# Sathori's Journal!



## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Journals are what the cool kids do right? :lol:
I figured since I love talking about my boys and what not, I would start up a journal of my own. Probably will end up throwing up some photos of bettas that come through my store. Taking pictures of them is the only way to stop me from bringing them home xD

SO, it's time for the role call - I will post my boys ALL AT ONCE, in order that I bought them, with a short blurb about them  Before and after shots will be included 

Starting off, the betta who started my addiction:

PANTHERLILY
I picked this boy up at work when we first starting ordering in bettas. I had never seen a betta that was not blue or red before, and his tail fascinated me. He's actually the reason I joined this site, so that I could inquire about his tail. Once I was told it would grow out, I was a tad bit disappointed, but he's still a special boy to me  He loves to jump for his food and make a big fuss when I'm near the tank. I've had him for just over a year.
















GAJEEL
After a couple months of owning Pantherlily, and learning about proper betta care, my store ordered "dragonscale" bettas. I could not look away from this boy, and I could not bare the thought of him going to a random home, where no one took care of him. So I took him home. This is where my husband told me 2 bettas was the limit... You all know how well that "rule" stuck  He started out as a beautiful DeT, but his fins have grown significantly into a rose tail HM.
















GRAY
Gray was my first marble. As I was unpacking all the bettas that were shipped to my store, and placing them in clean water and cups, I saw Gray. He didn't even make it to the shelf, as I didn't want any customers to see him and fall in love with him as well. I put him in the staff room until I finished unpacking the rest of the bettas, and then I bought Gray and brought him home. My husband didn't notice for the first couple of days xD He started marbling almost immediately and I was fascinated by it. Taking pictures every day to watch his transformation. This is the boy who also decided to completely tear out his tail for weeks until I put him in a 10 gallon with some corydoras. Only then has he let his tail heal. It's been a long process, but he's slowly getting his tail back to it's former glory.  His white patch on his face likes to move around and then move back to where it is now. It's quite funny to see.























NATSU
If you haven't noticed already, all my bettas follow a Fairy Tail (the anime) character theme. Once I saw my first orange betta, all I could think of was how I would name him Natsu. When I saw this boy, it didn't help that he had a bit of a pink iridescence. Even my husband couldn't argue much against this purchase after I told him I had named it Natsu (his favourite character of the series). He has grown into a HUGE betta, and chewed his tail off when I moved him into a 3 gallon, until I put him back into the 1.5gal.... I would like to still try to upgrade him someday. But for now, he remains in his little square.. :| His tail has grown out so beautifully, I would hate to move him and see him shred it up again...















LAXUS
My husband named this boy. He may not be yellow (as the character's specialty is lightning magic), but the spikey nature of the CT made my husband immediately draw to that name. He must have some giant in his blood since he is also a REALLY big boy. When I saw him while unpacking a betta shipment, I knew he would be the first chosen by a customer, and I felt possessive over him xD So home with me he came. No regrets 
















GILDARTS
Now, at this point, it was getting hard to match colours with name, so I started to just use names I liked from the anime xD When I bought Gildarts, I was hoping he would marble. So far he has not. I originally thought I had lucked out and picked up a round tail... It has grown out, been chewed off, and grown out again and is turning out to be a DeT. Drat. xD He is always a favourite of all of my guests, due to his champagne colour. I love the boy, but he doesn't catch my eye as much as my other boys do.
















ELFMAN
Again, another betta that I had hoped would marble. However, his colour has just perplexed me lol. He's got a beautiful copper iridescence, however he has stayed this grizzled grey and white colour. He use to have the cutest "moustache" colouring on his lip, but is has since faded  He lives in my new 30 gallon community tank with 10 neon tetras, 5 harlequin rasboras, and 6 (soon to be 12) julii corydoras. He is not phased at ALL by the addition of new fish (5 of the neons were added last Thursday), but he will flare non stop at the sight of a snail in the tank. I had to remove the poor nerite since Elfman would not leave it alone and was actually exhausting himself while flaring at it so much. Weird fish...
















MYSTOGAN
This boy was another "expected to marble" purchase. He use to share a divided 10 gallon with Elfman, but he was flaring so often, and started to tail bite, so he has his own 5 gallon now  His tank is probably one of my favourite set ups, and I'm slowly seeing some blue creep across his tail, and a gorgeous blue iridescence, but not much colour change, or even colouring up on his body. He has this patch on his body that is blue, like his tail, at the right angle, or sometimes shows up purple/red at a different angle, but that's pretty much it. He's got a lovely bubble nest going on in the corner of his tank right now 























FRIED
Pronounced "freed". Couldn't help myself with this boy. I mean, just look at him! Again, expected him to marble, or colour up. His tail shows definite colour, but it hasn't gotten any darker, it only shows up as this copper-like iridescence in a butterfly like patter on his tail. I'm waiting to see what it will do now that he is in heated, clean water. He's sharing a divided 10 gallon with my newest addition.
















Unnamed PKEE 
This little boy does not have a name yet. I got him a week ago from my friends. Some of you may know how I've been on a hunt for the perfect EE, and I had actually given up hope on ever finding ANY kind of EE betta. Last week Saturday, I got a call, at work, from one of my friends, who was in the city (2hrs away), and had come across a shipment of EEs at Petland. I told her to pick out the one she thought I would like best, and she came home with this little guy. I fell in love with him and was astounded at how small he was. His pectorals are a bit torn on one side, but that should heal up with some TLC  The little guy is nearly impossible to get a photo of since he is CONSTANTLY on the move, all over his side of the tank, only stops to stare at me for a second or two, and then is off again. It's rather dark in the 10 gallon due to the black sand, but he and Fried look GORGEOUS in there x3
















And those are all my boys (so far ;P) I apologize for the poor quality photos - all I have is the camera on my iPhone xD 

lilnaugrim has picked up a marble HMPKEE that I am dying to get my hands on. However, I will have to get my passport in order so I can pick him up across the border (I live in Canada). Unless someone else is willing to help bring him into Canada 
I am a total sucker for marbles, I love the way they change colour and are always a surprise, and the EE gene is my ultimate weakness, so it was a double whammy when I heard about him :lol:

Here's some pictures of some of my tanks. 

This is the 10 gallon shared by Fried and the PKEE. I plan on getting some hides in there as well once my budget opens up a bit xD








Mystogan's 5 gallon:








And finally, my 30 gallon... I want to get something taller in the back. My friend is giving me a fake driftwood decoration that was purchased at a pet store yeeeeeears ago and she had kicking around from her last fish tank. I will be rinsing it and soaking it before it goes in. This tank I considered some live plants in, but I don't have a ton of money to blow on plants and I have no idea where I would start xD









Perhaps later I will post some photos of some of the bettas that came through my work that caught my eye


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

Welcome to Journals! Elfman is my favorite, but they are all handsome.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thank you ^_^
Elfman is a favourite of mine as well  Especially since he is good looking AND gets along so well with other fish.
I look forward to slowly going through everyone's journals as well xD


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

Gadjeel, Gray, Elfman, and your new PKEE boy = I have serious fish envy! 

