Gift tank build (Blog?)

The idea:
So I've slowly been prepping a tank as a gift for my boyfriend. He's not really a fish person so I'm trying to make it as simple and easy as possible.

This started when I was shopping for a betta mahachaiensis and was showing him some of the different types, and he fell in love with the betta imbellis. So when purchasing my mahachaiensis, I asked the seller if they had any cheap/non-show quality imbellis for sale, and he did! (I figured cheaper was better as A) I was already spending a bit on my fish B) He's not a huge fish person so probably won't care that its color isn't perfect C) if he accidentally kills it it won't be as huge a loss)

Now, I think that - ordinarily - getting someone a fish as a gift is a terrible idea, as you don't know if they actually want the fish and it's a living animal. However, he seems like he might be interested in owning a fish. So I've told him he's getting a late christmas/early birthday "Half" present (Not quite sure when the fish will arrive... accidentally picked a terrible transhipper). I will tell him that he can have as much or as little to do with it. Like, if he doesn't want it at all, I will me MORE than happy to keep it lol Or he can keep it for a while (e.g. just while he's on his co-op this semester/summer) and I'll take it back, or he can just keep it completely. Or whatever he wants honestly. Like I said, it was relatively cheap lol.

Catching you all up:
This is the fish I got him (The seller took these pictures and did tell me it was okay to post)



Basically the only big issue with him is that the red extends too far into the analfin. That's it. I can live with that lol

An issue: I ordered these fish at like the beginning of December, but the seller hemmed and hawed and I missed the last shipping date and so had to wait until after the holiday season. I believe they should be in the US on the 10th or the 11th, but I used Jesse Fuentes, which the seller recommended as he was the closest to me. After my initial email he stopped replying to any of my emails and I cannot get ahold of him... he never even sent me an invoice. I have since found others had similar problems with him years ago. I'm quite worried that I won't get my fish or that they will arrive dead. I have tried calling and sent multiple emails. It's a huge pain. But anyways...

I started setting up a tank - Just a 10 gallon, in case he eventually wants to take it to college (10g is the max we can have in the dorms). I tried to think what kind of color would make the fish stand out (in a good way), so I decided on black and white. And should he decide he does want the fish, he'll also get:
- The decor, plants, substrate etc
- The heater (Aqueon Preset for up to 20 Gallons)
- The light (Aquaneat LED (18"-23"))
- The filter that's on its way in the mail (Aqueon Quietflow for 10 gallons)


I felt like it was still kind of sparse, but I liked the repetition of the circular shape (Bridge, marimo, marbles in the gravel). This was right after I set it up so it was still kind of cloudy from the soil under the gravel. I (subtly) got his opinion of the tank setup, and he liked it.

An Issue: Unfortunately, I did not read the label carefully when buying plants and bought White Ribbons, which are only semi-aquatic and will need to be replaced.

After it was cycled, I used it a couple of times to hold some fish temporarily before they got put into other tanks (A female betta, some Indian fire barbs, and a male betta - all at different times of course).

An Issue: But then, while I was at my boyfriend's house for New Years and left my mother in charge of my tanks, there was a bit of an algae bloom...


(Sunny appears to be using telekinesis to lift the saran wrap here, but let me assure you that that is not the case lol)
Also note the white (fake) rock that was added, my boyfriend actually helped me pick it out.

That catches you up! I'll update when things change again if people are actually interested in this.


To do:
- Clean the algae off everythingead:
- Move Sunny
- Replace white ribbon plants
- Add a little more of some kind of decor to fill it up a bit
- Find a snail so my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with this algae again... hopefully...
--- Thinking a blue ramshorn, I just ordered some for myself, and I know it'll reproduce, but he does like blue soooo (Plus I already have some coming lol)
- Figure out if/when the fish are coming/get ahold of the transhipper
- Contemplating adding some neon tetras... he had some when he was younger, and remarked that he liked them when we saw some at my LFS. Might try
- Fish arrives Tuesday
- Surprise Boyfriend

 

That fish is awesome. I love that color and would love to add one to my tank. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that fish!!!

 

That fish is awesome. I love that color and would love to add one to my tank. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that fish!!!

Ikr, that's exactly why I'm okay with keeping it if he doesn't want it lol

- Figure out if/when the fish are coming/get ahold of the transhipper

One item off the list! I emailed the seller when I realized I'd read something wrong and he hadn't shipped the fish yet, so I contacted him and we're going to use a different transhipper - this is a huge weight off my chest.

 

So what does your fish look like?

