today when we went to feed the fish we couldn't find Sammy. E and I looked for a good minute before I spotted him hiding in the plants. That guy just likes to scare us! He came right up to eat and I snapped a couple pictures. I think he's looking pretty good.





Puffer Paradise (55g): My cherry shrimp arrive tomorrow! In preparation I have been growing a bunch of algae, haha. Not really, but the algae has increased with the addition of the Nitrogen. 

I'm dosing Seachem Nitrogen which is plant fertilizer in the form of ammonium and nitrate which is not harmful to fish like ammonia. The recommendation is to use nitrate levels to determine dosing. I've dosed 7.5cc twice and the nitrate level remains at 0. It seems to me that the plants are looking greener, so I'll continue and see how things go.

I think I'm going to reduce my lights to 6 hours a day to try to get the algae under better control. I'm hoping the shrimp will eat it too.

The other thing I've done to prepare for the shrimp is to add a sponge pre-filters to the intakes. This will prevent any shrimp babies from being sucked into the filters. These are the ones I bought http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K9A15G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 . They work great on the Aquaclear intakes.

Toad Abode (55g): The frogs are doing fine.


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## niQ

Great nature hike pics, thx for sharing ☺ Hopefully the shrimps find good hiding spots away from the puffers and betta. I love my cherry shrimps, they breed pretty easily :cheers: good luck to ya!


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks, I'm hoping that since they hated brine and mysis shrimp they will leave the Cherries alone!

Today my shrimp arrived. There were 14 total (I ordered a dozen). One was dead, the rest seemed fine. I ordered them from http://www.aquaticarts.com/. They are located in Indiana which is not far from here. I was happy with the shipment and the service, and the shrimp are beautiful.

They are Sakura Red Cherry Shrimp, Neocaridina heteropoda. They are about 1/2 inch and should grow to 1"- 1 1/2". I acclimated them slowly over about an hour and they seem to be doing well.

Bettatopia (29g): The big news is the shrimp of course. I put 6 in this tank. They went right to work eating algae and dead plant matter.





I typically dose Excel every day. I've heard from people who've had no problems using Excel with Cherry Shrimp and people who say it killed all of them. Seachem officially says that Excel is safe for shrimp at the regular dosage. I did not dose yesterday or today. I think I will hold off tomorrow and then start with a half dose every other day, then gradually increase and see how things go. 

Puffer Paradise (55g): I added 7 shrimp to this tank. The puffers do not seem to be going after them at all. Hopefully that continues. The puffers just really like frozen blood worms.

I now have a new type of algae. It seems to be blue-green slime algae, which is actually a bacteria. I cleaned it off and hopefully things will stabilize and it will go away. Some articles I've read say that raising the nitrate level, if it is low should help. Although, it seems to have really taken off the last couple days since I added Nitrogen.


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## Aqua Aurora

I can attest to dosing 3x seachem excel (very slowly increase the dose over several weeks) in 1 tanks that has a huge shrimp colony, and 2x dose in another (smaller tanks smaller colony), doses have been high for sevearl months without issue. I think people who say it kills shrimp with large doses and just start off with a large dose instead of a gradual increase.


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## DaytonBetta

Wow! It feels like forever since I've had time to be on here.

Bettatopia (29g): Things are going well. I see two or three of the shrimp almost everyday, so they seem to be ok. The Alternanthera has not done well at all, I guess not enough light.



Puffer Paradise (55g): The shrimp are gone. I'm pretty sure the puffers took care of them. The cyanobacteria has not improved. It is a pretty big mess. I talked with some people in a planted tanks group and they said I need to keep adding the nitrogen because that is part of the problem. I also got some BlueGreen Slime Remover and added that yesterday. The puffers are doing well and growing.



Toad Abode (29g): I continue weekly water changes. Last was on Thurs. I have some nice moss that grew spontaneously on my ramp branch.


