Chick-in-of-TheSea journal

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

[TheSwissAquarist]

On 7/18/2023 at 4:32 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

How are his health issues doing? 😍

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/19/2023 at 9:55 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

How are his health issues doing? 😍

Very well!  I found out he loves Repashy.  He dives down to the bottom for it.  I love that because it keeps him occupied for awhile and gets him to utilize the bottom level of the tank for a bit.  I believe the Repashy is actually making his color more vivid.  Also there are 2 shrimp juveniles that hitchhiked their way into his tank on a sponge filter, and he has left them alone, which surprised me!

I also think he likes his tank being up higher where he can see into the other tanks.  He had a tank close to the floor before, and it was half the size of his current tank.  He has a leaf hammock and a pipe near the top in this tank that he loves to use.  A number of things have improved for him behaviorally since these changes were made.

Edited July 19, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Geppetto had a situation today.  I was going to do his normal water change but saw he had built a beautiful bubble nest so I decided not to.  However, 2 days ago he bit some of his tail off, and yesterday he bit more off.  😕  Seem to coincide with the times I skip giving him Repashy, the spoiled brat.  He rebels.  Anyway, I had the IAL tea (3 c.) and I mixed 2 Tbsp Fritz salt into it to help his tail, shook it up pretty good and did a small top off with it.  Few minutes later, he's laying on the bottom all flared out and gasping.  Not even sure why; his tank is 10gal and it didn't even get the full 2 Tbsp - that should be a very weak dilution of salt in that size tank. 

So I wasn't sure if it could be the salt?  Or did he eat a shrimp and it's too much for him?  (He was looking around in the shrimp area prior to try to find them). Did some water tests; everything is fine.  So with just minutes before I had to leave for work, I did a good 40-ish% water change.  I couldn't monitor him after but got ready super quickly and as I was grabbing my keys glanced at the tank and he was swimming up near the top again; he seemed casual.  So I guess it was the salt.  Maybe didn't mix well; maybe not enough flow or something to distribute it. The bubble nest is hosed, but I think Geppetto is ok; will check again in a few hours when I return home.

Other thoughts - I like to make the catappa tea, but I see there are catappa tea bags which can just be dropped in the aquarium.  Every time I boil catappa leaves I put them into a gallon ziplock and put them in the freezer so I can feed them to shrimp or snails later.  I can take those frozen leaves and crunch them up, then put them in one of those breathable plant bags the co op ships plants in (I save those to trade plants w/ friends), and boom.  There is a free catappa tea bag.  Could be a nice option to add to the tank w/ no mess.  Maybe cinch it shut with a plant weight or whatnot.

Edited July 25, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Guppysnail]

Maybe he is frustrated over not having a mate?  I know nothing about breeding betta though. Does the worst of the tail biting coincide in any way with his bubble nests building?

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/25/2023 at 8:20 AM, Guppysnail said:

Maybe he is frustrated over not having a mate?  I know nothing about breeding betta though. Does the worst of the tail biting coincide in any way with his bubble nests building?

Maybe will get him some dithers.  Roll the dice & monitor.  

I actually never noticed if the bubble nest relates to the tail biting.  Hmm!  Interesting thought @Guppysnail!  I should keep little notes.  I am 100% sure his issue is behavorial, or his tail simply gets too heavy when it is long. We had a great, long run without biting though!  So that is progress!

Edited July 25, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I read that people have been having luck keeping betta with pygmy cories @Guppysnail.  Had you ever tried that before?

[Guppysnail]

On 7/25/2023 at 8:44 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I read that people have been having luck keeping betta with pygmy cories @Guppysnail.  Had you ever tried that before?

No. I only had 1 betta and he was with neon tetras, shrimp, mystery snails and an albino bn pleco. However I did introduce young small albino Cory and he had no issues. 
I found tank size was key with my guy. The smaller the tank the more ornery he was. The bigger the tank the less he cared about anything else in the tank. The 20g he was super chill. He used to let shrimp take rides on him without caring. I think an even bigger tank and I could have housed most anything with him. 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 7/25/2023 at 10:47 AM, Guppysnail said:

No. I only had 1 betta and he was with neon tetras, shrimp, mystery snails and an albino bn pleco. However I did introduce young small albino Cory and he had no issues. 
I found tank size was key with my guy. The smaller the tank the more ornery he was. The bigger the tank the less he cared about anything else in the tank. The 20g he was super chill. He used to let shrimp take rides on him without caring. I think an even bigger tank and I could have housed most anything with him. 

Geppetto and a shrimp were nose to nose. I was watching to see what went down. There was this long staring contest, and then Geppetto turned and swam away. I was shocked. The shrimp was probably peeing himself during that but held his ground and acted like a statue.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I sucked some black slime stuff out of an airline getting a drip started. Welp, time to UV that one! I will put it out in the FL 97 degree sunshine. @Guppysnail says, Happy Adventures, Try Something New. Well I tried something new. But it didn’t have much flavor. I thought I’d be more exciting than that.

 

 

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Asked my husband for a plant stand for my birthday, and told him I put one in the Amazon cart. “Someone” just needed to click the checkout button. 😝 #marriedshopping

Before:

After:

Also I found this thing in the dirt:

And decided to spruce it up.

That was very relaxing to work on. I sprayed a matte uv-resistant clear coat on it and will hang it from my plant stand when it dries.

