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Elodie Rose

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  1. Elodie Rose
    Four of the clutches of Spixii snails are hatching! I swirled some First Bites into their water, but I’m not going to remove them from the cups this time until they’re bigger. Each clutch is in a separate container, floating in the Black Metal Jacket guppy tank. This time I’m going to keep them going. This time. Only the female of the Black-chinned pair is left, the male was following her relentlessly so I put him in a mesh breeder box, and then he disappeared. So. That’s a bummer. She’s still in her lil tank with a few Least Killis and a colony of Piano Snails. That tank has an enormous pothos growing out of it, which is beneath a regular living room lamp. Kinda cool. The roots in the tank are more developed than the guppy grass, it’s almost odd looking.
  2. Elodie Rose
    I had hatched a bunch of Spixii snails, and put them in with the daphnia and killifish… which may have been a mistake. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have 4 more clutches incubating. One of the little snabies was almost 2mm. I don’t know where it is now, I’m hoping I just can’t see it in the plants and keep searching with the magnifying glass. The Tiger Tower snails aren’t doing well either, anywhere that I’ve tried to put them. Not in the 3 gallon octo, not in the 10 gallon with the purple not-Moscows, not in the James River tank with the Plat Dumbo Redtails. Some of which def have mosaic tails instead of redtails. But wow are they lovely. They’re doing great in that tank, and really coloring up beautifully. They’re close, and will soon come into their own like the Green Dragons have, and the Blue-Golds have. The Least Killis are doing well, they’re still in the tank with the Spixii colony. They need to grow out some now, and so do the Xenotoca doadrioi, and the Xiphophorus milleri. I wish I could get them into 20 gallons. Marigold and her brood might go into the 20 high that I just bought at the online auction… didn’t actually expect to win that. Lessons have been learned. That’s my 3rd free/cheap 20 high. No one seems to like them, and tbh, I’d prefer a 20 long, but here I am. Ooh the Liberty Mollies desperately need a 20, they might get that one. There are four 20 gal tubs outside, the Ameca Splendens could probably go out there now, with a small heater. Who should go in those tubs? I should plan out how to do that this year, the outlets are so limited. But the Amecas would love it outside, so they’re going. Need to cover the tubs with the netting I bought. I might even have won my very first water hyacinth at the online auction, which is very exciting to me. The Dalmatian Gambusia Holbrooki desperately need a tub. So they’re in tub 2. Little bastards. I’ve been waiting for Swamp River Aquatics to sell a trio with melanistic females, I hope that happens soon. I’ll put them in Tub 2, with the new males, and the females from inside, and then have a tank of males. Hmm. Tub Number 3 will be the Liberty Mollies, they’re also mean, and not good in community tanks. So a solo tub would be great for them. I also don’t love the way they look, which is surprising. Maybe they need some growing out, I don’t know. They’re my first mollies, and I’m not super enthused about them yet. The Green Moscows have fry! So do the American Purple Deltas! Delightful. Oh, the Tiger Endlers don’t have fry yet. I’ve just bought enough of them at… at least 3 auctions I believe… to have a gorgeous tank of them now. Not a beautiful as RR’s in Rockburg, oh my. Those are from the LRB line, and my heart hasn’t forgotten them. I really need to take pictures of the labels on the fish that I buy in auctions. Maybe there’s an online record, I’d looove to know if the ones I bought were his. The Limia Vittata have been very popular recently, which is fun. The ones that are left are small, and I just recently bought a pair from Aquarium Glaser by way of Dansfish to add to the colony, which is incredible. Aquarium Glaser! Just incredible. The Tiger Teddies are doing okay, but I sure don’t see any fry swimming around. I had at one time. Though to be fair, I can only see a fraction of that tank. Those plants have REALLY grown in.
  3. Elodie Rose
    Micropoecilia picta has joined the mini menagerie, to my delight, from Dansfish of course. Beautiful! They were also in SJ’s fishroom, and a tank of them is stunning. The tank of Tiger Endlers is doing well, a little male-heavy. At the fishroom hop I bought a pair and a trio of the snakeskin koi, which are delightful. I’ve had a pair of them, and bought them to put in with the rest of the regular koi guppies and see what happened. But I lost the female, and realized how disappointed I was, and decided to start a separate colony of them. I think they’re all from Dansfish, originally. There are fry in the new colony, which are sharing a tank with the Habrosus Cories. The little cories got an upgrade, and I’ve seen some spawning behavior, but haven’t seen eggs yet. Adorable Cories, which I bought from the LFS. There are plentiful fry in the Green Dragon tank. It was the extra 8 or so males that were the obstacle there. I finally sold a trio of them, they are so tough to part with, but boy, there are a lot of them and they’re getting so big. Also they’re in 3 tanks now. The Japan Blue-golds are lovely. Some of the boys have long ribbon tails, and the colors are *bright*. Gorgeous tank, with the yellow females, too. They need some new blood, I’m not sure I’ve added to their colony in a while. That’s a list I need to make, who needs some new blood, that should happen regularly. Need to look at my log, and mark a calendar if I haven’t already. Killifish! I’m raising at least a few P-82’s, I think, I hope, I’ve lost track of them after moving them out of the tiny tank to the 5 gal. It’s only got 6” of water in it or so, but they’re not even an inch long, so. Also a trio of the Epi Morav killifish! Supposed to be a great trio for beginners, so I’m looking forward to that. I must have lost Armand, but every inch of that tank top was covered, so I don’t know how. The new colony of Black Metal Jackets are growing out, so are the Blue Dragons, they’re both about half-grown. The Tequila Sunrise guppies… that are snakeskin metallic green with long flowing red and white tails and NOT round orange-yellow tails… are growing out. They’re starting to really color up. I think the 4 that I separated out are coloring up faster. I’m not sure what to expect from them, so I haven’t taken any of them to the auction. Well I did, once, but they were about to be piranha food, and I bought them back instead. Silly, but. I have a couple tanks of fish I should probably sell as feeders, but instead I just want to put them outside in a tub and see what happens over the summer. The trio of Badis badis were relocated to the tank with the strongest scud colony, and the little 4-spot Merry Widows, which also seem peaceful. I’ve been keeping an eye on them, they seem to be doing fine in their new digs. The broken 40 gallon is outside, and since I can’t move it, I decided to see how much water it would hold. Turns out it holds about 8” or so, and now most of the LF White Clouds (registered with CARES as Tanichthys sp. “hong kong”) are out there. I thought about bringing them in this week, the temps are getting down to the 30s, but they have a big heater, so I’m letting them ride. I did cover the tank. They seem pretty active in there, it has a thick cover of duckweed and dwarf water lettuce, inevitably. I keep meaning to put bowls of beads or marbles out there for breeding.
