My new Gupplings

Hello there!

I haven't updated in a few months, but I'm very excited to say that my 55 Gallon tank is up and running, and now has fish in it!

My fishless cycle took about a month and a half, but I wasn't able to add fish until three weeks later.  One morning Rosalie started looking really sick, just all of a sudden, and Elena's stomach had become a weird shape.  I knew I had to get them into a bigger tank soon, but I hadn't done the big water change to get rid of extra Nitrates in the tank yet! That day I changed 75% or more of the water in my 55 Gallon tank, and it took a very long time.  This is the tank before I finished changing the water, and adding fish.  (I also added some rocks and a Java Fern that day.)

And here's the tank today a week and two days after adding fish, rocks, and Java fern.  You can sort of see some of my Guppies, and Zip on the mostly empty side of the tank.  Speaking of Guppies.

Today a friend of mine who is overrun with Guppies brought me six females, and two males! The females (Name - tail color - body color)

Velvet - Black - Half black

Yuki - Black - Half black

Amberlyn - Yellow with black spots - Tanish

Ruka - Gold - Gold

Alice - Yellow - Yellow/Transparent

Pearl - Black spots - Currently grey/Transparent, but she's a baby still! She's small enough that Zip could eat her if he wanted to.

The males

(Same as females)

Finn - Black and orange (double tail) - Half black

Niklaus (Klaus for short) - Red/Orange and black - Half red/orange.

Then there are Stefan, and Damon, which are both red.

So those are my new Gupplings :)

Fishless Cycle Day 3!

This is my third day of Fishless cycling my 55 Gallon tank! Today's stats so far are:
Ammonia - 4-8 ppm
NitrItes - 0 ppm
NitrAtes - 5-10 ppm (It's going up but there are no NitrItes?!)
pH - 7.4-7.6
I'll test again later and post those results too.

Off topic, for Halloween doing anything special?  Something to do with fish that is.  My special fish thing for Halloween was getting Damien! :)

My First Fishless Cycle

Last night I added 5 ppm of Ammonia into the 55 Gallon tank to start the cycle.  I added two small sponges, one from each of my other tanks.  This morning I tested the water and the stats were:
Ammonia - 1 ppm
NitrItes - 0 ppm
NitrAtes - more then 0 ppm, less than 5
pH - 6.6-7.0
These are really good stats for 13 hours after adding ammonia! I just added more Ammonia, and I'm testing the water again.  Right now the stats are:
Ammonia - Close to 8 ppm
NitrItes - 0 ppm
NitrAtes - same as before
pH - off the chart on both tests! (above 8!)

So that's how my first fishless cycle is going now! I'll post more tomorrow.

55 Filled!

  The 55 Gallon is officially full! Tonight I'm going to get ammonia and start the cycle.  This should be interesting.  I went to get some more plants today, I got El Nino fern, but apparently it's like Java fern and needs to be planted on a decoration, which I didn't want, so I gave it to my sister for a tank she's been wanting more plants for.  Hopefully the sand will settle soon, then I'll really be able to see how it looks! I keep imagining a big snakehead swimming by the front of the tank, through the murky water, and it would look amazing.  Someday...  Anyways, I completely forgot about my wood today, but I'll probably get it tomorrow.

  This morning I was in a panic because Zip was darting around the little tank, and swimming in tight little circles, then he stopped suddenly, and bubbles came out of his gills and mouth.  He's fine now, except the Platys keep nibbling on his top fin! I think they're starting to feel cramped, adding the Guppies last night did not help with that.  Soon they'll be in the tank though, I'm adding sponges from the 6.6 to the new filter, which will help the cycle.

  I'm thinking about trying "Quickstart" by Api, theoretically it won't hurt, and if it helps that would be good, but I'll skip that.  As soon as it's finished all of my little fishies (except Damien) will be going in the big tank, and I'll be getting my Female Guppies soon after that.  That's later though, I'm going to concentrate on the cycle, and my current fish first.

  Damien is doing well soon, he actually ate a little bit this morning when I fed him! Apparently it's rare for Bettas to eat the day after installed in the tank, but none of mine were like that.  He's such a gorgeous Betta fish, I'm still drooling over how beautiful he is.  I fell in love with him as soon as I saw him in the pet store, and I still feel like it's the first time I saw him every time I look at him! (<--- Sounds like a love song)

  More tomorrow :)

Damien Shadowe

Hello!

