mccreations

I thought that I should probably finally introduce myself to everyone here. I registered here back in October 2007 (I think) but am just getting around to posting and introduction.

I am mccreations aka Melissa. I live in PA (USA) and am a mom to 2 girls and proud Military Wife of 8 1/2 years (soon to be 9 years) but that is a whole different story. I am also the proud mom of a dog, Junior (4 year old beagle/boxer who is not too happy with me because he started a diet for the new year LOL) , 3 cats (Ben, Mater, and Odie), and a freshwater fish that has 3 beautiful balas, 4 angels.

We recently upgraded our tank from a 33 gal to a 55 gal and I am TRYING really hard to convince my hubby that we do not "need" another tank. LOL We both want a bigger tank but honestly do not have the space for it in our house. Anyway...I am rambling...I am really enjoying having our fish but am having "issues" with the tank currently but those discussions are for different boards here. LOL

Before I finish though...I just want to say Thank you for having me and also HUGE THANKS to EVERYONE here...I have learned SO MUCH just by browsing the forum boards and I just wish I had the time to read every single board. I have learned tons from everyone here!!!!! I am SO GLAD to have found this site!!!!!

Hugs to all!
Melissa

Drea

Hi There, we're glad you let us know that you're one of us, the more the merrier.

mccreations

around this place....LOL I am having a blast here. Although I just realized that it is 3:30 am here and I have to get up in 3 hours to get the kids ready for school.

*scratches head and wonders to myself...should I just stay up and read more at fishlore then take a nap after I get them on the bus?* Nah....best go to bed now.

Night all...I have learned TONS in the 4 hours I have been reading through everything in here!! Thanks again!!

Chief_waterchanger

Welcome to the site Melissa. I hope you continue posting and become a member of the Fishlore family.

Just a heads up on your fish: Those bala sharks will outgrow your tank. Its good that you got three so that they were in a group, but they really get to where they need minimum of about 150g tank, and really need bigger than that. Although if you were to sell the balas those 4 angelfish would love the 55 to themselves, or even with a pair of bristlenose plecostomus in there, or 3-5 corydoras, or 3 otos.

jack11

hahaha i must admit i have done this once.

welcome, hope everything with your tank is well

sgould

Welcome, Melissa!

COBettaCouple

Welcome to Fishlore!

mccreations

Thanks for all the warm welcomes!!

Thanks for the heads up on the balas...hubby and I already suffer from "MTS" even though this is the only tank we have set up...*ahem* so far. LOL I did warn him when we started with the balas that we will have to have a bigger tank and more than likely that bigger tank will need to come sooner than we think. LOL

Everything seems to be doing well with the tank except for the cloudy water...we are 2 weeks into the cycling process though so *crosses fingers* that all goes smoothly and the fish will be ok through the transition. The 2 original angels and 2 of the original balas survived "worse" conditions in the 33 gallon tank we first had (inherited what we thought were goldfish only to find out they were comets that were getting HUGE and were EXTREME pigs...talk about high levels of EVERYTHING in the tank. I am impressed that the 2 angels and balas did as well as they did)...so I expect them to do fine. Just keeping an eye on the 2 new angels and the newest bala...although bala wise...it is getting harder to tell who the "originals" are. I am REALLY anxious to get the cloudy water clear so that I can take pictures of them all to post on here. I am REALLY proud of "my guys" and they each seem to have a distinct personality *I know I know I know...you can all agree with my husband that I have WAY TOO MUCH time on my hands LOL*

Thanks again for the warm welcomes. I am sure to love it here...I just tend to forget about forums after joining them for some reason but maybe this one will be different for me.

Melissa

susitna-flower

Hi Melissa,

MTS is really a good thing, and I too have been known to be on the forum into the wee hours of the morning!

You are in a place of the country where if you keep your eyes out on craigslist, you should be able to score a 125-200 gallon tank sometime in the next 6 months or so.

Take it from me it is SOoooo much better to have your balas in a big tank. If your husband wants it, why not!
I have 2 and they are happy in the big tank, they are calmer, and fit in so well with that community, I feel it has been well worth the expense and efforts. (The 55 is easy to find room for somewhere else, mine is on the kitchen counter) See you don't truly have MTS until every conceivable open space has a tank!

Have you made the jump yet to get an API Master test kit?
With cloudy water it would be a REALLY good idea to have one and start testing. Let us know what the readings are.

Glad you joined, and see you around the forum.
April

mccreations

As a matter of fact...I did go to petsmart this morning and bought the API Master Test kit. Came home and opened up the kit...read the booklet from cover to cover...then got to testing my water. Boy oh boy did I feel like a mad scientist!!

