The Poet and the Fish

[Aus]

SQUEE

I just bought a 31.4 L (just over 8.25 G) tank from a seller on Gumtree. :) With extras, but it's had goldfish in it so they'll probably be goldfishy things aside from the 2 pumps and filters, lid, substrate, light, etc. All up: $65.00

BUT how cool is that!?!!?!

So tempting to start setting it up.. but I'd realllly better not, until I know what's happening house-wise. So that's one thing off the list for the first NPT, which I think will go to Daughter for Cole - he's so BIG for that small tank he's in now...

What list, you ask? I'd better make one, actually. So here goes:


Basic Hardware:

Tank - DONE
Light (need a 6500k light for this..)
Filter pump - DONE
Sponge filter

Substrate Ingredients:

Propagating Sand
Marble Chips/Oyster Shells
Blood & Bone
Laterite (optional)
Peat Moss (optional)

I found this recipe on another forum - apparently it generates its own CO2 and has a really long 'lifespan'. Lots of folks there have tried it, with astonishing results for plant growth and it doesn't bother the fish at all. Can't wait to try it!

Plants

Various low/medium light Aussie natives from Aquagreen.com.au
Amazon frogbit (maybe)
Maybe some tropical epiphytic orchids to grow on the wood, if they'll do okay above the surface.. something to research!

Stock

Cole! Black HM plakat manly man.

Hard Scaping Stuff:

Probably some Mopani.. I like it in Cleo's tank.
Tall wood for possible orchids.

Stand

What it says.


I'm so excitable. I actually did a fish tank dance...

[Aus]

So even better - the tank is acrylic, which means it's very light and safer for Daughter to carry to about while she's scrubbing it down and setting up - time she learned that fish-keeping is not a service industry!!

I think Cole can have it as a barebottom tank until after the move. I can't let him stay in the 3g now! And I was right about the goldfish. Apparently, they don't do all that well on a diet of cheese. (toddlers..)

I also got a bonus 'betta tank', one of those 1/4 gallon jobs. So tempted to try a teeny little nano.. ahaha. Ooh - or a mini riparium! Bonsai water features! There's a new challenge... >>

[megaredize]

Aww poor sid. ( i love the name) he has been on quite the journey it seems. I hope he makes a full recovery from the ich.

I hope your daughters betta will be okay too. They are hardy and hopefully with her good care he will turn around. I think it is awesome that both of you stood up for the poor bettas. I had to call the local SPCA on the fish store where I am because of a poor ferret they had. poor thing had gunk is one of his eyes and wet feces everywhere. Then I waited a week went back and that gunked up eye was then stuck closed! Unfortunately after I let the spca know about it I don't know what resulted in it. I never saw that poor ferret again. Doubt anyone bought him...

I would like to know what comes of your daughter's actions towards that fish store. :)

[JKfish]

That's great Aus! :D it sounds wonderful, congrats on the great find!

[Aus]

megaredize - thanks so much for your kind thoughts.. but I think you missed a few pages. Sid did recover from his ich but then got aggressive fin rot, was making a good recovery from that and columnaris came along.. I was so careful with his water, tried all the right treatments but he was already so weak from an underlying condition (parasites) that I mistook for something else when the symptoms cleared a little that he passed very suddenly a while ago. I have a new betta now who is booming health, and have inherited Daughter's betta as his fin issues never have cleared up - turns out he's biting.. little booger. But aside from raggedy fins, he's happy as a clam.

Awh! Poor ferret! I used to patrol pet market stalls and stores with a friend. We'd take a tape measure and a notebook each.. were thrown out of Dandenong horse market on our ears LOL. Rotten place. A few pet places hated us, too, thinking we were from PETA or RSPCA.. good on you for trying to make his life better, anyhow.

And probably not just because of Daughter or I, as many complaints have made, but the store keeps their bettas in larger jars now with a little bit anacharis and clean water.. still cold water.. but small improvements are better then none I guess.

Nice to meet you. :) And thanks again for your well-wishes.

JK, thank you -- it was pretty awesome! And LOL... I've ordered mini aquatic plants for the awful betta box. Going to make it a little micro tank.. will posts progress pics. I'm going to Bunnings (a big hardware chain here) on Wednesday so I can pick up supplies for it then.

And I am also excited to be the proud owner of some slightly used pink and yellow rubber jellyfish .. I stuck them to my bathroom mirror, LOL.

[Aus]

Ninja fish is ninja





New tank layout:



Mister Zoidberg & Baby Z:




USBcat stealin ur filez:




"First I eated teh sunshinez.."

[JKfish]

Wow, I love how lush your setup is,your wisteria looks fantastic! Cleo looks extremely happy in there with all the snacks-er... shrimps XD Your shrimps/zoidbergs look great too! Silly TomTom :)

[Aus]

:) Thanks JK. What's funny is I didn't even know Mr. Z was in that picture until I pulled it up on the computer... He's pretty well camouflaged against that wood!

Tom-tom (I'm hyphenating to avoid that annoying auto-ad linkage thing) is hilarious. He tries sooo hard to be dignified, whilst actually being anything but..

Here he is, saving us all from a dastardly invasion of suspicious, pink and yellow flying jellyfish:




(from the comfort of his cuddly rug..)

[Aus]

The visit to Bunnings (hardware/garden supplies) was very fruitful, and as Irish went along too it was also quite hilarious.

I bought all the materials for my CO2-producing substrate, as well as some shallow ceramic dishes and bog plants for a some planters I'd like to make:




The bacopa will be going in one of the tanks, and with it I got a little freeby snip of something wispy and ferny, no idea what it is, but it's pretty so that can go in a dish planter..

We're off to the LFS tomorrow to look for driftwood/scaping rocks.. My house is covered in bog plants and bags of various rocks and empty tanks. Daughter thinks it's hilarious.

She's decided to try guppies, just a couple to start with. I said that was okay, but I would not help her at all past tank set-up (placing the heater and filter properly, etc..). She must care for them 100% alone, and if she does a good job she can earn herself a bigger tank by doing extra chores.

She made dinner last night.. .. cleaned her room to perfection.. .. brought the bins in from the kerb .. .. it's a good start!

[Aus]

Or TDDTCP for short... begins tomorrow! Basically, I plan to convert a nasty little one litre (quarter gallon) betta tank into something positive and lovely, rather than throwing it away so it's another bit of polluting plastic...

I'm using the Walstad method to grow a few small plants in it. I may or may not include a very small sponge filter to provide a little surface motion and oxygen.

It'll live on my desk as something nice to look at.. and will get plenty of filtered light there even in winter.

Here's how it looks now:




I'll post updates as the project progresses.

(Yes, that is a LED light bubble at the bottom.. and no, I will NOT be incorporating that "interesting" feature of the tank into my design.. )