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The Poet and the Fish

41K views 469 replies 31 participants last post by  Hallyx 
#1 · (Edited)
I like journalling. I especially like it when it helps me to remember important things, or follows the progress of something I'm working on.

Plus, I'm a poet. We never can shut up, anyway. ;)

I bought my deep red VT betta (Sid Fishus) from the typical can't-be-arsed pet shop, with no real clue of how to keep him. The ensuing panic, once I discovered everything I thought I knew was a load of old cobblers, has amounted to a crash course in betta-keeping.

Sid went from a gallon barrel-vase to a 2-and-a-bit gallon IQ3 cube, to a 3-and-half-ish gallon IQ3 cube (which is where he'll stay put for a while!) in a week and a half, poor little guy. I'm happy with his present tank, which has several species of low to mid-light plants and a nice mangrove root sculpture that doubles as hidey-place for Mr. Fishus.

During this week I discovered Sid has a parasite problem, which I'm working on fixing (though his poo seems to have normalised somewhat; still, I am keeping a eye on that and will buy the cure anyhow just in case). And then his fin tips grew fuzzy white balls, so he resembled some sort of miniature aquatic Santa's helper for a day or so - I still don't know exactly what that was, but it seems to be clearing up of its own accord. Again, keeping a close eye on it.

He has curling and sticking at the tips of his dorsal fin and tail, too -- it looks like somebody's tried to wring his fin out and quit halfway through. I'm assuming these are old problems as the rest of his fins seem healthy. I read that this is caused by bad water conditions, and sometimes by not having any room to swim properly. Maybe those problem bits will grow out, eventually.

He's also really small. I noticed this only by actually seeing some other bettas in person at the pet store (Sid was the only one in the store I bought him from). The others were much larger than him in length and body mass. So he's a squirt. That's okay.

Sid is really a happy guy now. He's a tuffypants, and has weathered all these massive lifestyle and environmental changes really well. We just did a 50% water change and now he's patrolling about, perhaps just to see whether I snuck any rival fish in while he wasn't looking.

Anyway, here's some pics of Sid looking a bit thin and pathetic, taken quite recently. I'm hoping over time that his general condition will pick up and he'll come to look as magnificent as some of the Veiltails in the picture thread here. And - if not? I'll just have to love him to bits anyway. ;)







I haven't found a poem about bettas yet, but I'd like to share this fish poem by Elizabeth Bishop, which I've always loved:



The Fish
by Elizabeth Bishop


I caught a tremendous fish
and held him beside the boat
half out of water, with my hook
fast in a corner of his mouth.
He didn't fight.
He hadn't fought at all.
He hung a grunting weight,
battered and venerable
and homely. Here and there
his brown skin hung in strips
like ancient wallpaper,
and its pattern of darker brown
was like wallpaper:
shapes like full-blown roses
stained and lost through age.
He was speckled with barnacles,
fine rosettes of lime,
and infested
with tiny white sea-lice,
and underneath two or three
rags of green weed hung down.
While his gills were breathing in
the terrible oxygen
--the frightening gills,
fresh and crisp with blood,
that can cut so badly--
I thought of the coarse white flesh
packed in like feathers,
the big bones and the little bones,
the dramatic reds and blacks
of his shiny entrails,
and the pink swim-bladder
like a big peony.
I looked into his eyes
which were far larger than mine
but shallower, and yellowed,
the irises backed and packed
with tarnished tinfoil
seen through the lenses
of old scratched isinglass.
They shifted a little, but not
to return my stare.
--It was more like the tipping
of an object toward the light.
I admired his sullen face,
the mechanism of his jaw,
and then I saw
that from his lower lip
--if you could call it a lip
grim, wet, and weaponlike,
hung five old pieces of fish-line,
or four and a wire leader
with the swivel still attached,
with all their five big hooks
grown firmly in his mouth.
A green line, frayed at the end
where he broke it, two heavier lines,
and a fine black thread
still crimped from the strain and snap
when it broke and he got away.
Like medals with their ribbons
frayed and wavering,
a five-haired beard of wisdom
trailing from his aching jaw.
I stared and stared
and victory filled up
the little rented boat,
from the pool of bilge
where oil had spread a rainbow
around the rusted engine
to the bailer rusted orange,
the sun-cracked thwarts,
the oarlocks on their strings,
the gunnels--until everything
was rainbow, rainbow, rainbow!
And I let the fish go.
 