Not sure why I didn't post these readings with my previous reply must be lack of brain power due to only getting 3 hours of sleep last night.
Anyway...here they are...anyone...please feel free to give input/advice...it is killing me to not be able to admire my fish the way they should be admired because of the cloudy water!!

pH: 7.0 - 7.2
ammonia: .25 - .50
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 20

Oh and just for the heck of it because I was obviously enjoying playing mad scientist and/or the vigorous shaking of the nitrate #2 bottle for 1 min combined with vigorous shaking of the tube for 1 min wasn't enough "vigorous shaking" for me ...I did the nitrate test on my water from the tap and that reading was 0

Am I to assume that I am on the right track?? Or would that be premature in thinking since today is technically only Day 12 of the cycling?? I just wish that the cloudy water would go away. In fact...now that I am thinking about the time frame and all...it started to get cloudy around Day 4 or 5 possibly. I would have to check with hubby to see if he remembers but either way it is just getting worse and worse.

Oh and susitna-flower...funny that you mention "The 55 is easy to find room for somewhere else, mine is on the kitchen counter. See you don't truly have MTS until every conceivable open space has a tank!" THAT EXACT THOUGHT crossed my mind at around...Oh...11:30 pm when hubby and I were talking on the phone and he mentioned that he wanted to re-setup the 33 gal tank for our girls to have their own fish. I thought...hmmm...well 33g would fit nicely on the counter here so that I don't have to go into a different room just to enjoy their fish too. Didn't tell hubby that one though...I am afraid that he might agree with me...I think he has MTS BAD!! Might be a good thing he is getting deployed next month cuz if he were to stay in New York much longer in his barricks room...I KNOW he would be buying a tank to have up there!!!!

Ok....man...I have just babbled and babbled...sorry about that!! If anyone gets the chance...let me know your thoughts on my test readings of my water. I am looking for any and all advice that I can get!!!!! I want to see my fish again!!!!
Melissa

Gozer_1

Oh how I feel your pain. I stay up WAY too late at night reading and posting.

Big welcome to FishLore.

You definitely need to setup that 33. You know you want to. lol Would be a great community tank for the kids. (grown ones included )

mccreations

LOL You did read my mind Gozer...but I am really, really trying to wait until at least this 55g is done cycling...it would just kill me to have 2 tanks cycling at the same time. I wouldn't be able to enjoy either tank. LOL

BTW, thanks so much for the welcome!! I certainly can not be on here a second night in a row until 3:45am LOL I have to go to work tomorrow. I think I might go through withdrawal tomorrow. *yikes...bites fingernails*

Melissa

Gozer_1

You have to ask yourself whats worse. Looking at an empty tank OR looking at a tank almost ready lol. I hate the empty tank sitting in the garage waiting tos be my sump. It just sits there calling me to use it. lol "But I need money to build the stand", I say. "Buy rocks and cure them while you wait". "No, no I musn't. I need to buy wood." AHHHH.

mccreations

Ok...whew...cool...so I am NOT the only one whose tanks talk to her?? AWESOME!! I thought there was a really big problem brewing!!!!

Melissa

Gozer_1

You're with many of us. lol I think it's required for membership to this site lol. Worse yet is how much I talk to the fish.

mccreations

OMG!! I know!! I am right with you there!!!! My husband doesn't get to see the tank/fish but every 2 weeks (he is stationed in NY and the girls and I are still here in PA waiting for them to finish school but now he is getting deployed for minimum 12 mos. more than likely 15 mos.) So he comes home twice a month...he came home for the holiday break and just about died when he saw me feeding all the fish before we upgraded tanks because he FINALLY got to see how the fish react to me. He hears me over the phone talking to the fish when I feed them but hasn't seen their behavior as they have gotten bigger/more comfortable in their surroundings......the biggest angel that we have actually eats bloodworms off of a spoon for me but usually eats them right out of my fingers. Now, I am sure that this isn't some HUGE accomplishment but I am proud of it!! *grins* He finally also got to see how the same biggest angel will "show off" for me and fan out his veil/fins for me when it is feeding time (he has the most beautiful veil fins I have seen on an angel fish for this area!! Most are the shorter fins.) The thing that shocked him the most was that while I had my finders in the tank feeding them some bloodworms one night...one of the balas came up and rubbed against my finger and then ate some...he told me it was a fluke and the bala was indeed NOT letting me "pet" him so I put my fingers in again with some bloodworms in them and the same bala did it again...and I praised my "little guy"

I swear...I will have to have my husband register here so that he can read all the info in here *and also to prove that for once in life...I think I might be normal when it comes to my behavior with my fish )

Ok......got to get the kiddos ready for bed. I might be back on here later...not sure though after last night and all this afternoon that I spent on here reading and posting when I could have been taking a nap. *giggles*

Melissa

COBettaCouple

I'd love to see pics of your fish, especially the angels.

mccreations

Hi there COBettaCouple!!