 

So what does your fish look like?

This is the mahachaiensis (They are stills from the video the seller sent me and it’s also okay for me to post)

 

- Find a snail so my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with this algae again... hopefully...
--- Thinking a blue ramshorn, I just ordered some for myself, and I know it'll reproduce, but he does like blue soooo (Plus I already have some coming lol)

Snails arrived! They’re all alive and the seller included a 4th (I ordered 3). The color doesn’t really come across in the picture as they’re still in the bag, but it’s quite nice, I think

 

This is the mahachaiensis (They are stills from the video the seller sent me and it’s also okay for me to post)

Stunning fish. If it’s yours I see no issues posting it. That’s food to let people know though.

 

Stunning fish. If it’s yours I see no issues posting it. That’s food to let people know though.

It’s for the moderators, if I don’t mention that I asked the person who took it (the seller) and that they gave me permission to post, they’ll remove it for copyright infringement

 

To do:
- Clean the algae off everythingead:
- Move Sunny
- Replace white ribbon plants
- Add a little more of some kind of decor to fill it up a bit
- Find a snail so my boyfriend doesn't have to deal with this algae again... hopefully...
--- Thinking a blue ramshorn, I just ordered some for myself, and I know it'll reproduce, but he does like blue soooo (Plus I already have some coming lol)
- Figure out if/when the fish are coming/get ahold of the transhipper
- Contemplating adding some neon tetras... he had some when he was younger, and remarked that he liked them when we saw some at my LFS. Might try
- Fish arrives Tuesday
- Surprise Boyfriend

Today I finally got around to cleaning the algae off everything, but I put in two of the four ramshorns to keep the algae from coming back, hopefully. I put back two of the white ribbons, and started several replacement plants growing. I also added another white (fake) rock that was larger, I like the scale better now. I also picked up seven neon tetras - I was going to wait but I ended up near the LFS today and figured why not. They’re still settling in.

Better pictures of the ramshorns:




They’re happily cleaning away

The neons:




They’re exploring a little bit, but sticking around the bottom. I’m hoping this is normal and that they’ll get more comfortable and start swimming around more soon.

The scape:


(I topped off the water after this pic was taken) it looks better in real life...

 

Cool. You’re a good girlfriend. Dang my wife doesn’t even buy me fish. She barely even looks at my tank. We’re going on 18 years now. She great really but I wish she liked fish, fishing and hunting. I guess no ones perfect though.

 

Just something I noticed tonight...
So I didn't tell my mother I was buying this second fish as she'd likely be unhappy about it and I didn't want to hear it (Though, she didn't care about me getting seven neon tetras, probably just cause they're small) but anyways, I'd tried to use singular language when speaking to her (e.g. "The fish shipped, I can't wait until it arrives") but I kept slipping up and using plurals (e.g. "The fish shipped, I can't wait until they arrive") and the first time I did this, she looked at me and was like "Wait, how many fish did you get?" and I was like "One " (Cause I really did only get one for myself ). But just now I was talking with her and she asked "When do the fish arrive?" which is plural too... singular would've been "does"

Update: I scrolled up so the only thing visible on the screen was the two above pictures of the imbellis, called my mom over and showed her the pics (with no context), and she said "Wow! It looks like jewelry!" lol

 

Stopped by my LFS today and decided to pick up some of their dwarf water lettuce. They had quite a bit, so they gave me extra. I got home and sorted the nice plants into the gift tank, and the not-as-pretty ones into my sorority tank. I hadn’t really planned to add these, but they have a nice white-green color which goes with the theme, and they will probably help the betta feel safer




I also removed my sponge filter and added a HOB. It will be easier for my boyfriend, I think, than having to set up an air pump and tubing and all that, should he choose to take it. It’s an aqueon quietflow for 10 gallons. I have one for my 20 gallon and it’s done a wonderful job, so I think this should be a good choice. Though at the moment it’s stirring the water lettuce around a bit. Plus it hides in the back quite nicely!




Bonus pic of the sorority tank - now with water lettuce!

 

The neons are more active now, not just hanging around the bottom under the bridge. The snails are still cleaning away, and they've grown a lot like way more than the other two in other tanks.


Fish should arrive tomorrow I think I'm gonna reclean the tank just so it's extra nice

 

That's an amazing gift! Both tanks are awesome!

 

The fish arrived! I’m not sure if I should wait to show my boyfriend until after it’s colored up, or just show him tonight. Leaning towards the former, though I don’t have a lot of time before I have to go back to school.

