What are you doing to your tank today?


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Found the recently mated male Betta dead this morning :( He was doing his dad thing yesterday, but I didn't see him in the evening. Found him on the substrate this morning. He has refused food since mating. I assumed he would get hungry at some point. He was turning down live and pellet food to focus on being dad :(
 

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Found the recently mated male Betta dead this morning :( He was doing his dad thing yesterday, but I didn't see him in the evening. Found him on the substrate this morning. He has refused food since mating. I assumed he would get hungry at some point. He was turning down live and pellet food to focus on being dad :(
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Sorry to hear that. I wonder if maybe he was not well and mating was a sort of last heroic act.
 
Sorry to hear that. I wonder if maybe he was not well and mating was a sort of last heroic act.
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Dunno,

He built nests for over a year before he mated. Then they mated again in his tank and I just let him dad. He hasn't eaten since mating. I think he just exhausted himself being a dad :(

Sad, but now I have a need to make sure these fry grow up big and strong like dad. Not that I wasn't going to make the effort before, now it's kind of personal. Going to order a couple more food cultures so I can feed without worry.

Been doing some reading. I guess this happens sometimes. I wonder if I had stopped that second spawn after he had already done his duties as dad for the first one, if he would have started eating etc... again. Petunia got to start chowing down before the second mating. Milic was a couple days off dad duty. I think that second spawn just wore him out. Sigh, anyway.
 
Early (slightly ugly) photos of my new outdoor Walstad tanks
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Derrick (my surprise Raphael catfish) survived the night and is now in an actual quarantine tank
 
My newly set up 10g with few plants but lot’sa rocks. Created for the pipefish once they’re out of QT and by then it should have matured a good bit.

Still cloudy from fresh sand and whatnot but it should clear up in a day or two.
 

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Did another water change on the 20 gallon and added some stability again, had a small outbreak of detritus worms what with the food and everything but I think everything's cleaned up enough now.
 
Meddled in my Betta Sunset's 10 gallon again. Not too much though. I wanted to keep things minimal and less invasive. Slid some drift over, carefully pushed Cryptocorynes over a bit, unearthed all my Ludwigia. Half off it was already floating anyway. Letting it float until I know exactly where I want to be. Got Bacopa from the post today and put that in. Trying a new approach and attempting to get things to work together right.

Did an early WC while I was at it and increased the liquid ferts to half dosage.

Lights out now so pictures tomorrow and hopefully after I make the last few adjustments all I will need to do is stop messing with it and watch it grow in!
 
quality check...

passed
 

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I don’t recommend going to the fish store when you’re under stress. Luckily my boyfriend is incredible and goes along with most things. So I guess meet Aboleth
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How could I say no to this face??
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Tank not fully filled to allow for plant growth above the water line— will fill in more over the coming months. 20 tall tank
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I put a few more plants into the new 10g and then popped a gallon jug into it that is full of saltwater and hopefully soon to hatch brine shrimp.

Too blasted cold here for them to hatch without heat but I cracked the 2l bottle I had set up as a cheapo hatchery. The jug opening won’t allow a heater to be used inside it so the 10g will keep it enough above 70f that they should hatch, even if a little more slowly than I’d like.

Looks ridiculous but it seems to be working and the tiny piezo electric air pump is dead silent and just strong enough to keep the water and eggs churning gently.

Got some rotifer eggs to try to hatch that showed up today too, that’ll be interesting I’m sure, and some other cultures should be here soon. Got to keep my teeny tiny pipefish happy while they’re in QT and the 10g is maturing for them.
 

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I don’t recommend going to the fish store when you’re under stress. Luckily my boyfriend is incredible and goes along with most things. So I guess meet Aboleth

How could I say no to this face??
Tank not fully filled to allow for plant growth above the water line— will fill in more over the coming months. 20 tall tank
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I gave myself a rule to never even look at the cups if I go some place that has them. I get so overwhelmed by their beauty, cuteness, and sadness with all of them sitting on a shelf like that. I walk by now without even a glance.

This little guy is SO gorgeous though! Glad he's in a good home. Love the name too!
 
I renamed my new betta Milo :D He’s very inquisitive but still hasn’t figured food out yet. He loves to flare and fight his reflection currently. In the cup I noticed some starting of fin rot so I’m hoping that gets resolved on its own
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I'm sure you'll have it cleared up pretty quick :) Petunia had a little ich when we got her. All cleared up, now she's a mom with a tiny healing tear in her tail :) He's a nice looking fishy.
 
I'm sure you'll have it cleared up pretty quick :) Petunia had a little ich when we got her. All cleared up, now she's a mom with a tiny healing tear in her tail :) He's a nice looking fishy.
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Thank you!
 
