Chick-in-of-TheSea journal

[redfish]

On 11/22/2022 at 10:45 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Do you have anything floating? Leaves or plants?  I noticed @TheSwissAquarist had a betta that also made a nest in plant leaves that were laying on the surface.

I have a few floating plants and a betta log.  I'm hoping the floating plants start to grow more but the tank has balanced itself almost too good.  Not much algae for the nerite.

Edited November 22, 2022 by redfish

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:28 PM, redfish said:

I have a few floating plants and a betta log.  I'm hoping the floating plants start to grow more but the tank has balanced itself almost too good.  Not much algae for the nerite.

You can add a piece of driftwood and it will create yummy biofilm for the nerite to eat

[redfish]

I’m hesitant to do anything extra since the tank is running so well. 😊   But I’m watching it closely.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/22/2022 at 3:42 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Also I kicked up a detritus worm and it started squiggling and free swimming like crazy. Geppetto stalked it, charged at it, and CHOMP! And that was the end of that. It was EPIC! 

Yes! Nice work little hunter.

On 11/22/2022 at 5:56 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Geppetto uses his front bottom fins as kickstands when he settles on the bottom. ☺️ Do all bettas do that? 

Might be head position, trying to get his head and gills at a certain angle. My SAEs used to do that too.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/22/2022 at 3:38 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Might be head position, trying to get his head and gills at a certain angle. My SAEs used to do that too.

It’s funny. It’s like when a plane is about to land and the wheels come down. He does it every time.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

It’s funny. It’s like when a plane is about to land and the wheels come down. He does it every time.

Yeah.  I was always amazed at how lazy a massive female SAE could be.  She (well, both of them) were gigantic and they definitely could not be bothered to do anything but sit around for food.  Like seals on a beach waiting for the trainer to come by or something. 

They had a good time 🙂

I swapped out my light, I'll add the photos here shortly.  Back to what we were talking about LED quality, color spectrum, all that stuff.  I am intrigued based on what I saw with my eyes, visually if the camera picks anything up.  Same tank, more/less LEDs, but very different lights.

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/22/2022 at 1:28 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

It’s funny. It’s like when a plane is about to land and the wheels come down. He does it every time.

Yeah.  I was always amazed at how lazy a massive female SAE could be.  She (well, both of them) were gigantic and they definitely could not be bothered to do anything but sit around for food.  Like seals on a beach waiting for the trainer to come by or something. 

They had a good time 🙂

I swapped out my light, I'll add the photos here shortly.  Back to what we were talking about LED quality, color spectrum, all that stuff.  I am intrigued based on what I saw with my eyes, visually if the camera picks anything up.  Same tank, more/less LEDs, but very different lights.

OK so.... This is what you were mentioning about the betta and why I asked about the light.  Something like, using a yellowish bullb on a flashlight vs. an LED is what my analogy would be.

The first set of photos is the aquasky.  You're looking at about half the amount of LEDs, same exact dimens in terms of the length of the LEDs, but it's a more green/yellow hue to the tank.  The photos are forced manually on the same camera, same lens, same exact settings to try to remove variables.

Aquasky: White, Pink, Blue, Green
Planted: White, Warm white, Cool white, blue, magenta

Aquasky:
Low settings:



high settings
(didn't grab a photo of the light, it's all at 100)

 

Planted 3.0
My personal "standard" settings I use for my tanks


low settings



And then this is just a bonus, the same tank, same settings, but I just turned the phone back to auto on the ISO/White balance

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

So I just checked on Geppetto and yep! He made the bubble nest while I was at work! So I know the floating catappa leaf is key. Once it sinks, I should replace it because he feels safe and comfortable when under the leaf.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/22/2022 at 5:50 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Yeah.  I was always amazed at how lazy a massive female SAE could be.  She (well, both of them) were gigantic and they definitely could not be bothered to do anything but sit around for food.  Like seals on a beach waiting for the trainer to come by or something. 

They had a good time 🙂

I swapped out my light, I'll add the photos here shortly.  Back to what we were talking about LED quality, color spectrum, all that stuff.  I am intrigued based on what I saw with my eyes, visually if the camera picks anything up.  Same tank, more/less LEDs, but very different lights.

OK so.... This is what you were mentioning about the betta and why I asked about the light.  Something like, using a yellowish bullb on a flashlight vs. an LED is what my analogy would be.

The first set of photos is the aquasky.  You're looking at about half the amount of LEDs, same exact dimens in terms of the length of the LEDs, but it's a more green/yellow hue to the tank.  The photos are forced manually on the same camera, same lens, same exact settings to try to remove variables.

Aquasky: White, Pink, Blue, Green
Planted: White, Warm white, Cool white, blue, magenta

Aquasky:
Low settings:



high settings
(didn't grab a photo of the light, it's all at 100)

 

Planted 3.0
My personal "standard" settings I use for my tanks


low settings



And then this is just a bonus, the same tank, same settings, but I just turned the phone back to auto on the ISO/White balance

Pretty cool. Thanks for the demo!

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Ahh this is the life.

Someone wanted belly rubs.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/23/2022 at 12:32 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Ahh this is the life.

Someone wanted belly rubs.

Someone wanted my younger siblings cuddly bunny 😂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/23/2022 at 6:53 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

Someone wanted my younger siblings cuddly bunny 😂

Oh my gosh, that pup is adorable 😍

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 11/23/2022 at 1:47 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Oh my gosh, that pup is adorable 😍

Thanks! 😊 Her this morning:😂

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Well darn. Not even 24 hours and the new catappa leaf sank. Hence, Geppetto’s bubble nest got destroyed. Again. As much as I don’t want to put commercial decor in the tank, I’m going to just float this lily pad for him. It’s meant to go underwater I guess, so it can be a bed, but that’s not the look I’m going for in the tank. Just looking to resolve the nesting issue for the guy.