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## niQ

Sorry about your shrimp loss...puffers are sneaky little hunters. I had a little bit of that cyanobacteria in the 10g a few weeks ago. Its nasty stuff, I hate it. I removed what I could and added excel directly to the affected area. I did a blackout for 3 days. Then I added more plants to the tank (esp fast growers) and co2. It took a few plants with it.
Btw, I love the new moss that is growing in the toad abode tank, very cool!


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): I did a water change and trimmed plants yesterday. Sammy has a cyst. It's right above his left gill behind his eye. Ignore the white circle from my flash on the picture. I drew an arrow pointing to the cyst. It doesn't seem to be bothering him. I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it.



Puffer Paradise (55g): The bluegreen algae/cyanobacteria is improving. I did a water change yesterday. The puffers are doing well. They love to eat and come right over to eat bloodworms of my tweezers. 

Toad Abode (29g): Water change yesterday. My green Tillandsia has a little baby at it's base! I can't find my camera right now, but I'll take a picture later.

I'm also excited because one of my frog photos was chosen for the cover photo for a facebook group I'm on.


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## Aqua Aurora

My Xerxes has 2 cysts, one on his right pectoral fin, the other above his eyes. He doesn't seem to be suffering or having any issue with swimming, the cysts have been there for a few months now and he's had no change in activity/personality. Unless you guy god all derpy on you i wouldn't worry it.


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## DaytonBetta

Busy, busy! Things are going well. Not a ton to report, but it's been awhile.

Bettatopia (29g): The tank is doing well. I haven't seen any shrimp in awhile. Sammy's cyst continues to grow, but otherwise he's doing ok.



Puffer Paradise (55g): I got rid of the cyanobacteria. I have a little hair algae, but not terrible. I'm phasing out the moss, it just attracts too much algae and looks messy. I'm putting baby Windelov Java ferns in place of the moss as I find new ones growing in the tank.



The puffers are doing very well and have grown. They are super cute, inquisitive little fish. They've been doing fine with the Black Neons.







Toad Abode: Everything is great. I trimmed the Pilea that was almost down to the water and am rooting the cuttings. I changed the light bulb last month. Here's a picture of the Tillandsia baby also.


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## DaytonBetta

In other news we had a steam punk party! My husband and I made custom "stills" out of drink cooler containers. They were super fun to put together. I also made a jet pack for E and a costume for Shrapnel.


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## DaytonBetta

Bettatopia (29g): It's been a couple weeks since I've done a water change but I want to wait until next week. Nitrates are 5-10. Sammy seems to be really slowing down.

Here's one of my adf's just hanging out.


Puffer Paradise (55g): Nitrates 20. Everyone is doing well. They love their bloodworms!



Toad Abode (29g): The frogs are doing great. They seem to be still growing. 

I have a new project!!! I'm super excited. We are going to get leopard geckos. My son A saw one at a day camp reptile presentation and fell in love. I told him they can't be his or be in his bedroom because he already has the bird, but that we could get one as a family pet.

Leopard geckos live in the wild in the arid regions of India, Afghanistan and Pakistan. They live in rocky areas and are mainly active at dawn and dusk, spending a lot of time in crevices and caves.

I've been researching a ton and thinking about the best set up for them. Inspiration! My husband is a big Star Wars fan. I decided to make a tank that looks like Tatooine, Luke Skywalker's planet. I ordered a set of set of Micromachine Jawa figures!

I got a 29gallon tank with a stand on Craig's List for $60. I got a Natl. Geographic desert fountain for their water dish.

I'm using foam insulation sheets in layers to create the layout. The hole on the right is for a plant.


Since the tank is tall I created 2 underground hides, the open area will be the warm hide and the container with the top will be the moist hide. They need a place that is humid to help them shed.


I'm working on painting and assembling. I also created a background out of thinner foam. I learned these techniques from watching you tube videos. The carving and designing has been really fun.


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## Elleth

That is so neat! Can't wait to see the finished set up for the geckos!


