# Mother's Day sorority!



## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I have my first Aquabid betta (this guy:







)being sent from trans-shipper Hopdiggity tomorrow, and today I noticed that she had a large variety of different-colored imported females up for auction! Since I want a sorority eventually and could save money by combining the shipping for my male, I went ahead and bought them. 

These will be my new sorority girls, arriving Tuesday or Wednesday. I'm excited.  What do you think?


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

They look beautiful! I'm in love with that red girl and the platinum rosey one! The one beneath that one is beautiful too! I'm a sucker for metallic girls 

Happy mother's day!


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## BennieBetta (May 4, 2013)

Sooo pretty I got Mothers Day girls too!!





















Hopefully my pictures will make it on here, though my phone doesn't do these pretty ladies justice;-)


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## Fenghuang (Dec 28, 2012)

Wow, that's going to be one gorgeous sorority. Congrats and Happy Mother's Day.


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## Catw0man (Jan 24, 2013)

Congrats! Awesome ladies!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you! I do notice, looking at them all together like that, that I picked out an awful lot of red fins, but I hope they look beautiful together. Hopdiggity had a gorgeous steel blue I would have liked to have, too, but I just can't have them all.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Is anyone able to tell me if the girls are good quality, have good conformation, etc.? I'm not interested in breeding at all, but I would like to know.


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## Otterfun (Dec 31, 2012)

Why are the pics taken with almost no water so they lay flat on the cup?
I do not like the way photos were taken as a result .


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## jesssan2442 (Feb 19, 2013)

you'll have one beautiful sorority!! I think natural decor will really bring out all their colors!! some of them look kind of alike but them they don't at the same time (I know that doesn't make sense)


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I think the pics are taken that way because the woman I bought from is a transshipper, and she had just received the fish in from Taiwan. They probably live in the cups until she ships them out, and that was the only way to really show what they look like. I agree it's not flattering, though!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

And yeah, I did notice, once I put the pics all together like that, that I have an awful lot of red fins. Ah well. I think/hope they will be beautiful together anyway.


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## Janan (Mar 6, 2013)

I looked at those females, too! I'm glad you got them.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I wish I knew enough about females to tell if they are good quality or not. I'm too new to this to know. It's not that I'm interested in breeding, but I'm curious.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

At 12:30 today, my Aquabid sorority and beautiful male arrived! I was so excited when I unpacked them, and I was even more excited when I realized that the transshipper (Hopdiggity: Jennifer Viveiros)--from whom I'd also bought the sorority--had included a beautiful steel blue female as a gift.

I paid for Express shipping, because I didn't want to risk them. They all arrived in gorgeous shape.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

The male (from Aquastar) is unbelievably beautiful, even in his plastic bag.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I set everyone in their tanks to begin to acclimate them. (The off color of the tanks is due to the Tetracycline I dosed them with, in accordance with the Taiwanese exporter's instructions).


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I let them sit, and I tested the water one more time in the meantime. Dammit. In the sorority tank, the ammonia had gotten up to .25 during the day. I changed the water (25%), and tested again. It was .25. I changed the water, and tested again: .25. Again: .25 (though it was so close I had to ask my sharper-eyed son which color it was closer to). I changed the water again. ZERO! So relieved.

I was being careful of the temperature of the water I added, and the temperature remained about an even 78.


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## Megara (Feb 7, 2013)

what size tank are you putting all those lovely ladies in??


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

These girls are all from the same breeder in Taiwan, and though I'll be glad to eat crow if I'm proven wrong, I don't believe I need to quarantine each separately before I add them. I've been watching the girls, and looking at them, deciding which I want to go in first.

This girl is the sweetest, from everything I can tell. When I take her out of the tank, her eyes never leave me. She will get to feel queen of the tank, for at least a little while.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

It's a 20-gallon long NPT.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

So beautiful! Lol and yeah I thought my Cherry was sweet like Cherry Pie, come to find out she was the alpha for a while! And then Mystique put her back in her place lol.

