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.