But they are all gorgeous fish. Lovely boys, you have.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thank you very much! 
The boy in your profile picture is quite a looker as well


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

Thank you! Gadreal will be very pleased to hear that ;D


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Squee, so many pretty fishies! I hope you can pick up your marble PKEE boy soon. I read about him in Lilnaugrim's journal and he sounds awesome.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Nice lookin' group you've got there!! I love Gray! He's extremely beautiful! I doubt Lyon [Lee-on for those who don't know] will marble THAT much but he's got the basis for a marble fish! His dorsal is absolutely exquisite too! Here's some pictures of Lyon for everyone else who hasn't yet seen him!


He likes to push the snails around still ^_^


His ears are partially transparent as well!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thanks Fenghuang! :3 

I'm quite enchanted by Gray and the marble HMPKEE :3 Gray will always be in my top 2 favorite bettas. Shhh. Don't tell the other boys 

Well, as recommended, I have moved my 4 albino corydoras out of Gray's 10 gallon and into my 30 gallon. Poor things were rather stressed out by the time I caught them all. They seem to be settling in quite well - last I checked, the smaller three were starting to sift through the sand. I'm pretty sure the one is a female since it is much wider and rounder than the other three. 

As I was fishing out the albinos, I discovered that my one nerite was dead  with the amount of decor in the tank, it's always hard to spot a snail in there, so I never thought much of it when I hadn't noticed him around since he would disappear one day and show up the next. I took it out and it released a foul stench. I almost gagged. I did an immediate 50% water change after disposing the snail. That smell is on my one finger, and it will not come off T-T

We will see how Gray reacts to having the 10 gallon to himself now. Hopefully he doesn't start tail biting again... He seemed to enjoy swimming and hanging out with the albinos. The tank certainly looks a lot more empty without them :/


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You can still put Panda's or Habrosus if you can find them, in the 10 gallon so he can still have friends! They stay smaller than the Albinos 

Sucks about the snail, I've smelled plenty of dead snails in my fish keeping hobby >.< Have you tried any hand wash or sanitizers? Something heavily scented? lol

Oh and here's some flare pictures of Lyon!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

HOLY CRAP he is one good looking fish!! 

I thought about the pandas.. They are adorable!! Petland sells them for $10 a Cory >.< I don't want to pay that much since I will need a small school... My work's supplier had them last week. Apparently they have farm raised pandas? Is that better...? They would be half the price of the Petland corys... 
I had tried a tank of habrosus and a betta, but the little guys kept dying one by one on me, even though I had triple checked my parameters. I think I will stick to those who are a bit bigger  
How many pandas would I be able to fit comfortably in a 10 gallon? I think they would look great against the black sand :3


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

10 dollars a fish? Holy crud, not fair for a schooling fish!

Farm raised just means they were more or less commercially raised, no real advantage except they probably keep more alive than a private dealer or a fish store, probably a healthier too so it's worth it to definitely try them if they're cheaper!

You could get a nice shoal of 5-6 comfortable in a 10 ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I know, unfortunately it's the closest place I can go to get fish (even so, that's still a 2hr drive)... My rasboras were $6 each, and neons were almost $4 >.< A plain ol' VT betta is almost $10, which blows my mind since our store charges $6, and I thought THAT was even steep...
Our supplier is from British Columbia (The Little Fish Company), and they are flown over to our main city (three provinces over..), so I'm always concerned about the stress level of the fish. Their price for Pandas are $3.99 - however since I have to buy them through my work, and not straight from the supplier, the price practically doubles so that the store makes money off of the fish. Sigh.... What I do for a nice looking tank... xD

They have a good list of ALL KINDS of fish, reptiles, amphibians, and other aquatic goods. I wish I could order straight from them and not pay an arm and a leg for shipping :|

I just checked again on my albinos - they are already on "clean up duty" and are cleaning up what the false Juliis have missed. Didn't take them long xD I've placed an order through my work for 6 more false juliis and 2 more albinos to make larger schools for both.

Also, I noticed my little PKEE has unintentionally dug a hole in the sand xD In the corner between the divider and the glass wall, he wiggles behind the plant there and wiggles around so much that he kicks all the sand out of that corner. Good gravy is he an active boy. I blame his tiny size and his youthful spirit  The only thing that slows him down is when it's food time - then he comes and waits impatiently at the surface. It's very hard to take a nice picture of him since he rarely stops moving for more than two seconds xD


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Woke up this morning, went to check on my tank, and saw one of my false julii corys had a patch of this cotton looking stuff on his face :/ I removed him immediately and placed him in a 2 gallon bowl, filled half way with water from the tank. Since I was in a hurry, I didn't have time to treat him, but planned to treat him when I got home. My co-worker called in sick, so I ended up staying longer than I was scheduled, and came home to a dead cory  Poor lil' guy. 
Everyone else looks great in the tank, no signs of illness, no fuzz.... I suppose it was a good thing that I ordered a few more anyways to increase their school.

I had thought I saw a dead harlequin rasbora under one of the silk plants... Nope... Turns out my rasboras are spawning! Didn't see that coming... So I watched them for a while, slightly fascinated, took some video. Felt a little like a freak with my fascination with fish making babies xD I highly doubt any will hatch before my albino corydoras find them - those guys are cleaning that tank until it's spotless. Bless those fish for finally cleaning up after my tetras and betta T-T

I plan on bringing two of my hospital tanks over to work to help out two bettas with fin rot - one is pretty bad, the other is a bit more mild. I may have to snag a heater from the display bettas at work... :/

What a day... I'm exhausted and need a good pick me up... Maybe I'll watch my videos of my spawning rasboras again xD


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

oh no  I hope your other fish don't end up with columnaris or anything!

Your fish are gorgeous, and I had no idea you had so many! XD

Have you thought about jungle vals or corkscrew vals for the back of the 30g? Remember, just because you introduce plants to a tank doesn't mean you need to plant the whole thing!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Everyone appears to be doing alright so far. My adjustable heater FINALLY arrived, so I popped that in and it will hopefully help get things under control.

Thank you ^_^ I always forget how many I actually have until I count them all up. 10 boys... 10... meaning 9 tanks lol

I've never heard of jungle vals or corkscrew vals. I don't plan on planting the entire tank - I will still keep the silk plants in there, I just need something to fill up the back of the tank and give more hiding for my fishes. And apparently more spawning places for my rasboras if they keep it up :/


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

I, I can just imagine this if you lived with roommates or your family or someone who didn't get fish >u<; Trying to explain why you're rewatching the video of your fish doing the dirty deed...