Today I got a new Betta! Damien Shadowe is a black, white, and blue "super-delta".  When I saw him at the pet store I picked him up, and I couldn't force myself to put him back.  I've been looking for a black Betta for over a year now! I've wanted to move my Guppies out of the Betta tank so they can get used to living with Zip, so this was perfect.  The fish in the 6.6 Gallon will only be in there for another few weeks anyways.  He seems a little thin, like he was underfed, but not like Jack was the day he died, which is good.

Started filling up my 55 Gallon today.  I added all the sand, some of the rocks, and my Amazon Swords, and one Anubias plant.  Soon the clouding from the sand should go down, probably just in time for me to start filling it up again tomorrow...  I'm going to get my branches started getting ready tomorrow, and hopefully I'll be able to get the Ammonia to start my cycle.  Tomorrow maybe I'll start a page "journal" about my 55 Gallon.  I'll post pictures for sure, though it doesn't look very nice yet.

More tomorrow!

55 Gallon

Yesterday I got my 55 Gallon tank! Today I will be cleaning the tank, and all it's supplies.  Tomorrow I'll fill it up and start the cycle!  My sand is almost ready, and my rocks need a bit more rinsing, but after that I'll add those things.  Hopefully I'll be able to add those today, but if not tomorrow before I fill up the tank I'll start my aquascape! Tomorrow afternoon I'll be running to get plants, and ammonia for the cycle.  My  wood isn't ready yet, so I'll add that in after the cycle is finished, right before the fish!

My fish are all well, Elijah is normal sized again.  I'm going to be getting 6 female guppies as soon as my other fish go in the big tank, the female guppies will be in quarantine for a few days then I will add them to the big tank.  Then I'll get the platys, and the other Pleco, and after they're quarantine period is over my tank will be finished! :)

Elijah what's going on?!

My male Platy Elijah seems to be pregnant.  Yes, my male Platy looks pregnant! His belly is squaring off, just like a female before she gives birth.  The black line is where his belly normally is, and the green one is where it is now (His fins looked like part of his belly in this picture).  This wasn't the best picture I've taken of him, but I took the picture before I fed them, so they were going crazy.

Weird, huh?  That's what I thought! I've heard of females "turning into" males (being "late-bloomers" so it was hard to tell whether it was male or female), but never a male turning into a female! Well, I'm going to fast them tomorrow, since I somehow forgot today, and maybe that'll help.  I already fed them peas in case it was SBD.  

I should be getting more baby Platys soon! Java is gone again, but I'm going to try to find him again, we'll see how that goes.  Other than that all is well with my fish!

My plans are almost complete.

My 55 Gallon is coming soon! And my plans for it are pretty much done.

Cycling:

I'm going to do a Fishless cycle, adding filter media from my current filter to help get it started.  It'll be good experience for me!

Substrate, rocks, and wood:

I'm using play sand as a substrate, $5 per 50lbs! I have to rinse all 100lbs of sand I have so it doesn't cloud the water, it will when I first add it, but it will settle in a few hours, to a day.  

I'm using rocks I found outside around my house, and making them safe for my aquarium one at a time by pouring boiling water over them, testing the water for a few days and watching for major pH changes, then pouring a little bit of vinegar on each rock, if there are bubbles then there is chalk in the rocks, so they can't be used as they'll change the pH drastically, then after the "vinegar trick" I put them back in hot water to clean them. 

For wood I'm going to find some Oak branches.  To make them safe for my fish I'm going to debark them, let them dry, then pour boiling water over them, and leave them for a few days to leech the tannins out.

Plants:

I've decided to grow live plants in my new tank, I've never done this before, but buying enough fake plants for it sounds even worse than growing my own! I'm going to have green or purple Cabomba, Java Fern, Christmas Moss, some Anubius, and an Amazon Sword plant.  It'll look awesome if it's anything like what I'm picturing in my head! 

Fish:

My stocking list isn't very different, but I've lost three Platys, and I've change the other bottom dwelling fish I want.  

1 Golden Gourami.

8 Platys (I'm going to bring the number back up to 8 with 3 blue ones!)

6+ Guppies (I'm going to add 4-6 females for a male:female ratio of either 1:2, or 1:3, 1:3 is better, so I'll probably go with that.)

2 L444 Plecos (I already have one, but I'd like to get a female also, maybe I'll get lucky and get some eggs!)

I'm aquascaping the tank, and I want the design to be a surprise, so no more details! Well, that's it for now, my tanks are all running well, and my fish are all healthy!