Went to the lfs to get some Galaxies and a few other things. The galaxies looked pretty pathetic so we were looking at the other fish and these caught my eye. Golden dwarf Barbs, grabbed all 11 that they had. Hubs liked them too. They are in my 15g QT tank. :)



At home I swapped 5g and 9g stuff around. The Blue Meanie is now in the 5g with red racer and some RH snails. The rest in the 9g. One mini Spixi immediately started eating my sword so I had to pull that out. They already ate all of the sky roots from the crypts. Well we will see what happens in there. :confused:
 
Went to the lfs to get some Galaxies and a few other things. They galaxies looked pretty pathetic so we were looking at the other fish and these caught my eye. Golden dwarf Barbs, grabbed all 11 that they had. Hubs liked them too. They are in my 15g QT tank. :)

At home I swapped 5g and 9g stuff around. The Blue Meanie is now in the 5g with red racer and some RH snails. The rest in the 9g. One mini Spixi immediately started eating my sword so I had to pull that out. They already ate all of the sky roots from the crypts. Well we will see what happens in there. :confused:
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Those barbs are beautiful! I’m going to keep my eye out for some
 
Those barbs are beautiful! I’m going to keep my eye out for some
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I’d never heard of these - the species name is
Pethia gelius. Sounds like some sort of exotic candy.

Now I want some !!
 
I’d never heard of these - the species name is
Pethia gelius. Sounds like some sort of exotic candy.

Now I want some !!
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They are cool looking little fish!
 
Amphibian eggs at the vernal pond today. 30.8f water temps in the sun. Collected some eggs and moved them into the prepared tub. Also collected a grocery bag of alder, hazel and willow leaves rotting in the water.PXL_20240210_205918517.jpg

Then I took Rocket for a second walk today to recover some of Oregon grape from a nearby construction site to replant at home and to gather some medicine for the wife. She is bitterly sipping bitter tea. Can't have aspirin right now.
 

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Deciding when to move my final tank from my parent’s house to my apartment. It’s always such a long process and I take my board exam on Tuesday o_O debating whether I want to do it as a distraction from my constant state of panic or as a reward after I take the exam ..
 
Added an Aquael Pat mini to my shrimp tank today, couldn't find the shrimp sponge anywhere, so just put a cut stocking around the supplied sponge, works fine.
 
My new microworm culture came today and the fish got very excited about that. It’s not big enough to feed daily yet but it will be enough for the wee pipefish.

I have resting cysts for moina and rotifers so here’s hoping they turn out well and a shipment with assorted species of algae cultures will be here soon so I can get them rolling and have the best feed for the rotifers and moina.

Seems that nobody in this country is selling live specimens of such things as paramecium, copepods, Dero worms or freshwater isopods, which is extremely disappointing.

I can get them from the States but since the last time I did so, there is now an inspection fee of $250 USD for, I think it’s Fish & Wildlife and an additional $103 USD fee for some other procedure which together make it prohibitively costly to attempt to import anything of this nature.

Strikes me as rather punitive. I fully understand the need for bio security but nothing I want is exotic or non native so I really don’t get it.
 
Baty Bebba fisheses


They're so cute my verbal processing issues take over my typing ;)
 
Today is removing kittens from the lids. Over and over and over lol I just want to sip my coffee and watch fish. But noooo Hobbes needs to be on top of the 20 and turning the light off by pulling the chain lol
 
Today is removing kittens from the lids. Over and over and over lol I just want to sip my coffee and watch fish. But noooo Hobbes needs to be on top of the 20 and turning the light off by pulling the chain lol
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Naughty little kittens! But that’s kittens for you. Trouble is they keep that up for a good 2/3rds of their lives if not longer. My Deadly Spotted Squirm is just as naughty at a year and change as he was at 12 weeks old. But now he can do more damage ‘cause he’s a solid 12 or 13 pounds of lean determination.

But tonight I fed the wee pipefish some more microworms and not only were 3 of them out and about and looking fairly content, I saw them eat some worms!

That was a relief - I couldn’t be sure any of them were eating ‘til I saw that.
 
Gave up trying to breed the long fin cories and moved them back into the 20 long last night with the others.

I just removed two eggs.


Sigh
 
Gave up trying to breed the long fin cories and moved them back into the 20 long last night with the others.

I just removed two eggs.


Sigh
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Sort of like having uncooperative hens? ;-)
 

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Took my board exam yesterday and officially an RN now! It was a very stressful few days, but I filled it with aquarium stuff. So here are some photos that I’ve taken in the past few days. Happy valentines :)
 

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Took my board exam yesterday and officially an RN now! It was a very stressful few days, but I filled it with aquarium stuff. So here are some photos that I’ve taken in the past few days. Happy valentines :)
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I love that middle cube with the java moss(?), what's the red plant in the middle? Sorry if I missed a thread on that one somewhere, work tank shrimp-tank goals achieved there though, beautiful.

Edited. Ok so when I zoom in hard on that it doesn't look like I have any of it right lol. It's pretty, and am kinda fan boying it right now.
 
I love that middle cube with the java moss(?), what's the red plant in the middle? Sorry if I missed a thread on that one somewhere, work tank shrimp-tank goals achieved there though, beautiful.

