xXInkedPhoenixX

Thank you. 🙂 I don't think so, the reason I say this is because I've seen him move pretty naturally when he does move, but I understand why you might say that. This is what I struggle with- I mean on the one hand you don't want to condone the large retailers' continuing this practice but then there the Bettas sit every time you walk in. They exist- they are living creatures- this is not a changing fact. Do you ignore them and pass them by because of principal or if you see one in need do you buy it despite making the big box store a sale and validating their choice to continue the practice? It's a terribly vicious cycle- because even if you do get a few of them- as I have done- I don't have the ability to get more of them- but clearly I've done both (ignore and condone by purchase). @Chick-In-Of-TheSea you mentioned that story about the starfish- I am very familar with the story as I used to work in animal rescue. The last sentence in the version I read was "It matters to this starfish" and I have that saying stuck in my head forever.

Lovely tanks @ricbennett3! Hope you have a wonderful and trustworthy fish sitter! Good help is hard to find sometimes- so my tanks just don't get fed when I'm gone! It would be nice to have a decent helper around to feed them though. I have a wonky schedule too so my fish just have to put up with me. They seem to do ok so far. Anyway- great tanks!

CPDs (Celestial Pearl Danios). I have just under 10 in a 4.12 gallon cube. They are lovely little fish.

Looks like a lovely riverbottom!

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank No pics today as I had to act quickly but I caught 2 little ones- bringing our floating breeder count up to 13 babies. This is the biggest spawn I've had for a while. I'm not sure if I caught the 2 I mentioned in the last couple of posts or yet more. One was very very new so I sucked it up with a lab dropper as it was on the front glass and plopped it in the breeder. The other was a little more solid and I got it off the back wall of the aquarium. We'll see what shakes out tomorrow! (Everyone in the Accidental Oto Tank is doing well too)

Hello Peeps! Update time. Today marks the 22nd day I've had my four patients, kinda fun that it's also the 22nd of October no? It's something I have to do to bring the health of these little ones in perspective- 3 of them recovered from whatever it was they were going through very quickly (I mean 22 days isn't that long if you think about it when you are "near death"). So when I think about poor Red Crowntail- I think- it's ok- it hasn't been that long- and it may be a while until he is totally better. He must have been the worst off of them. Everyone got their water change today, some IAL tea and salt- and as usual Crowntail got his medicated breakfast and some non-medicated pellets. He still hangs mostly around the sides and rarely comes off the surface- but I see sparks of health here and there- I didn't notice him floating up on his side as much today, and I saw him swim a little as I have in recent days. So there is still hope for him and he'll be in QT until he baselines. If he never gets any better but eats and doesn't seem to be suffering, he'll just stay with me however long he's meant to live. Here's Crowntail today: Miss GloBetta girl- she only has until the end of the week when I finally put her in my Flex9 and see if she likes her new home. She's doing very well, is so inquisitive and active now- such a big step from her only resting on the bottom of her tank and her little fins being clamped: Mr White Twintail Halfmoon remains in limbo. Mum came over today - though she admitted he is very beautiful she confirmed it was Purple she wants for her tank. He's gotten so pretty over the 22 days I've had him- it's so hard to capture his beauty on camera. We'll have to contemplate his future. Then of course there is little Purple Dumbo. She's ready to rule her own tank. I will prepare to move her to my Mum's this coming Thursday. I will make sure Mum is prepared with a QT (in case she doesn't get along with someone or vice versa) and food and extra accessories. I will be there for a good portion of time to acclimate her and watch her for a while to see if there are any immediate signs of aggression with anyone. I don't anticipate any issues at all but you never know- prepare for all possible outcomes! In 22 days though she healed the quickest of whatever it is that ailed her- she's gone through the biggest visual transformation (even my Mum said whoa when she saw the side by side pics) for sure (she always had the big personality). She's going to be in a great little tank! Don't worry, I'll document the move. It will be neat to see how this all settles in for the girls this coming week. And hopefully we can find something good for the boys too!

They look really great! Took mine time to settle in but I got mine from another fishkeeper who was shutting down the aquarium he was in. Clean water, good food and no stress. I'd watch how they interact with each other as that can get bumpy once they settle in. If they pair up- then you'll likely have no issues unless they spawn- if there are any other fish in the tank they can get territorial. Mine is solo and he does great and is good to his tankmates. Welcome to the wonderful world of Bolivian Rams! And welcome to the forum!