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks! It's coming along.

I painted the food dish to look like a Sarlaac (that's the plant tentacle monster that they try to throw Luke Skywalker into.) I used paint for painting dishware so it's food safe.



The foam is painted and glued. I used a spray adhesive to stick on the background. Silicone did not hold. 



Today we visited Magical Geckos. This is a small business in Dayton that specializes in leopard geckos. This is a nice operation and he does ship, so if you are looking for a specialty leopard gecko I would check him out. The owner was really cool and showed us a whole bunch of geckos. He has a really nice breeding set up. My kids and I held a couple geckos and talked to him a lot about their care. When everything is ready to go we'll go back and pick out 2 females. 

We're really excited!


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## DaytonBetta

We had a good vacation. We visited Niagara Falls, Ontario and Vermont. Both places were beautiful. I used to live near Niagara Falls so I've been many, many times, but my kids never had.



Two things we did at the falls that were really great were The Bird Kingdom which is a great aviary and The Butterfly Conservatory. I would highly recommend both these spots. There are over 50 varieties and over 2500 total butterflies. Just amazing!



In Vermont we swam in Lake Champlain.



We visited two outstanding museums. Shelburne Museum and Shelburne Farm.



One evening we were in a field launching model rockets. It was raining in the distance over the mountains as the sun was setting behind where we were standing. It wasn't a bow at all, just colors rising from the ground. We'd never seen anything like it.




On a sad note, I did a water change before vacation. I hadn't seen Sammy in several days. I looked everywhere for him and had my husband helped me move the decorations and plants. No sign of him. He had a good life and a good home.


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## DaytonBetta

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... There was a crazy girl building a Leopard Gecko terrarium! Here it is! Tatooine re-imagined for a gecko. This is a 29gallon tank. The structure is painted and carved foam insulation boards. It was a super fun project. 



There is a warm hide (undertank heater) and a moist hide "underground". The fountain is the Natl. Geographic dessert waterfall. There are nine Micromachine Jawas and two "suns". The plants are a Gollum Jade and a variety of Tillandsia. I painted a food dish to look like a Sarlaac.


I am so excited about how it turned out.


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## niQ

U are so creative!! Awesome pics as always, beautiful vacation photos and love how ur star wars themed tank came out.


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## LadyNightraven

I'm sorry about Sammy. But you're right, he had a good life and a good home, and he was loved.

I absolutely love the Star Wars themed terrarium! Very cool and so creative!


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks NiQ and Lady!

Bettatopia (29gallon): Now that Sammy is gone I'm not sure this tank will continue to be bettatopia. I'm thinking about getting an angel fish instead of a new betta.

Tonight I noticed my bigger oto was not looking good. He's still alive but, he is not swimming normally. He is nice and fat, so I don't know what the problem is. He's been in my tank about 1 1/2 years. I tested the water, ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0.

Puffer Paradise (55gallon): Doing pretty well, still battling the algae a little. The puffers are great. There are actually 9. I thought I had lost 4 of the initial dozen, but I was wrong. 

Toad Abode (29gallon): I started the Firebellies on Dubia Roaches. They are supposed to be more nutritious and easier/cheaper than crickets. So far I've seen at least one eat a couple, so I think it will work out.

Tatooine (29 gallon): We got the geckos! We visited Magical Geckos and picked out two females. One is a super hypo (yellow with no spots on the back) and one is a super snow (white with black spots/pin striping with an eclipse (all black) eye). The hypo was hatched in June and the snow in May. 

I let the kids pick them out and name them. A chose the super hypo and named her Skittles, E chose the super snow and named her Princess Leia.
They are really cute, easy to handle and seem to like legos.


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## BettaLover1313

I'm very sorry to hear about Sammy. He had a great and loving home.

Your new Geckos are absolutely adorable, and the Star Wars terrarium looks amazing!


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## DaytonBetta

Thank you Bettalover.