  4. Elodie Rose
    There are Frey in the green dragon guppy tank. That tank has remained in isolation since it was treated with canalis worms at the end of last summer, because there were no babies. I have a floating basket that I outfitted as a possible, white cloud, breeding basket, and I used that to confine eight or so of the males within the tank, for the last two weeks or so. Not an ideal situation, but I am out of tanks, out of tubs, and outlets. Anyway, babies were able to survive when the females were not being harassed and followed around as much. I left Eric in the main part, of course. He is the reigning monarch of the tank. Though his sons are incredibly gorgeous, and are almost able to match him now, they are so beautiful. I can’t wait to put them in a different tank and take pictures of them. none of the tanks have quite worked out the way that I have wanted them to in the past three weeks or so, since the 40 gallon broke. the occupants got dumped into an empty 20 gallon high that was waiting for a stand, and while they are doing fine I had bigger plans for them. I also removed six or eight males from the green flame, tail guppies, metallic green? I’m not actually sure what to come call them, they are definitely not tequila sunrise guppies. Now that the males are finally starting to get their color, I am incredibly curious to see what they turn out like. I haven’t seen any ghost trip in their tank for a very long time, I don’t think that Shrimp population survived. The blue dream had planaria, and has been treated with medicine. The snails also died in that tank, I had removed as many as I could. I’m not sure what to do with them right now. I need to label the tanks that have been treated with that kind of medicine, so I don’t ever try to keep snails in them. The glitter Limia have a fungus problem, one of them has a white, fuzzy mouth, a female. Guppy snail gave me some medicine to treat it with, along with some that I had, and the cabinet. They seem to be doing fine, but they didn’t have any other symptoms anyway. When their treatment is done, I really want to get a dozen of the adult queries out of there. There are too many fish in that tank. those were queries that were actually supposed to go into the 40 gallon as well, with the pandas. Speaking of pandas, the juvenile panda in the classic green dragon tank is growing, and is the most darling thing I have ever seen. If that group of guppies is healthy, then those panda cries will eventually join the rest of the group in a new 40 gallon whenever I am able to get one. That is a wonderful thought, I have wanted to reunite them for quite quite a while. They are doing so well, they adore the 20 gallon, and I see them playing tumbling all the time. It is super fun to see them in the office. The yellow shrimp tank also got planaria, and so a lot of them died. I never sold any out of that tank, and a couple of the guppies died as well. There was a mystery snail dead in that tank as well. So that did not go well. I am saving what I can in that tank, there are a few piano snails that were put in there a very long time ago, and I don’t know how to treat the area without hurting them. The two oldest yellow metal mosaic and panda guppy cross males died as well. There are maybe a dozen or so of that Cross still in that tank. I am going to be blessed with the opportunity to adopt a breeding trio of apistos that are just slightly aging out of their peak production, and I am so excited I can hardly stand it. I’m not interested in raising a bunch of Frey, but I would love to watch them raise a few. And to just take care of them, and watch them. I turned a year older last week, and reflected on the past year of guppy breeding and fish keeping. It was a good year, I am definitely learning some things that work, and some things that don’t. The platinum Dumbo red tails are doing incredible. Some of the boys do have mosaic tails, I think that’s what they call those. I’ll have to double check, and I haven’t culled them yet, but I need to. That tank needs new blood. The new green dragons, a mixture of guppies from Dan’s Fish and H-Town, are doing beautifully. They even fry in the tank already. I guess they would be the Neo dragons. Those speaking of dragons, the blue dragons are doing very well, the fryer, starting to grow up enough to sex, and be separated. blue dragons are enormous and gorgeous. Fully 3 inches long, at least, very strong bodies. And those males shimmer and dance. Amazing. I started keeping Black chinned live bears, Girardinus, Metallicus, I believe. They are not on the careless list, but I am going to see how they do. I find them completely charming. I was already getting the green dragons from Dan’s Fish, and just couldn’t resist getting another little wild type live bearer. Speaking of tiny live bears from Dan’s Fish, the Tiger teddies are doing fairly well, I have seen Frey in that tank, and the females are getting to be a good size. As big, or possibly a shade, bigger than the big least, Kelly Fish mamas. The lemon blue eyes are in that tank as well, they were supposed to be in the 40 at the moment, and I haven’t wanted to scare the