# Hannah's Water Babies (a journal)



## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

I am officially starting my own journal thread! This will be my first entry.

*Wed 5/14/2020*

You guessed it... I call my aquatic pets, "water babies". Weird? Maybe a little, but here we are. I feel like I should give a short description of what I have going on in my world right now. I have a 72 gallon community tank that has been running for over a year. I have a ton of little guys in there. Tetras, mollies, platies, a couple BN plecos & now my bettas. I do keep my male and female betta in the community tank (it's been about a month since I've gotten them) and I know I know... Controversial. So far, it's been peaches and cream. Everybody gets along so I'm feeling good. I do, however, plan on setting up separate tanks for the bettas in the near future. Not because they aren't getting along fine in the community, but because I'd love to showcase them individually. I have several 10 gallon tanks- so I imagine I will use those. Oh, I also have a turtle! He's a little red eared slider (about 4 inches) and he lives in my outdoor pond. That's all I have for water babies right now, and everything is going great. I am looking forward to getting the tanks set up for the bettas. Maybe some day I can give a shot at breeding....  
Okay so how about some more about the bettas. My male is a mustard gas HM and his name is Butter Bean. I fell in love with his grump face. His nickname is "grumpbag", even though he's far from it. He has been quite the gentleman and seems quite peaceful. The only aggression I've seen from him is when the male mollies get in his face- he doesn't appreciate that and I don't blame him. I have one male molly who is quite the pest- if you could describe a fish as a crackhead- that'd be him. My female is a plain jane blue veiltail and her name is Gypsy. She is more adventurous and brave than Butter Bean. She explores the whole tank and doesn't seem to be afraid of ANYTHING. I really enjoy watching her and she always comes up to the glass to say hello.
I am getting ready to move to a new house at the end of June, so I am feeling VERY anxious about having to move the tank. Once I get settled in the new house is when I plan on getting the bettas into their new tanks. I may set them up here soon, just to get the cycle going. The house is only about a 5 minute drive from where I'm at now, so I should be able to save water and get everything set back up in a short amount of time so I don't lose any BB from filter/decor/ect. Fingers crossed! 🤞
I don't plan on doing much with the tank(s) until I move- so not sure how exciting this journal will be until then. But I thought it would be fun to start one and share my adventures with everyone. Until next time...


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## fishowner550 (Mar 26, 2020)

What a great journal! Im excited to keep hearing about your waterbabies!


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## Mr Grumpy (Feb 28, 2020)

> You guessed it... I call my aquatic pets, "water babies". Weird? Maybe a little


You have not been a member on this site for long have you? We all refer to our fish as water babies, its " weird " ones that don't LOL.


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

Mr Grumpy said:


> You have not been a member on this site for long have you? We all refer to our fish as water babies, its " weird " ones that don't LOL.


Well then I should fit right in!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Fri 5/15/2020*

Second entry- let's do it! I just noticed that on my first entry I put "wed" and it was actually thursday. WAY TO GO. 🤪 Anyway, not much to write about but did want to share some photos I took this morning of the bettas. I will share at the bottom of the post. Take a look at my guy, the LFS sold him as a "mustard gas halfmoon".... And I am by no means a betta expert, shoot, I'm just a newbie. But to me, he looks like a delta. Let me know your thoughts? Either way, I still love my grumpbag. Also snapped a shot of Gypsy- not a super clear shot of her, but I think it's a fun picture. She's such a dark blue and when the light hits her just right she is just this beautiful shade, it's like an indigo. She has been spending a lot of time hanging out with my dalmation mollies. At first, I was worried she would be aggresive towards them but from what I've seen she just wants to hang out. She follows the pack around and seems interested in everything they do. So great, now I have a betta who thinks she's a molly. LOL 
In the non-betta part of my world, I have platies who are ready to drop fry. Most of these will be snackies for the rest of the group- but it's always exciting to see if 1 or 2 will make it! I had a dalmation molly drop fry a few weeks ago and I've seen 2 still hanging around- so we'll see if they make it. Rooting for those little stinks- they are so cute! Tomorrow is water change day, so I will have to make sure I don't suck anybody up... 😅


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## Fish 4 sale ¢50 a fish. (Sep 30, 2019)

Your male and female live together, mine too. My brother has sort of "loaned" me is fish because we are trying to breed them. My Dad wants them to breed without conditioning, even though they are SUPER jet lagged. Anyway I added them to the breeding tank and all the do is sleep together. They have been at it for a whole entire day!