Bettatopia (29g): The bigger oto died. He looked fine, so maybe just old, I don't know. The tank is looking good. I did a water change today. One of the neons has gotten huge though. I'm not sure if it is a female with eggs or it's sick. The swelling is symmetric and there's no pineconing. It is swimming and eating fine. I can't catch it, so I'll just have to wait and see.





I have two Dwarf Gourami in quarantine right now. I got them at Gerber's tropical fish a little over a week ago. In another week, if that neon's problem resolves I will add them to the 29.

Puffer Paradise (55g): Water change today. This tank just always seems dirty as far as diatoms and debris. I've gotten rid of the moss and have attached a number of baby Windelov Java Ferns to the driftwood. I wish I could get it looking good like the 29. I am dosing a hefty dose of Excel daily. 

When my quarantine is empty again I think I'm going to get some Otocinclus. If I can get ten I'll add a few to the 29 and the rest to the 55. They are one fish that supposedly puffers get along with.

The puffers and the black neons are doing great.

Toad Abode (29g): The firebellies are doing well, still growing a little I think. I changed their water today also.

Tatooine (29g): I love this set-up. The geckos are doing well. I feed them at night before I go to bed and we handle them a few times a week. 

I soak the air plants twice a week for about an hour and then let them dry at least four hours before putting them back. 

The waterfall has to be refilled daily.

Here are a few pictures:

Skittles:


Princess Leia:



They are really easy to handle and they seem to like sitting and crawling on us.


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## DaytonBetta

*Need a new name* (29g): The bubblicious neon has stayed the same, continuing to swim and eat. The other neons are fine. 

I added the two Dwarf Gourami yesterday. They look really nice with the plants. These pictures don't really do them justice.






*Puffer Paradise* (55g): It's looking a bit better since I cleaned it well last week. I now have 8 nice looking otocinclus in my quarantine. If they all survive I think I'll put 5 in the puffer tank and 3 in the 29g.



*Toad Abode* (29g): Water change tonight. Cute as ever.

*Tattoine* (29g): The geckos are doing well. Skittles is already getting heavier than Leia and still tries to take her food. They both shed a few days after we got them. Skittles shed again last night. It's pretty cool. You can tell they are about to shed because their skin gets very pale looking. Here are a couple pictures, I think she had already finished shedding the skin on her head:





We've decided to make a separate terrarium for Princess Leia for E's birthday so he can have her in his room and she won't be competing with Skittles. We got a 20 gallon tall for $20. I'm going to use the same techniques with foam as Tattoine, but this one will be more of a jungle type theme. I'm going to try to make a volcano water dish. I have a few little pumps so I think it will be cool. My husband thinks it should be more explosive, but that wouldn't really suit a live animal drinking from it! 

I was just thinking that it sucks that we're moving out the one named Princess Leia from Tattoine, but maybe I can make it an Ewok type forest? We'll see.

I'm happy because they chose a potty spot. It's on the steps and it seems they try their best to get it on the glass and behind the steps too. The good new is, it's one spot. I got some shelf liner and now it's really easy to clean. Unfortunately the brown shelf liner was really expensive compared to the lighter color, and I wasn't sure they would be ok with it, so I didn't want to spend the money. I might go back and get the brown, now that I know they poop on it just fine.


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## DaytonBetta

Our dear, sweet baby girl, Shrapnel died on Monday. She was 16. I had her put to sleep because her dementia and heart disease were so bad there was nothing left of her. She lived a long, happy life, but I am still so sad.


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## BettaLover1313

I'm very sorry to hear about her passing. You're right that she did have a long, happy life with you and your family.


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## Julie7778

I'm very sorry. She had a great life and I can tell your family loved her very much. I'll keep you all in my prayers.


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## DaytonBetta

Thank you Bettalover and Julie. I've been doing pretty well keeping busy. I miss her especially when I get up in the morning, come home from work and go to bed at night. But, I haven't been crying the last few days so that is good.