Ooh, I bet they'd spawn under an IAL. Do you have any in your tank? Or some big anubias or something? They like big flat spots, right?

But yus, baby fish are great. Just don't get too attached until they've grown up...!

Vals... there are a bunch of different names for each species, and a bunch of different species, so you may want to do some poking around on your own! They're supposed to be super easy to keep. I don't think they need any special ferts or anything. I think true corkscrew vals are called Vallisneria spiralis var. tortissima, and are harder to find, but you certainly can find twisty ones out there!

The well-recommended shop 'round here--Italian vals:
http://shop.plantedaquariumscentral...-Italian-Vals-tall-background-plant_p_42.html

This one has high ratings and a good # of plants per package--supposed to be corkscrew vals:
http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/va05.htm

Jungle vals from that last site again:
http://www.aquariumplants.com/product_p/va09.htm


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

(myexplodingcat she's in Canada lol good try though!)

Just have to say that Lyon has been loving the attention from Rennie! His nest is lovely and fluffy! I hope you don't me randomly posting pictures here!! lol

Here's his lovely nest!


He wasn't so fond of me looking at it though lol



And Renoir, aka Rennie. She really is a MG but in this light all you see is her iridescence


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

myexplodingcat - Thanks! I'll have to keep my eye out for those plants 

lilnaugrim - I am not at all upset about seeing updated photos of my favourite USA fish  My fingers are totally crossed to see a lovely spawn come from these too 8D They make a lovely couple <3

So, as I expected, no sight of rasbora babies - pretty positive that my albino corys gobbled up the eggs. I even saw the false julii corys in the plants as well. Any idea how often rasboras spawn...? I haven't seen any action since yesterday morning, so maybe it was a one time thing. Oh well, it was neat 

Water changes for EEEEEVERYBODY. After having my one false julii pass away, I'm paranoid about keeping my other fishies in the tank healthy and happy. So, this meant a good cleaning of the sand to pick up what my corys missed. I heard the timer go off and lights out. Then the false juliis started to come out and swim around the bottom with the albinos. It was a pleasant sight to see - I was happy to see them come out of the "fluval chi" grass and move around.

Tomorrow I'm picking up 6 more juliis and 2 more albinos in hopes of making sure everyone feels safe and secure with their numbers. Though that's not a problem for the albinos - they have no fear at all and are cleaning up the sand very nicely, just like they did in the 10 gallon.
I have to drive 2hrs to pick them up along with the my work's betta and small animal order. I'm just glad my work is paying for my mileage...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Well I actually took him out, Rennie wasn't in the mood and after taking a chunk of his anal fin I called it off. He's just fine though, back in the 20 healing up, he's already got some new growth this morning!

Rasboras spawn when they want to basically, so they can do it daily if they like and they may. My Ember Tetras do it daily as well ;-) it's very fascinating!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Awe. Poor Lyon, he just wanted to have some fun  ah well, maybe another time. 

I hope that, despite the heater, the rasboras will be happy enough to continue spawning. To me it's a sign that they are comfortable with their home. When they were spawning, I did not have my heater yet, so the temp was 22*C. Now it's 24*C with the heater. 24*C (77*F) was the recommended temp for my tank, according to aqadvisor. 
It looks like there is only one male and four females xD so he certainly has his pick. When they were spawning, there were two females who were rubbing their bellies on the leaves. One was rubbing on Elfman's leaf hammock, where the albino corys never reach, so some might have hatched if they would have spawned up there. 

Oh well. Not like I need hundreds of rasboras anyways xD it's just really neat to watch.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, that's still awesome to watch though. Even if they did survive hatching, the Rasboras probably would have eaten them anyway. You'd have to use another tank or remove the item on which they spawned to a different tank or in a breeder net to keep the fry safe 

Yeah, I do still want to spawn him if I can figure out how to get Rennie back into the mood once more since I think they'd have some real beautiful babies between the two of them! I'll let you know how it all goes. Osiris and Isis are top priority so we'll see ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Yeah, I didn't really expect to have any rasbora babies. If the adults didn't eat the young, the neons or Elfman would have lol 

I'm so tired, it's not even funny. My tanks' lights were still off, as the timer only clicks on around 10am. The corydoras were buzzing all over the decor and sand still since it was still a bit dark in the room/tank. Puts my mind at ease a bit. Hopefully it was just the one cory that was ill and I got it in time before it spread. Fingers crossed. 
The neons were squabbling over something this morning. 4 of them chasing each other around. The rest seemed to still be sleepily swimming around. Rasboras were hanging out near the top of the tank, like usual. Elfman was his usual hungry self. 


I wonder what kind of colours would all come out of Lyon since he appears to be a marble... I always wonder what colors my boy Gray would pass on. He use to be black and white, then marbled a blue/green/black. After tearing out his tail, it has been coming back as red instead of black lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It could have been a form of Columnaris or Saprolengia. This happened to two of my c. Habrosus as well. The rest have been flashing but there's not much I can do about it, no more have died for almost three months now so I'm not terribly worried. It only effects the cories though from what I've experienced at least.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

"Flashing"...? Sorry I'm not familiar with that term lol

I had terrible luck with my habrosus. They originally had the tank to themselves. They looked great, buzzing around the tank, on the decor and plants. I had 11 of them, so I did my best to not over or under feed them. One day, they started dying off, one by one. I noticed some had missing barbells. One showed then had a fuzzy fin. My parameters were fine, but then I read my temps were too high, so I removed the pre-set heater (pre-set to 76*F) Then they finally stopped dying. Unfortunately, I only had 4 left, so I gave them to my friend who had more habrosus, and they apparently are doing fine now. Go figure :/ that's when I decided to stick to the larger corys. I had my albinos in a 10 gallon with the same pre-set heater for almost a year, before I moved them to the 30, and they were really healthy and active :/ definitely a more hardy cory lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol. Flashing, it's when a fish scratches against decor/whatever, the sudden movement causes a "flash" of color, generally silver or white because you see the fishes underside for a moment. So any time a fish scratches against decor or substrate or plants, that is called Flashing.

Yeah, similar to my Habrosus as well. I love the little things but they don't like hot temperatures. Thankfully in the summer right now I have my tank heaters out which means the tanks fluctuate from 70 at night to 76 in the day time and they're as happy as can be in the colder water. My Barbs have been spawning more too and the Embers seem content in the cooler water so when I put my heaters back in I'll set them for 75-76 so they're still happy 

Different cories have different requirements so I'm finding the larger ones tend to like the hotter temperatures were C. Habrosus, Pygmaeus and even smaller Aspidoras (cousins of the Corydoras) like the lower temperatures generally speaking. ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Ah! So that's what you call it. Yeah, my habrosus would flash here and there as well. 

