Cait

Too cute! It sounds like your kitten is just trying to play with your daughter. I love that your family saved the little guy. Sometimes when kittens are not raised by a mother cat and littermates, they don't learn that biting too hard is painful and obnoxious. You need to teach this. First, make sure that your daughter stops playing with the cat as soon as the kitten bites too hard or goes after her leg. Game over. Immediately. This teaches the kitten that that type of play ends the game. Prevent it when you can. If this happens when the cat is overly excited, make sure to bring that excitement level down and keep it down. If it happens when your daughter just walks into the room, or is only standing/sitting there, try to distract the cat first. Toss him a treat or a toy before he goes for the legs. Make sure you don't reward the cat for playing too rough, toys and treats only if he doesn't make a move for the legs. Then make sure to have lots of fun where the kitten learns to play nicely. Through toys. Play with toys on sticks or strings. Keep those hands and legs safe while allowing the kitten to play. The kitten learns playing nicely is fun. Find other, positive ways for your daughter to interact with the cat: assorted games, feeding the cat, petting him when he is calm, etc. Play often. This reinforces what the kitten is learning, and will help tire him out. Less energy means less likely to attack. You can also use toys that hold food to feed the kitten. This will utilize more of his energy and help him use his brain and body. Try to remember that this is likely a temporary thing. As the cat grows up, he will play less.

I feed a variety, but without a set schedule. Each time I feed I try to pick something I didn't feed the last time. Very informal. The freeze dried stuff is fed more sparingly. I try to add live foods on occasion as well. I have my foods in baskets on a shelf in my basement/fish room. I have one basket of food for my big blood parrot cichlids, and another basket of foods for my nano fish and shrimp. Long-term I have plans to buy a small refrigerator/freezer and microwave to add to the fish room. For now I am in the middle of a few other projects, then upgrading the parrot tank.

Great idea! All my lights are either automated or on timers. Otherwise once every other week I would forget to turn a light on or off. I am too nervous to leave the area when doing a water change. We use or Google home all the time for other things. We have one in our kitchen that is perfect for cooking. Now I am always setting a timer when cooking or baking!

Aquarium Co-op ships so quickly, just wait the few days for the pre-filter! Otherwise the fry will almost certainly be killed by the filter. You could also hold off on the HOB filter until the babies grow bigger. That sponge filter is sufficient for the fry. Keep an eye on your parameters. I am thinking that between the seeded filter, hornwort, and small bioload of the fry you should be fine. Congratulations and best wishes!

Hello! I am from the suburbs so I had to say "hi"!

Yes, just pull about the moss and stick a clump into a hole. If you are using the cave for moss and not for a hide, then you can plug moss into every hole. Just check the size with your Cories. If it looks like the fish are big enough to swim into a hole, then wait for them to grow a bit before using the cave. The holes are small, sized for dwarf shrimp.

I bought the shrimp cave about a year ago. Great product. I pushed moss inside every other hole. This allowed the moss to grow out and receive light. It also allowed shrimp to go into the cave. If you have big, full-grown Cories the holes will be too small for them. If you have Cory fry or young pygmy Cories, you should wait until they are too big to fir into the holes to se the shrimp cave.

To add more complexity to this issue, certain types of dwarf shrimp (Caridina) mix without reverting to "wild types." For instance, mixing differently colored/patterned Caridina shrimp often produces elaborate patterns. It is by mixing that "shadow pandas" are created.

Absolutely! Watching my fish is relaxing. It helps reduce my anxiety and depression. The responsibility of taking care of my fish and plants is beneficial, with different benefits each day. It is therapeutic, encouraging, motivating, etc. Setting up a tank is a great artistic expression. I love taking care of my planted tanks.

My name is Caitlin. I have had aquariums on and off for many year. I have planted tanks with fish, shrimp, and snails. I love the hobby, and am involved in a couple local clubs. Living in the Chicago area means I am blessed with numerous local hobby clubs. I am looking forward to being part of this wonderful community!

Merlin (Murray) the 5 year old Beagle/Weimaraner mix, and Rusty, the 17 year old DSH.