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#52 · (Edited)
Last day of salt today. Sid's fin problem has halted for sure, and reversed in some places - but not others. His anal fin is showing less sign of repair than his tail, which had the rapid rot and now is showing plenty of healthy new fin growing. The anal fin has a bite-sized chunk out of it, which bothers me. I assumed it was the rot, as I watch him quite closely and have never once witnessed fin-biting. But at least there's no more loss.

I'm keeping him (against his will) in the hospital tank until his main tank settles with the new wood. It's still at 0.25 ammonia or thereabouts today, though the test was more yellow than pale lime, so perhaps it's dropped a little. I'm leaving Sid be, in case the changes threw the other tank into a mini-cycle or something (rather than it just being that I overfed the tank..).

My wisteria has lots of lovely new leaves coming on. The crypt in the ceramic pot is looking a tad pale, and its leaves are long.. it's a longer-stemmed variety than some crypts and it's producing pups okay. But I wonder if it's getting enough light to be happy.

And I think I found out what the "freshwater seaweed" is! It looks like this:



Which is often sold as 'Pellia', 'Pelia', or 'Subwassertang':

"Süsswassertang (German spelling: Süßwassertang) is a type of aquarium plant formerly known as "round Pellia" or "round-leaf Pellia". It was long considered to be a liverwort, which it strongly resembles, but in 2009, a molecular phylogenetic study determined that it is, in fact, an fern gametophyte. Further, it is a species of Lomariopsis.[1] It is closest to Lomariopsis lineata, but may be a new, unnamed species. Many reference sources on the web describe it as L. lineata, but its inclusion in that species has not been validly determined. Efforts to induce the plant to form a sporophyte have failed, which may indicate status as a new species. This plant was first mis- identified as Pellia endiviifolia, then as Monosolenium tenerum, before the analysis that determined its true status.


The name means "freshwater seaweed" in German.

Reproduction is by fragmentation. Pieces that break off develop into new plants."


As mentioned above, it used to be regarded as a variety of liverwort, Monosolenium tenerum, which is actually terrestrial, and has been likened to a 'living fossil' because it is extremely primitive as far as plants go. Monosolenium is native to South East Asia and apparently quite rare in the wild:

"In Japan the incidence of this species has declined in the countryside in recent decades—after adoption of modern plumbing. When the old-fashioned privy was current, Monosolenium was a common "weed," as, e.g., around the privies in the periphery of the Mossy Temple at Kyoto...and in settled areas. The plant apparently hardly occurs "wild" and always seems associated with man—much like that other east Asiatic monotype, Ginkgo biloba. It is of interest that this plant, "lost" for decades, appeared on fertilized soil in a greenhouse in Munich, giving Goebel the opportunity to carefully investigate the taxon."

Here's a pic of it:




Think about that, next time you find slime in your privy. You could have a rare plant on your hands! :D

Thanks to Wikipedia for the information on both plants.
 
#53 ·
Here's another fish-related poem I really like :

The Fish in the Stone
by Rita Dove


The fish in the stone
would like to fall
back into the sea.
He is weary
of analysis, the small
predictable truths.
He is weary of waiting
in the open,
his profile stamped
by a white light.

In the ocean the silence
moves and moves
and so much is unnecessary!

Patient, he drifts
until the moment comes
to cast his
skeletal blossom.

The fish in the stone
knows to fail is
to do the living
a favor.

He knows why the ant
engineers a gangster's
funeral, garish
and perfectly amber.
He knows why the scientist
in secret delight
strokes the fern's
voluptuous braille.
 
#54 ·
This evening I moved one of the driftwood pieces (the one that makes a tunnel) into the little tank with Sid, as I figured it might be best to get him used to whatever changes the wood will have made to the water.