Good luck with them! They are sure to be a beautiful sorority!! That was so very kind of Jennifer to send you a gift as well 

And I personally feel as though you don't necessarily NEED to QT them, but I always feel safer if I do. If they do happen to have anything, they'll most likely all have the same thing anyway lol, thus possibly making it easier to treat, but who knows 

Tank looks nice too, although you might need more cover for those girls, I assume you know this though 

I want more pictures once everyone's settle! :blueyay:


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## Megara (Feb 7, 2013)

Stunning!!!...its beautiful!!..GOOd luck with ur Girls!!!!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Yeah, I have some more floating plants arriving tomorrow. I hope they'll be happy enough, and that the plants grow quickly.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Second to go in will be this little girl. (None of them are named, by the way. I'd like a theme....)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Okay cool!! There's one floating plant that I absolutely adore and recommend it to everyone! It's Water Sprite! I started off with a small plant that had been grown in a pot but I wanted it to float so I left it there and it grows like crazy! I now have big bunches in all 5 of my tanks (the 10 gallon is split so I've got a few pieces in each compartment) And then I have a huge 3 foot mother plant  It's wonderful and my girls love to sleep in it, it also helps them from chasing each other through it because it can hinder their swimming sometimes which makes it easier for the chasee to get away.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

This is the gorgeous male I got. Even though he's not part of the sorority, obviously, he did just arrive today.


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## Mashiro (Dec 2, 2012)

Wow, these females are gorgeous! I love the tank too, I've been wanting a planted Sorority pretty badly. So threads like these are great to research!

Thank you!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you! Here is the third girl who'll go in....


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I decided that Little Miss 13 would go in next, but WOW did she turn bossy when she got out of her bag! Hopefully she's fine to be set out in the middle.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Next girl! Look at her beautiful tail!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

This big, beautiful steel blue girl was my gift from Jennifer and will go in sixth.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

This pretty turquoise is Lucky Number 7!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

And this big blue--the largest of the bunch--will be the last one to go in.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

They're fussing amongst each other a bit, but hopefully that's okay. :-/


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

And the boy (again, not part of the sorority, but arrived today)--I'm going to call him Courtland, after a variety of turquoise that has white in it. And because he's courtly.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah there's going to be fighting for the first two weeks or so. If anything gets really bad you can take the bully and put her in a plastic breeder box so they can still see each other, just not inflict any damage. I've had luck with only leaving them in 2 days but sometimes they need to be left in for about 2 weeks until everyone settles down and gets used to seeing each other.

Just because they were from the same breeder doesn't mean they were all necessarily in contact with each other all the time 

I love that boy though! He's beautiful!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you, Lil! I love him, too! He is on my desk, so I will get to stare at his gorgeousness all day.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha, best place for him! ^^


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

wow their amazing beautiful colors!


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## BlueInkFish (Jan 13, 2013)

wow your male looks beautiful!!!!! i want a betta fish now! lucky duck =D


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

It's hard to get a picture of the sorority all together, but here's a try.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I am amazed at how astoundingly happy these girls seem so far. No more fussing with each other at all, already, and they're all exploring all over the tank.  I'm loving them and want more for the sorority already!


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

That's awesome! I got to tell you though, that's how mine started out. Everything was peachy and then a week later the nipping started! I mean, no one got hurt or nothing, but I could see the difference. Maddie is actually in QT right now...not sure what happened but she hit her head on something...could have been the heater, filter, driftwood, breeder net for the Platy fry....so she's in there right now healing up that wound and hopefully healing her fins while we're at it since she's the lowest on the totem pole.

But don't fear! They're still doing wonderfully and everything else is all good!

We have a 29 gallon at my moms that's waiting to be set up once we sell the piano! I hope I can do another sorority in there  I think my mom wants a Dwarf Gourami and some tetras or something but I hope I can convince her for the Betta's, it would just give me an excuse to rescue some more girls, heal them up and make a sorority....or get them from Aquabid lol

I still love your sorority and the best of luck with it!