Gourami Gables (29g): The dwarf gourami seem to be enjoying the tank quite a bit. One is even making a nest with bubbles and little pieces of plants and roots he finds lying around. It's fun to watch him stick little pieces of java moss into the bubbles and try to make them stay. 



I just love my little frogs. All three seem to be doing well. This is one of the boys.


Puffer Paradise (55g): I added the 8 otocinclus. It had only been a week, but I was afraid they would starve in my quarantine. They wouldn't eat the algae wafers. They looked good and seemed healthy, so I took the risk. They seem quite happy in the 55. Hopefully they can make a dent in the algae.

Toad Abode (29g): I did a water change today. All is well.

Tatooine (29g): The geckos and air plants are doing well. I really like the geckos. They don't really like each other, though. Leia has been biting Skittles at every meal. Once I finish the new terrarium she will move there in E's room.

The Forest Moon of Endor (20g): The new terrarium will be loosely modeled on the Ewok planet from Return of the Jedi. I've started work on it and it's going well. I'm very excited about it. My husband is super helpful and likes to see me working on projects like this, even though he isn't thrilled with the inhabitants. It will be a birthday present for E. His birthday is in Oct.


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## DaytonBetta

Last week I was in Seattle on business. It is a beautiful area. The conference went well and I had time to visit the Public Market and the Chihuly Museum. He is one of my favorite artists.



29g (Still haven't come up with a new name for Bettatopia): Water change today. The dwarf gouramis are doing great and are very active and colorful.

Puffer Paradise (55g): Water change today. The oto's are doing great.

Toad Abode (29g): Water change. Everything is fine

Tatooine (29g): The geckos are doing great and are so cute. They shed about once a week.

Forest Moon of Endor (20g): I have the volcano fountain painted. I need to seal it and test it. The background lights are done. I've created a tree hut hide and a tree stump hide. It's coming along, but I haven't had much time to work on it.


This is the base of the volcano which is foam you could use for arranging fake flowers. I covered it with grout and painted it.

Dubiateria (plastic bin): This is my colony of Dubia Roaches. They are breeding and I'm really happy with how it's going. My babysitter came up with the name Dubiateria when I was telling her about the colony. We were making jokes about colonialism and she was going on and on in a really funny manner.


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## LadyNightraven

I'm so sorry about Shrapnel, but she lived a long life and I can tell she was very loved by you and your family.

Your gourami are beautiful. As for a name for the tank, "Gourami Grotto" came to mind, but I don't know how well that would work since a grotto is more of a cave.

I keep seeing people here get leopard geckos and had to stop and admire them when my fiance and I were at Petsmart the other day. I've wanted a bearded dragon or two for a while, but now I'm considering geckos, too. They seem like a lot of fun. I can't wait to see the Endor-inspired tank for Princess Leia.


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks! I like Gourami Grotto. Especially since it is getting kind of cavelike with all the plants.

Gourami Grotto (29g): Doing fine. I am waiting for neons to go on sale. Then I will probably quarantine a few more for the tank.

Puffer Paradise (55g): All is fine here also. The otos and puffers and black neons all seem to be getting along. 

Toad Abode (29g): I changed the water tonight. The red Tillandsia got too dry I think and then too wet, so it's lost a few leaves, I'm hoping it will survive. Here's how the tank is looking:





Tatooine (29g): This set up is going great. The plants are doing fine and the geckos are growing. They are the cutest little things. I really like holding them. My husband and my mom both say, "They're adoooorable" very sarcastically whenever I talk about how cute they are. It's really funny how they both independently came up with that line.

Skittles:






Princess Leia:




Forest Moon of Endor (20g): It's coming along. I put mini lights in the background wall and painted the layers. The volcano is done. I need to reassemble the layers and position the tree hut and make the steps to it.


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## LadyNightraven

I'm glad you liked Gourami Grotto! 

I can't get over how adorable your geckos are! I love their little smiles.


