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!