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

Ahhhhhhhhhh I so want to snatch that third girl from you D:

I just started my sorority April 1st  lilnaugrim is right, you'll probably see some nipping, if not right away, but it should be just fine. Most experienced sorority keepers here will tell you not to mess with things and the girls should sort it out on their own... And it's mostly true.

I add vitachem to my tanks to help the fins of the girls who have nipped tails but MOST of the damage is just those straight tears that heal in a day. I still see some fin damage, but not too much, and for the most part they get along fine while I'm watching them besides a few short chases. I really like to lay on my bed and sit still... When they see me, they all crowd to the front corner of the tank but when I sit very still and don't let them see me I get to see them exploring the tank like they do when I'm not around ^_^

Hehe, I'm sneaky.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Haha I do the same thing Ayala! Just sit on my bed and watch them, although half the time they still see me >< Even my cory's come up to greet me sometimes!! It's cute ^^

Oh having a plastic breeder box will help too for bully's since you don't want to actually remove them from the sight of the other girls, just a time out  I've only had to do that once so far! But for the most part, you can stay out of it until you see someone starting to inflict a lot of damage or something, then you can step in, but they'll figure it out eventually ;D

(Sorry if you already knew the above info)


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

I'm lucky to have never had to give anyone a time out, although when Lotus got some buoyancy issues from over-eating I believe, I did bag her just for a few seconds so I could feed the others.

They're so weird. All of them but Lotus crowd into the corner when I feed them, so when I spread out the food, 5 of the girls only get the food in that ONE CORNER and Lotus goes around and gets the rest of the food that's NOT in that corner. So that's why she had SBD issues -_- She's also the only one who will eat the pellets as they're sinking.

She's always been my "loner" girl. When I first introduced them, she found a little corner for herself and swam around there. The other girls couldn't see her so she didn't get disturbed.

I guess I got lucky. Lotus and Stella are my two EE siblings, Daihatsu, Ascari, and Kuraokami are my dragon siblings, and Mercy, my purple girl with no siblings, is my "peacemaker". She's the only one the aggressor won't chase. She'll break up fights but she won't chase/nip others unless they're aggressive first.

<3


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Yeah that's the same with my girl Little Blue, she only eats the sinking pellets lol, but I make sure enough sink so she can get them.

I was also lucky because 6 of my girls came from the same breeder so I assume same spawn since they're all about the same age. But they've always been together, that much I know, so I don't generally have too much issues with them. And then the three other girls were all PetCo/Petsmart girls but they get along fine


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

It's so hard to get pictures of them! That room has a lot of glare.

Here are a few, though.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Here's another:


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Beautiful! Yeah my room has glare as well, such a pain!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

This little girl in the center is one of my favorites. She has a ton of personality.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Congrats on all of the new fish! I wish I was able to have a sorority. Ah, well. Someday.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Hopdiggity had more girls up, all different colors, so I bought seven more to add to the sorority. They are going to be so gorgeous together! I cannot wait to see how they all look.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Here are the ones I chose to complement the ones I already have:


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

If you're looking for quality, the third one down is deffinantly my favorite. & I'd love to own such a gorgeous girl for breeding... 

They'll look great as a sorority! But I do agree, the cups with no water - not very flattering.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Oh, thank you! I actually supposed that her little monster face was considered to be a fault, but I love white faces--you can see their eyes so much better!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

And yeah, I don't like the photos. The only good thing about it is that my girls look much prettier in the tank than they do in their pictures!


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

For the ones you already own, the first two & the white are absolutly gorgeous.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thanks! I think they will all look lovely together. I am already jonesing for a bigger sorority tank.