He loves the tunnel and spent tonight doing laps around the tank just so he could swim through it. He seems to have found a favourite spot on top of the wood to sleep, and keeps returning to it after coming up for a breath now and then. Funny little fish.

The main tank doesn't look terribly tannin-y with the lights on, but I sure notice it when they're off - it's so much darker!

Little Demyx won't be 'little' for much longer, I think. He's in blooming health despite being a terrible little stress bunny and near impossible to catch, which means - stress! - at water change time.

It amazes me daily how different in temperament our two fish are. It's still pretty amazing to me that such small fish have 'temperaments' at all. But then, I thought the same about rats when I got my very first one.

And I must be off, to write TWO poems for my poetry forum's monthly challenge, since I am a day behind..
 
#55 ·
Demyx

Hi Aus! May I make a suggestion? For water changes, are you catching and removing Demyx, then pouring out his water and putting in fresh? Does he have a filter and are you cleaning his tank each time?
Another option is to use a piece of air tubing, begin a siphon into a container leaving him in the tank with 1-2 inches and then replace back the same amount of treated water/same temp. There are little squeeze type balls that can be used to start a siphon, rather than sucking on the end of the tube. Even a Turkey baster to remove in small batches, then put back the new stuff the same way or pour it directly from the jug/container into his filter slot/hole and then plug it up after.
The stuff on the sides of the tank, feels like slime, but it's the good bacteria that gets all over and deals with the ammonia. Don't clean that stuff off. And I think you also have live plants too correct?
Don't even catch him or remove him. Unless I'm missing something here....? :-D
JB
 
#56 ·
Hiya JB, hope all is well for you.

Demyx is in a heated tank, but he can't have a filter - even a tiny bit of flow upsets him, he gets very depressed and won't swim. He does have quite a lot of finnage for his tiny size, so maybe that's why. Anyway, this is why I do 1x 50% change, and 1x 100% change per week. I don't scrub the sides or ornaments, but I do rinse the gravel when I do the 100%. He has a large clump of java fern floating (it's very healthy and growing new leaves) and a little potted crypto (I swapped his anubias for one of Sid's cryptos).

I have a siphon, but I'm scared he'll get sucked up into the tube (he's small enough, ha).

Also, our water, IMO, has to be aged for at least a couple of days, since we get terrible amounts of bubbles (and I'm concerned about bubble disease)-- and so the replacement water is cold, and then heated in the tank before we return him to it.

So catching and cupping's been the answer to water changes so far. He copes with being cupped, but haaaates being caught. I think I may just have to be more patient about coaxing him into the cup with food.

I'm lucky, with Sid. I think he actually enjoys being cupped for wc's, the little weirdo. :lol:
 
#57 ·
Sid's back in the salt...

After 24 hours out of it, his fins started peeling a few very thin strips away from the main part, no other signs of rot but I didn't like the look of it at all. And there's no ammonia in that tank whatsoever. The water's changed daily (which I honestly thought he'd be stressed about by now, but nope!).

So.. back in the salt. I'll give him three more days, see if he responds okay and then use triple sulfa, as I think whatever's going on will qualify as pretty persistent, after that.

He's otherwise as happy as can be in there; his appetite is great, he's flaring now and then. It's just the damn fins..
 
#58 ·
My wisteria is talking to me.

"Aus," it is saying, "Listen up. Me and my friends in here, we need an NPT, like yesterday. No, really, look at all these thick roots I'm sending down, in the whim of a hope of a decent substrate. How about you get us some?"

To which I have replied, "Oh, um.. yeah. Okay?"

It's a real delight that the plants are doing well. If I get the NPT supplies today or tomorrow, the timing will be excellent for putting Sid back in the tank.

I'm so excited! I'll need a few more plants, too... Mainly stem plants, which I've avoided because I vacuum the gravel pretty thoroughly at water changes. And I can let the wisteria put down those amazing long, thick roots it's sprouted in the past two days.