Edited. Ok so when I zoom in hard on that it doesn't look like I have any of it right lol. It's pretty, and am kinda fan boying it right now.
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That’s my saltwater nano macroalgae tank! I have a thread on it, it’s an experiment where I am growing macroalgae outdoors with sunlight only and no filter. Tank has some snails
http://Thread 'Macroalgae Nano: Sunlight Filterless Experiment Journey'
Congratulations! That is something to be very proud of. Hope your career proves to be very rewarding.
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Thank you so much!
 
That’s my saltwater nano macroalgae tank!
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Now it makes allot of sense why I couldn't figure out what those were lol. Likely not a fit for my work tank project but wow, I'm considering a peer project/experiment to match it. Now which room to steal another flat surface from my wife in, that's the question...
 
Took my board exam yesterday and officially an RN now! It was a very stressful few days, but I filled it with aquarium stuff. So here are some photos that I’ve taken in the past few days. Happy valentines :)
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Congrats! Now everyone get to wonder why you were unregistered before ;)


I know that a pretty big step in that world. You get to do more stuff now right? Both monitored and unmonitored IIRC? More responsibilities but I'm sure you have watched a few procedures by now thinking "Oh, I'm so much better at doing that than they are" lol

My wife is very very good at blood draws and still gets called out of her office to help with problem ones lol I just remember her being proud of having zero trouble with a Chihuahua while her instructor was struggling with a docile and dumb lab lol
 
Congrats!!! What an accomplishment! And your tanks are always wonderful...so beautiful!!! :emoji_two_hearts:
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Thank you so much!
Congrats! Now everyone get to wonder why you were unregistered before ;)


I know that a pretty big step in that world. You get to do more stuff now right? Both monitored and unmonitored IIRC? More responsibilities but I'm sure you have watched a few procedures by now thinking "Oh, I'm so much better at doing that than they are" lol

My wife is very very good at blood draws and still gets called out of her office to help with problem ones lol I just remember her being proud of having zero trouble with a Chihuahua while her instructor was struggling with a docile and dumb lab lol
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I was a student before, now I can work as an RN :)
 
Thank you so much!

I was a student before, now I can work as an RN :)
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Going from reading and watching to actually doing a great feeling. Enjoy it :)
 

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The 20 gal still has one cory in it, but having the loss of Endlers etc... means I apparently have a (I forget) worm infestation.

Just in time for it be (hopefully) big for the Betta babies to munch :)


Looks like a Fish concert ;)
 
I harvested my first successful batch of baby brine shrimp today and fed some to my apistogramma borelli opal fry. You can see the pink in their bellies. I hope I didn't overdo it. I fed the rest of what I couldn't fit in my little storage tubes to the main tank. The bbs are so small, I was surprised to see all the fish go so crazy over them. I should probably try to clean the bottom of my breeder box as the fry didn't really seem to eat the Hikari first bites very well. Momma apistorgramm is still guarding some of the fry I left with her in the main tank.

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Feeding the baby Bettas / restarting brine shrimp as usual lol Going to scrape some algae later, but for now coffee and pumpkin :)
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You are definitely a looker, Alex! Wish I had room for a Beardie.

Meantime I will be planting my bargoon clearance plants that I ran across yesterday afternoon and seeing how the brine shrimp are coming along while I am waiting to see how much snow we get.

We’ve been warned of super heavy snow coming our way this afternoon and if they’re right it will be the first real snowfall of the winter so far.
 
You are definitely a looker, Alex! Wish I had room for a Beardie.

Meantime I will be planting my bargoon clearance plants that I ran across yesterday afternoon and seeing how the brine shrimp are coming along while I am waiting to see how much snow we get.

We’ve been warned of super heavy snow coming our way this afternoon and if they’re right it will be the first real snowfall of the winter so far.
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We got a crazy snowstorm this morning. Got like 3 -4 inches of heavy wet snow in about a 2 hours.
 
Just admiring my new endlers from ProudPapa. I am excited to watch their population explode as live-bearers do.
 
We got a crazy snowstorm this morning. Got like 3 -4 inches of heavy wet snow in about a 2 hours.
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We definitely got dumped on with lots of the white stuff this afternoon & I’m not sure it’s entirely finished though most of it fell over a very short time, just like yours. Messed up rush hour but good.

I was just as glad I didn’t have to go out! Cleaned up all my bargoon plants and they really were a deal - all with healthy roots and new growth started even though their leaves were only a few inches long and few in number.

They were only $2.99 each. I got four that I think are Dwarf sag and I am certain another two are V.nana.

I might go see if there are any of those left tomorrow because aside from having been nibbled on so they’re very short, they were in amazing shape and I think they were $8 regular price.

Along with that, two bunches of red parrot feather and M.mattogrosense as well, which I am hoping will grow well enough that I might use them for spawning and some Ludwigia Super Red for a little added colour.

They may not do so well - turns out they were cut in flower and that tends to make them iffy. Flowering stems shouldn’t be cut for propagation because the plant has already expended a lot of energy to make flower buds. Hopefully they’ll adapt.

Lastly, one little bunch of Rotala Blood Red which I hope will grow - I don’t always have the best luck with rotalas.

With a little luck and some root tabs (assuming I can find the wretched things) the tank should start to look much less bare soon.
 
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