I hope they will snap out of it soon so I can remove them and start conditioning them for spawning.


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

Oh poor things- they must need the rest! I've never bred bettas so I'm not sure everything that goes into it but good luck!


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## littlescallop33 (May 16, 2020)

Loving the journal so far, and your Bettas look beautiful! ❤ I have one Betta and he looks similar (fin shape wise) to your mustard half moon, I’m not sure what type he is either..


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## HannahsHabitats (Nov 14, 2018)

Aww I love your water babies!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Sat 5/15/20*

Water change day! So I actually enjoy water change day- is that totally wierd? 😜 Anyway here's what happened.... Vacuuming as normal and watching for fry. I saw only 1 molly fry so either the rest got eaten or are dang good hiders! So I'm almost done vacuuming and BOOM.... I suck up a neon tetra. He goes up into the vacuum (doesn't go up into the main hose) and I'm freaking out. I've never sucked up a fish before! I don't know what to do! I see him swimming inside the vacuum and I panic and start shaking the vaccum. Wrong thing to do! Now he's twirling around in a water tornado inside the dang vacuum! Im screaming at the fish at this point, "get out you idiot!" And apparently this worked because he swam right out. Whew! Finished up and checked everybody a few hours after- everybody seems okay. I'm hoping platy will drop fry tonight since I did water change.... We'll see!
As far as betta world goes- same old. Gypsy is still hanging out with the mollies. Whatever makes her happy LOL. Butter Bean is such a gentleman. He waits for his pellets at the top of tank and doesn't give any reaction to the platies and mollies bumping into him. I am trying to feed the little guys on one side and the bettas on the other but sometimes it doesn't go to plan... 😅 Such good bettas! Maybe I just got very lucky!


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## Mbpoppy (Nov 3, 2019)

Your bettas are lovely!!



HannahJo93 said:


> Gypsy is still hanging out with the mollies. Whatever makes her happy LOL.


Will she get lonely if/when you move her out?


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

Mbpoppy said:


> Your bettas are lovely!!
> 
> 
> Will she get lonely if/when you move her out?


I'm not sure. I know everywhere you read bettas are solitary fish that don't want/need tank mates- but my girl seriously seems to enjoy having buddies. I could leave her in the community and just get another pretty boy to put in one of the solitary tanks! Not against that idea! 😁


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## Mbpoppy (Nov 3, 2019)




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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Mon 5/18/20*

Happy Monday! I visited my parents over the weekend and scored some aquarium stuff! My mom (well it was mostly my step-father who did it) used to keep a couple aquariums. I was grown and out of the house already so I wasn't around for much of it. They have since split up, but we discovered he left most of the aquarium stuff in my mom's basement. We were down there looking for something and I saw a couple tanks and stuff and was immediately excited! So I left with a 10 gallon tank with a topper & lights, 2 air pumps & tons of air line, a gravel vacuum and a heater. I'd say that's a good deal for FREE so I am pretty excited! I plugged in everything to make sure it's working and it's all good to go! 
In other news, my platies have still not dropped their fry. I did my water change this weekend and was really hopping they'd pop at night- but nope. But I did find that I have 3 molly fry that have survived! I guess the addition of "Fry Town" (new caves/plants) I put in the tank has helped the little stinks- they are so cute!
I am really starting to think my bettas are broken... Not in a bad way! My female thinks she's a molly, I swear! She even blends in with them, she's so dark that sometimes I think she's my all black molly. I have to double take sometimes and then I'm like oh no, that's Gypsy pretending to be a molly.  Butter Bean is as far from aggressive as anything. I have been trying very hard to feed the bettas on one side of the tank and the rest on the other. The other fish don't even like the betta food- but they still put it in their mouth and spit it back out, jerkbags. Anyway, Butter Bean just waits so patiently at the top for his food and even when the other fish come banging into him he just waits. He has started following my hand/fingers when I feed. So I have been trying to feed him 1 piece of food at a time, I drop it right in front of him so he can grab it. It's been working pretty good, I think he knows how it works! I definitely can't wait to get him in his own tank- I am going to go ahead and fill up one of the 10 gallons this week and get it cycling for him. It should be cycled by the time we are settled into our new house and then I can pop him in there. I am thinking I will leave Gypsy in the community- for now she's having a good time so why change it. So now I'm excited about getting another pretty boy for one of the other 10 gallons- I want a koi betta so bad! I'll try to get a picture of Gypsy hanging out with the mollies- but it's hard since everything is always moving!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Tues 5/19/2020*

