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.