Well, I did the experiment last night so I could wake up to finish the project today. As a background for a complete post I have a 2.5 gallon glass tank that holds some of my "extra" plants. A small Amazon, 2 Marimo moss balls- one small and one large (the larger I'm concerned about as it is my "Frankenball" just barely holding itself together), some baby Java plants and rhizones, Guppy Grass. I had a bit of a crazy growth of hair and green algaes and since it was on a lower shelf of a stand just never got up the gumption to clean it, just topped it off and put ACO Easy Green in it every week (the only tank I fertilize btw). Here is a reminder of what the tank looked like: Of course I had to pull a lot of dead leaves and plants when I drained the tank.The tank got drained and dried out a bit, I didn't wipe it too hard as I wanted to leave the algae for the experiment. Here is the emptied tank: I decided to also soak the sponge filter, as it was also covered in algae and plant matter. I know that kills the BB but since this is only a plant tank and I have plenty of sponges laying around I wanted to see the outcome here. Sorry, I neglected to take a GOOD pic of it, but it was covered in gunk- you can kind of see that in the above picture and just barely tell below (because it was already squeezed out/rinsed). It definitely needed a squeezing out. I dried off the plants best I could too: Then I took the tank and its inhabitants to my dining room (where it is darkest and now that it was night even darker), where there was a waiting towel and my 2 bottles. I knew I probably didn't have enough (probably should have gotten 3 but I didn't know at the time I was doing the experiment in the tank itself) but I was going to cover what I could with this: This brand was DEFINITELY fizzy enough- though I barely moved it from the kitchen to the dining room it wanted to pop right out of the bottle when I opened it and while pouring (I swear one of the lids already was domed from pressure). Then the tank got loosely covered in plastic wrap (because this tank has no lid) and then covered completely with a towel. The 12 hour timer was set on my phone. ********INTERMISSION***************** My timer went off at a reasonable hour (read: after I got up and was able to have coffee, feed my tanks and cats, read for a bit and eat a freshly baked muffin). I had already started to set up the soak for the plants, handy portable battery and air pump assisting me along with a Rubbermaid tub (I wouldn't normally use my Rubbermaid- I mean c'mon this stuff is expensive but it was only for 30 mins and I wanted a clear picture for the forum- everthing else I had wouldn't have worked). Plants came out and got put in the tub (Marimos got squeezed out before placed): The tank, as suspected didn't get enough seltzer water but you can kind of see the dividing line where the water did hit as compared with where it did not- the algae is much greener and more solid where it didn't: So it got scrubbed with super hot water while the plants got their water soak (tap with dechlorinator). Then it got set up with the SUPER clean sponge- I was impressed how much MORE gunk came out of the sponge even after having squeezed it out last night- it went on for days and days (ok not technically but it took a while). Any brown you see in the below pic is just the light- there is a totally black sponge there. It's pretty much clean as new. Took zero effort to clean the uptake tube as well- just my finger- no scrubbing. So then the tank got put back on its shelf with its (admittedly crappy- those are supposedly white bulbs) light. Got dechlorinated water and some ACO Easy Green. Plants got put back after trimming off more dead plant material I didn't see yesterday (I tied the Amazon with a thread and used a bit of airline and airline suction cup to attach it to the wall lower so that it wasn't floating like before). The tank is clearly much cleaner than I could have gotten it if I'd just taken it and done it the old way. In the coming days I'm hoping to see improvement here- especially with my Marimo which have been suffering and have quite a bit of brown on them (they did even before the plant-pocolypse). (Oh and yes I did grab that floating brown bit of Java after I saw it in the pic) Again this is a reminder of what it looked like and the after side by side: This is an AWESOME experiment. Thank you to all who worked so hard on it. It's definitely NO JOKE and will likely work minor miracles in many peoples' tanks and have super cool applications elsewhere. Amazing really! We're all very lucky to have such a cool corner of the internet.

Glad you are well @rockfisher!

Totally understood, the filter has algae growing on it as well, which is why I want to soak it too.

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea, well she'll be with me here for another week then I'll transport her to Mum's house. It won't entirely be the end as I see my Mum rather regularly- but her story may end here shortly after and move to my tank thread with occasional updates. This thread has to end some time. 🙃 Hopefully with a happy ending for all. My Mum really loves her tank and fish so she'll take good care of her. I built the tank so I'm confident she'll (Purple) be happy. Can't guarantee she'll have an awesome name though 🤣 I've always kind of rolled my eyes at my Mum's names.