Enjoy Nature Daily 🌸

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Bird bath has been up maybe a week and a half now. I’ve been toying with the location, depth and setup (added rocks and sticks) to attract birds. So far it’s been mostly squirrels, and a crow. But today, this customer (who is bad for business) - but still cool to see. She dunked her head under a bunch of times too. I had added ice about an hour ago. It’s around 108 degrees today.

enjoy nature daily

Edited August 11, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Geppetto guarding his bubble nest.

 

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Neat video of damselfly nymph

https://youtube.com/shorts/-xOaEPWFCIU?feature=share

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Today I set up a blown glass hummingbird feeder. Not only will it help the birds, but it is also a nice piece of art to enjoy when I look out the kitchen window. Down here the nectar will need to be changed every day or every other day, depending on outside temperatures. Red dye nectar is unhealthy for the birds, so I used a recipe from the Audubon society. 4 parts water, 1 part refined sugar. I did a halfway fill today because I don’t know if I will have any customers or how long it would take them to find the feeder. Nectar can be made up to a week ahead and stored in the refrigerator.

It is way prettier than the photo shows. When the light hits it a certain way, it is awesome. You can kind of see the effect if you look at the bottom part of the feeder in the photo. I had a fair number of color choices, but red is what they like. I also read that they don’t really like yellow, so I tried to avoid yellow. My friend has a blue feeder but doesn’t get any customers. Then again, she does not have any shade, and that is where the feeder is supposed to be. The nectar probably gets too hot in the sun.

The hook on top is called an ant moat and it holds water. The water prevents ant access to the feeder.

 

Edited August 19, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

No hummingbirds yet, and I’ve been cleaning the feeder each night and placing it back out in the morning with fresh nectar. Hopefully they will find it soon! If not I may buy a red flower to place next to it so they have an easier time spotting it.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

I went to the “LPS” which is really an outdoor lot and bought a firecracker plant to attract hummingbirds to my feeder area. I have LOTS of firebush, taller than me, and that is supposed to be desired by them, but that stuff is way across the yard and can’t really be seen from any of my windows. The efforts to draw the birds closer continue.

 

Within a few minutes of potting the plant, I did have a bee visitor 🐝.

Edited August 25, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The hummingbirds do not know my feeder yet but the very first hummer came today after I added this firecracker plant yesterday! 😍😍😍

 The feeder is above this plant.

Edited August 26, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

This year I have the ACO air pumps with internal battery backups. I’m excited to see how they do, if we lose power Wednesday. I’m glad I got them when I did because they’ve been selling out. Geppetto’s tank does not have one because he is a surface breather. I will likely throw a nano pump with power bank on his tank anyway so he has filtration. His tank has some plant melt going on right now. 

I have 4 power banks charging and will switch to those w/ nano pumps after the ACO battery-pumps quit, if it comes to that. Hopefully the power will be restored by then.

I will fast the shrimps and 29gal tomorrow. I can’t ever fast Geppetto or he gets mad and will bite his tail, so he will get a few pellets in the morning. 

Also I will get the breeder box ready. I keep the media in that so it doesn’t dry out in the HOB. That worked well last year.

[nabokovfan87]

On 8/28/2023 at 6:39 PM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

I can’t ever fast Geppetto or he gets mad and will bite his tail, so he will get a few pellets in the morning. 

Little Gman....  be a good lad for us!

Hopefully everything goes ok, stay safe.

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

Got the new bird bath fountain since the solar-only one only got 2-3 hours of sun and kept shutting off. I got a refund for that.
 

This one has a battery behind the solar panel which charges when the sun is out, but when I plugged it in (without sun) it started right up, so the battery already had a charge. Great! 👍 

(The cinderblock is a squirrel step)

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea

[TheSwissAquarist]

Good luck! 
Stay safe

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

The storm went by, north of me.  We do have a rainy day though.  The effects were about like this:

[Chick-In-Of-TheSea]

On 8/19/2023 at 9:56 AM, Chick-In-Of-TheSea said:

T

So. As pretty as this was I made the decision to send it back. The hummingbirds simply don't recognize it as a place to eat.  I got another one that is VERY popular in the hummingbird hobby. It's called the Hummzinger!  And day 2 of hanging it, we got 2 little ruby-throated hummingbird visitors, one male and one female. The male is the only one that has red. We got photos but they are too blurry.  Here's a stock photo of the Hummzinger.

It's a saucer-style feeder, different than any I've ever used. Apparently these are very popular right now. The birds sure think so!  And VERY easy to clean.  The other feeder I had out every day from 8/19-9/3 and no customers (that I had seen), although one day (and only one) the nectar level seemed a little lower. Anyway it is for sure confirmed that they like the new one a lot and they came back several times.

And these are the type of hummers that came today. I am not sure if they are a mated pair or not.

Also along the way I learned a thing or two about sugar. If you buy granulated sugar, and the ingredients say "sugar", it could be beet sugar or it could be cane sugar. The birds supposedly prefer cane sugar over beet sugar.  Some packages say on the front that it's pure cane sugar.  So I switched to that.  Also it's bad to give them raw sugar (Sugar in the Raw, etc) -the brown stuff.  That contains more iron than they can process. The more refined the better, for them.

 

 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Chick-In-Of-TheSea