Also finally showed/told my mom and she was chill about it, which is good lol

The imbellis:

That's an amazing gift! Both tanks are awesome!

Thanks! We’ll have to see if he actually wants it before we can say for sure that it is a good gift lol

 

He’s in the tank now!
First thing he did was stare at a snail and try to threaten it lol
He wasn’t sure of the neons at first but now he’s hanging out with them an following them around they’re roughly the same size and color so he kinda blends in lol

His color is coming through more too!



And if you wanna see some video of him, he’s in the second half of this one:

I think I’ll give him to my boyfriend tonight... I’ll update here of course, either way

 

So I made him the offer. He was pretty quiet... but he didn’t say no. I told him I don’t need a yes or a no (for the tank’s immediate future) until I start packing for college (Saturday/Sunday) so I know if I need to take the fish with me or not.
After I gave him all the information, he looked at the fish and sat there watching the tank for quite a while. I can usually read him pretty well but I am at a loss this time, I have no idea what’s going on in his head.

I mean, either way it works out. He’ll either have a pretty cool fish buddy, or I’ll have a pretty cool fish buddy lol

 

Following

 

Following

 

Oh dear, you guys did pick the wrong time to follow didn’t you lol

I talked to him again and he said he doesn’t think he’d take good enough care of them. Pretty sure he was just being polite about saying no lol

I’ll ask him one more time before I leave for college, but I’ll probably end up keeping everything I did tell him he had to name the fish though as I'm out of good names at the moment

Do you guys want like more updates about the fish even if/since he’s not taking it?

 

Oh dear, you guys did pick the wrong time to follow didn’t you lol

I talked to him again and he said he doesn’t think he’d take good enough care of them. Pretty sure he was just being polite about saying no lol

I’ll ask him one more time before I leave for college, but I’ll probably end up keeping everything I did tell him he had to name the fish though as I'm out of good names at the moment

Do you guys want like more updates about the fish even if/since he’s not taking it?

DUHHH!!! More updates!

 

So, small update:
I forced my boyfriend to at least name him, and he picked “E’lir”, like from Name of the Wind. It’s said ih-leer

I also dragged my fish up to school with me finally. I left the neons at home for a while because E’lir is temporarily sharing his tank with Lemon (Lee or Lemy for short... I didn’t name him Lemon for his color, but because he’s massive sour puss, I am waiting to formally post pictures of him until he colors up more)


full tank



Lee’s side



E’lir’s side


Exploring

 

Lemy got taken home and CirI took up residence in the left half for a little while. E’lir seems to find her company much more pleasant than Lemy’s lol
He built a (rather pathetic) bubble nest, and she’s got some like super breeding stripes. They often show off for each other - I don’t plan to let them together, so I feel kinda bad but oh well lol
E’lir’s color has also darkened a lot. He’s now a royal blue that’s just gorgeous (my boyfriend loves the color)






I also had been looking for a replacement for the white ribbon plants (which ironically seem to be doing better than the ones I removed and left only their roots submerged). I ordered a “marble queen” aka it’s a variegated sword. It’s quite pretty and I can’t wait for it to get growing




and please excuse the algae and debris... I accidentally left my cleaning supplies at home last weekend

 

The marbled sword is growing well, and experienced no melting upon introduction. The abrogation is less apparent then when it arrived - I’ll have to figure out what influences that.





One of the white ribbons finally started melting. For having a semi-aquatic plant underwater for two months, that’s pretty good I think!
The other plant is still fine



And E’lir is doing well! CirI is still in the tank, so the neons are still at home. CirI still usually has some very nice breeding stripes, and he’s getting better at building bubble nests. I so want to release them and see if they’ll breed and what the offspring would look like, but I’m not currently equipped to handle a second batch of betta fry, so I’m not going to.

 

The marble sword was not happy about being moved home. I also finally added some more plants. I got one bunch of white ludwigia that ended up having somewhere are 16 stems in it, and some anubias pinto (which I’ve been wanting for this tank for a while).

The neons finally got moved back in and seem happy - I’m still surprised I never lost any, as I hear they’re supposed to be somewhat fragile.

E’lir is doing well (though he looks paler now, but that’s because there’s no one to show off for)

And I may try moving my electric blue ram into this tank. It’s smaller than the minimum, but I think he’ll be happier in this tank than the one he’s in now.

Here’s some pics (I stirred up some debris planting stuff, I’ll vacuum it out a little later in the week once I have some more time)










I also just saw E’lir try (and succeed?) to eat a young ramshorn snail lol