Maybe it'll stop nagging me, then. :lol:

Speaking of Sid, I just watched him spend 5 minutes dismembering a mosquito that had snuck past the lid of his hospital tank. It was a huge one! I swear he was playing with it, must have grabbed it and spat it out half a dozen times before he finally gulped it down. Now he's sailing around the tank heroically, flaring at everything.

Silly fish. :-D
 
#59 · (Edited)
Since Daughter's iPod is malfunctioning, my housemate (let's call him 'Irish') was kind enough to take a pic of my new tank set-up for Sid. :-D




The wisteria's roots show no sign of quitting their quest for substrate, and since I've been a little busy lately I haven't yet got round to potting-mix hunting for the planned NPT. Soon! Though the tank looks so nice at the moment it's a chance to enjoy the perty before it all gets dismantled..

I'm halfway through rearranging my living room, eyeballing several spaces and tables for a 15gallon NPT.. Everyone here loves the idea, after seeing the tannin-y natural look in Sid's tank. They all want to see some shrimp in there. And so do I! (Though honestly, I'd prefer a shrimp-only tank, or to wait for the 15gallon to give the poor lil guys a chance to hide from Sid).

Sid's fins are improving, and so he's back in his home tank. Little Demyx has taken Sid's place in the hospy tank, due to a possible fin-chomping issue and a little raggedy edge on that. He is having a ball in the hospital tank. I put a broken-handled 'pumpkin cup' in there for him to hide in (part of a teaset that was designed to look like butternut pumpkins). He loves it to bits, and has taken to using the curve of the broken handle as a sofa, which is adorable.

He's not stressing as much I thought he might, and seems to enjoy being in a high-traffic area. I moved his tank-table to the other side of the new sofa so he's not so hidden away when gets back into his home tank.

Demyx has developed a massive amount of fin (to the point where I am wondering whether he might be a rosetail rather than a plain HM, his tail has a very ruffled look to it, but perhaps it's just long, not sure yet and since he won't flare it's hard to get a good look at the rays)... it looks like it's really heavy for him, as his actual body is still quite small compared to Sid, who isn't large himself.
 
#60 ·
little fish
by Renee Liang


my astonished belly
has lately become
a fishbowl
and you, little fish

winged mermaid
dancing citizen
of my inner seas
you sang to me

long before
your 17 weeks
long before I first saw
your tiny arms

doing freestyle
on the screen
your feet waving
in gentle currents

little fish, as I feel you
blowing bubbles
in my belly
I can’t help but smile.
 
#61 ·
More wisteria news...

So, it is true that wisteria will sprout a new plant from fallen-off leaves. I have two leaves with roots in my tank!

The new growth on the main stem is less deeply pinnate than the rest, and more lobe-like, which might indicate that it's getting used to slightly lower lighting than the LFS's set up. It's still got jagged edges, so I know there's enough light to keep it healthy.

I also put Demyx's plants in with Sid to help keep them healthy while I figure out a new light for Demyx's tank, which has less natural light now I've moved it away from the window. I'm thinking a small LED standing lamp will be good, so am looking for one that has the necessary 6500K

So, in Sid's tank there is now:

15 pieces of java fern (some floating, some tied to driftwood)
2 cryptocorenes (potted)
1 baby crypto (floating, I keep forgetting it's there..)
1 anubias (potted)
1 huge wisteria stem (with lots and lots of roots now)
2 baby wisterias (rooted leaves)
1 clump of susswasstertang (freshwater seaweed)

and now it looks a bit more jungly. :lol: Sid loves it.

Demyx is much happier in the hospital tank than Sid was. I think he's enjoying all the action of people walking by. He loves his new teacup, but I think I'll look around for some interesting ornaments he can take back to his main tank later, I worry about boredom. He'll be in the salt another week until I'm happier with his fins. I really do think he's biting them, but I'd like to be sure his fins are not diseased. There's no new damage, though, so the salt and daily water changes must be doing their work.

I've FINALLY decided to sell off the 3.5 tons of items in my house that I no longer love so much that I simply have to keep them in boxes in the shed and my wardrobe.