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## SiameseFightingArt

I love your geckos! <3 Those little faces are to die for!


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## Julie7778

Adorable!

Wish I could get some geckos. Hahah.


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## DaytonBetta

Thanks everyone for your compliments!

Gourami Grotto (29g): I did a water change yesterday and trimmed a bit. I also switched out the Purigen.





Puffer Paradise (55g): Still battling algae, but the fish are doing well. The puffers are such cuties. I did a water change yesterday and changed out the Purigen.



Toad Abode (29g): Water change. 



Tatooine (29g): The geckos are growing and doing well. They shed about once a week and haven't had any problems. They can eat adult Dubias. It's pretty amazing to see them gulp them down. The air plants and the gollum jade are doing fine.

Endor (20g): I am just about finished and I have to say it looks amazing. My husband says he wants me to make him one, but not put any animals in it. haha. E's birthday is Sunday, so we'll move it to his room this weekend. I'll take pictures soon.

We set up our Halloween train layout this weekend. This year we added a couple more train cars and we have a town and an amusement park connected by a Zombie Trolley. E loves the "Bump in the Night" bumper cars.


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## DaytonBetta

Yay! I'm so excited The Forest Moon of Endor is complete and Princess Leia seems to like it. Tomorrow is E's birthday so we set it up in his room and moved Leia in today. 

My husband says he wants me to make him a terrarium, but without any animals in it...


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## LadyNightraven

Endor looks great! I bet Princess Leia will be very happy there.


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## DaytonBetta

Well, things have been going well with all the animals!

Gourami Grotto (29g): Lost one neon. Everyone else is fine. The plants have grown like crazy. I just changed out the filter sponge. It'd been 2 years and was falling apart. I do water changes about every 3 weeks.



Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers, neons and ottos are doing fine. The algae situation is an ongoing struggle. I am going to take out the carpet plants which haven't done well and do a thorough clean.

Toad Abode (29g): The toads are doing well. A couple of the plants are getting leggy, so I may re-plant in the spring.



Tattooine (29g): Skittles and the plants are doing great. I got a scale for Christmas and she is 68 grams of cuteness. 









Forrest Moon of Endor (20g): Princess Leia is also doing well. She is pretty shy. I will weigh and photograph her in a few days.

Dubiateria (bin): The roaches are doing great. I haven't bought crickets since the end of July saving $6 per week. I've been really happy with the set-up.

We have our Christmas train and village set-up and it has expanded. We're running a passenger train, a freight train and a trolley. The bridge is new this year.


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## DaytonBetta

It's been awhile, but everything is about the same. I change water for the frogs about every 10 days and the fish every 3-4 weeks.

Gourami Grotto (29g): The Gourami are quite nice. The one builds very large bubble nests by putting pieces of plants into the bubbles. I'm pretty sure both are boys. This tank has been running 2 years now!



Puffer Paradise (55g): The puffers are still cute and doing great. The tank is a mess. I removed the carpet plants. I'm treating the cyanobacter again. My plan is to sell the puffers this spring and create a terrarium. I'm not sure whether I'll do White's Tree Frogs, a bearded dragon, or something else. 



Toad Abode (29g): The toads are fine. I trimmed back the Pileas hard. I split the baby tillandsia and the cryptanthus. I am considering replanting the Pilea spots when it gets warm. They've gotten very leggy, and I'm not sure my trimming can reshape them to my liking. The water plants are doing great.





Tattoine (29g): Skittles is growing and doing great. 72g last week. I think she is super cute. The gollum jade has grown a bit and the air plants are all good. The fountain is a huge pain. The pump does not sit low enough so water has to be added twice a day and kept at the brim. I would not recommend this product. (Natl Geographic dessert fountain).







Forrest Moon of Endor (20g): Princess Leia is 52g. She is doing well, just petite compared to Skittles. Leia was the same size, but a month older than Skittles when I first got them. 





Happy Valentine's Day!


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