My friend does not have a heater in her tank either with her habrosus. Their house is consistently warm since her significant other is always chilly. So her tank usually stays a good temp all year around. Her little guys are happy


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Holy crap the new corydoras I picked up are tiny!!! Lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Are they the Panda's? I love tiny Panda Cories, they're so cute!! :-D


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Haha no pandas this time. My extra juliis and two albinos arrived. Half the size of my adults I have at home lol. So tiny!!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ooh okay! Still, any tiny cory cat is adorable to me haha.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Haha agreed! Just like when I picked up my 5 neons the other week, they were (and still are) TINY compared to my adult neons lol 

Finally headed back home. Car stinks now thanks to the crickets I had to pick up for work. I don't mind the bugs themselves, since I feed my geckos live crickets, but thousands of them together stink  at least the hamsters are cute


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I apologize in advance if the picture shows up sideways lol I've been on the move a lot, but I wanted to share how small my new albinos are. The adult in the background is not even my biggest one lol








Also, one of the new false julii was DOA. Ah well, that just mean I have an even 10 false julii corys.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

So as I was preparing my dog and cat's food, I happened to glance over to see two of my adult albinos chasing each other around... I walked over to watch a bit closer - sure enough, one was sticking eggs wherever she went - All over the heater, along the tank wall, on the silk plants.

Good grief! Everyone is just in the mood in my tank this week. 

I found a place that sells water wisteria... 2hrs away T-T They had a small, kinda pathetic looking plant. The amazon swords looked much better, and taller. The girl there said they should be getting more in next week... Maybe I'll have to see if someone in the area, or if my friends are making a trip to the city, can pick it up for me...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Ahah! That's awesome, yeah the larger cories are known to readily breed unlike the smaller ones. Habrosus in particular are difficult to breed for.

Gee, wish my Betta's were in the mood to breed this week >.> everything has been duds so far! :-(


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I would love to see some baby cories, but I don't have the room for them - I have no idea where I would put them xD I guess if any hatch and survive, I could let them grow up in Gray's 10 gallon (since it has sand and what not), just probably would have to remove Gray until the babies grew... That's IF any hatch and survive living in a full 30 gallon tank 

I'm sorry about your betta breeding troubles  I was hoping to see some of those spawns - your boys and girls are gorgeous!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

You have plenty of space in your 30 for any babies that actually do survive, the eggs will most likely be eaten by the Julii's or other Albinos anyway ^_^

Yeah, it stinks. I'd say it's me doing something wrong but three different tries with Osiris and Isis still nothing?? Not even a flare from Isis! I think I could get Lyon to spawn with my HMPK if she's not too big for him, she's very much in breeding mode and I'm continuing conditioning him for one to heal him up (easier with lots of good food) and for a hopeful spawn....sigh...we'll see!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

The tank just looks so full to me xD I guess I'm so use to seeing bettas in so much space on their own that 10 neons, 5 rasboras, 10 false juliis and 6 albinos looks like a very busy, full tank to me xD But yeah, they will probably be eaten, just like the rasbora eggs. It's a very lively tank now that everyone is deciding to spawn xD Poor Elfman is probably just so disgusted right now XD

I'm sure if Lyon is willing - where there is a will, there's a way ;D I want to see Lyon babies X3


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol, don't look at my 29 gallon stocking then XD I have like twice the stock you do lol!

Yeah, I definitely want to see Lyon babies too, he's just so stinking adorable! He ate very happily this morning and is looking very good! I'll get to get some more pictures either today or tomorrow ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Lol but your tank is probably heavily planted - I don't have live plants yet xD plus aqadvisor has me paranoid about overstocking my tank and it still thinks I need more filtration :/ good gravy I just need some live plants lol 

I totally was not expecting the one albino to be a female - she's not as large as the one adult I have. She is very easy to identify though - she's got a crooked tail. She swims and is just fine, but her tail is bent kinda like an "s" shape. 


Please send me more pictures!! I'm all for more pictures of him


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah it is. aqadvisor is very conservative so even at 100% stocking, you have plenty of wiggle room!


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Those are good looking cories. Big schools of them are really interesting to watch. We only have one now because of a sudden nitrate spike and then the petstore we got her from stopped carrying that species.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Good to know! I just like to make sure my water parameters are not going to go out of control, but I think live plants will definitely help that!

I love watching them now that there is a large school in there - the false juliis are really coming out since the addition of the albinos, and especially now that there are 10 false juliis, they are really moving around the sand and in the plants


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Update photos on some boys  I decided to take some more recent photos of some of my boys who would cooperate. Gajeel is scared of anything that comes into his tank xD

Gray (excuse the poor focus and lighting - his tank is darker and he's very active xD)















Gildarts wouldn't flare, this was the most he would give me before he swam away to hide in his corner lol








Fried never holds still, but he flares at the drop of a hat, but he's crazy fast.















And I FINALLY got my little PKEE to flare. HM??


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Almost forgot to add Pantherlily's new photos  He was quite excited when the mirror dropped into his tank. :lol:


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yes! He's a HMPKEE just like Lyon! :-D

Love Pantherlily, he's absolutely adorbs!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Yay! Go little HMPKEE :3 He's so wiggly, it makes me smile every time I am near his tank.

Pantherlily is such a ham. Loves showing off to anyone nearby. I've had him over a year now, and his blue spot is starting to fade  He also has these weird light blue "sparkles" all over his fins. Is that common?

I just cannot believe that Gray is growing red fins - especially looking back at what he use to look like when I first bought him - NO idea that red would pop up lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah it can be if it's just spots of heavy iridescence


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Weird. Really neat, but weird lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah lol, Hawkeye has the same thing on his anal fin as well.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

At first I was concerned, since it only showed up a certain angles, I was like "some colourful mutation of velvet...?" lol but he never displayed any discomfort, so I just put it as a "keep an eye on him" in the back of my mind.

I noticed the other day he was jumping in his tank, as I would hear a splash and look to see the water surface rocking xD I think he was getting overly excited about seeing Gray in the 10 gallon next to him.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol, careful though that there aren't any gaps in your hood! That happened with Charles too but he ended up jumping out of this teeny tiny gap that I never thought possible. Unfortunately he ended up carpet surfing and was long dead before I woke :-/


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

D: Poor Charles!

So far Pantherlily has not discovered the feeding hole or the hole by the filter. He was jumping closer to the side of the tank, where there are no holes, because it was closest to Gray. Luckily I haven't seen him jump since, but I still worry, especially after hearing what happened to Tree's EE and now Charles.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, you can put saran wrap over the holes and tape it shut so he can't get out


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Smart! Just gotta find where my husband keeps the saran wrap xD


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

I'm gonna jump over to your journal to continue our discussion on lil's...

I know petland is horrible. I was actually just there today (it was that or go to the clothing store that's right beside it), and I was so tempted to tell an employee something like "if you're going to charge disgustingly high prices the last thing your tanks should be is disgusting", but I held my tongue because being flat out rude won't do any good. It's never one persons fault anyways. 