This tonnage includes:

- A complete set of Crowley books.
- 300 x 1950's - 1970's books on UFO's
- 150 beautifully illustrated children's books (I may keep a couple of those .. >> )
- 1500 x new age books on various topics, mostly healing and spirit guides
- Around 200 quartz crystals, some weighing more than 10kg, and lots of other minerals

.. and so on. I'm putting ads on ebay and several other sites, so hopefully somebody will want them. I need the room! No more clutter! :shock:

And I'll use the proceeds to make a very gnarly 10-15g NPT.. :cool:

Since Irish and Daughter both like the idea of a larger NPT with lots of shrimp in it (and maybe a betta.. >> ), they can help with setup and water changes. :-D
 
#62 ·
Booyah! I just found an online sales site for Aussie native water plants!

http://www.aquagreen.com.au/catalog.html

Most of them require a lot more light than the ones I have, but I'm hoping they have a few low-light species. They also sell IAL - and their native equivalents, which is awesome.

I have started looking for a 44g plastic drum to keep outside for a steady supply of aged water (apparently shrimps really hate fresh tap water, even conditioned, so I want nicely aged water for when I eventually get some). It'd be nice to have a lot of water ready for changes, anyway, and a few mozzie larvae would only add to the benefits...

I want some Pygmy Chain Sword for Sid's tank, once I get it up as an NPT. I think it's a really attractive plant, and will tolerate low light:

 
#63 ·



I want to make some of these!

Tillandsias (air plants) are such a great choice for this sort of display. It's from a wedding site, I guess they're little table favours or centerpieces.. much better than a betta in a vase!

I also found a 50L (13gallon) tank with heater for sale on Gumtree for $50 - hope it's still available! That would be perfect for my next tank..

I have been so timid about fishkeeping, worrying if I could keep up with it and what happens if I have to go back to hospital, etc.. But I think Daughter & Irish would cope with water changes for a few days. And water changes on two small tanks are no sweat, PLUS the bigger tank would be cycled so even less work! I have my fingers & toes crossed for a bargain tank & heater...

The guy from that native Aussie waterplant place emailed me back, nice feller, and offered to send me a quote for a pile of native lowlight plants. he;s all about preservation of species, etc, so I'd be glad to have natives in my tanks. :) He also has native fish! I have to show these little guys, as they're so darn cute:




That's a threadfin rainbowfish, Iriatherina werneri. How cute is it?? They apparently are schooling fish, and grow up to 6cm long.

I don't plan on getting any, but I'm so very pleased that native tropical fish like these are available. Maybe one day... :cool:
 
#65 ·
OH AUS....... I AM SO SORRY TO HEAR. :BIGweepy:

No idea what happened? It's just so frustrating when we don't know why. Try not to let it eat at you, or fret that you did any thing wrong. You gave that sweet little boy a wonderful home, away from that nasty shelf at the store. You gave him a much better life. ((( HUGS )))
Jakie
 
#66 ·
Thank you, JB. An no, no idea what happened. It looked like a sudden, aggressive case of columnaris, so I treated with a half dose of Myxazin (never used it before, and the drops from the bottle are about 2x the size of drops from any other bottle.. and my net was out, so I dosed half until I could research how much was safe) - and in 5 mins he was dead.

I made a thread about it, in case anyone has ideas about happened:

http://www.bettafish.com/showthread.php?t=96791

He was never 100% well, and illnesses tended to hit him really quick and hard - but this was TOO quick, it seems to me...

Sigh. We all miss him terribly.
 
#67 · (Edited)
So.... Sid's tank became a shrimp tank for a week, with three cherry reds happily zooming about to see how they did in there. I had every intention of leaving it to this fate, at least for a few months..

But... we went to buy a couple more shrimp (I bought four). And Daughter spotted, among all the sick-looking bettas I would not dream of buying (omg, there's a LFS rant coming up, but more on that later..) a single, happy, healthy female. One sleek, healthy little fish, out of dozens...