 

[Guppysnail]

If this does not work Walmart has thin plastic human food dishes. I just walked past them today. They came in brown. Plastic floats so you could cut him an artificial almond leaf maybe. 

[nabokovfan87]

Some people use cork too I believe.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/23/2022 at 1:40 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

Well darn. Not even 24 hours and the new catappa leaf sank. Hence, Geppetto’s bubble nest got destroyed. Again. As much as I don’t want to put commercial decor in the tank, I’m going to just float this lily pad for him. It’s meant to go underwater I guess, so it can be a bed, but that’s not the look I’m going for in the tank. Just looking to resolve the nesting issue for the guy.

 

Eh. I didn’t like the way that lily thing smelled. If you’ve ever bought an inflatable raft, and you just took it out of the package- that’s the smell. So I am not going to use it. I combined ideas from @nabokovfan87 and @Guppysnail and came up with this. This was just a silk aquarium plant I took apart. I cut a slice off of the middle of the wine cork, so there is no wine going in the tank 🙂

 

And I superglued the leaves together.

Edited November 23, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

He is interested.

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/23/2022 at 1:32 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

so there is no wine going in the tank 🙂

😂 The corydoras didn't mind the bourbon, but yeah definitely a way to go.  They sell mats / cork wood for reptiles and turtles.  I couldn't tell you if the big box stores or where to get it, but I've seen cory use it and others use it for betta things.

Does Geppetto have an aquarium lily!???!!!?

you're definitely waking up to a bubble nest.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/23/2022 at 5:18 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

😂 The corydoras didn't mind the bourbon, but yeah definitely a way to go.  They sell mats / cork wood for reptiles and turtles.  I couldn't tell you if the big box stores or where to get it, but I've seen cory use it and others use it for betta things.

Does Geppetto have an aquarium lily!???!!!?

you're definitely waking up to a bubble nest.

I didn’t use the lily. It smelled weird; synthetic. So I made the leaves with the cork. Last I checked he made a few bubbles near it. 
 

Kratos went into the tank after a 1 hour drip. I don’t know how this will go. As soon as Geppetto spotted him, he got as close to the sand as he could to look under the shell and then he nipped. But not sure if he got Kratos or not. The way his shell Is built, it’s a lot bigger than his body (think Dark Helmet from Space Balls). Geppetto also went back to check on Kratos like 10 times. Carefully checking at all angles.
 

I will be watching closely tomorrow also to make sure everything is going ok.

Edited November 24, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Minanora]

ORD! Finally, caught up. I need to spend more time reading on my breaks. 😂 Wow, since July, so much has changed! Things are looking amazing! 💚 Your journey is awesome!

[nabokovfan87]

I found Geppetto's new tank. 😍

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:40 PM, Minanora said:

ORD! Finally, caught up. I need to spend more time reading on my breaks. 😂 Wow, since July, so much has changed! Things are looking amazing! 💚 Your journey is awesome!

Thank you!

On 11/23/2022 at 11:08 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I found Geppetto's new tank. 😍

 

You just put this because it has the Tidal!

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/23/2022 at 9:48 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

You just put this because it has the Tidal!

Nah, id run a sponge. Especially with floaters. Tidal 35 I didn't even realize. I'd probably only ever use my 35 on a moss only for profit tank or stems or something. Plants only.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 11/24/2022 at 1:58 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

Nah, id run a sponge. Especially with floaters. Tidal 35 I didn't even realize. I'd probably only ever use my 35 on a moss only for profit tank or stems or something. Plants only.

Yeah. I was just messing with you. 🙃 Bettas do need low flow. I’m running a fine sponge filter in the tank, and it’s doing great so far.

Also I had another thought about the light/color thing. I forgot to mention his tank has quite a bit of tannins. So I’m sure that’s playing a big part.

I dove in heavy tannins before- scary! And looking up at the sun when underwater- looked like I was diving in blood. Here’s the site if anyone is interested. Toward the end of the video my friend Patty points the camera up (@39 seconds left in video). Does that not look like blood??  The dive was thrilling. Pitch black at the bottom. The sinkhole is very deep! We needed a special air mix to get the bottom time we wanted. Ended up calling the dive (ending it) because my dive buddy’s computer malfunctioned and she wasn’t comfortable continuing in the darkness without the proper safety measures. We communicated this on my slate. Hence, we didn’t get to see the VW bus at the bottom. That’s ok though. We got to go through the layer thing (hydrothermal layer, I think it’s called? Slang: the hydrotherm). Only certain sites have it. It’s where freshwater meets saltwater, looks like milk, and i think the temp is different too- also, smells like sulfur- which was observed through our regulators. (I’m not in the video btw, but my friend Patty videos every dive site around here, like she’s a tour guide of the sites).

I got off on some tangent there, so… back to aquariums!  Seems to be going well for Kratos. He’s on the glass now, and again, his shell structure doesn’t leave any flesh sticking out. Geppetto doesn’t seem to care about him; seems to have lost interest. So that’s great. Kratos in betta tank:
 

Kratos in main tank (so you can see shell structure)

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  I’m going to get a good workout in this morning to pump up my metabolism for this high calorie day, and in the meantime I’m cooking some carrots for the snails! The fishies already had a nice breakfast of daphnia, and pellets for Snoopy. Yum!

I got the cranberry sauce made last night, and today I’m making a sweet potato casserole that my family loves (the one with the mini marshmallows). I will be spending the afternoon at the folks’ house. How about you guys? What are your plans?

Edited November 24, 2022 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea