So I've been pretty busy

lately. That new snail died just a few days after I got it. Saturday, I moved both the amazon swords from the 20 gallon to the 55 gallon. I also clipped the baby plant off the big sword and planted it. I got an anubias (Anubias nana) from the Aquarium Store, along with another (little!) African butterfly. The new butterfly is female and the big one is male, so I might try to breed them sometime once this one gets bigger. I used a rubber band to attach the anubias to a piece of driftwood from the 20 and put it in the 55 temporarily.

I moved the Bolivians to the 55, and dropped all the tetras off at PetCo since the angelfish would probably eat them. I hadn't realized that my cory catfish are a bit larger than the Bolivians. In the 20, I took out the wood from the farm because it's starting to rot, and decorated the tank with fake plants and stuff. The only inhabitants of the tank are the baby African butterfly, Trooper the snail, and two golden Dojo loaches (it's hard to get a good picture of them) I got Sunday from PetsMart.

On Monday, I finally cleaned the two 2.5 gallon tanks. I put one in storage, then took the other one up to my room; I want to try a nano planted tank. So I dumped the last of the black Eco-complete substrate into it, took the Java moss from the Liberty's net and spread it on the gravel and added a darkish rock and the small driftwood with the Anubias to hold the moss down. Sometime soon I'm going back to the Aviarium to get a couple male Endler's Livebearers or some dwarf rasboras to help liven up the tank. I would also like to get three Red Cherry shrimp too eventually.

The nitrogen cycle

It's a big problem for many beginner aquarists. The fish and other little critters you may have produce ammonia, which good bacteria convert to nitrites, which are then converted to nitrates. Nitrates are nowhere near as bad for you fish as ammonia (or ammonium, depending on the pH of your tank) and nitrites. The bacteria have to build up over time; you need to "cycle" a new tank with a source of ammonia for usually about four weeks for a good amount. If you can get any material (filter media, substrate, decorations) from an established tank, it's called "seeding" the tank, and the cycle will go much faster and you can get live plants and animals quicker. A good source of ammonia for a new tank cycle would be fish food, as broken-down food gives off ammonia like fish waste. Two types of bacteria, Nitrosomonas and Nitrospira, make up the cycle.

1. the fishless cycle: You set up your brand new tank and put all your substrate and decorations and everything. Install the heater (if needed) and filter, then fill the tank with fresh dechlorinated water. Plug in your appliances; use a thermometer to make sure the heater works and keeps the water at a stable temperature (usually 76-80F is good for a tropical community). If you can't get any material from an established tank, then throw some fish food in every day and test the water for ammonia. 
   
    You should get an ammonia spike after a week or two, and should then start testing for nitrites but keep up with the food. After about another week or two, the nitrites should spike and start to go down again. Once the ammonia and nitrites are completely gone and you have a reading for nitrates, you can start getting fish and plants. Only get one or two fish each week so you don't stress out your bacteria culture. Make sure to research the fish and plants you buy to make sure you can give them the proper care and see if they are compatible for your tank's environment and other inhabitants of your tank.
   
   
   
2. cycling with fish: Another option is to use a fish to help cycle the tank. Since this option may cause serious illness or death to a live animal, it is not recommended. Set up your tank and let the appliances run for three days to make sure they're stable. Then go buy one very hardy fish, like a betta or zebra danio (GloFish are cooler than plain zebras though) and introduce it to your tank. Only feed a few flakes (or whatever it eats) a day, since the fish will produce as much ammonia as you need for the cycle; any extra food is just more for your new bacteria to process. If the fish dies during the cycle, examine the body to make sure it wasn't ill; if it seemed healthy, leave it in the tank since it still produces ammonia which you're going to need for the cycle to finish. 
   
    You should get an ammonia spike after a few days, and should then start testing for nitrites. After about another few days, the nitrites should spike and start to go down again. If the fish died, you can remove the decomposing body and change 25% of the water. Once the ammonia and nitrites are completely gone and you have a reading for nitrates, you can start getting other fish and plants. Only get one or two fish each week so you don't stress out your bacteria culture. Make sure to research the fish and plants you buy to make sure you can give them the proper care and see if they are compatible for your tank's environment and other inhabitants of your tank.
   
   
   
3. bacteria cultures: Instead of using either option given above, you may decide to try a bottled bacteria culture. Using Colonize has given many people success with seeding their tanks. Another good product is Tetra SafeStart, which has given some success.

To keep your fishy friends healthy and happy, you should do partial water changes each week. Take about 20-25% of the existing water (use a gravel vacuum to remove waste and leftover food from the tank) and replace with fresh dechlorinated water. Make sure the temperature of the new water is the same as the old water. This helps to keep nitrates down and replenish trace minerals in your aquarium. Plants also help with nitrates by absorbing them and using excess food and fish waste as fertilizer. When changing filter media, only change a little at a time; like if your filter has a sponge and carbon and floss, change the sponge one week, the carbon the next week, and floss the week after.

(Is it bad that I learned more chemistry stuff in fishkeeping experiences than I did in my chemistry class last year?)

Fish of the Month — December

The African butterfly fish.
(Pantodon buchholzi)

African butterfly fish are not a shoaling fish, so you can have one in your tank and he'll be perfectly happy alone. They get along well with other fish if the others are not top-dwellers. Large floating plants are okay, like plants that aren't duckweed. They get along great with bottom feeders and mid-dwellers. They need to be in at least 20 gallons, with preferably more surface area than depth. They're great jumpers, so you'll need a hood with any holes covered.

Butterfly fish come from west Africa; they're native to Nigeria, Cameroon, and Zaire. The waters are still or slow-moving and with plenty of plant cover.

Sexing butterflies isn't too difficult. The male is slimmer than the female, though that is hard to distinquish unless the female is fat due to carrying eggs. The rear edge of the anal fin of the male is a convex curve and the fin rays form a tube, which is the genital organ. The rear edge of the female anal fin is straight. (The one pictured is a male.)

Butterfly fish are adaptable to many aquarium parameters. They thrive in soft, slightly acidic water with a pH between 6 to 7 and dH between 1 to 10. They can tolerate any pH from 5-8 and dH between 1-19. An ideal temperature for them in the aquarium is around 75-82F (24-28C).

Butterfly fish grow to about 4 inches, sometimes 5. They often accept flakes and pellets made for carnivores, but they love live and frozen foods as well. They will eat small surface fish as well. Mine gets a lot of live crickets and sometimes gets frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp. He also likes freeze-dried bloodworms.

African butterfly fish are not very pretty in color; brown or olive green with unsymmetrical, odd patterns. They have an upturned mouth and big eyes that make them look angry and evil. The pectoral fins are large and wide, making the fish look like a butterfly from above; they help the fish glide above the water to avoid predators and catch flying insects. Butterflies have large fins and a long tail, so they can't be with very nippy fish.


Pros:
-they look awesome
-they're entertaining to watch as they eat live foods
-they have cool color patterns
-they're freaking awesome with their poison-filled tentacles!


Cons:
-they aren't the prettiest colors
-they can't stand other top-dwellers
-they may eat smaller fish
-they need to have a cover for the aquarium

(12/18/2010 EDIT:  I always wondered why my tiger barbs didn't nip at Maxwell's fins. A few people at the Aquarium Store today told me that Butterflies were poisonous! The small tentacle things off their ventral fins are venomous like a lionfish. It'll kill other fish, but feels like a bee sting to humans; if you're allergic to it, you can have very bad reactions.)

So I finally got around

to a water change for the 55 gallon tank. It took 5 hours, and it was nastyyy. I changed out about 25 gallons, so it was a pretty big change. And of course I forgot that my knight gobies are brackish (bad ideaaa) and I filled the tank back up before adding more salt. So I came home from school and they were both dead. It was a great ending to a fantastic day.

What can I say?

I'm a slacker. Every few days or so, I tell myself I'm going to update my blog, but then I never get around to it. Or I just don't feel like it.

A few days after my last post, I got some Crypts for the 20. They all melted and rotted within a week. But the Amazon sword in the 55 has already grown a new plant on a runner, and is sending out another now, so I'll just put those in the 20 sometime. My Argentine swords are starting to die too, but I gave up on them a couple weeks ago.

Both filters decided to stop working in the 20 about 2 weeks ago, and the fish have been really stressed out since then. I'm doing water changes this weekend, and hopefully I can fix the filters. If not, I'm going to get a Marineland Duetto mini, mostly because Marineland is awesome. Or maybe I'll even move the rams, sell the tetras, and ditch the 20. I don't know.

The orange angelfish has been regularly laying eggs every three weeks, and then eating them. It's odd, but whatever.

I went to the Aquarium Store today and got a big snail for the 55. It was labelled as a Tiger Nerite, but I'm not entirely sure about that. He might already be dead. They had some cherry shrimp, which I would love to get, but they'd probably die too.

Anyway, that's it for now. Enjoy these amazing pictures.

Fish of the Month — November

The tiger barb.
(Puntius tetrazona)

Tiger barbs are very active schooling fish, which need at least 8 in a group and a 25 gallon tank; with less tigers, they will be more likely to be aggressive towards any tankmates. They get along well with other fish if the others are not slow moving and do not have long fins. They need to have room for swimming, some hiding spots, and plants. They get along great with bottom feeders and top-dwellers as long as they have short fins. Other fish in the middle of the water column are usually chased around.

Tiger barbs come from Southeast Asia; they're native to Indonesia and Malaysia. They are usually found in clear, medium fast streams in the tropics. Some have also been found in swampy lakes where the water quality changes a lot; they're very hardy fish, which is great for beginners.

Sexing tiger barbs is not difficult. The male has dark orange on his face and bright red on the edge of his dorsal fin. Females have less red and are usually fatter. They're pretty easy to breed, but they eat their own eggs so a separate spawning tank is necessary if you want to raise fry.

Tiger barbs are very adaptable to most aquarium parameters. They thrive in soft, slightly acidic water with a pH between 6 to 7 and dH between 4 to 10. They can tolerate any pH from 5-8.5 and dH between 4-19. An ideal temperature for them in the aquarium is around 74-79F (23-26C). For breeding purposes, the pH is best just around 6 with a temperature of 81F (27C).

Tigers grow to about 3 inches; they grow very quickly if fed on frozen or live foods. They accept flake foods and even eat algae wafers. They also like to munch on fresh cucumber and zucchini.

Tiger barbs are very pretty; gold color with bold stripes and red markings. The black parts sometimes have an iridescent green shine. They come in three main color variations; there's natural gold and black, green, and albino. There are also a few other colors, like platinum and black, but they're based off the green and are pretty hard to find. Since all of them are still the same species, they shoal together, giving options as to which colors you would like in your aquarium.


Pros:
-they give the tank a personality
-they're fun to watch as they chase each other around
-they always love when people visit them
-they're available in different colors
-they don't get sick as easily as other fish


Cons:
-they tear up long flowy fins
-they tear up anything slow-moving
-they gang up on new fish
-they need to be in groups of at least 8 if you don't want any aggression

Mrehh.

So the bamboo shrimp died the day after the last post; Trooper decided the meat would be a nice snack and left only an empty shell. A few days later, a tetra died.

Liberty started to look pretty stressed out since it's getting cold and her little tank doesn't have a heater, so I moved her into the isolation net in the 55 gallon so she can stay warm; she seems a lot happier. I'm leaving her in the net so the tiger barbs don't tear up her fins.

The plants in the 20 long have been growing like crazy; the leaves on the big Amazon sword actually were sticking out of the water, and the Rubin sword is curling under the surface. The parts of the leaves closest to the light fixture even started to burn and melt.

Last weekend I did a 50% water change in the 55 because the nitrates were up around 120ppm. On Friday, I moved the big Amazon and Rubin swords into it since they've outgrown the 20 long, and so they can absorb some of the nitrates, which are down around 40ppm now. The orange angelfish likes to peck at the leaves, which is the reason the lady I got the two from wanted to get rid of them.

I found some more eggs attached to a leaf on the Amazon sword Saturday, but they were eaten before I could do anything with them.

The angels are mostly grown, so they're territorial, and I can tell that the orange one is dominant over the white one. The tiger barbs are always picking on the white one, so I'll probably bring him with me to drop him off when I go to the Aquarium Store next weekend for new plants.

And that's pretty much it.

A lot can happen

in just a week. Soon after I got the rubber-lip, it died. I figured it would, but my dad got a refund for it anyway. One of the tetras in my 20 long decided to disappear on Wednesday. It hasn't shown up, and I haven't found a body. I'm not too worried about it though, because (I'm a horribleee person for this) I'm sure the snail will eat whatever he finds if he hasn't already, and my plants could always use some extra fertilizer. So yeahh.

Since every chain pet store only has disgustingly skinny algae eaters, I decided I would go to Craig'sList once again. I found an ad for two koi-patterned angelfish and a female bristlenose pleco, all for $10 each (definitely worth ittt). So I sent the lady an e-mail and met her downtown yesterday. Apparently she got the fish from an auction online and they're starting to eat the plants in her 75 gallon CO2-injected planted tank; she asked me what size tank they were going in and looked very relieved when I said 55 gallons. When she handed me the bag of fish, I saw that the pleco was really fat, and I was glad I didn't go back to the pet store for one. The angels are actually a lot bigger than I had expected, and they look amazing in the 55. 

So today, I decided to do a 50% water change in the 20 long; the yellow water is getting to be really annoying. I took out all the plants and moved everything around to look for the missing tetra. Once I had everything out of the tank, one of the tetras swam past the bamboo shrimp and he reached out and tried to grab the tetra; I'm pretty sure that's where the other tetra went. Oh well. I scrubbed algae off the walls and picked all the dead leaves off the plants before putting them back in the tank. I got everything arranged and switched the sponge in one of the filters before I filled the water back up. 

Yeahh, that's what's up.

So today, I was planning to get a new tank, a 40 gallon long, from someone off Craig'sList. We even set a time and how to transport the fish that came with it. But then my dad decided it would just be cheaper to ditch the bichir. So I bagged him up, which went smoother than I expected, and took him and the last of his feeders over to the Aquarium Store. We told them about his murderous ways, and they put him in a tank with two medium-sized Jack Dempsey fish.

With the $25 gift card from the raffle last week, I got two knight gobies and a tiger barb to replace the last one that was eaten. The gobies were in brackish water, but I added a bit more salt to my tank, acclimated them slower than other fish, and they seem to be doing alright. I just hope they like frozen foods. They're very pretty, and their eyes are a deep blue and gold.

After dinner, my dad and I went to PetsMart to get some crickets for Maxwell, and I picked out a rubber-lip pleco. All the ones at the store were emaciated, so I bought a small cucumber at the grocery store on the way home. Within five minutes of him being in my tank, he cleaned all the brown algae off a rock. If he doesn't want the cucumber, I'm sure the tiger barbs would be more than happy to eat it.

Why do I love Mondays?

Oh wait! I don't. I came home today and Gary was dead. He was the oldest fish I had, even though I just got him earlier this year. I guess that BettaPlus stuff isn't really all that great, or maybe I'm just not good with bettas; I'm going with the latter. So now the only betta I have is Liberty, and she's doing great. She still swims around all over her little tank, and her fins and scales are all healthy. Anyway, I got a replacement tiger barb today at PetCo. He seems to be doing pretty well, though he's a bit bigger than the rest of mine; oh well.

Nobody likes a sore loser

And I don't think I am one. I didn't win that 75 gallon tank, but I did win a $25 gift card in the Aquarium Store's raffle. Anddd, since everything in the store was 20% off, I bought a bamboo shrimp. He's super shy, and he hasn't really moved much since I put him in the 20 long. While I was scrubbing some junk off the leaves of the big Amazon sword, I noticed there wasn't much of a current coming from the filters, so I opened them and they were really clogged up. I flipped the sponges around and the filters are working again, but I'll need to buy some new media soon.

I cleaned the 55 gallon today. I scrubbed algae off the walls, vacuumed the gravel (that was nastyyy), and changed out 10 gallons. I also moved around everything and added a bigger cave, along with about 5 pounds of gravel. I took out the pine log; it had been in the tank since I set it up, and it still wouldn't sink. With the new cave, the tank seems less plain, so I don't feel like I need anything else to make it complete. A tiger barb disappeared a few days ago though, so I think I'm getting a replacement sometime next week. Anyway, the bichir seems to really like his new cave, and the cory catfish have taken up residence in his old one.

Ohhh, and I finally got a clear picture of all the tiger barbs swimming as a school.  :D

Here's a couple videos

This is the bichir having a snack:



And some fishy porn:

It's been a long weekend

But still not long enough; I hate that Sunday evening "omfg, I don't wanna go to school tomorrow" feeling.

So yesterday, I volunteered to help with the cats at PetsMart in the LifeLine Animal Project group. I helped someone else clean out the cages, then hung around for a while and answered potential adopters' questions. The adoption coordinator said they need a volunteer for next weekend, so I'll probably do it again. While I was at PetsMart, I got some more feeder minnows for the bichir.

After I got home, my dad took me over to the Aquarium Store. I've been wanting some tetras for the 20 long, but I decided to look around at the other fish too. We saw a couple African Butterfly fish, and my dad decided he wanted one. I was looking at the tetras they had, which were next to the tank with their plants and invertebrates. I noticed a freshwater clam at the bottom of the inverts tank, and the saleslady said she'd give it to me for only $5 since the Butterfly was $15, so I got it. I also got a big clump of java moss, along with all the baby snails that were attached to it.

After spending a bunch of my dad's money, I got five raffle tickets for the "big event" that the store is having next weekend. They're giving away a 75 gallon tank, and a bunch of other stuff too; I really don't need it, nor would I have anywhere to put it, but I'm sure I'll find somewhere for it to go. You'll probably see me on one of those hoarding shows when I'm older.

So I got home and tossed the clam into the 55 without acclimating it, put the Butterfly in the 55 to float in her bag, and twist-tied the moss to the wood in the 20 long. The new plant had more snails than I thought, and the tank is now infested with them; good thing I didn't get rid of Trooper yet. Then after researching about the Butterfly a bit, I found out that she comes from the same place as the bichir and is also a carnivore. They prefer crickets and other surface insects. They like soft acidic water, do not like floating plants, and are aggressive to any other top-dwelling fishes. So I won't be getting another kissing gourami.

Soon after I released the Butterfly into the tank (I think I'll name him Maxwell), my tiger barbs were acting pretty funny. So I watched them for a bit. The males were chasing each other all over the tank, and then going back to the females (who seemed to be eating something out of the gravel) and twisting around them. They were mating. I doubt I'll get any babies though, since tiger barbs eat their spawn. I have more males than females, so the males that wanted to mate (all of them) were having trouble keeping the other males away from their claimed female. The one deformed female didn't get any lovin' though; she's super chubby, and oddly shaped in general. But anyway, I tried to catch a few of the eggs with my brine shrimp net before they got eaten and I dumped them into the breeder's net that I used for the gourami's isolation. So they might, possibly, maybe, perhaps have a chance at hatching and growing up.

I went to PetCo today for some crickets and feeder minnows (all the ones from PetSmart died, so I'm not getting anymore from there), and I got six Bloodfin tetras. They seem to be doing pretty well, and the Bolivians are already starting to gain their confidence back. It was well worth it, and I might even get a couple more; they look amazing against the green plants and dark background of my tank.

Of course, even getting 3 or four minnows every day, the bichir decided to eat the clam today. It hadn't even been in the tank for 24 hours, and it's already an empty shell. I think I'll leave the shell in there though for decoration. I'm blaming the whole thing on my dad though; I wanted the clam to go in the 20 gallon, but he said that since he was paying for it, he wanted it in the 55. I knew it would be eaten, and I am so peeved, but my dad just laughs about it.

Cleaning day for the bettas

So after four hot hours at the horse farm this morning, I decided to clean my betta tanks. I started around 2:30, emptied and scrubbed the first one, then set it back up around 4:30. The second one only took an hour, then I had to scrub the jar that Gary was in. I got everything done and the fish were in their tanks by around 6:30. I didn't really expect it to take all that long, but I really didn't have anything else to do.

While I was filling the tanks back up, I wanted to try out the NutraFin Betta Plus that I got the other day. The directions said to use 1 capful per 1/2 gallon, but the bottle is so small. I mostly just want to see how my bettas do with the Indian Almond Leaf extract in their tanks. So I only put two capfuls in each tank, then used my Aqueon conditioner. I didn't bother to scrape the bubbles off anything in the tanks yet, but they'll come off eventually anyway.

Gary really seems to like the new tank. He has more horizontal swimming space than he did in the jar, and he has more light than what the kitchen window provided. As soon as I put him in the tank, he was already looking for food, so that's a good sign. But I noticed that his gill plates are looking pretty bad, so I hope that Betta Plus stuff works.

Liberty is just swimming around like she always has. The lighter-colored gravel makes her colors stand out better, and she looks a little more purple than before. It's super cutee.

After I got done with cleaning the tanks, I decided to clean my room (hahahahah). I got most of it clean, but  I'll be finishing some other day. That pretty much means it'll never be done. But I feel pretty good about my weekend; I accomplished more than I had originally planned.

Productive way to spend a Saturday?

I think so. My dad took me to PetCo to return a bad light bulb I got the other day. Then we went to PetsMart and got a Flora-Glo 20 watt bulb. The saleslady let us put it in one of the display light fixtures to see if it worked before we bought it, and it did, so I gathered up a few other things I needed and left. I changed the bulb when we got home, and the new one sort of makes my tank look red? It's really weird, but I'm sure the yellow water doesn't really help.

The other stuff I got was for a diy CO2 diffuser. I decided last night that I was going to make one for my 20 long. So I followed the instructions on here, but I used a milk jug, along with more sugar and a whole packet of yeast. I didn't seal the the hose in the cap because my dad used a drill bit smaller than the hose's diameter and pulled the hose through with pliers, so it's a pretty tight fit.

After I got everything ready, I hooked up hoses and airstones and everything and put them behind my filters. While I was messing with the filters, I cleaned the sponges and everything; that was disgustingg. I also hooked up an air pump with a timer set opposite my lights. If the water's surface doesn't break, then it will trap CO2 in the water, and when there isn't any light, plants use oxygen and produce CO2 instead. With the extra CO2 that I'm adding, there would be quite a bit of it building up while my lights are off. All the CO2 at night would also cause pH fluctuations, which are never good. This would make my fishies die, and we do not want that to happen.

I decided today would also be a good day to pick off all the dead leaves on my plants, scrape some algae off the wood, and replant everything that came up in the process. I also changed the direction of one filter to go the same direction as the other, rather than having them both pointed toward the back wall. Now the current is going around the entire tank.

The Bolivians seem to be really shy since I took Liberty out. They always flip out and hide now when I come near the tank. So these guys definitely need some dither fish. Next weekend my dad said I might be able to get some tetras or something, probably either serpaes or cardinals.

And one thing that ruined my day? My kissing gourami died. Josh said his other eye was missing, but my dad fished him out of the tank and flushed him before I even woke up. I feel pretty bad about it, mostly because I'm the one who took him out of isolation. And I didn't even get to say goodbye to him. My dad said that when we get the tetras, I might be able to get a new centerpiece for the 55 too. I don't really know if I trust the bichir enough for that though.

Tomorrow, I'm going to take both of my 2.5 gallon tanks and dump them. I'll scrub the decorations with something, not sure what yet, but I don't really want the algae coming back. I'll replace the gravel with some regular stuff, then set them both back up. Gary is finally going to have an actual tank again, so I think he'll be pretty happy with that.

No more bettas for meee

JayJay has been acting really off recently, and he's been sitting on the gravel at the bottom only coming to the surface to breathe and eat, which isn't very often. He also had a very mild case of fin rot, which I seem to have horrible luck with. Today when I got home from school, he was laying on his side, not moving at all, so I thought he was dead. I nudged him with a net and he shot up towards the surface to get a breath, then sunk back down to the bottom. So I left him there, and about four hours later I came back to check on him. He died. So I took him out and flushed him. Since I don't have very good luck with bettas, I don't think I'll be getting any more of them. I'll just stick with Gary and Liberty.

And the good news? I took the kissing gourami out of isolation today. Since he lost his eye, he's been a lot calmer than before. He doesn't struggle when I catch him in a net, and he doesn't flip around in it or anything like he used to. So I let him out into the tank and he swam off into the back corner; he positioned himself so that his blind side was by the wall and he could look over the entire tank. I watched him for a few minutes to make sure he was doing alright, then checked up on him about once every hour. I turned off the light already, so I'll probably check on him again in the morning.

Since I have an empty 2.5 gallon tank, Gary gets to move in to it! Yayy for him, but I need to clean it first. I think I'm just going to dump the gravel that's in it, and put some regular stuff in. I'll probably tear Liberty's tank down too and replace the gravel. I hate that blue-green algae that invades all my tanks. I read somewhere that it's toxic to fish, and that's why nothing will eat it; you have to scrub it off, then it just comes back within a few days. Once it has been on something, it's going to come back no matter what. And it's not fun. It's all over the big piece of wood in my 20 long, and even took over my red temple plant that came uprooted. It's basically a big mass of green at the surface of the tank now.

Since most of my plants in the 20 long aren't doing very well, I've decided I'm going to get a few more fish for the tank. After all, it only has the two Bolivians and a snail. Since I don't have any CO2 going into the tank, I think that's why the plants are starting to die; so maybe if I get more fish, which will in turn produce more CO2, they might come back? So I've been thinking about neon tetras, and maybe a wood shrimp. The neons would love the yellowy water and live plants, and the shrimp would probably help me keep the water a little cleaner.

Time for a change

Recently I've noticed that Liberty, my female betta, is really fat. She's always the first one to the food in my 20 long, and she pigs out since the Bolivians are slow eaters. She likes to swim a lot, but she still stays fat. So I decided she's going on the same diet as my other male bettas – a small pinch of bloodworms every two or three days. 

After 6 or 7 hours on Lake Lanier, my mom took me to PetsMart to get another 2.5 gallon tank. I set it up next to JayJay's tank, and I have to find a new place for Gary since there isn't enough light for all three to be on my dresser. She seems to be doing alright so far in her new home, and I hope it stays that way. 

While scooping out some water from the 20 long to help acclimate her to the new tank, I noticed that the water was yellow, and realized why all my pictures of that tank are so yellowy; the wood from the farm is leaching tannins into the water since I hadn't soaked it before putting it in. Tannins don't really do anything besides color the water. If you really don't want any tannins though, you can soak the wood for a while in a bucket, changing the water out every few days or so until they're gone. 

At the lake, Christine and I saw some huge bluegill sunfish. We tried to lure them out from under the boat, but they didn't seem to like the food we offered. We also saw a small freshwater jellyfish (Craspedacusta sowerbii) that was about the size of a quarter. I had heard of them before, but very rarely, so I wasn't entirely sure it existed. But it does! It was about the size of a quarter, and it was clearish with white organs, so it looks sort of like a little flower. My dad swam over to it and put his hands under it, it floated away from him, then shot off into the depths. I've decided that I want one. I found a website for reported sightings and some information about the jellies, and sent in an e-mail about the one I saw. They're usually seen in large groups of over a thousand!

That's quite unfortunate

My dad usually turns off my 55 gallon fish tank light for me every night before he goes to bed. Then I turn it on when I get home from school around 2:30. I turned it on today, and I noticed my gourami was swimming differently. He was more go-with-the-flow than usual, and he stayed closer to the surface. He looked fine on the one side that was facing me, so I put some flake food in and looked a bit closer. He turned around to eat, and I noticed what was wrong.

His left eye is missing. I called my dad to see if anything was wrong last night, and he said the fish was fine. I thought about it, and I noticed that we haven't had minnows for the bichir for a few days. So I think he's the culprit. I'll be watching the gourami pretty closely to make sure he doesn't get a disease or anything; and I'll have to keep the bichir full, so that means checking more than one store for feeders when I run out.

So after my dad got home, we went to PetCo and asked for 9 feeders. The girl fished out a few, looked at the net and said "I think this is more than nine, but that's okay right?" So we paid for 9, and I noticed once we were home that we got 15. I also got some more Kordon Fish Protector and a breeder net. I isolated the gourami in the net and dumped a bunch of junk on him since the barbs had been picking at his eye hole. I put 3 feeders in, which were all eaten within 7 minutes, and split the rest between two jars.

On a happier note, my Bolivians are coloring up some more. Recently, they've been very territorial to each other and the betta. The female claimed the left side of the tank, and the male got the right. Neither of them like the betta being in their territory, but she figured out that the big piece of wood wasn't taken by either of the rams, so she just hangs out around that.

The male ram, Miguel, is getting darker on his stripes and the edges of his pelvic fins. The first few rays on his dorsal fin and top and bottom rays of his caudal fin are starting to extend past the other rays; the blue on his anal fin still isn't showing up very well yet.

Laylah, on the other hand, has some really bright blue spots on her anal fin. The top ray of her tail is extending slightly, but the bottom ray and her dorsal rays are all staying the same. She also doesn't have black on the edges of her pelvic fins, and her body doesn't have the faint stripes like Miguel's does.

They're both also starting to recognize that me=food. So they come up to the front of the tank and swim up to the surface when I come by. I think it's cutee.

Water Care and Medications

I like to stick with just a few brands when it comes to water care products. I mostly use Tetra, Aqueon, and API, but Wardley and Kordon are pretty good brands as well.

In my 55 gallon non-planted tank, I use de-chlorinator and a nitrate reducer. The nitrate reducer lets me be lazy, so I don't have to do water changes very often at all. I use a Fluval 403 canister filter, floss in the top, peat in the middle, and more floss in the bottom. I don't use carbon because I don't see any point in it if you don't have cloudiness or water color issues. 

In my 20 gallon planted tank, I only use de-chlorinator, along with fertilizer for the plants. I switch between tablet ferts and liquid ferts every water change. With the plants, the nitrates stay at zero, so it's perfect for my Bolivians.  I'm unsure as to what will happen if they get sick, I'm scared to use any meds because of Trooper and all the plants. This tank has two Fluval U1 filters, which are basically a power sponge filter. I don't add any peat to this tank because I don't want it to be too acidic for Trooper. I added some Kordon Fish Protector when I initially filled up the tank, but I haven't added any since.

The ick medication that I have is Ick-Away by Wardley. It's a liquid that contains copper, so it shouldn't be used with shrimp or scaleless fish. It turns the water blue and stains stuff pretty bad.

I also use Fungus Clear by Jungle for other sicknesses, mostly for fin rot. It has a list of other diseases that it treats on the box. It comes in tablets that each treat ten gallons. It also turns the water blue and stains everything.

The Kordon Fish Protector helps the fish to re-grow missing scales and acts as a super stress coat. I forms a seven-layer slime coat around the fish to help protect against diseases and parasites too. It's pink, but once it mixes into the water, it just disappears. I love this stuff, but I'm out and I probably won't be getting anymore any time soon. With school, I can't watch dogs and nowhere around here is hiring, so I don't have any way to get money. It sucks pretty bad.