And that is how we came to acquire Cleo. :roll:

I HATE giving those people money, and I had SWORN I would never do so again. But Daughter can be very persistent and persuasive, and I am a bit vulnerable to the idea of leaving a healthy fish to wind up diseased or dead like the rest .. (I am really annoyed at myself for caving in, though...) :|

So now we have Cleo and seven shrimp. And a lot of java moss.

She's a very young orangey-red VT girl. Mainly, I caved on buying her because I've never seen a betta so completely active and bright in a store cup. And -- well, all the pale, dying fish up the back rows of cups are female. They aren't as popular as the males, and I dare say they more often than not end up as 'losses'. I am seriously conflicted. I want to be happy that I have a new fish. But I'm mad as heck at myself, seriously, for going against my principles..

Anyway, right away I am noticing a few differences. Cleo did not take two weeks to perk up in her new environment. She is (as far as I can tell) 100% healthy from the get-go and didn't need a long time to start feeling good in a clean environment. In fact she adjusted to the tank in a few short minutes. She likes the filter, and doesn't mind the slightly higher setting it's on now. She never stops scooting around the tank, exploring everything -- and hunting the poor shrimp. :|

Kudos to the shrimp, though. They all manage to keep out of her way - my tank is quite heavily planted now and has wood as well, so there's no lack of places for them to hide. The two largest ones tend to ignore her completely until she tries to take a bite - they don't even go pale anymore when she snaps and they scoot away. The smaller ones are a worry, just because Cleo is so very aggressive. They keep to the back of the tank, behind the wood where Cleo can't go, and seem happy to stay back there, munching on the algae that grows on the wood. I have shrimp food, but there's enough algae back there that I think once a week feeding with a pellet is okay for now. They don't cluster around the pellet right away, as they would if they were hungry, so I'm taking it easy for now. At the rate they're going, though, I think the algae won't last long so I'll drop them more food as the growth declines.

She's nowhere near as 'personable' as Sid was, though. He was a very friendly fellow. Cleo doesn't seem so interested in interacting so much as wondering if we'll fit in her greedy little gob. She'll take some getting used to. I like her, of course, but she's just... not Sid. :(

Now for the tank... I did a LOT of research about this, and decided not to take Sid's tank down for disinfecting. As the shrimp all survived quite well for a week in the tank by themselves, I could be sure the water wasn't toxic or spiking unpleasant levels of anything. Really, I was happy to leave it as a shrimp tank, so there was no reason to disassemble it. When we brought Cleo home, I thought I'd have her in the hospital tank temporarily until I'd scrubbed the old tank and got it cycled again. But in reading around various forums and sites many people advised against this, on the principle that most diseases are endemic to the water and won't attack a healthy fish. They said it was a waste of a cycle, and that they'd never take a tank apart unless toxins were present.

After weighing up various opinions from very experienced fish-keepers, plus the risk of losing shrimp in the process of re-cycling, I decided to not scrub the tank. Now, I realise that this could be risky, but then again these people have kept fish a long, long time.. and I choose to trust them.

So far, all is going exceedingly well. I've chosen to do 3 x 25-30% water changes per week, with a light gravel vac on the third change. This is keeping the water clean and not disturbing the plants that are taking root (more on that later..) nor disrupting the shrimp. There are areas I cannot vacuum without taking the tank apart, but these are the areas where the shrimp hang out and feed, as well as where the majority of the plant-roots are, so I figure that'll be okay.

I'm testing ammonia levels daily - 0% so far. I think the plants are loving the extra waste the shrimp provide. They are literally sprouting overnight, new leaves everywhere! Not many dead leaves now, either, I'm removing less and less each water change.

The java fern is finally looking truly happy. New leaves, baby plants, new rhizome. The wisteria has grown enough hanging roots that it will soon start to anchor in the gravel - next water change, I'll give it some help with that. The baby wisterias have both taken root, and the potted anubias and cryptos have extensive roots growing from the bottom of the pots, so I might not move them to vacuum anymore. They seem happier when left alone.

I have a large clump of java moss in one front-of-tank corner, so the shrimp have a hidey spot up there too. Cleo loves to tangle herself in the middle of it, but can't get to the bottom where the shrimp hide.