I promise to get pics up here as soon as the cloudiness goes away in the tank. I am so embarrased right now to even tell people I have a tank let alone have someone come in my house and see the state it is in LOL I have faith though that it will clear up *patience patience patience* Once it does I have a really gorgeous fella (I think he is a fella anyway) He LOVES when I put my camera phone near the tank because he knows that he is getting his picture taken...I swear he does. He will just come right over to the glass and turn just a little bit and then he will just hang out there until he sees that the camera is gone. He is a really cool guy!!!! I noticed awhile back that when he shows off his upper veil...he has this GORGEOUS aqua/turquoise blue stripe going up the length of it (the same color that I noticed is on his pelvic fins...those babys GLOW blue, I swear!! LOL)

Have a great night!!
Melissa

COBettaCouple

Is it gravel dust? I hate that, it's part of why we ditched using gravel. Maybe a product like:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+113906
would help?

I love that camera-hog Angel! LOL. I think if he has a sort of hump past his snout, it's a he. Also the ventral fins are larger on the males - I think. We're new to Angels, having just got Fred in November. Sounds like a beautiful Angel! I bet you'd get awesome baby angels with that one.

mccreations

I am going to try and post a pic of him here...the water is a tad bit cloudy still but tons better than it has been. Let me see if I can do this and then that way you all can tell me if you think "he" in fact truly is a he or a she.

I hope this works and isn't too huge of a file size. *crosses fingers*

Melissa

*EDIT*

WOO HOO...it worked and I can see the pic of my baby!!

*EDIT #2*
OOPS...sorry...I just noticed that there is a separate place on the boards here for pics of our fish. I am sorry...I was just so excited to have finally gotten a picture of him/her that was all blurry.

Attached Images

Big Angel 3 crop.JPG (13.3 KB, 6 views)

COBettaCouple

She's a beauty!

Gozer_1

NICE.

Pictures are welcome anywhere they fit. IMO Heck post it in the picture thread too. lol

mccreations

Well, our water is just about crystal clear like it should be so maybe when the house quiets down tonight I will fiddle with my camera settings on my camera and sit back and try and get more pics.

So...COBettaCouple...he's a SHE huh?? It is nice to finally know although now I feel bad for calling her my big boy all this time. I think she will get over it though. *giggles*

My daughter (she's 7 and was off sick today) and I were looking at Bettas at Wal-Mart today while we were waiting for her prescription to fill.......those poor things!!!! I wish I had the space/time/money to bring them all home!!!! They look so sad and SO NOT HAPPY!!!! They had males, females, and some called Crowntail (I think) I am assuming the crowntails are all male? I have a ton of questions about bettas so I am going to post them on the betta board. Hopefully I will get to do that tonight if not sometime this weekend.

Melissa

≈ D ≈

Just wanted to say hi and Welcome to FishLore

That Angelfish in the above post is absolutely GORGEOUS

Oh, to help out you need to look at these subliminal smilies that tell you to get more tanks ... heh, heh.

Butterfly

Welcome to FishLore!

Is that why I have 11 tanks set up? Now I know who to blame
Carol

susitna-flower

Morning Melissa,

I'm setting here at 4:40 am, haven't slept since 2:30, I'm not home, so it is really a blessing I can get on here and chat a bit.

Love your angel , I noticed no one gave a response to your water test, and just wanted to give you kudos for following through on that, It is a bit like being a mad scientist.....

Have you been doing partial water changes? With the ammonia still up you need to do 25-50% a day. It sounds like your cycle is just about on the down hill slide now though. Since the nitrates are going up.

My rule of thumb on nitrates is that I don't like them as high as 20. Some folks feel 20 is fine, but I have read enough about how the nitrate level can add to stress, and that stress on a fish is the #1 cause of anything from a parasite like ick to attack, to fin rot, I just prefer to do water changes after the level gets to 10.

The easiest way to keep the nitrates down is not to overstock in the begenning, and then not to feed too much that isn't being eaten..

That being said, just want to once again say a big HI , and sounds like you and your husband both have your hands full of responsibilities, to fit fish in also is really nice to see.....Keep your faith in each other and your friends here will keep your back!

mccreations

Thanks for all the warm welcomes again!! Harlyman...THANKS so much for the subliminal smilies!! Just what I need......NOT!!

Susitna-flower...THANKS for the input on my water readings!! My tank has FINALLY cleared up and now I can see EVERY one of my beautiful fish!!!! It has been a week today that it cleared up totally (THAT in itself is a HUGE accomplishment for our tanks...the 30 gal tank we used to have *that is calling to me from our shed because it sits there empty and cold LOL* the 30 gal would only stay clear for approx. 72 hours or so and then we would cloud up all over again...) With that being said...since it is crystal clear like a tank should be and has been for over a week...I am pretty sure that the tank has fully cycled. WOO HOO!! I haven't taken a water test this week and I lost the tablet that had my most recent test levels in it...but I am planning on taking a test tonight to see what the levels are just to be sure.

All of the fish are VERY happy!!!! I am so proud of them and my tank!! I will take pictures the first chance I get and show them off!!

Have a great night all!!
Melissa