My Ikebana and Nature Style Aquariums

[Miranda Marie]

And this is why we read all the way to the *bottom* of aquarium plant listings before buying a plant online... LOL. I wanted a cute medium sized anubius for my aquarium, to add some interest to the less heavily planted side. So I popped online to look. I found a leaf shape I liked, saw it said it was a "mother plant" so it could make babies, and thought, "Aww, how cute."

Clearly, I was having a blonde day and didn't think, "Oh, I bet a mother plant is larger." The thought never even crossed my mind.

I guess you live and you learn. 😆 

(Cat for comparison LOL)

Edited December 22, 2023 by Miranda Marie

[Miranda Marie]

The newest member of my fish friends has been with us for about a month now, and he certainly has some personality. His shipping box ended up having most of the "live fish" label covered up, so it came in pretty rough shape. We got him out right away and into quarantine, and I discovered for the first time that betta fish can glare. The little dude looked at me like he was trying to curse my family tree. I was definitely blamed for the rough handling LOL.

As a result, during the first week or so, he would play dead any time he saw someone looking at him or moving around the room. And I do literally mean playing dead. He'd be swimming around the tank acting completely normal if we were across the room; as soon as we tried to approach the tank, though, he would go completely limp and float to the top on his side, then lie there motionless until you left the vicinity.

He's slowly warmed up to us, though. He likes my sister, especially, and will play with her by following her finger and such. He still looks at me like I am his sworn enemy, but at least he has stopped playing dead and accepts that I am the person who feeds him. We have come to a grudging understanding, where he still hates me and always will but at least I bring peace offerings.

He has gone through all the quarantine meds and parasite treatments and is ready to go to his forever home as soon as I get a replacement for my ammonia test kit (it has somehow gone missing...) His tank is the Ikebana bowl, and it is fully cycled, but since I am testing soil in the bottom of the bowl for the crypts (with a thick cap), I want to be able to keep an eye on perimeters for a little while. The test kit is on the way and should be here next week.

I'm waiting to see if he gets mad when I move him to his new tank, because the only hiding places are in the plants in the crypt bowl, and he seems *very* partial to "holes". The quarantine tank has a diver's mask, castle, and abstract tower and he loves sitting inside them with only his nose sticking out. We will see if he is appeased by the thick forest of plants or if he curses me until I break down and add the diver's mask to his otherwise aesthetically pleasing home.

All that to say, he's quite the personality and we are all very fond of his grumpy self already. We've started just calling him Sensei Fish because none of the names we tried to give him stuck. He just looks so old and grumpy! So Sensei it is.

[TheSwissAquarist]

You really do have a penchant for bettas. 😂

[Miranda Marie]

On 12/31/2023 at 7:23 AM, TheSwissAquarist said:

You really do have a penchant for bettas. 😂

This is technically only my third. I'm hoping he'll be the one that breaks my chain of iffy luck with them LOL. They're such fun fish with huge personalities though.

[Miranda Marie]

Here's a picture from today (the ones posted yesterday were from when he first arrived). He is definitely warming up as time goes. He'll now request food by swimming in circles at the corner closest to my bed until I am summoned to do his bidding.

[Miranda Marie]

Sensei Fish has now been moved to his permanent home! It's been 3 days since his move and he is much more active and engaging with the environment than he was in quarantine. So far, he has made the discoveries of:

1) Sand is NOT an endless banquet of food and is, in fact, disgusting. He attempted to eat it multiple times on the first day and looked highly insulted that it never tasted delicious.

2) The jungle of plants doesn't house a terrifying monster the way he thought it might on Day One. In fact, *he* is now the monster that lurks within it. He wouldn't go anywhere near the plants at first and seemed very wary of them, probably because I left the light out as to not stress him and it looked like just the place something dangerous might be lurking just out of sight. Once the light was on, on day two, he decided it was actually rather fun in the bowl and now seems to rate it 10/10, would recommend.

3) The snail gets shrimp pellets occasionally and his foolish owners popped one in without thinking and then watched in horror as Sensei ate the entire thing whole. Apparently, him spitting out flakes because they were "just a smidgen too big" was all a con that I fell for. He's been using me to be lazy.

4) Peas are his new mortal foe. I fasted him and then added a pea the day after he devoured the entire shrimp pellet, because I was worried about bloat, and he spent the next 6 hours stalking and attacking the pea viciously. So now I know what to add if he is bored and needs enrichment.

I think that's all for now. Here's a picture for anyone wanting to see the grumpy old man in his forever home. He's showing off his beautiful self in the hopes of convincing me he is starving and should definitely not still be on a fast.

Edited January 8 by Miranda Marie