One happy fish keeper.

I haven't posted in a few weeks, so this is going to be a big update! And only one part is going to be sad.

First of all, since I moved Elijah back in with the other platys he's been eating more, and he's definitely more active.  The guppies are happy to be rid of him too, I think.

Sadly Kathrine died about 2 weeks ago.  She is the third platy I've lost, but none of those three were very healthy, and now the others have less chance of getting sick because of them. 

Muddy has been eating most of his food recently, I have to break the discs up so they fit in his mouth, but I only found two little pieces of disc today while cleaning the tank, and I've been giving him 1 disc (3 pieces) every night before I turn off the tank lights.  Pleco are nocturnal, but I've been seeing a lot more of him during the day now.

The most exciting thing happened today.  I found a baby platy! It's the first baby platy I've found, and it's only a few days old I think! Kathrine died about 2 weeks ago, and none of the younger ones showed signs of being pregnant, but I don't think this baby is 2 weeks old, so it's a mystery!

I will be putting sand, and live plants in the 6.6 Gallon soon, with the baby I need plants ASAP, and sand a little later, when it's a little bigger and won't get trapped in the gravel I take out.  This is going to be my fry tank, so I can't take it out and put it anywhere else, except with either 2 guppies, or a Betta, both of which would eat my baby, so that's not going to happen.  I just have to hope that it survives on it's own with my 4 inch catfish, and 5 inch Gourami in the tank with it!

Well that's pretty much it.  Still haven't gotten my 55 Gallon, but I should be getting it soon, I know I've said that in pretty much every post, but for real this time! :p

RIP

I've lost 2 fish in as many months.  Tara, on of my platys, died a few days ago.  I have been really busy lately so I couldn't clean the tank out as much as I'd like, and with the crowding she got really sick.  Lexi is also sick, but tomorrow I'm going to do another major water change.  Other than that here's a quick update.

Kathrine still has not given birth as far as I've seen, but she must have at least once since I got her, meaning they've been eating all of the babies... Lexi's been too sick I think, even with daily, or every other day water changes her condition only gets a little better then worse that night, I'm going to leave her in the quarantine tank when I get the big tank until she's better.  Elena, Rosie, and Scarlet are all about the same size now, and Elena doesn't seem to be growing anymore.  Tara is still small, but she's bigger than when I got her! I added Elijah back in with the girls so maybe he'll eat, he's already much more active, chasing them around.  He is afraid of Zip though, and every time he chases Lexi Zip swims over and scares him away! Zip's tail is growing back!! Yay! Muddy loves his cave, and I now have some algae growing on a seashell in the tank that he's been eating.  Stefan, and Damon are happy guppies, and at some point I will have four or more females to go with them! 

Still don't have the 55 Gallon tank, but I have tons of rocks for it, and sand.  I just need the plants, and I was recently given a gift card to my local pet store so those will be taken care of soon enough :)

That's it for today's update!

Zip the Gourami

Hey everybody!

Nearly two weeks ago I got a golden Gourami named Zip!

Zip once had a friend (a twin!) named Zipper.  He also had two silver Gourami friends named Romeo, and Juliet, and one kissing Gourami friend named Jaws.  Slowly, one by one all of Zip's friends died, and so Zip's owners decided to get rid of him, and his big 55 Gallon tank.  Then he went to his new owner's house and lives with a bunch of platys, and a catfish.  the end.

That's Zip's story! I haven't gotten the 55 Gallon tank yet, I'm still working on the supplies.  I have sand, I'm still working on rocks, and I need to buy plants.  First I'm going to sketch out an Aquascape plan! This should be a lot of fun!

Other fish update: No Platys have given birth THAT I SAW.  They may have, and then eaten their babies... Eli still hasn't eaten anything since I put him in the guppy tank that I've seen.  Emmett Flare died Thursday night RIP.  He was apparently the oldest, and he's the one who might have had SBD.  Muddy I haven't seen eating either, but they're both still alive, so I think they're eating something!

That's it! :)

Something about Platys...

Something a lot of people don't realize about platys, livebearers in general, is that they will eat their own babies, and the tankmates will often eat the fry.  So what is thought to have happened to Kathrine's babies is that she gave birth at her old home, and they ate most of the babies.  All but one as far as I know.  So now I have to wait for Tara, and Lexi to give birth, I'm really excited about having baby fish, even though I won't be able to keep them.