shit out of them just to see about the little live, bear babies, but when I get a chance, I will be taking that tank apart just a little bit in order to resituate that pair or trio. I am still waiting on the little one to grow up a bit to see if they are male or female. The forest Mary widows are doing well, I can’t tell if I saw a baby or if the male fish is just still really that small, but I think it was a fry. That tank is crazy with scuds. Going to try to take some to the Last auction, but unfortunately, forgot them. At the last minute, I had to enter some thing that I wasn’t really going to sell, I need to learn how to delete entries. I haven’t seen any fry in the green Moscow or American purple tanks. I may need to look closer though, there are a lot of plants in both tanks. The violet mosaic tank is doing really well, some gorgeous females growing out. And a few males, but the females in that tank are just breathtaking. Only the female dragons are prettier. The black metal jacket guppies have had a big batch of fry as well, which are growing well. Beautiful guppies. all three tanks that I tried to start new and fresh for the piano snails, the white wizard, snails, and the tiger tower snails, are all infested with pest snails. Those populations have been and are being relocated. I’m just mixing them into established tanks, instead of trying to do the monoculture. I’m keeping a close eye on those tanks, and I do want to label them to make sure that I remember to give them snail, food as well as fish food every day, but I don’t know how I could possibly forget. I look at them and check them every day, I’m so anxious about them. I need other people to start breeding them. But in order for that to happen, I need to be secure enough to sell them, lol. They are getting big enough to sell, they are in at least six tanks, I should probably loosen the apron strings a little. Or at least, so I keep telling myself. at this point, I think I may have sold six. Don’t know what they are, and so I want to write about them and collect my notes about them in an article in the next month or two. It will really help me learn too, as I am trying desperately to keep and grow these populations. So far the tiger towers snails have been split into two populations, but I still only have a handful of white wizards snails. The population of assassin has failed. That tank had a heater, but no air stoner filter. WTF. When I noticed that it smelled off, I should have thrown it out and started again. I tried to fix it, but it didn’t work. The Cuban banded Leah fish are doing fairly well. They are very large, and not very dimorphic. They had fry immediately upon entering the 40 gallon, and possibly again in the 20 gallon. Six of them sold for $40 at the last auction, I’m not sure why. They are definitely one of the larger live bears, those females definitely exceed 3 inches. They are a lot bigger than the glitter, Leah. And those get pretty stout, the same size or larger than the blue dragon and green dragon females. There are at least half a dozen nearly fully grown melanistic, Gambusia holbrooki, and some juveniles. Considering how adept they are eating their fry, they need a larger tank as well, so that the fry have more places to hide. I swear it looks like one female might have spots, other than the ones under their eyes, but it may have been a late developing male. Those sneaker males can really fool me. I did buy a dozen new, longfin, white clouds, with the hope of breeding them. They have not been added to the group of adults yet. I registered them with cares, and they seem to be a sub species called “Hong Kong”. That is something I would really like to find out more about.
  5. Elodie Rose
    The Black Metal Jacket guppies have dropped fry as well!
  6. Elodie Rose
    The Blue Dragons had fry last night!!! There is a male Killifish in the Piano 5, who hasn’t bothered the Green Moscow male in there at all. Armand maaaay be getting a mate soon. I’ve never had killifish before, but this lil boy is so pretty and I’ve watched him grow with such puzzled delight. The Purple M&Ms have a bunch of fry that I’ve been feeding up for the past week or two, as well as the Platinum Dumbo Redtails. There are a TON of the “Tequila Sunrise,” which… are definitely NOT Tequila Sunrise. They’re far prettier, so I’m not objecting, but. They’re not TS. Gorgeous teal/green metallic bodies and tails that are white-patterned crimson. Just. What? I will eventually learn their name, or give them one. Viridian flametails? Emerald firebrats? Who knows. The juveniles have always been either gray or white/blonde, and I’m just now starting to see some colorations. I bought 2 pairs, and 1 of the females died quite a while ago. There are still Ghost Shrimp in their tank somehow, I see one every now and then. I’d buy more Ghost Shrimp, but the growing guppies are too valuable now to chuck random shrimp in with. The Least Killifish and Spixii snails got an upgrade from a 5 to a 10. It is in the red room, which isn’t ideal, but does mean they will get more ambient light. There are still quite a few juveniles, and a couple queens, and I needed them to have