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## bettafishlover101 (Jul 24, 2012)

or erm. your seven new ones


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## Tabbie82 (Jan 24, 2013)

Congratulations on the new sorority! I had been looking at some of those girls. Jennifer has such pretty fish up on Aquabid. I want to start a sorority soon and am glad to hear yours is going so well. Gives me hope for my own! Your girls are all very beautiful!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you! I'm still early in the process. I hope these will do as well as the ones I added this past week!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I installed a ZooMed Flora-Sun lamp today, because some of the plants don't seem to be doing well under full-spectrum. The tank does look a bit brighter, but mainly the spectrum of the lamp really brings out the colors of my girls just beautifully. Several looked almost the same color before, and now you can tell that they definitely are not.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Ooh, I love the girl in the front with the green body and the red fins! It reminds me of one of bryanacute's late males, Neptune. I think he is still her avatar.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you! She has a few darker scales close up, and a "skunk" (dragon?) stripe down her back.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

The rest of my girls arrived today! Very exciting.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Whoa! How many girls is that total?


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Is that 31?


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

No. It will be 17 total. I went by the advice on the sorority article at bettysplendens.com--she said that a good number is one girl per gallon.

Here they are acclimating!


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

I must have counted some twice! Oops. And yes. I know how to count.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I had posted pictures of them when I got them. You probably added these to those.


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

That would make sense!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

I'm extremely nervous about adding them in! These other girls get along perfectly and have had two weeks to sort out their pecking order.

I put in a large piece of driftwood and an extra hide, redid some of the plants. I'll see how it goes....Fingers crossed!


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## AyalaCookiejar (Nov 20, 2012)

To be honest, IMO, I think your biggest concern here is not whether or not the girls will get along, but whether or not suddenly adding so many fish to your tank will cause a spike. I know you have live plants but it can be difficult to tell.

I honestly think the girls will be fine. If anything, regarding the tank itself, I'd add some more broad leafed plants or throw in some silk plants until the live ones really fill in. But they will likely be just fine. You'll see some nips and chasing and flaring and slapping (or you won't) but they'll figure that out on their own, usually. They are counting on you to make sure that there aren't any spikes.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Yeah, I am going to do water checks every day to make sure it's going well. At least I'm fully cycled now--it was so easy with the plants. I expect I'll need to be doing a lot of water changes the first week or two.


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

First in goes my copper gas female. She is a pretty one!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Next goes the girl I want to breed to Courtland, the handsome boy in my avatar. She is gorgeous and lively!


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Next is.....?


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Black copper.


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## Adnamac (Apr 18, 2013)

Some really gorgeous girls you've got there! <3


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Now my sweet-looking little yellow girl....


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Opaque white....


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Chocolate!


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## lilyth88 (Mar 15, 2012)

Drooling


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

A blue-eyed golden orange....


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Pink dragon! (Though she looks an awful lot like my "platinum red" and my "silver fire dragon"....)


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Darn, wish my sorority looked that good! lol I also have a lot of look-alikes and actually have two pastel twins. I bought two more DS's today, both blue and then on a surprise I got in my AB girl that Catw0man bought me! Still waiting for the other girl though who's a white DS with yellow fins.

I love your yellow girl though, she looks a lot like mine, so adorable!!

:nicefish:


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

Thank you!

And my gosh, I was adding in my little red monster last, because Betty Splendens said in her article on sororities that the reds tend to be the most aggressive....

So I had her in some tank water and her bag water, floating in a cup....I came back downstairs to add in some more tank water...and she had jumped out into the midst of the whole rest of the sorority and was busy bossing them around! So I would say Betty Splendens knows what she is talking about there for sure!

Here's the little monster....She even looks belligerent!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

And here's a picture of the whole tank as it stands now, fully stocked.  

I am so crazy about it. I love this sorority so much.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Beautiful!

Really? Both my reds are near the middle of the totem pole, my Petco girl Mystique is the biggest blue, she's alpha with Aurora next in line who is a pastel. That's very interesting though!


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## Deanna01 (Apr 22, 2013)

My littlest petite platinum red is the alpha. We'll have to see what happens with this other red in, though.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

Lol cute, good luck!


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## lilyth88 (Mar 15, 2012)

Again.... DROOLING!


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## crowntaillove3 (Dec 26, 2012)

Congrats! It looks great.


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