You're in Manitoba, right? If so... I have some links for you.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Aha! oh that's funny. We have a drawer specifically for saran wrap, aluminum foil and plastic baggies under the microwave ^_^ lol doesn't help you though haha. Good luck on that endeavor! ;-)


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Matt - haha, tell me about it. It's the closest place I can pick up fish, so that's where I had picked up my neons and rasboras.. Every time I go there, there is always at least one dead fish in the tank, half eaten by the other tank inhabitants, and always one or two bettas that are dead and fuzzy in their tiny little bowls :/
I had a customer in my work today say to her husband "Wow, these bettas are expensive ($5.99 for a VT, $8.49 CT, $12.99 DeT, $20.99 HM). As much as I agree, I had muttered under my breath "If you think this is bad, go to Petland and you will appreciate our prices a bit more" xD Our bettas are only that expensive since we have to ship them from BC, and our supplier isn't very cheap when it comes to HMs and DeTs.
And yes, I am a Manitoban 

lil - My husband is in charge of the kitchen. We have a "he cooks, I clean" deal since he went to culinary school and is working towards his Red Seal. So other than cleaning up, I stay out of the kitchen - that's his territory xD
I have a good idea where everything is since I occasionally have to cook for myself if he's out late at work or if he's hanging with out with the guys.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Petland recently started a "bring a sample of your tank water" when you go in to replace a dead fish (30 day guarantee). All I can think of is "What's stopping me from taking water from my other tanks, or straight from the tap?"
This question really stood out to me since I watched him "test" my water sample. Poured it into 3 test tubes. Quick little drops here and there, barely shook them, and didn't even wait 5 mins to see the full results. He just nodded and went "yup, your water is good."...
Well I could have told him that... xD


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

Lucky you're in Manitoba... Two of the most valuable fish and plant suppliers in Canada are in Winnipeg (not sure how far away you are from there... But shipping wouldn't be much and would be low risk anyways). 

Cichlaholics is a wholesaler with good prices and healthy fish. Go to the "Fish Lists section to see what's available- http://www.cichlaholic.com

The Plant Guy is a really good seller with a ton of well priced species. http://www.theplantguy.org

I've bought from both.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

How have I never heard of these guys before?! lol
Though, looking through the fish guy's stuff, I think one of the Pet Valu managers brought this guy up when looking for a local betta supplier... Since we are required to mark retail as double the cost price - it would have put bettas a high retail price. 
That being said - these prices are very close, if not possibly cheaper than my work's supplier, it would just cut out the middle man and I wouldn't have to pay double the cost through work. I originally thought he only sold to businesses!

I'm about 1.5-2hr drive from Winnipeg actually. With my car, it's about $25-30 in gas - depending on the traffic in Winnipeg. So shipping is probably a better deal for me since it's only from Winnipeg.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Oh good gravy - this is a BAD time to be broke... The guy who sells fish and plants is having a "Spence's Half BDAY Sale" tomorrow. I'm assuming that means half price fish/plants... This is probably the cheapest I would get my panda cories and live plants T_T 

Why do I have to be broke?!!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Side note - saw these beauties at work today. I keep repeating to myself "10 bettas is the maximum... 10 bettas is the limit... You cannot buy another..."


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## MattsBettas (Dec 18, 2012)

That veiltail... Oh my gosh I'd breed that veiltail. 

What seller is having that sale?


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Which VT? There are two there 

Cichlaholics - when I check his store hours, it says tomorrow is "Spencer's Half BDay Sale!" .... Not sure if that means half off his stock, or some items, or what.

Either way, for what I'm looking for, his prices are more than fair. Regular price, I'd be looking at around $35 before tax for panda cories and some plants. That's what I'd be paying for the panda cories alone if I had to order them through my work, and half of what I would spend at Petland...

My friends have offered to drive me to Winnipeg tomorrow, and lending me some cash, so I can buy my fish and plants. I will pay them back this Friday  I'm quite excited about this!


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Your store's conditions look stellar. And I saw a nice female VT at Petco that matched that first VT's colours, down to the exact shade of blue on the body and orange fins with blue edging and red spots. 

And yay for your nice friend!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thanks Fenghuang. We have been doing every day water changes on these cups to keep the water clean and hopefully keep the bettas healthy.... I know most people don't like breeding VTs, but good gravy he is a good looking fish. Lol

So I went to the wholesale place - just tanks stacked upon tanks, stacked upon more tanks. He was sold out of everything I wanted lol no beginner plants or panda cories. However, he did have the 15% off fish you scoop, so I picked up some Pygmy cories instead - try my luck again. I didn't have luck with the habrosus, I will try to be smarter with the pygmies. 

I stopped by Pet Traders - they had some waster wisteria and Amazon swords, so I snagged one of each of those, some seachem root tabs, and a small bottle of the flourish as well. Guess we will see how well this goes. Lol


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Everyone is in!
Plants are in the 30 gallon, pygmies in the 10.

Wisteria isn't looking so hot - but I'm hoping the root tabs and Flourish will help brighten them up. I think that plant had been in the store for a while. The amazon sword is looking really nice though. I would LOVE to get some thick floaters as well, like what I saw at the store, but that was a bit out of my budget right now. I think it was mostly hornwort, which I LOVE the look of. But the goal was to get some plants to fill up the back of my tank - so hopefully the wisteria will grow like a weed (as I'm told it does).









Released the pygmies - Gray didn't really notice them going into the tank. He was off doing his own thing. He did discover them while he was doing his "patrol" of his tank. A few "holding my breath" moments as he stared at them, and I was worried he would attack, or when one of the little guys would lunge up to the surface for air, and Gray would chase him back down. But once he got to the sand, they would stare at each other and Gray would lose interest. The lights are out in the tank, and I put a towel over it to make it darker. I can see the pygmies moving around, eating up Gray's leftovers from his breakfast. They must be really happy to be on sand again rather than a bare bottom tank.

Any tips with the plants? Is wisteria the type of plant I could cut trimmings of and plant into another tank? I'm quite new to all of this xD


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## Olympia (Aug 25, 2011)

I'm no expert but I think that wisteria was grown out of water... I believe all those leaves will rot, and hopefully new ones that are aquatic will grow in their place.. I've tried my hand at wisteria so many times and it just doesn't work for me though. :/


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Dang :/ The wisteria was in a tank filled with water, and fish, with other plants. I didn't know you could grow them outside of water. Learn something new every day I suppose... I might order some more and get them shipped from Winnipeg once I have a bit more money...


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Forgot to add my photo of the Amazon Sword.