more room to grow, as I’d like to grow some out for BAP myself, and also return some to Small World Aquatics, per her request. I’m delighted the colony has done so well, that I can share them back with GuppySnail and Small World. It was like Christmas morning to receive the Least Killis, and it’s that same feeling all over again to trade/gift them back. I can’t always tell the difference between trading and gifting and purchasing with the “Small World Mafia,” as it was suggested we call the little group, which I found hilarious, if not as practical as I’d like. There are PANDA CORY FRY in the Green Dragon 1 tank! WHAT. Just. WHAT. That’s Esmerelda’s tank, until she passed from Camallanus worms. And now there are a dozen adult Green Dragons in it, about three or four males, including Emeric, and 10 or so females. Glorious green sheen on the females’ bodies. No fry. And can’t be moved out of that tank, maybe ever. OK BUT PANDA CORY FRY. Omg. That was the cutest lil thing I ever did see. I took a bunch of pictures and videos, all of which were dim and blurry, since it was last night that I discovered them. Today when the lights are at midday I’ll take some photos for sure. The other 2 groups of Panda Cories, with the Lake Catemaco Platies (Xiphophorus milleri) and the N-Class Endlers (Black-bar and Red-chest hybrids but both N class darnit), do NOT have any juvenile Cories that I have seen. I’m not doing well hatching Spixii snails. I’m trying a different method now. They are a breeding project for Small World, and I’m following GuppySnail’s advice more closely to see if I can get some baby snails. That’s also why they went into a new 10 gallon, with every single bit of their 5 gallon home down to the last pebble, along with the Least Killis. What a mess it was. It took a while, and I was as gentle as I could be, but they needed the room. The Assassin snails aren’t doing well either. They’re growing, but I’m not happy with it. Why isn’t there a filter in the 3 gallon? Wtf. I just bought a tiny filter at an auction, where is it and why isn’t it running in there. That will be corrected today. To. Day. I don’t like how it smells. Not that I can smell the tank, but I could smell the water on my fingers. I gave it a few handfuls of duckweed yesterday, and it was just weird. It needs an actual mechanical filter. LIBERTY MOLLIES!!! Salvatore… Salvator… um. Ok so I need to add a page to my binder for them, it was an impulse purchase. They were at an auction, a BAP contribution from an extremely cool Goodeid person, and so now they are in a 6 gallon, ruling over the mutt endlers. Possibly eating some mutt endler fry, which, would actually be just fine. Gotta keep an eye on the stress levels and make sure there’s no ammonia/nitrite though. I’m stuuuuupid excited about them. Now I have 1 type of platy and 1 type of molly, lol. My livebearer ‘collection’ is a ridiculously lovely and growing thing. A pair of Phallicthys tico, or Four Spot Merry Widow (Bribri) also joined the Menagerie this past week, along with 6 Bleeding Heart Tetras from Dansfish.com. Different tanks, of course. Extremely neat fish. The tetras are a lot more skittish than I expected, but are otherwise doing great. Three Badis Badis ALSO joined the Menagerie. They are juveniles, and at times have the most lovely stripes. At other times they’re kinda gray. Timid, but I see them more and more as I pass their tank and/or stop and say hello. They are eating grindle worms, and their tummies seem full, but the color is worrisome and I’m feeding up some white worms to get them eating better. Live food production has begun again. It halted for a few weeks due to personnel difficulties. So hard to find good help these days. But it’s a priority, so I’m trying to make time for it in my schedule, and there are a box of gloves on the tray now. A Costco-size bag of gloves. Serious. Gloves. Perhaps the personnel complaints will decline. Incentives may also be needed. There are no Ameca Splendens fry. No White Cloud fry that I have seen - the CARES program identified the White Clouds as “Tanichthys sp. Hong Kong.” Not quite sure what that means, it’s on the list of things to be researched. I need two tanks for them, to play musical tanks and see if I can get eggs to hatch. Problem is, every time I get an empty tank, I put a livebearer into it. Every. Time. Uff. I’m going to blame Mother Nature on this one, for having so many gorgeous and irresistible types of livebearers. I’m trying to keep them at below 3”, but I may have messed that up in a couple of cases. I have a rack for a pair of 20 longs, and need to get tanks for it. I have a 20 high without a rack. Yep, I did that. I want to make sure the bigger fish in the Menagerie get put into these 20 gal tanks, and the 40 gal tank. The Banded Cuban Limias, the Longfin Bronze Cories, the ENTIRE gang of Panda Cories, the Longfin Lemon Blue-Eye Bristlenose. And possibly the Bleeding Heart Tetras belong in that group, they are a solid 2” with much deeper bodies than I expected. The Rams would be in that group, and might be able to go in with the Bleeding Hearts. I wonder if it’s too warm for Spixii snails, I should check.