@Guppysnail I actually don't mind sacrificing the BB on the filter to see how clean the filter gets. I always have more bb "infested" sponges in my other tanks. I just want a reset on this tank. There are no other living creatures in here. I'll drain the tank of course and get as much water out of everything I can. I have two 2 liter generic seltzer water bottles to fill the tank as well.

It has been several years since my 16 year old Pomegranate Bonsai has produced actual pomegranates. It often blooms but the flowers fall off. Little one is kind of like the fruit version of the Charlie Brown tree, but it tries. I've repotted it in the last couple of years and fertilized it more often than I used to (sometimes unless they are asking for something I neglect them, my bad)- and this year I've got 4 fruits going along with some other blooms. Of course it also has a little to do with how wonky the weather is as well.....

Ok, I'm doing this tonight before I get to bed! Here is my really sad "extra" 2.5 gallon plant tank. I would like to just treat the tank itself so I'm going to do that and use a little plastic wrap at the top (loosely) and throw a towel over it (which will just help the darkness). It has 2 Marimo (1 large and 1 small) a small species of Amazon, Guppy Grass, Narrow Leaf Java and the sponge filter (which I plan to leave in here just for giggles).

@Chris, hahaha, whoops sorry buddy. I honestly never expected I'd have an Oto only tank. I also never expected my Otos to spawn- in fact as stated really early in this journal, picked them (and the Rasboras, even the Nerites and Mystery snails that I had in the beginning) just BECAUSE they wouldn't. The fish had other plans. @TheSwissAquarist- They are safe in the Parent Tank because there are only Otos in it, but, realistically I can't keep letting them breed and let the babies stay- there would soon be too many and the gene pool would not be good. It's easier to catch the babies now as they IME stay along the top of the tank for the first couple of weeks of life- making them easier to catch. Once they are past that they are not catchable. Plus the Parent tank is heavily planted. I wouldn't dare try. I didn't originally think I would keep all of the original spawns either but the idea of a species only tank grew on me and I decided that every baby caught from this point forward will go to other fish keepers that have Otos too- I'm hoping that my tank breds will go on to mate with other fish keepers' Otos and create more. Maybe creating a stronger strain of Oto.

***spoke too soon, just after submitting, see another transluscent baby Oto.

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Accidental Oto Tank So this morning everyone is doing well. One little ones found the bowl (at least that I witnessed). The spot where the suction cup was holding the coconut hut on the wall is now scraped clean by the baby Otos. Generally everyone has been very active since being put in the Accidental tank- this is good to see. I made an error in my count. This is how hard it is to keep track of these little buggers- especially since my phone died along with the app I used to use to keep track of my tanks/stock. THERE ARE SIX, not five as originally reported- and I remember it was because one had to be separated for a while since they were much smaller and they got big enough I moved them over to add new Otos. Speaking of new Otos.... OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Parent Tank: So yesterday while switching over the 6 I removed the Large ACO Sponge Filter from the Accidental tank (I put it there because as you might remember I had 60 or so Otos in a 10 gallon, now it was just overkill) to the Parent tank and did a bunch of cleaning. Part of that was moving the now smaller/newer batch of babies over to the bigger floating breeder box. Most of these now were caught in the last week or so- but there are a couple that have at least a few week start on them. This is why putting them in the larger box was a neccessary move- the bigger ones tend to (accidentally) smack into the very little ones and cause death. So far, since the move- no deaths. I've counted 11 total (again these buggers are hard to count they move often and quickly). I tend to try and count them every day because at this stage it's not unusual to lose some. So in cleaning up the food every morning is when I discover them (I'm about to clean it after I finish this entry). Anyhow, no deaths today, no way you can see them all, some are very,, very small: I did an inspection of the tank walls for more newbies. I have at least 1 other. They are in an unreachable spot for now, and rather transluscent- so I'm ok if they stay in the tank another few days as they are harder to catch this small and rather delicate. Though if they give me the opportunity I will still try: Of course that's just one, you also see the reflection. Anyway. Here we go to clean!

😄 Just 5.

CONGRATS @Anjum! This is always exciting!!🥳

@Beardedbillygoat1975Glad my tanks bring me someone, other than me, some joy! 🙃They make me smile every day.

