The Poet and the Fish

[Aus]

Loach update:

The surviving loach has been caught and is in a temporary tank. He doesn't look good, however - Cole was picking on him quite badly and it was only sheer luck I managed to scoop the poor thing up with the net. If he survives, I'll rehome him. If not, well I will feel horrible and stupid all round, for listening to LFS muppets - again.

Demyx update:

I think his fins are showing signs of recovery, at last. Picture below, though it was taken a few weeks ago. The fins are still quite short there, but you can see the new rays and his proper colour, at least. If he heals, I'll be ecstatic. If he doesn't start fin biting again, he can probably return to a larger tank. Fingers crossed!

Strohi tank update:

Pic below taken a couple of days ago. It's really cloudy there, but has since been emptied and refilled and is looking better (more pics tomorrow) - you can just see the plants in the murk. They do look nicer without the suspended debris.. More pics tomorrow!

Ratty update:

We bought a second story for their cage, which the boys are loving to bits. Basically, a new cage with the bottom removed and fitted on top of the old cage - and the good thing there is that because there's a little door on top of the old cage, we can close the two halves off when they're in argumentative moods! (boys will be boys.. )

Pic below is Fergus, who has grown a LOT. He'll be a proper squishy, soon.

[Aus]

RIP Loaches

^ and this, my dears, is why we never, ever listen to LFS people. Or purchase loaches for betta tanks.

I think the last one had just had too much stress to survive a second new tank after being mauled by Cole a few times. I feel pretty bad about the whole thing. But lesson learned, I guess.

Strohi tank update:

Water's pretty much clear. I could probably do a half change tomorrow to get rid of the last tiny bit of sand dust, unless the sponge filter clears it up by morning.

Added more plants, a few ramshorn babies and a couple of shrimp. One of the shrimp is a funny little thing, where the others are content to wander the plants munching algae, he has spent hours zooming back and forth across the tank, "Wheeeee!"

I am betting he is the first betta snack.

It's a little untidy yet, will spend some time tomorrow prettifying the whole arrangement. The T8's are really quite bright, so I'm planning on lots of tannins and floating plants or the strohi might feel like they're in a permanent spotlight.

Water level's quite low - I calculated about 100L (26 gallons) presently. I'll probably only fill it a bit more once planting's finished so I can grow the dwarf papyrus and other bog plants emerged, at least until these wee fishes are on their way to full grown.

Added a couple of swords, a lily, a little bit of hairgrass.. The majority of plants in this tank are various species of java fern and anubias, seeing as I had a couple of bucketfuls of those - if the baby red lilies in Coles' tank take off, they'll join mama in in there too as they'll eventually get too big for the 10g.

Can't wait to get this all finished up and looking pretty. :)

[Aus]

Some shots of the strohi tank so far. Plus one of Cole's NPT as it is currently, and one of Cleo's tank (which is due for an overhaul..).

[LittleBettaFish]

The strohi will love that. So many hidey holes to investigate and places to brawl haha.

Your betta tanks look good as well. Everyone looks happy and healthy. I think journals like this are an excellent idea as ones like yours in particular (lots of pictures) show how far someone has come in the hobby.

Are you still alright if I bring them and the filter over this Friday? I'm assessing whether the filter can fit into my big Country Road bag so I don't look like I am just carrying this big external filter around everywhere haha

[Aus]

The strohi will love that. So many hidey holes to investigate and places to brawl haha.

Lol, that was the aim! I hope they're happy in there. They have some shrimp to chase about, also. I'm hoping to get a shrimp tank going so I can plop a few in to clean up the wood/provide entertainment now and then.

Your betta tanks look good as well. Everyone looks happy and healthy. I think journals like this are an excellent idea as ones like yours in particular (lots of pictures) show how far someone has come in the hobby.

Cheers! And yeah - I was just sitting there this morning, watching that one crazy shrimp zoot up and down the 3ft, lol, and it struck me how much my whole awareness of the hobby had changed since that first week I brought poor Sid home and stuck him in a gallon of cold water... It's been an amazing learning experience, and if someone can gain a bit of confidence or information from this journal, it's been well worth keeping.

Are you still alright if I bring them and the filter over this Friday? I'm assessing whether the filter can fit into my big Country Road bag so I don't look like I am just carrying this big external filter around everywhere haha

I was going to PM you this evening, actually, and ask how far you have to come, as I'm happy to pay for a taxi here if it's not like 50 km - I wouldn't fancy lumping five fish and a canister on the bus... so yeah, will Pm you when I have another moment spare.

Also, I have a big jar of java moss and a bucketful of java fern and anubias roots (some have leaves, some are growing new ones). If you want some, I'd be happy to pick out a few nice bits and clean the snails off for you.

[LittleBettaFish]

Nah it's fine. I was going to see if Coburg had some blackworms and java moss for my wilds anyway. Plus maybe see if there are any killies there heh heh. Mum hates that store and refuses to drive me there so the only time I get to go is if I catch the bus.

I really should get my driver's licence but I just have this fear I'm going to be driving along the merge lane of the freeway screaming "I'M RUNNING OUT OF ROAD! I'M RUNNING OUT OF ROAD!"

It's like a 45 minute trip on zee bus and only one bus there. If I can't fit the box in with the filter is it alright if I just cut the picture of it all assembled out and bring just the filter?

Edit just saw your java moss bit. I may swipe some of that from you as I am getting hopefully my burdigala/uberis soon and I want them to have some cover.

[Aus]

No worries, am pm'ing you my address in a moment. And I don't blame your mum for hating that store one bit.. >< They're okay for hardware, though, if a tad expensive.

And sure, that's all good re the canister. Just whatever makes it easy for you.

Get your license! I hate not having mine. I'd bloody have it too - but I fell off a hotel balcony age 8, landed on my head and literally cannot tell left from right ever since unless I think about it a while - so in traffic I'd be public enemy number 1. (driving lesson #1 - drove into a tree instead of braking. lesson #2 - reversed into a river. etc...)

Cool, re the moss. I'll make sure it's snail free etc. There were a LOT of snails in with these plants I bought. Wish Cole ate snails.. instead of shrimp and loaches. ><

[LittleBettaFish]

Haha I have like full-blown anxiety about a lot of things and always am anticipating the absolute worst to happen (ie. my bus is a few minutes late so I start panicking that the whole route has somehow been cancelled) so I have serious reservations about going to get my licence.

However, sounds like even with your problem you are ahead of some of the people out there on our roads! I swear some people do get their licenses out of wheaties boxes as my mum always says.

Don't worry about the snails. Only the hardiest snails survive in my wild betta tanks as the water is so soft all their shells erode and they die. I have two malformed looking creatures going around my brownorum tank so I'm seeing how long it takes them to finally keel over.

[Aus]

Aha! Now here's a challenge - there must be snails/shrimp of some sort that can tolerate soft water. Maybe something to bug Dave about, I reckon there'd be some natives which can cope since there's a lot of boggy rainforest up there..

[LittleBettaFish]

Yeah blond snails can apparently but they also eat plants. I was thinking of getting some for my spawning tank so they could keep the bottom clean but also survive in the softer water.