  7. Elodie Rose
    Limia nigrofasciata!!!!!! Wow. Exciting! 🤩
  8. Elodie Rose
    I’m so excited about this! What a great new adventure, your breeders and their babies are gorgeous and healthy. The ones I’ve gotten from you are doing great! I’ll be trying some BAP too this year with the sister Club (livebearers). Very exciting! 🤩🎉
  9. Elodie Rose
  10. Elodie Rose
    The Gambusia Holbrooki have fry! I noticed them a week or two ago, and they’re about half an inch or so now. I haven’t seen Tamsin today, though Booker is looking amazing. Full regal colors. Maaaaybe she’s laid eggs. Piano snails are doing great! They are in a 10 gallon now with a couple pairs of Tiger Teddies, Neoheterandria elegans. No fry from them yet. Anacharis is my very favorite plant right now. I just thinned the duckweed some from the guppy tanks, in the hope to keep the hornwort alive. The Spixii snails are doing well, A clutch or two have hatched, and I’m feeding them in a breeder box. There are 5 clutches in the box. That Aqueon light is making the plants go CRAZY in that tank. I pulled out a whole bunch of anacharis and hornwort, and even some dwarf water lettuce. That’s the light that was given to me, and I’m noticing a difference between it and the Hyggers. Two of the pickle jars are in the red room by the window, one with a pothos and the other with bamboo. They’re not doing great. Two of the jars have been emptied out, and I’m trying to salvage one of them. It’s the one with some of the little critters from Philips Fishworks, and I’m just hoping they’re sturdy. The Tiger Tower snails are doing well, though one of them died… the babies are getting bigger, and the adults seem to move around a lot, so I think they’re good. There are 4 Green Dragon guppies in that tank, and along with the male I meant to put in there, another male has begun coloring up. Gotta move him. There are also a couple cherry shrimp, and I keep seeing pond snails. They are more insidious than I thought possible. Neither tank of Green Dragons has a single fry. I’m very worried about them. The Wizard snails are doing similarly, and there are some babies in the tank. The Black Metal Jacket guppies are in their tank. There are a handful of Piano snails in with the Tiger Endlers, also, which have a feeding dish, and usually congregate there. And there are a few young Piano snails in with the Blue-Green Moscows. I haven’t seen the male today, and I’m not positive I saw him yesterday. He’s very good at hiding, and was hanging out under the breeder box, which has the single surviving mystery limia fry. They’re getting about half an inch now, so I’m going to relocate them to something bigger. The female Moscow is doing fine. The Green Moscows are very very happy that their heater was upgraded. That female has no trouble whatsoever getting away from the males if she doesn’t want their attention. She is a large, beautiful guppy, with an angled tail that’s different than all my other females. They’re my first Moscows, I just couldn’t resist the green. Two of the magenta Mystery snails in the Violet Mosaic tank produced a clutch, and I moved one of them to the Green Moscow tank… she then produced another clutch. I put the first clutch in a little incubator, a little cup floating in the tank with a few holes poked in it and some paper towel. The other went into the Spixii snail tank. The Blue Dragon guppies are growing into their colors, and very gorgeous. They share a tank with the Lake Catemaco platies, and I really want to upgrade that size. I am working towards it, bit by bit. I think they will go into the 40 gallon with the lemon blue-eyed bristlenose babies. Gotta find a rack for some 10 gallons. But ALSO I still have active tanks/tubs of panda guppy fry, koi guppy fry, mutt endlers, AND the black-bar/red-chest endlers… I wanted all of those GONE, I tried to take them down. Obviously I underestimated the power of the livebearer. Two of the Yellow Mosaic females are growing out their colors and spots in their tails! They are *gorgeous*. The panda guppy females were moved to the mutt guppy tank. The males that are in there have a lot of blue mixed in with their Yellow Mosaic / Leopard guppy patterning, but darn, I just can’t be mad at it. I adore them. I don’t want to part with a single one. The yellow shrimp in their tank are doing really well, they’re suddenly all over the place. The Mystery snail in that tank seems pretty happy too. I wish I could upgrade that tank size, too. Blue Dream shrimp are everywhere in that little tank, and I just had to pull a huge handful of anacharis and guppy grass out of it. It has a side-light. Tons of growth. Tons. And teeny blue shrimp everywhere. No fish in that tank. They’re beautiful with the white sand. What a huge change that made. Other tanks got sand too, for the panda cories in Jacaranda, and the ones in with the Green Dragons. The Glitter Limia have fry, and so do the Banded Limia. The Glitter Limia are in with the Paleatus Cories and the Longfin Bronze Cories. That Pothos plant curled around the lid, into the water, and out of the tank on the OTHER side… where it emerged and started growing leaves. The roots are almost to the bottom of the tank. I’m worried it may become sentient… or has already. (Limia Perugiae) The Banded Limia got some giant ramshorn snails in their tank, which is super cool, and also that tank is the farthest away from every other tank, and isn’t even in my part of the house. They’re beautiful though, a lot more than I thought from the pictures. There are some Habrosus Cories in that tank too, and one or two Paleatus Cories that grew from eggs I’d put in a breeder box in there. Blue-golds seem fine, I’m finally seeing some long tails, and loving it. A random Violet Mosaic female was dead at the top of the tank one morning last week, I’m not sure why. She was just at a good roundish mama guppy size, if that makes sense, but not yet truly rotund. The rest of them seem fine, but I’m watching, and added an extra tablespoon of salt. Tequila Sunrise guppies are incredible. That female is beautiful. There are so many fry in that tank. Apparently they never eat their fry?? There are so many more, and those are some of my newest guppies. Impressively prolific. I don’t see ghost shrimp anymore in that tank, sadly. The Assassin snails got a tank upgrade, and are in the 3 gallon round tank. It has a teeny heater, but no filter yet. I seem to be out of sponge filters, I guess I’ll make a box filter to tide it over… or use one from a tank with a low population, like the Moscow guppy tank, and switch it out. Many things to do this weekend. Also need to insulate the tanks. I did that last year, but forgot this year.