And a photo of the pygmies, pilled on top of each other in the bag xD


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

I'll bet your wisteria will take off growing like crazy within a couple weeks. Mine was super tiny and sad. Now it is beautiful. The root tabs are great.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I hope so :/ I really want some nice big plants in that tank. If I could, I would have wisteria planted throughout the entire background of my tank. And some in my 10 gallons as well


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Checked Gray's tank this morning - no dead pygmies. They were all schooled together and rooting through the sand. So I while I was feeding Gray his NLS, I tossed in some micro pellets by the filter flow for the pygmies to munch on while I was at work. By the time I got home, they have cleaned up almost all the micro pellets from the sand, and where buzzing around in the back corner of the tank.

Plants are still looking good. No wilting or any other signs of further damage (other than what was already done when I got them). Fingers crossed, so far so good.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Impromptu trip to the city which allowed me to pick up some more water wisteria and a bunch of hornwort, courtesy of my husband <3. No idea where the roots were on the hornwort (it all looked the same lol) so I am letting it free float for now. 

My husband and I decided to adopt a kitten. Meet Sting. He is a polydactyl kitten that my work was fostering. My cat, Cisqua, is not too thrilled (typical cat), but she's done quite well. Only hissed twice. Other than that, she has followed him around the house like he is some kind of rodent lol I'm sure she will get use to him quickly. Right now I took Cisqua outside on her harness and leash so she can destress a bit. She loves being outside.








Sorry that the photo is sideways, I'm on my phone while I'm outside with Cisqua lol


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## EvaJupiterSkies (Oct 25, 2013)

Sting is adorable! I'd love to have a cat, if I wasn't magnificently allergic.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thanks!  He's practically my husband's kitten. My husband is actually mildly allergic to cats (Nose gets stuffed, eyes get red and itchy), however he does not react to Cisqua, who is your average domestic short hair from off the farm. He reacts to Cisqua's brother, who lives with his parents. The difference? Cisqua is on a grain-free diet. Her brother is on Iams. Their fur quality is MAJORLY different. 
My husband is currently having a mild reaction to Sting, but that doesn't stop him from snuggling the little guy all night long  I refer to Sting as my husband's kitten since my husband loves him to death. My husband was always a bit sad that my cat, Cisqua, never really warmed up to him, so he's VERY happy to have Sting snuggling right up to his face xD Once Sting's grain-free diet kicks in, he should have a healthy, shiny, almost dander free coat, just like Cisqua  

Not much new to report in the fishy terms. Everyone is happy and healthy. Plants are alright, as far as I can tell xD I have a feeling I'm going to kill the poor things...
My little HMPKEE is getting darker in colour, which is making me love him even more <3 I love the dark blue and his little white rim around his tail. 

My male rasbora was trying to get the females in the mood again. Sheesh. Haven't seen the albino cories spawn again though - but maybe I'm just not around enough to see. :roll:

Cisqua and Sting seem to be getting along more and more - it's only been 3 days. Cisqua no longer gets irritated when Sting touches her stuff lol. He tries to sneak up on her and pounce on her, but he loses his nerve when she clearly sees him. Cisqua is THRILLED to have a litterbox again (she WAS toilet trained...), so she has no issues sharing it with the little guy. Sting is starting to sleep in some of Cisqua's favourite spots, so I hope one day to come home to see them in a closer proximity of each other. 
Here's a cute picture of the little tyke.








And now time to dump some pictures of the boys at my work place :lol:






(lil, would this CT be a MG? All his ray tips are black)











































Speaking of work, here's an interesting shot - our foster kitten meeting the cockatiel. Both were very calm and curious during the encounter, my coworker and I stayed close and watched them. The kitten would playfully paw at the bird, no claws. Any time the bird got uncomfortable, the kitten would back off and go lay down. They have seen each other many times before through the bars of the bird cage, but this was a first time out in the open.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Awww all those pictures! So cute!

Uggg Iams....really? We used to feed Meow Mix until I convinced my dad to switch to Blue Buffalo ^_^

Sting is just so adorable! Love his feet! My old kitty (currently at a No-Kill shelter because mom wouldn't let me keep him:-( ) Siberian had thumbs, he'd even pick up his tail to clean it and stuff lol.

And no, he's not a MG because the band needs to be defined. Even Rembrandt wasn't a true MG because his blue band wasn't defined, it was when he was a juvie but as he grew up he lost it. So your boy is a bicolor.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I'm truly frustrated with Iams, Pedigree, Beneful, Whiskas, Meow Mix and Purina in general - all their commercials convince people that they are buying THE BEST pet food, and people are stunned when I tell them what they paying for... No one thinks to read the ingredient list, just trust what the man on the tv is telling them :/ My husband always drops hints about nutrition when he visits his folks xD Bless him. I know his mom would love to switch, but hasn't had that final push to make her try it.

I love all his toes. It's hilarious to watch him trot/run with the way his front feet look - his two dew claws stick out to the side like thumbs.  I would be heartbroken if someone told me I could not keep any of my fur babies. They are what get me up in the morning (literally and figuratively xD)

I wasn't sure if he was a MG or not, so I figured I'd ask. One of my co-workers has her eye on him, he is quite a pretty fish. I absolutely love the VT with the orange spots... 10 fish is my limit, 10 fish are my limit....


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah I hear you, though at least Purina has a decent formula; we used to use the All Natural one and it still had by-products but it was at least better than the Meow Mix we had before :-/ But yeah, I very much agree, if you can find that animal feed/product in a grocery store, it's generally not good.

Yeah, that's part of why I hate this summer so far, Siberian was my little goober and love. I cried for days when they took him away, dad tried to tell me he'd have a better life but for some reason I just can never believe it. :-(

Yeah, that VT is real cute too! I like that Dragon :-D


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Well I thought I was doing so great with my dog on Beneful - until I went to Vet Assistant school and took animal nutrition courses - and then Harley Quinn (my dog) started throwing up multiple times a day. Vets did x-rays and checked her out, but couldn't find anything wrong. They put her on a medication to coat her stomach, and strict gastrointestinal diet. Once she was allowed to go off that, I immediately brought in the good stuff. She's had no issues since.

Awe  Why did he have to go? How long did you have him for?

I love the dragon's colours, though I'm a bit sad his fins are curling. :/


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah, my cat Ieli did a similar thing but it was also very much stress induced since my dad moved an hour away into more of a city-like place but we still have a forest in the backyard. It ended up being a mix of stress, diet, new water (they're on bottled water now because the tap water isn't great to be drinking), and probably a few new mice she'd eaten too. But she's doing a lot better now.

I had Siberian for four long years, we adopted him when he was only 8 months old from PetSmart. Since dad moved, he didn't want Siberian around because he was klutzy and Ieli hated him (normal) but she also severely stressed him out. So I had a master plan to win mom's heart over with him since we'd had cats before there but since our old cats and chickens she wanted nothing more to do with them for fear of him getting lost and killed in the woods. I tried to argue he'd be okay with being indoors most of the time in the upstairs (three rooms for him to play in) but she still said no. Dad eventually came and took him to a no-kill shelter upon mom's request to get him out of there. Neither one cared that I was taking full responsibility for him :-( I miss him so much.