Snapped a shot of Butter Bean.. Pretty boy!❤❤❤


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Fri 5/22/20*

Finally friday, my favorite! So today I am going to paint the backside of Butter Bean's (new) tank and hopefully get it all set up and going. I haven't quite decided on a color yet. I posted in the forum earlier this morning asking for suggestions. I really want to try a glitter/sparkle paint! I've never seen this done, so I'm not sure how it would turn out....... I was thinking blue or black. ORRRR I found this "glitter holographic galaxy" paint which looks super cool! Either way, that's happening today! I also need to grab substrate and a few plants for it. I am really leaning towards trying out live plants. I say "trying out" because I've never had a planted tank. It scares me a little bit, but I think I need to give it a go! Wish me luck! 
Fish updates: Nothing new. Water change day tomorrow so we'll see how many fry are still hanging in there! Last I saw there were 3 molly fry. Gypsy is still pretending to be a molly and Butter Bean is still a wimp. 😂 Ok, so he's not a wimp but he's just so totally chill. He is looking good! His color is looking less faded every day and we've got a good feeding routine down. Except for Gypsy.... Again, she has to be a wierdo. She won't eat the betta pellets at all. She spits them out. She instead goes for the tropical fish flakes. I don't want her eating those, I want her eating the betta pellets! I think I am going to grab some worms and see if she will eat those. She is such a character!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Tues 5/26/20*

Welcome to tuesday! I had a 3 day weekend and it was so fabulous. 😊 The weather is about perfect right now, not too hot and not too cold. Turtle man has been enjoying his time outside catching some rays! I got Butter Bean's 10 gallon set up- so that's rocking. I painted the glass a sparkly black and used black sand- looks pretty good! I will post pics later on. I think once it's cycled, I will try to add a few live plants and see how that turns out. I can't wait to get Butter Bean in there! He's doing well in the community, I just feel bad when the mollies bump him and get in his face at feeding time. I have been feeding him one piece of food at a time and I actually ward off the mollies with my other hand. 😅 They don't even like his food! They literally put it in their mouth and then spit it out- they are such fat pigs! So when they finish up their flakes they come flying to the other side of the tank...  Well- I will try to get on a little later and get some pics on here!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

Butter Bean's future home- 10 gallon.... Well, hopefully once it's cycled I can add real plants. I've never had a planted tank so I'm pretty excited to try it out. 😊

















And here's a picture of the turtle pond since I mentioned it in my last post! It's been so beautiful outside- the turtle is loving it. He's hiding in the caves in this pic but trust me, he's out sun bathing 90% of the time. 🌞


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Wed 5/27/2020*

Well I was feeding today and noticed Gypsy was being kind of spicey. As you know, she pretends to be a molly and hangs out with the pack most of the time. But today during feeding I noticed she was shooing off the pack. Not usual for her- maybe she's having a rough day, maybe she's extra hungry, or maybe she's coming to her senses amd realizing she's not a molly and wants them away from her...  She stopped chasing after feeding was over so not sure what to make of it. Will have to keep an eye on her! Maybe she will need to move to her own 10G, which is fine by me! More tanks mean more possibilities.  I have always wanted to do a color themed tank. You know, make all the decor and stuff the same color. I really want a pink one buuutttt not sure how Gypsy would fit in. Shes an absolutely beautiful blue in the right light- almost an indigo. It's hard to get her picture cuz she's always on the go or mixed in with the mollies. I snapped one of her today that's not great but shows her beautiful color. She looks a little chunky- could be cuz she just wolfed down everybody's food or maybe she's eggy?