  11. Elodie Rose
    The CCY meeting and auction was a lot of fun, though I regretted taking the pandas. I was so, so close to buying them back. The projector was broken, which didn’t help with that, kind of a bummer. But what a fun get together! Really enjoyed the casual nature of it, and the games that were completely voluntary, and several of which I chose not to participate in. Cute games, too. Fooood omg. Beautiful spread. The cookie contest was delicious, too. I haven’t been happy with the Panda tank in quite a while, and I’m not enjoying them as much as I thought I would. So their tank is getting a re-do, and they’ve been moved to a tub while I work on it. The Assassin snails also got a re-do, with some sand for them to bury in and hunt in, since that has been mentioned in multiple places that they like that. They’ll still get all the same snail food, though heavier on the meat pellets than the spirulina ones. Blue Snails have been put in a similar windowsill container, maybe 8 or 10 with pretty blue or blue-white shells. I also added two of the very beautifully striped trumpet snails that I’ve been seeing. It makes sense that there are different species of MTS, I want to look into some of the different colorations. Water change day. So many. Filled up the tub, and WOW, thank you GuppySnail, that is a heck of a lot easier than filling individual buckets! The Green Dragons are getting 50% water changes every day or every other day this week. Whatever is happening there needs to change. Maybe the entire tank needs to be changed out for them. The water hasn’t cleared up with the sand, so, Father Fish was wrong on that point, in this instance. Might break out two of the tubs for mutt guppies and koi guppies. They’re just 20 gallon tubs, not too heavy to sit in a corner. Piano snails got a new 10, need to upload the pictures of building it to the piano snail journal. Tiger Tower snabies are in the tank!!!! I counted 6, they look just like tiny baby piano snails, but even that small, I can see the difference in color and striping. Omg. Pretty sure I danced the happy-snaiby jig, lol. They’re kind of hard to come by, so having confirmation that I have at least a male and a female among the 5 (originally 6), is FANTASTIC!!! I had removed one Green Dragon male a few weeks ago, to see if isolating him would help him to grow out his fins and bring out his coloring. I had put him, and three of the Green Dragon females, in with the Tigers, and they are photo bombing like nobody’s business. I don’t think it’s big enough for them to colony breed in there, but I just had to have some kind of a backup, if I can’t get the water in Emeric’s tank healthy again. Haven’t seen White Wizard babies yet, but they seem to be doing well, they are in with a few mixed green and purple moscows. I wish I hadn’t added the purple ones, they don’t actually look like proper moscows. Actually there ARE a couple little babies in there, which is great! The purple moscows have been removed back to the White Cloud tub, leaving the greens and the blue-green. It sounds like March/April/May are better guppy months at auction, so I might concentrate on CARES species and on growing out the guppy fry I have, for the next 2-3 months. Back to water changes, now that I’ve had some sit down time. Snaaaaaaaibies!!! 😄
  12. Elodie Rose
    Oops - I thought that had been submitted already, but I’d forgotten to hit the button. D’oh. Today has been a busy day with the guppies, and the guppy rack - which gained the Gambusia holbrooki as well, finally. There are no fry in that tank, they must be really good at hunting them. Now that they’re on eye level, I’m going to be able to spend more time with them and see what’s going on with them. Added sand to the Green Dragon tank, and inspected them again for camallanus worms. I don’t see anything. Emeric is reigning king, with ONE prince that is still coloring up, but sheens green all over, with a dark body. There are about 15-20 young females, just about old enough to start having fry, I think. I’m kind of unsure, since there are no fry. So I removed some of the cover that was not working in that tank. The pandas are a little upset, but I think they’re distracted enough with the sand to be all right with it. I’d had artificial cover beneath a thick layer of salvinia and duckweed, and some dwarf water lettuce. So the artificial cover and the floaters are being removed, to be replaced with something else like hornwort and anacharis. Thank you, GuppySnail, from the bottom of my heart! That hornwort is so, so helpful. TBC
  13. Elodie Rose
    The Blue Dragons are doing really, really well, and I think I’ve seen some guppy fry, in amongst the platy fry. Speaking of Marigold, she is doing fantastic. I gave up four of her lil babies to a club auction, and boy did I have some seriously mixed feelings about it. They’re platies, sure, but they’re Xiph. Milleri, and I just have trouble reconciling the idea of tossing them in with a group of mixed platies. But isn’t that what we want for them? For them to be so common that they are unremarkable? We’re not there yet, though. A dilemma. Booker is doing well, but I’m afraid he’s lonely, and I keep looking and looking at those “Dark Storm” rams, some kind of hybrid I think, between the black rams and blue ones. Booker is a hybrid too though, he’s electric and German blue. So maybe his lil lady friend could be, too. Might go back and look at them again today, and think on it. 5 out of 6 pagoda snails died, and oh my god, the stench was tremendous. Oh my god. That is wretched. I can’t even. ONE pagoda snail is a lil trooper though, and she has her own lil home. Not sure I’ll be getting her (him? No clue) any friends though. Assassin snails have joined the menagerie, and are mysterious beauties, being kept separate. Very separate. Boy are they pretty, though. Yellow shrimp!!! There are suddenly tons of them in with the Blue Leopards, which is awesome. Most of them are probably from DG in the neighborhood, I’m glad they feel safe enough to be visible. CALCIUM CHIPS. Some of the rams horns are looking teeeeerrrrribblle. So everybody is on a calcium regimen now, helped along by a big package of snail calcium and snail food from GuppySnail. The blue ramshorn snails were DOA. A new batch might arrive in the next week. Instead of having brown bodies with blue shells, they seem to have blue/black bodies with clear shells. Kind of like the pink/red ones. Hardy as these things are, how on earth did they perish in shipping? Then again, I didn’t pay for the upgraded box, so they were mailed without packing material, so maybe that’s how. The 2nd time around, the seller recommended the box and warming packet, so I’m guessing they’ll do better. But I did gather up some of my own blues and put them together, too. No more mail order fish after these snails, the time for shipping is over. Too. Darn. Cold. Besides, I have plenty to keep me busy… and I’ve yet to come home from an auction without anything to add to the menagerie. Checking into BAP for the ACLC! I’m not sure how it works yet. The CCY one is only for cichlids, so I doubt I’ll be doing any BAP there. The MD club BAP hasn’t begun yet. TBC
  14. Elodie Rose
    Yes, I did get mine from Aqua Huna, though I have also seen them on the Dansfish website.