He was so beautiful too, this is him:


And very silly, this is him trying to balance on my arm as I lay on my bed with my laptop lol. He wasn't succeeding very well but he tried!


lol, him at my mom's house a few days before he left.


And the day of. of course he didn't know he was leaving, he was so content to just sit here :-(


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Awe  What a gorgeous boy. I'm very sorry that you had to give him up. I cannot imagine giving up one of my fur babies.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Thanks, I miss him a lot. He loved to pose for pictures as you can see, he was just an all around goofy boy but I loved him. One day, one day I'll be able to adopt another kitty...sigh.


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## hrutan (Jun 25, 2014)

How awful. At least it's a no-kill shelter so you know he will be safe until he finds a new home. He looks like a wonderful, sweet cat.

One of the good things about moving out. You get your own space, and the only decisions about pets are between you and your landlord, all laid out in a contract, in advance. You'll get there someday. On the down side, you have to buy your own toilet paper. :lol:


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol thanks hrutan. Heck, I already buy my own toilet paper half the time when mom forgets :roll: lol but yeah, one day!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

hrutan said:


> One of the good things about moving out. You get your own space, and the only decisions about pets are between you and your landlord, all laid out in a contract, in advance. You'll get there someday. On the down side, you have to buy your own toilet paper. :lol:


I was fortunate that my landlord allowed my cat and dog that I had already, and allowed me to adopt a kitten. However, I was quite sad when he said this would be my limit. I don't like people putting a limit on how many animals I can have xD I still want to get another dog and a small parrot, but I guess that will have to wait until my husband and I can afford our own house... 

Speaking of kittens - I completely forgot how dependent they are. My adult female, Cisqua, comes and goes as she pleases. Sting, on the other hand, MUST be either rubbing all over my face or snuggled up to my neck. He is so much more clingy than what I'm use to xD I went upstairs while he was eating and he panicked when he couldn't find me :lol:

I looked into my 30 gallon and noticed one of the water wisteria had a white fuzz on it. I removed the plant immediately and tossed it.. Don't need any more white fuzz in my tank... :/ I'll probably do a water change as soon as I regain feeling in my feet... I haven't worked 40hrs/week in a long time lol


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

The white fuzz is probably just aquarium dust, harmless but can be unsightly.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

I'm paranoid about fungus after the one Julii who died. xD The stem on the wisteria didn't look so great, the leaves were nice and green, but the stem was brown and looked dead :/ figured it was best to remove it...

Aquarium dust though? I never knew that existed lol Like the fuzz was a good 2-3cm sticking off the stem of the plant.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It was most likely melting, just getting used to your water parameters still, it usually takes around 2 weeks or so for that to happen.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Damn it xD


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

lol it's okay, you know now ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Haha true. I still have quite a few wisteria plants in there - some looking really nice. My amazon sword is growing rather tall as well ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Two dead corydoras this week :/ one False Julii, found him upside down at the surface, still breathing. Quantined him and he died a couple minutes later. Then yesterday I noticed one was having trouble staying down, like his head was trying to float, and as I looked for everyone else, saw the corpse of an albino under my horn wort :/ 
From what I've read, it's a bacterial infection of some sorts, so I'm treating the whole tank. Feeling like I've got some rotten luck or something as of late. Ammonia was 0, nitrates were about 10ppm. 
When I checked this morning, the "floaty" cory seemed fine, no longer having issues. Everyone else was still eating along the plants and sand. Rasboras, neons and my betta all look healthy and happy (and always hungry lol) fingers crossed that I get this figured out...


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

:-( aww I'm sorry.


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## BlueSky99 (Aug 7, 2014)

You've got some gorgeous bettas (and nice names  ). Your kitten is so cute. I just love cats and I've had them my whole life.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Thanks Lil. So far, since I've started treatment, no one else has died. I also slightly increased the flow of my filters and threw in an air hose with a large aeration stone on the end. Hopefully that will keep things moving in the tank... It's sure pushing around my horn wort :/ I had to try to anchor those to different silk plants so they don't get caught up in the filter..

And thanks BlueSky  My "fur babies" are my pride and joy  
I grew up on a farm that was just down the road from my grandparents' farm, and I was always "the kitten tamer". I would sit in my grandparents' barn for hours when the feral cats had kittens, and would tame almost every kitten that stepped foot into that barn lol My grandparents could never believe the patience and skill I had to tame all their cats. They thought it was amazing xD

Animals have been my passion, since day one  I cannot get enough of them ^_^


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

So, I have completed the treatment for the suspected bacterial infection in my 30 gallon tank... I did the final water change yesterday evening, as instructed on the box of medication.
I'm down to 4/6 albino corydoras and 6 or 7/10 false juliis. Sheesh. All my albinos still have nice, long barbells, the false juliis seemed a little short when I first got them anyways... No one is showing signs of illness other than some of them are just sitting around... The deaths seem to happen one at a time, and the fish looks, for the most part, healthy. The dorsal fin looks like it's been nipped at one or two times, and one or two of the false juliis had "rosy cheeks", which is why I suspected a bacterial infection... :/ No other signs of illness. All healthy body shape, no other external injuries or anything.

My rasboras, neons, and betta are all healthy and happy, throughout the whole thing, which is what puzzles me. In fact, the male rasbora is trying to get the females to spawn again this morning, and I'm seeing the neons chasing one another into the big mass of silk and live plants, in what looks like an attempt to spawn. A lot of "tall fins" and "dancing" going on in that tank. I've noticed some of my neons blue stripe are either a deep blue, or a greenish-blue. Anyone know the reason to that?

All other fish are doing fine. I haven't seen any deaths in the pygmies I put in Gray's 10 gallon. It's kinda hard to spot them due to how dark the tank naturally is with all the algae and black sand. My nerite is having a hard time keeping up with all the algae... My LED lights are on a timer for 10hrs, and I'm doing my best to not over feed, but keep the pygmies well fed at the same time lol.

I've told myself if the corydoras in the 30 gallon keep dying off, I am not going to replaced them, and just go with mid-level schooling fish, like more rasboras, perhaps try my luck with some guppies or endlers since Elfman is so laid back with all the other fish.

I picked up another 10 gallon kit (Tetra brand) at Walmart for $30CND. Comes with the LED light hood and a filter. Figured I'd divide it again and finally try to get Natsu out of his 1.5gallon, and pray he doesn't tear apart his lovely tail again. He's such a massive VT betta, I feel bad that he's in the 1.5 gallon. The last time I tried upgrading him, he tore his tail apart until I put him back in his 1.5 gallon... At least the little tank is cycled :/
I plan on placing Natsu on one side and debating on who to place on the other. I'm trying to downsize how many tanks I have in this house. Less plug ins being used, same amount of fish  Plus then one of my other boys gets upgraded from a 3 gallon to a 5 gallon space.