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Thurs 5/28/2020*


I don't have much to share today but I wanted to share my dream tank(s). I think it's fun to pencil out dreams/future plans. It's even fun to come back later and see what you were dreaming of at the time! So here's some of my dreams....
I want some peacock cichlids! Oh my gosh- how gorgeous are they!? I've never ever had cichlids, have no idea about care for them, but I would love to have a biiiiiig cichlid tank! 
I would love to have a school of brightly colored discus! Again, they are sooo gorgeous! I love bright colored fish. I have done a little research on caring for them and I think I could definitely pull this one off! 
The next one is probably a lot closer to happening then the first two... I would love to have a rainbow betta or 2...or 3.... Ok, so not sure that's what they are actually called but if you do a google search on "rainbow betta" it comes up with some absolutely stunning color variations!
Oh, I also want to have a koi pond filled with butterfly koi. They are beautiful!
The other thing I want to do, which is kind of odd, is have a bunch of color themed tanks. So this would be separate little tanks but all the décor and stuff is one color. You know, a pink one, a blue one, a lime green one, ect. Orrrrr, do like a tank in each room of the house to kind of "match" the room. So like, my bathroom is beach themed so the tank would be a beach theme. My bedroom is kind of an oriental theme, so the tank would be oriental theme.
Lots to dream about!!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Thurs 6/4/20*

Haven't posted much in several days- not much going on to share. I have Butter Bean's new tank cycling so that's exciting! I have decided I am definitely putting more plants/coverage for him in there. Heading to the LFS this weekend to pick up some stuff. Realllllyyyy want to try live plants- but I think I'm going to wait on that a little longer. We are getting ready to move at the end of this month. Tank should be cycled by then but probably won't put Butter Bean in there until after we move. I'm going to try my absolute best to make the move as easy as possible on the tanks. The tanks should only be waterless for about 30 minutes tops. The drive is only about 10 minutes. So I figure, we drain the tanks, move everything, and get them filled right back up as soon as they are moved into the new house. I would be devastated if I killed off all my BB- so going to work as fast as possible! Makes me anxious just thinking about it...
I am also thinking about taking another 10G and dividing it so I can put Gypsy in one side and another female in the other. But that project can wait until we are moved. 😅


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## Mbpoppy (Nov 3, 2019)

Hi! Do you have to drain the tanks completely, especially for such a short drive? If not, by leaving some water in the bottom - 3-4 inches maybe a little more depending? you might be able to keep some of that BB going...


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

My big tank is 72 G- so I imagine we'll have to drain almost all the water otherwise it will be too heavy. I think the sand alone is 50+ pounds so not sure if we can keep much water in there. I will definitely try! Should be much easier with the 10 G.


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Tues 7/7/20*

Well it's been awhile since I've posted. 😅 A lot going on in my world these last few weeks! The house deal was a no-go.... That turned into a whole hot mess. So we aren't moving now.... Mixed emotions about that. Anyway, all the water babies are doing great! I have 3 dalmation molly fry who have survived and they are all so stinkin' cute. I have one who is a beautiful coloration- it's a beautiful bright white with just a few specs here and there- so beautiful.  Bettas are doing good good good. I think I got lucky with these 2 easy keepers. I was cycling a new 10G tank for Butter Bean but have decided to keep him in the community for a little while longer. Gypsy has grown apart from the mollies, which makes me a little sad... I did enjoy watching her hang out with them. She spends most of her time alone- she is super friendly with me though. She loves to come up and say hi! Neither her or Butter Bean have shown an ounce of mean, which I am so grateful for. I was not sure how living in the community would end up, but they have both been so good from the start. Gypsy owns the left side of the tank and Butter Bean owns the right side. They do feed together and then go back to their sides of the tank. I recently re-arranged the tank and added some more coverage and plants. Butter Bean absolutely LOVES one of the new thick floaty plants- that's his new hang out. I will try to post some pics later on today!
Oh, I also discovered recently that plecos can naturally camoflauge themselves by changing colors. I had no idea- and when I noticed my girl starting to get these odd looking different colored patches, I was freaking out.... But turns out, she's just camoflauging and she actually looks pretty cool!  I put a new little cave in the tank when I re-arranged, so I'm wondering if my plecos will breed. I would absolutely love to have some little baby bristle noses!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