  15. Elodie Rose
    The Blue Dragons are doing really, really well, and I think I’ve seen some guppy fry, in amongst the platy fry. Speaking of Marigold, she is doing fantastic. I gave up four of her lil babies to a club auction, and boy did I have some seriously mixed feelings about it. They’re platies, sure, but they’re Xiph. Milleri, and I just have trouble reconciling the idea of tossing them in with a group of mixed platies. But isn’t that what we want for them? For them to be so common that they are unremarkable? We’re not there yet, though. A dilemma. Booker is doing well, but I’m afraid he’s lonely, and I keep looking and looking at those “Dark Storm” rams, some kind of hybrid I think, between the black rams and blue ones. Booker is a hybrid too though, he’s electric and German blue. So maybe his lil lady friend could be, too. Might go back and look at them again today, and think on it. 5 out of 6 pagoda snails died, and oh my god, the stench was tremendous. Oh my god. That is wretched. I can’t even. ONE pagoda snail is a lil trooper though, and she has her own lil home. Not sure I’ll be getting her (him? No clue) any friends though. Assassin snails have joined the menagerie, and are mysterious beauties, being kept separate. Very separate. Boy are they pretty, though. Yellow shrimp!!! There are suddenly tons of them in with the Blue Leopards, which is awesome. Most of them are probably from DG in the neighborhood, I’m glad they feel safe enough to be visible. CALCIUM CHIPS. Some of the rams horns are looking teeeeerrrrribblle. So everybody is on a calcium regimen now, helped along by a big package of snail calcium and snail food from GuppySnail. The blue ramshorn snails were DOA. A new batch might arrive in the next week. Instead of having brown bodies with blue shells, they seem to have blue/black bodies with clear shells. Kind of like the pink/red ones. Hardy as these things are, how on earth did they perish in shipping? Then again, I didn’t pay for the upgraded box, so they were mailed without packing material, so maybe that’s how. The 2nd time around, the seller recommended the box and warming packet, so I’m guessing they’ll do better. But I did gather up some of my own blues and put them together, too. No more mail order fish after these snails, the time for shipping is over. Too. Darn. Cold. Besides, I have plenty to keep me busy… and I’ve yet to come home from an auction without anything to add to the menagerie. Checking into BAP for the ACLC! I’m not sure how it works yet. The CCY one is only for cichlids, so I doubt I’ll be doing any BAP there. The MD club BAP hasn’t begun yet. TBC
  16. Elodie Rose
    So busy. Many things have happened, some are good, some not so much. I’m working on my first little ‘fish rack’ which will have 8 of the 5 gallons on it, Which is a good start for them, and a great consolidation, since they were covering pretty much every surface. What’s on there so far: Koi guppies, Yellow metal mosaic (more on these later), Panda guppies, Redtail splitfins, and the guppy Mosh Pit. What still needs to go on it: The Gambusia holbrooki, and… 2 others that I haven’t decided, but since the top shelf is almost as tall as I am, those last 2 may be a moot point, unsure. PIANO SNAIL BABIES! There are so many! And they are so adorable. And yet SOMEHOW a bladder snail got in there, and I’m taking a few out every night. Grrr. Oh, and the tank has hydra. Probably all the snail tanks do, except the Spixi snails, of course. I wonder if just ONE Spixi snail would eat the hydra, and not the rest of the available food…. Hah. Nevermind. The White Wizard snails have their on tank, and so do the Tiger Tower snails. Lovely creatures. They each got a few guppies too, naturally, one of them got a mix of green/purple Moscows, the other a few of the Green Dragon juvies. A trio of purple Moscows, two pairs of green Moscows, and a blue-green Moscow are all in a tank together. Nobody else will want the hybrids, but I do, and if any are that pretty blue-green, the lady at Go-Fish would, I’m sure. I should check in with her and see how her panda babies are doing. The Platinum Dumbo Redtails had fry! Lots of fry!!! Yaaaaaaay. Darling never had any, and so Dansfish sent me a new pair. Jonny and Dan are really, really great. The Green Dragons… have no fry. NONE. What… on earth. If I’ve lost that line, despite having over a dozen lovely little ladies in that tank, I’ll be devastated. I can’t even find any more to bolster the genetics. But the Violet Mosaics have LOTS of fry! And lots of juveniles. They’re looking wonderful, EXCEPT for the larger female that died of a prolapse yesterday, despite me removing her to a hospital tank with epsom salt as soon as I spotted her. Poor lil thing. Lee and Kaywinnet are still in their tank, and are growing too, like teeny, lovely little blue-eyed dandelions. Their 40 gallon is coming, probably in December. I thought, mistakenly, that the White Clouds would be fast enough to keep up with, or avoid, the Ameca Splendens. Nope. The Butterfly split fits beat the heck out of them and left them in tatters. They’re in a hospital tank now. Ngl, those Butterflies are SAVAGE. And have NO fry… but if they go after everything in the tank that way, no wonder!!! Going to have to change that tank up some, the cover obviously isn’t enough. There are some mystery limia fry that need to be separated out, until I can figure out which they are. Last week I removed a male panda guppy from the Yellow Mosaic tank. Cheese. And. Crackers. The reason they have all that lovely blue is that they were crossed with Panda guppies. So I don’t have Yellow Metal Mosaics, at all, anymore, that line died out completely. On the other hand, the guppies that resulted are beyond gorgeous, and I’m in love with them. How many ways can one person mess up a dozen lines of guppies, let me count the ways. There are so many. But lessons are being learned, I just wish I wasn’t learning them by screwing so many things up. The Tiger Teddies are gone, all of them, fry too. Whole tank crashed, everything died. Mistakes were made, tears were shed. Next time I’ll do better. The Least Killis are in with the Spixi snails now, except for a couple that I dropped into the Piano snail tank to see if they would eat the hydra. They’re looking great! Not tons of fry, but the colony is growing, and there are all sizes, so I think they’re doing ok. So teeny. To be continued
  17. Elodie Rose
    I spotted a baby piano snail! 🥰
  18. Elodie Rose
    The White Wizard snails are in a tank together with hornwort, java moss, and a pothos with a nice root system. Leaf litter, palm wood, and duckweed are present. Only one of them is fully white, or almost fully white, and there are a handful of them. They get frequent but small feedings, veggie heavy, but with protein too. The colony is all together now, though there’s may be one hiding out in the planted portions of Jacaranda or the WC 20, but I do keep an eye out for them every day. When I realized they were being out competed by the other snails, I gathered them and the piano snails together into their own colonies.