Tank update:
Getting the 55 Gallon tank tonight, and setting it up tomorrow! Tomorrow I will be picking up Java fern, and temporarily putting it all in the big tank until all of my fish are out of the Quarantine tank, and Betta tank, then I'm going to upgrade both to sand, and live plants.  Aquascaping the big tank should be interesting! I've found five pictures of aquascapes on Google that I really like, so I'm going to try and put them all together into one really awesome aquascape! I'm going for a moderately planted, with wood, and rocks look.  After this post I have to find some rocks :)

Fish update:
I will have had my new fish for a week tomorrow! :) I cleaned out from under Muddy's rock this morning, and had to kick him out.  He was spazzing everywhere until I finished and put his cave back together! My platys don't enjoy water changes either.  Lexi has some kind of fungus, or Ich! I'm not completely sure, but it should be easy enough to get rid of.  Elijah still won't eat! He'll be back with his girls on the 15th, at latest.  I'll probably put him back with the girls after moving Kathrine, and Tara out.  So the 12th.  The guppies are the most playful fish I've ever had! I love them, a lot ;p I'm going to pay for 5-6 female guppies tonight, then pick them up in a week or so.  I'm really excited about all of this!

Future 55 Gallon tank

The only reason I got my 12 new fish is because pretty soon I'm getting a 55 Gallon tank, and I'm putting them all into the big tank! This is my plan for it.  I'm hoping to get it this week.

Substrate: Play Sand

Plants: Java Fern, Amazon Swords, Green Cabomba, Wendtii Red/Brown, Sunset Hygrophila, and Anubias petite nana.


Fish: 1 Golden Gourami, 8 Platys (7:1 female:male ratio is what I have!), 9 Guppies (2:1 female:male ratio), 2 Striped Rubbernose Plecos (have 1 already, and I think I'd like another), and 6-8 Kuhli Loaches.


First, I'm going to add the sand, decorations, and plants.  It depends on how the plants need to be planted.  Ones that need to go in the sand are planted before decorations go in.  Others go in after.  After I add sand I add some water, before anything else.  Then I fill it with water, and add the first fish.

I plan to add in the fish a few at a time so the filter can handle the waste load.  The order:
1. Gourami will go in as soon as I get the tank set up, he comes with the tank.
2. A week later I'll put the two biggest platys in, the next day I'll put the next two, the next day the same, then the smallest, and the male the next day!
3. A week after the first platys go in the male guppies go in, then a few days later the females.
4. The Kuhli Loaches are next, I'll probably add them in all at once.
5. The Plecos are last! I might end up getting some snails too, but I don't know yet, I'll decide that later.

For the 6.6 Gallon tank I'm going to get sand, and live plants, but leave it empty as a quarantine tank.

The 3.5 Gallon is going to be a lot of fun.  It's going to be a Halloween themed Betta tank! I'm going to get black, and orange gravel (I'm going to put it over a layer of sand to put plants in), live plants (only colored plants that match the gravel!), and Halloween themed decorations.  I have plastic pumpkins that I'm going to cut up so my future Betta can swim through it, maybe I'll get a Skull decoration, and a shark.  I'm not sure of the specific decor yet, but by Christmas I'll have a Halloween themed Betta tank I hope :)  Then I'm going to see if I can find either I black and orange, black and red, red, black (maybe with dark blue), or purple Betta to go in it!  If I can find a full Halfmoon in one of the colors I just listed it would be even better.

That's my tank plan!

Fish update:
Muddy the Pleco has been holding onto the bottom of the rock in the cave I gave him, and then falling off, freaking me out, and moving just as I start to really panic.  I believe that Muddy is in fact a he.  Kathrine still has not given birth.  Tara is getting close to giving birth too! Lexi is still pretty far behind.  Elijah continues his sulking, and refuses to eat.  Stefan, and Damon are still friends and got really excited when I turned the filter on this morning.  I fed Emmett a pea, so if he did have a swim bladder problem hopefully I managed to clear it up.  If not, well, he ate something for the first time I saw.  Toph is still tiny, and loves swimming up, and down next to the wall of the tank.  It's a little weird... Elena, Rosalie, and Scarlet play together, I'd never seen fish play until I got guppies, and platys, my female Bettas used to play in the filter bubbles for two seconds until they saw the other females, then went into attack mode.  When Zoey was the only Betta in the tank she hated the filter.

Well, that's enough for now.