New set up..








Butter Bean hanging out in the plant- his new fav!








Look who I found on the betta hamock...


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Thursday 7/23/20*

Happy thursday! It's water change day for me! My water change day used to be every sat or sun then I switched to wed... I missed yesterday so it's happening a day late- hope they forgive me. 🙃 Last week, I was doing water change and discovered a bunch of babies! I think 3 or 4 mollies and 1 platy. This will be my first surviving platy fry so I'm pretty excited! It looks to be a painted platy so that's super cool! I have 3 mollies from a previous batch that have survived into adulthood. Well, they aren't quite adults but they are big enough now that I think they'll make it. I'd say they are about 3/4 the size of the adults.
The bettas are doing a-okay, as usual. I noticed Gypsy had some fin rippage on her bottom fin a few weeks ago. It appeared right after I re-scaped the tank so I'm thinking that had something to do with it. I don't know if she got herself caught or wedged on something. I don't remember squishing her or hitting her with anything while I was moving stuff but anything is possible. She could have done it to herself by mistake. Either way, it's looking much better already. I thought for a split second that maybe Butter Bean was beating up on her- but after watching them for so long I decided that was probably not the case. He has never beat up on her before and they pretty much stay away from each other (except for feeding time) and even then, I have never seen them chase or fight. I will continue to monitor, as always, but it does appear to be healing and no new damage so I'm thinking it was just a mishap!


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## HannahJo93 (May 14, 2020)

*Thursday 8/13/2020*

Hello and happy thursday! We had some absolutely terrible storms pass through this week which left many cities without power. Thankfully, I was on the tail end of the bad stuff and did not lose power. But it got me thinking- what would happen if I lost power for a couple hours or worse, a couple days? Sure, I thought about the fridge/freezer and the loss of all the food, I thought about the A/C and how hot it would get, I thought about the water heater and no hot showers....But what about my aquarium? I have 2 filters, 2 heaters and 2 lights going on that bad boy. I can't even imagine it going down for more than a few hours.  So now I'm thinking we need to buy a generator just in-case. I mean, we do live within tornado alley and experience the wrath of all 4 seasons. I live in southeast Iowa so we get it all!
So anyway, the water babies are doing so good! I have A TON of babies! I re-scaped the tank a few weeks ago and since then we've had an explosion of babies. I think by adding more plant coverage and a few more hidey spots, the babies have been surviving. I have at least 2 platy babies that I am SUPER stoked about! I have molly babies but this is my first time seeing any platy babies make it! Looks like I have a mickey mouse and a painted. I need to try and grab pictures. The bettas are fine and dandy! Butter Bean is loving the new tank set up- he spends a lot of time chilling on the big viney plant in the back. Gypsy is well....Gypsy.  She's moody, she's playful, she's fiesty, she's something else! For awhile there she was hanging out with the mollies, now she doesn't want anything to do with them. She doesn't want anything to do with anybody except me. LOL She begs for food more than Butter Bean does now. I think she's one of those fish who I could teach to do tricks- like jump through a hoop or something.  Her fin rippage is seeming to heal up- I put in some stress-coat with aloe vera hoping that would help out some. I'm 99% sure nobody is beating her up- I think this was just an accident. Because I'll tell you what, nobody is messing with her! She's a bossy boss grumpy pants. Even Butter Bean steers clear of her.


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