Mystogan's filter jammed as some sand stirred up, so his 5 gallon is currently unfiltered *sigh* so I'm trying to think of how I can move the Aqua Clear 20 from my 30 gallon (it was seeding the Aqua Clear 50), to Gray's 10 gallon, and the Tetra Whisper 10i from Gray's 10 gallon to Mystogan's 5 gallon.

My biggest hesitation are: 
A) I feel like I would have to replace all the filter media in the Aqua Clear 20 since it was in the 30 gallon that was treated for bacterial infection so that nothing spreads to Gray's tank.
B) I don't have the room to have both filters on the 10 gallon, and don't want to kill the cycle for the pygmy cory's sake. 
Plus I would like to get Mystogan's 5 gallon filtered again ASAP, but don't have it in my budget to buy a completely new filter when I technically have a spare... I don't think the 5 gallon's hood has a hole big enough to fit the Aqua Clear 20 either... Blech, what a week...


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Rasboras are definitely spawning this morning. Corydoras are all active and were chowing down on the micro pellets that the neons and rasboras missed. Fingers crossed I finally figured out what was going on.

I had a customer come into my work, saying her guppies were over populating her tank and was wondering if I knew anyone who would want some free guppies. I offered to take 5 or so off her hands, mostly males. I've got a new 10 gallon that I planned on dividing for two of my boys (to upgrade them to larger tanks), but it can be used for a quarantine tank until I'm able to add them to the 30 gallon (now that I've got room...) Elfman is one laid back betta; he use to share a divided 10 gallon with Mystogan, and every time Mystogan flared at him through the divider, Elfman would swim in the opposite direction lol so I'm curious how he will react to the guppies. He has never chased or nipped at the neon tetras or rasboras, or any of the other fish that are in the 30 gallon with him. Only snails xD 
I will be prepared to remove the guppies and place them in a more suited tank if need be, or give them to my friends, who are wanting to start up a 10 gallon of smaller fish.

Now that there are some live plants in the tank, there is plenty of places to hide. My hornwort has gotten slightly tangled in my silk plants, and has created a nice little covered area that my corydoras seem to be enjoying. Some of my water wisteria is growing nicely, and the amazon sword is getting taller  I may have some green in my thumb after all.. xD Not that it takes much with these plants...


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Also, I think Fried is finally colouring up - his tail has that copper iridescence in the centre, with a white band around the edge. Now his starting to get that copper iridescence on his body, and the white band around his tail is turning orange/pink... I've never seen anything like it before. It's rather pretty


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Fried sounds beautiful. Now—post pictures!


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

As requested, a sneak peek (since I'm going to be late for work lol). Fried, and my little PK cause he was jealous xD


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

I'm sorry if I made you late! >< Fried looks very handsome.


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

He has beautiful fins!

I have some guppy endlers in a community tank with my male betta, and he doesn't bother them at all. My guy sounds like yours so hopefully you won't have any problems.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Feng - lol I was running late because I was lazy today xD I made it to work JUST on time  But thank you, I'll upload some more updates on Fried once I have the mental capacity to.. It's been a long day lol

Dayton - Thank you  I thing it should be fine. If I'm correct, the guppies will be young, so hopefully a bit faster as well. Plus with all the space and other fish swimming around, my betta should be better occupied.


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Turns out, I didn't get as many good shots of Fried as I originally thought. He's so active and dance-y when he gets excited and is flaring. So here's the only other decent shots I got of him xD















And to make up for the lack of fish photos, here are some photos of my fur babies 

Harley Quinn, being adorable as usual 








Sting and his toes <3








Sting in my husband's hat (cat in a hat )








Sting and Harley "snuggling" lol
Sting: "This stinky thing is squishing meeeee..."








And finally Cisqua enjoying her evening nap xD


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

So I finally kicked my butt into gear and set up the divided 10 gallon for Natsu and Gildarts. I decided that Gildarts was probably the best fit since he's not as aggressive as Natsu, and therefore they hopefully should leave each other alone when it comes to meeting at the divider.
I TOTALLY forgot how loooooooong Natsu's ventral fins are. When he swims, they reach past his butt, almost past where his tail droops. And the one still has clear tips, meaning it's still growing...






'








Here are my two divided 10 gallons side by side. Now before anyone has to remind me, yes, the new 10 gallon is quite bare. I stole some water wisteria and hornwort from my 30 gallon, and I hope it will grow quickly in the 10 gallon. I may pick up a pack of fake plants at walmart on pay day too, depending on how much money I have left after rent >.<


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## Sathori (Jul 7, 2013)

Soo update:

Bettas are all doing good. HMPKEE has a bit of a cloudy eye, just one, but it seems to be clearing up. His other eye is fine, and he is as active as ever. Fried, who shares the divided 10 gallon with the HMPKEE is in perfect health, so I wonder if the HMPKEE just poked his eye on something. I wouldn't put it past him with how much he zips around.

Corydoras are still slowly dying, one by one. I'm down to 3 albinos and about 6 false juliis. I don't know what's going on. They all look healthy, they are all eating, then one randomly kicks the bucket. 

I'm missing one rasbora. I say missing because I now only have 4, instead of 5, and there's no body to be seen :/ A neon looked like he had a mild case of popeye, but he's fine now after the water change. Something strange is going on in that tank...
Rasboras are still spawning however. Perhaps I need to get more to even out how much attention the females are getting from the male lol.

I don't plan on getting any more corydoras for this tank - they are just not doing well in it. If they end up all dying (which really sucks...) I'll probably just stock more rasboras and a handful of guppies in there - stick with mid-level fish.

I'm pretty sure my nerite in my 10 gallon died today. Plenty of algae (green and brown) on the plants and decor, some on the glass still as well. Sheesh...
All parameters are fine, nothing seems to be out of whack...

I've been quite lucky that all my bettas are doing fantastic *knock on wood*. No illnesses or deaths in my bettas, all healthy and happy.

Finally moved my filters around so everyone has a good, functioning filter again. Took the Aqua Clear 20 off the 30 gallon since the Aqua Clear 50 should be seeded and cycled by now. Put it on the new 10 gallon. Used the filter from the new 10 gallon in Mystogan's 5 gallon tank.

Also, I had my district manager tell my manager that we should only be doing water changes ONCE A WEEK in our store, for the little cups our bettas are in. I had shown her the ammonia test I did on the water after missing one day, and she just said "Well there must just be something in your water". I wish I could have given her a piece of my mind, without risking my job... She has absolutely NO experience in fish keeping, but acts like she's the know it all... *sigh*


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