Guppy

Emmett Flare one of my guppies may be sick.  I was hoping when I asked the TFF members about it they'd say it was normal, and I was just inexperienced, so I didn't know what was normal with guppies.  Unfortunately, they told me he might be sick.  His tank mates Damon, and Stefan weren't acting like that, which is part of the reason I was so worried about it.  Now I'm glad I was.  Someone told me that most guppies with what they think he has don't last very long, so it's a good thing I caught it quickly! Though it might also be a "mating dance" and he might be fine.  So what I've decided to do is feed him a pea, which is what you're supposed to feed fish with swim bladder problems, and see if he gets better.  That's right all I can do I guess.  I tried to upload a video, but it refused to cooperate.

Update on my other fish.  Kathrine still hasn't given birth, I'm almost starting to get worried about her, but she's probably fine, and I'm probably just paranoid.  (<-- not surprised!)  Muddy the L444 Pleco (I love that common name, L444...) is a girl I think! I need to see it out of the cave I gave it this morning to really be able to tell, it was chasing the platys out of it's cave when I first put it in there.  Lexi is closer to giving birth than Tara, in a week or so.  Tara, I give her about two more weeks, so she should (hopefully) be in the big tank by then.  Stefan wants to be friends with Elijah.  Elijah hates the world right now because I put him in the guppy tank because he was annoying the prego female platys.  Damon, and Stefan are actually friends! They're brothers.  They don't nipped fins, or chase each other, they play together like circling around each other.  It's pretty interesting! They love the filter.  Toph enjoyed swimming near the gravel vacuum when I was cleaning the tank this morning, then swimming away, she's fun to watch.

Plecostomus

I found out that the Pleco I have is a type of Rubber lip, or Rubbernose Pleco.  The problem is there are a lot of different Rubber lip Plecos.  Then I found a post on the tropical fish forums that listed the most common Rubbernose Plecos, and I found this link! I believe that he is a Striped Rubbernose Pleco, which according to the Planet Catfish only get up to 4", and he is already about that big.  Muddy the Pleco shouldn't get much, if any, bigger than he already is! Which means I don't have a future 24" long Pleco that would outgrow any tank I'd be able to get, which is a relief :)

I also had to move the male Platy (named Elijah Weston) to the guppy tank because he was harassing my female who is going to give birth within the week according to the people on TFF! 

If any TFF members who have helped me are reading this thank you for all your help! I never would've found out what kind of Pleco Muddy is if it weren't for you people! You've helped me so much.  For anybody who has fish, but has never heard of this site I suggest you look around, and if you like it join! It's a great site, with a lot of really helpful fish keepers to answer any questions you might have.

JUST KIDDING!

Hey... You know my last post?  "Break time"?  That break lasted a week.


I just got 12 free fish.  8 Platys (Gold Twin-bar platys, one of my favorite colors!), 3 Guppies (Red "tuxedo" I think, also my favorite!), and 1 Pleco (unknown type).

This platy is going to give birth soon I think.  She's the biggest platy I have ever seen!

This is the Pleco, I'm not sure what kind of Pleco, so if you know please comment with the type!

Well those are all the pictures you get for now! I need to have something to keep you coming to my blog! ;)
Maybe the Guppies will sit still sometime so I can get a picture of them, like my very cooperative platys!

Break time...

Jack Mitchell Spazz Nightwing died 6-24-2012.  RIP Jack :(

He had internal, and external parasites, I didn't notice because of the lack of light in his tank, and because I guess I was a lot more shaken by Zoey's disappearance than I thought.

So now that I don't have any fish I'm going to take a short break from fish keeping.  The weirdest thing in the world right now is saying that I don't have any fish...

I got the new tank for Jack when I realized that he was sick, but I was too late.  I believe that the internal parasites may have (*do not read this next part if you are squeamish*) eaten his swim bladder, and other internal organs.  I know that his swim bladder is no longer there because when he died he did not turn upside-down, or float.

I will upgrade both tanks just like I planned, and get a water test kit before I get any new fish.  I changed my mind about the black blasting media I was going to use, it can be extremely harmful to the fish, so now I think I am going to be using either play sand, or pool filter sand.  I know someone who has offered me some free Java Fern (If you're reading this thank you!!), and the sand should be rather cheap.  I will be getting rocks to grow the fern on.  Once I upgrade, and get the test kit I will make a trip to the pet store for new Bettas, one male, and one female.  This is my current plan, though it will probably change once or twice.  I am also getting a 55 gallon tank at some point.

Post about the 6.6 gallon plan soon!