So today I had to put a divider in the Accidental Oto tank- a 10 gallon grow out tank that Koianu the Betta keeps occupied when there are no Oto babies.It worked out great for the baby Otos- they are in a much bigger space compared with the floating breeder they occupied in the Parent Tank. Koianu however....none too pleased....

OTOCINCLUS VITTATUS: The Accidental Oto Tank So today was project day. I'd bought a divider for the 10 gallon grow out known as the Accidental Oto- where my now resident koi Betta, Koianu lives. I don't believe he'd hurt the baby Otos but I wanted to divide the tank so that they'll be easier to catch when it's time to sell them. Giving them the run of a 10 gallon is a bit much. Plus I can't imagine catching them with Koianu ALSO in the way. The divider I got on Amazon looks like this (ad photo): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08HYRTZ46/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The divider is a good one and the holes in it aren't big but the corners are rounded and the longer vents on the divider- well I was concerned the Otos would get themselves stuck in. Stranger things have happened with these little guys. So I took the divider (as I mentioned in another post) to the local plastics shop, they cut me a piece the same size but could not cut the notches for the suction cup holders- no worries- someone close to me was able to do the work which I appreciated. That in hand for the last month I came to today when it was time I decided to put the 5 oldest babies into the Accidental. The non-rounded corners worked really well. I'm very pleased with how the tank got divided. I put an ACO medium sponge in the baby Oto side and left the Aqueon 10 HOB for Koianu. I made sure all his Nerite friends were on Koianu's side. The coconut hut got put on the divider wall for the Betta, gave the Otos a plant and a feeding dish and now we have a place for everyone until it's time to go. Koianu isn't too pleased about the wall but he'll get over it sooner or later. Tank looks great: This is the Oto's side of the 10 gallon: So I emptied the largest floating breeder of the 5 older baby Otos and I've seen zero adjustment issues (only difference between this tank and the Parent Tank will more be temperature than anything else). They will be pretty content with so much more space than a floating breeder: I think it's just in time because I caught yet another baby oto while cleaning tanks this morning. I've lost track now of how many I have but there may be 10 or so in the breeder- I switched them out of the smaller one they were in and put them in the big one so they have more space and less chance of mosh pitting themselves to death. I won't be surprised if I find a few more in the coming days.

Hello everyone! Today was water change day (for ALL of my tanks and had to work on an Otocinclus project) so I spent a few hours on tanks. Everyone ate bloodworms for breakfast- Crowntail got medicated ones as he has all week. All the patients got water changes. Here's today's update: Purple Dumbo- still great! Last night I'd stopped by my parents house and discussed the patients with my Mum. I showed her some pictures and surprise, surprise she wants Dumbo. I figured she'd pick her- and that's ok, I think she'd be happy in Mum's tank. I am still having Mum come over and see them all in person- because sometimes a picture isn't enough- at least I think most of it is their personality- I don't expect her decision to change however- Dumbo is stupid cute: Then GloBetta still doing great! She'll likely move into my Flex9 early next month- hopefully she'll like her new roommates and vice versa. I think she'll be a great addition and she'll stand out in that tank- it's kinda dark and bright fish are best (sometimes I can't see the Ember Tetras!). So her glowing genes will be awesome there! White Twintail Halfmoon, I was kinda hoping Mum would pick him. I really think he's be a standout in Mum's tank- I'm not sure how readily Purple will be seen- though she really seems to make a point of it. It's ok. Not sure what will happen with him yet. I think once Purple and GloBetta move to their permanent homes, White will stay on the desk where the girls are now until we find out what the ultimate outcome with Red will be. Then of course Red Crowntail. He's about the same- he can swim a little off the sides still. Today he got his water change with the 2nd dose of Expel-P as @Odd Duck's treatment plan recommended. I just keep hoping to wake up to even more improvement every day. I think if Red makes it a divided tank with White and Red may have to happen. Time will tell. So we plug on for now as we are, maybe another week in QT for the girls and then they get to move on and hopefully live long lives in other tanks. White and Red will be in QT until the next decisions are made and see what Red's outlook is. Hopefully a good one!

Guppies are a joy!

@Chick-In-Of-TheSea nope, he'll go as far as feeding mid-level (20 tall) -especially bloodworm day- but plenty comes down for him with the flake. Probably part of the reason I have so many bladder snails in the Angry Man but they keep it pretty.