Cleo herself is amazingly active and ... as I mentioned.. aggressive. She -flares- at us (I didn't know girls did that), never stops moving except for brief 'naps', and patrols her tank thoroughly. Her environment is as enriched as I could make it, so she's always got something to poke into or re-explore. An unfortunate mosquito decided to land in the tank, and Cleo spent ten minutes playing with the poor thing before swallowing it. I definitely get the feeling that she would not play well with others...

So far there's no sign of disease, no drooping or clamped fins. She does go very pale when cupped for water changes, but regains her colour fully within a minute of being back in her tank.

Cross fingers that I've made the right decisions. So far, so good...
 
#68 ·
My ladies are more active than the boys. I have ten girls. I have 8 in a sorority and 1 in a one gallon and 1 a gallon and a half for quarentine. My 5 boys are lazy and don't like to move more than they have to. The girls are entertaining and mine seem to never rest, not one of them.
 
#69 · (Edited)
Hi Shirl! I think it's probably that the girls don't have as much fin weight to lump around - I wonder whether male plakats are as active, though, as their female counterparts?

Oh -- I forgot to mention, being all fish-obsessed today as I am... Daughter's best friend, who has lived with us briefly and still comes to stay quite often, went for an audition yesterday for The X-Factor. And got through to the final audition! We sat about waiting as she passed through the various processes, from 9am to 5.30 pm.. what a long day! But it was awesome hearing all the warm-ups in the waiting areas, there were so many talented kids.

Daughter's friend - let's call her BFF - was with the executive producers longer than anyone else, so I am really hoping she gets a spot on the show. She's only 16 and has had a bit of a hard time, so this would really make a massive difference to her, I think. Just getting through the auditions was something to be very proud of!

Omg, food at the venue was SO expensive, I was joking that the auditions were actually a front for the cafeteria's goal of making a cool million on the day, lol. And the trains weren't running, so we had to walk miles back to the tram stop. The upside of that (the down side being that I actually cannot move today, my legs have just ceased to function altogether..) was seeing a man-made pond and stream on the way back, in which ducks and yabbies were settling. Major 'boo' to the racetrack owners whose koi pond is a toxic dump in which a few stray koi are surviving against all odds.

We went to La Porchetta after, for iced chocolates, hot chips and pizza. All in all, a very fun day out, and fingers and toes are now crossed for BFF... :-D
 
#70 ·
I'll cross mine for her too thats exciting.

I do believe it has something to do with the fins. I have never owned a plakat male, just my little copper lady... my lone plakat.
 
#71 ·
I actually wanted a plakat, and was planning on ordering one from a breeder LittleBettaFish recommended.. ah, well. We have Cleo, and I know better than to visit the LFS with an empty tank.

Well, empty... it had shrimp in it. 'Had' being past tense, since Cleo has decimated the shrimp population and currently has a dangerously round belly. There's only one left that I can see, and it's hiding in the back of the tank. Next water change I'll try to catch it.

She's such a mean little fish! I actually caught her finishing off my largest shrimp - she was swimming around with it in her mouth, half-eaten already, wearing the tail end over her nose so it looked like she had a tiny pink elephant trunk...

So yup, Cleo does not play well with others and there'll be no more tank buddies unless I feel like giving her an expensive snack. She'll also not be getting fed for a few days.

But she sure is showing me the predatory nature of her species.
 
#72 ·
Which all reminded me of this poem:

Pike
by Ted Hughes

Pike, three inches long, perfect
Pike in all parts, green tigering the gold.
Killers from the egg: the malevolent aged grin.
They dance on the surface among the flies.

Or move, stunned by their own grandeur,
Over a bed of emerald, silhouette
Of submarine delicacy and horror.
A hundred feet long in their world.

In ponds, under the heat-struck lily pads-
Gloom of their stillness:
Logged on last year's black leaves, watching upwards.
Or hung in an amber cavern of weeds

The jaws' hooked clamp and fangs
Not to be changed at this date:
A life subdued to its instrument;
The gills kneading quietly, and the pectorals.

Three we kept behind glass,
Jungled in weed: three inches, four,
And four and a half: red fry to them-
Suddenly there were two. Finally one

With a sag belly and the grin it was born with.
And indeed they spare nobody.
Two, six pounds each, over two feet long
High and dry and dead in the willow-herb-

One jammed past its gills down the other's gullet:
The outside eye stared: as a vice locks-
The same iron in this eye
Though its film shrank in death.

A pond I fished, fifty yards across,
Whose lilies and muscular tench
Had outlasted every visible stone
Of the monastery that planted them-

Stilled legendary depth:
It was as deep as England. It held
Pike too immense to stir, so immense and old
That past nightfall I dared not cast

But silently cast and fished
With the hair frozen on my head
For what might move, for what eye might move.
The still splashes on the dark pond,

Owls hushing the floating woods
Frail on my ear against the dream
Darkness beneath night's darkness had freed,
That rose slowly toward me, watching.
 
#73 ·
Daughter finally got around to uploading some more pictures so I thought I'd share a few.

Here's a couple of Sid the week before he passed away. You can see that he's quite thin, despite having a really healthy appetite, and how ragged his fins got toward the end. Still, he was a lovely fish and I miss him a lot. :(





And here's one of little Cleo - I have a few more of her on her first day home, but Daughter hasn't uploaded them yet..



I really noticed the contrast between Sid and Cleo as far as healthy weight goes - Cleo has the fat, sleek look a young betta should have, and her skin is quite velvety-looking (in a good way!). She's really hard to photograph as she so rarely stops zooming around madly.

Demyx is back in the hospital tank for biting a chunk out of his dorsal fin - I didn't even think this was possible, but he did it! That's how much fin he has, poor wee fish. It clearly bothers him when swimming, and when feeding his dorsal fin floats in front of him a bit so that's probably why he took a chunk from it. His anal fin and tail have similar but smaller bites, so it's the salt bath for him until I see them healing up somewhat. I'll have some pics of him too, soonish.

I can't catch the shrimp in Cleo's tank... and there's at least two left! I really thought she might have eaten them all, but they're just really good at hiding. They tend to come out during water changes, but they're so wary now that I can't even get close without them going -ping- across the tank to where all the java fern rhizome is, and I really don't want to disturb it all while it's taking root on the wood pieces.. so the shrimpies remain Cleo's tankmates/possible snacks for now. I hope they stay away from her..

At least they're happy - one of them has a lot of eggs, so maybe there'll be baby shrimp soon. The fact that they're happy enough to breed is really encouraging. :)
 
#74 · (Edited)
Plant Rant

So, here's something I didn't know: all of those broken-off bits of leaf from the java fern will sprout baby plants if I don't throw them out.

I'd have about a dozen baby java ferns now, if I'd worked this out earlier. :-?

Oh, well. I have a couple going - and so now there's half a dozen baby plants of various species waiting to be either tethered or planted. Thing is, there's not a lot of room left in Cleo's tank...

So I guess this means the NPT really, really needs to happen soon. I keep getting distracted/overtired/busy and such, or those pesky utility companies insist on sending me colourful letters, et cetera. But soon! I have my plant list all worked out!

There's one species I desperately want to have - thing is, it's not only a total challenge to grow but is also $100 per plant, give or take. Check this out, I'm sure you'll agree it's a beaut:



That's a Madagascar Lace Plant.

I want one. Yes, I do. :)
 
#75 ·
Okay, while I'm dreaming...

I've been researching low-tech planted tanks and looking at a lot of different set-ups. Some are very feasible for me, others are not.

This one isn't but I wish it was, and had to share it:




It was built as an almost self-sustaining tank, as the owner is absent for a month at a time. I thought I'd also share the thread it's on over at the Planted Tank forum.. the bit where he send his gf into the swamp gave me a chuckle. :lol:

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/low-tech-forum/150555-toms-bucket-o-mud-semi-self.html

It's just interesting to read about the process of the tank coming together, and how much time was put into its establishment. There's something very appealing about it all, and I'm looking forward to updates on this tank.
 
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