  19. Elodie Rose
    The Piano Snails are in a tank together, with a sand bottom, some wood, rocks, leaf litter, hornwort, and java moss. A pair of guppies and four shrimp joined them. I’ve seen one itty bitty baby! So, so cute. I’m keeping my eye out for more babies, and will get some pictures up soon. Apologies for the potato quality. They’re getting a diet of grindal worms, baby brine shrimp, frozen brine shrimp, frozen bloodworms, spirulina powder/pellets, kens wafers, and a few other prepared foods, like repashy and bug bites, as well as veggies - either steamed or frozen.
  20. Elodie Rose
    I still have the six that you gave me, GuppySnail! They are in a tank with plants, blackworms, and a few least killis. I check for eggs every day. The temp on that tank is 78. There are also half a dozen from the ACLC swap last weekend in another tank, at room temp, with nothing but hornwort and pothos. Both are getting a diet of live foods, frozen foods, and dry foods, small pinches a couple times a day of whatever it is that’s being fed. Grindal worms, brine shrimp, bloodworms, kens protein wafers or veggie wafers, spirulina in several forms, calcium tablets and nano blocks, green repashy, and anything else that gets put into the rotation. Cucumber and green beans happen a time or two a week as well. I’m waiting on some Snello pellets. Until they arrive, I’m just counting on variety to help keep them as healthy as they were when I got them. They’re looking great, and seem active. But I haven’t seen any clutches of eggs yet. The ph in my tanks is pretty high, with a lot of minerals, as well as leaf litter and tannins. I’m trying to learn what they like to eat best, and when they’re most active. They’re beautiful! I’ve been researching them and taking notes. Advice is more than welcome. 🙂
  21. Elodie Rose
    Busy busy busy! It’s been nonstop, with the ACLC Swap on Saturday, the ACM’s 1st meeting on Sunday, and the breeding projects of piano snails and spixi snails, and finally, the newsletter assistance. The Swap was fun, I learned how to bag fish much better than before, and received some lovely purple guppies from Jen at Small World Aquatics. And I found some spixi snails this weekend, too! Another dozen joined the menagerie, as well as that final elusive darling from GuppySnail’s tank. Sunday was the first meeting of the ACM, and while it was a very long meeting, it was also tons of fun. Father Fish came to speak with us, and was fantastic. Lovely person. And he bid on pretty much any auction item that didn’t seem like it was going to sell, which was both generous and kind of him. There were some fierce bidding wars over cichlids, though! Very entertaining. I’m transitioning some of the 5s to a rack in the office, since the spare bedroom furniture has been removed… and now I have a free wall with 3 outlets. Completely emptied and redid the piano snails’ tank, and hopefully this time there won’t be any ramshorn/bladder snails. There’s a journal for that breeding project! Notes and pictures will continue there. Also for the Spixi snails… who will likely need a tank redo as well. The only way to start a tank without ramshorns/bladder snails is NOT to use any plants from any of my own tanks. Ouch. Luckily, GuppySnail gifted me with hornwort, and I’ve picked up a few other things from auctions. Grindal worm feedings are almost at twice daily, which is fantastic. Indoor pond-tubs as growout tanks/tubs for the most prolific of the guppies may be something that I set up soon. The 5 gallons aren’t working for the guppies, which are either being transferred or rehomed, as I’m figuring out what works for me and what doesn’t. Not just tank size but strains, foods, plants, water changes, tannins. Many things are happening, even if I’m not getting them all recorded.
  22. Elodie Rose
    Thank you very much! That’s very true, despite the troubles the tanks are full of life and bring me a lot of happiness. Thank you for the encouragement. Most of the jars are experiments! Since the green water was an accident, and has since switched from Jar C to the current Jar G, I’m still trying to figure out why and how. I diversify to keep it going in case the main jar crashes, just like with white worms or grindal worms. They are holding plants, seed shrimp, scuds, snails, and other critters. They can be moved around easily to find the best sunlight through the day. Some are food for the fish, others are my attempts to introduce biodiversity to the tiny ecosystems in the tanks that I’m trying to create. Like a food web.
  23. Elodie Rose
    Lost River last night.
  24. Elodie Rose
    There are little fry in the Glitter Limia tank!!!! Yay!
  25. Elodie Rose
    Thank you! I will use some cucumber to remove them.
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