The sadest thing to ever happen to me fishwise

I am not going to be remodeling Zoey's tank anytime soon.

I've had fish die before, and it's always sad.  What happened to Zoey is the sadest, weirdest thing that's ever happened to my fish.  She disapeared. 

I've heard betta fish are jumpers, but I've never had a betta fish that jumped before.  There are two places where she could have jumped out of the tank, one is almost impossible, but it's also more likely.  One is in the back of the tank, and she'd have a hard time getting around the stuff on that shelf.  The other one is the little hole that is used for feeding, it's really small.  She was small enough that she could've fit through it, if you read my other blog "The Halfmoon Vampire", you'll know that I also have a dog, and a cat, either of which could've grab Z if she got to my floor.

The reason it's the sadest things that has ever happened to me fishwise is that I don't know what happened to her, there are a lot of possibilities. 

Zoey's Tank Remodeling: Part 1

I have decided to completely remodel my fish tanks! First I'm going to start with Zoey's (I'd like to upgrade Jack's).  Part one is decision making.

First I had to decide the kind of substrate I want in the bottom of my tank.  (Gravel, or sand)
I was told I can use a certain kind of blasting media that won't harm the fish, so that is what I will be using.  It's called "Black Diamond", it's black sand.

Second I had to decide between the plastic plants I currently have, getting new silk plants, or trying to grow live plants.  I decided on live plants.

Third I had to decide what kinds of plants, and I had to think about what kind of conditions each of these plants need.  Here are the plants I've decided on for my 3.5 Gallon tank.

Java Fern - These plants need to have their roots exposed in the water, it's best to have them on a rock or piece of wood.  They will attach their roots to the wood, or rock.  They are a low-medium light plant.  They don't need any kind of fertilizer or anything like that, but they do grow better with it.  All of these things together make it a good beginner's plant, which is good because I've never had live aquarium plants.  My favorite aquarium plant.

Green Cabomba - These plants can have their roots planted in the substrate (sand in this case).  Green Cabomba grows very tall, very fast, so you will need to cut it back often.  This plant requires medium-high light.  They also require no fertilizer, but grow better with it.  This plant is another beginner's plant, I have a black plastic version of it, and I'm very excited to get the real thing!

Java Moss - A low light plant.  This moss also needs to be attached to a log, or a rock.  I am going to get a rock (that looks like wood), attach one Java fern on each side, and Java moss in the middle.  Java moss actually needs to be attached to the rock, or wood until the roots take hold.  Like the others they require no fertilizer.  Also like the others it is a beginner plant

Anubias Petite Nana - I keep changing the type of Anubias I want, but this one is small so I think it's my best bet! Another low light plant.  With all the same requirement as the other three.  Also a beginners plant. 

So now you know my plan, I just have to put it in action! Keep watching for Zoey's Tank Remodeling: Part 2 (buying the supplies).  I will be posting in between parts, so if part two isn't my next post don't worry! It's coming! :)

June's poll

The current poll question is "should I change the url of this blog?" the answers are (in this order!):
Yes!
No!
Stop asking this!
I don't care.

I decided to post the answers here because it's really hard to see and I can't figure out how to change the color :p  Please vote! :) Poll ends June 30th.

Bettas

Well I guess changing my blog to The Shark Zone didn't help me post more often like I thought it would... I might end up changing it again!

For now I think I'm going to change it to a journal about my fish! :)  So an update on my bettas:

If you read my blog "The Halfmoon Vampire" then you'll know that I have had 5 different bettas by now.  In the order I got them:
King Jonathan the 1st
Queen Thayet Bubbles the 1st (I always wanted to breed King, and Thayet, so I decided to add "The 1st" onto their names so if I get more fish that look like them I can name them after those two!)
Aphrodite Aqua Whitlock
Zoey Astell Whitebird (I change the spelling of "Astell" almost every time I spell it because I can never remember how I spelled it the first time!)
Jack Mitchell Spazz Nightwing.

The first three on the list are all dead :(  Zoey is a white Veiltail, and Jack is a pink, blue, red, and orangish Crowntail! Right now they both have plastic plants in their tanks, but I want to buy some live plants for both of them, and change the gravel to sand.  Java Fern is apparently really easy, and it's one of my favorite plants, even though I've never grown any kind of aquarium plant.  :p

My goal for this year is to post on this blog at least once a week.  Even if it's just "hey... I haven't given up on my goal yet, and my fish are still alive... so bye..."  Let's see if this works out.