#freddy the nerite

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The Prodigal Son Returns! :D

aight, so y’all remember Freddy the Fearless? my little nerite who decided he was brave enough to go on an adventure? WELL...

He’s back! :D

So lemme tell y’all what the heck happened...

This was taken the night Freddy disappeared (I take lots of pics of my babes, camera roll is heckin full of em~~). He probably scaled the waterfall to explore the caves and tunnels behind it ;p

So here’s what the tunnels and caves (filtration) look like~ There’s a media basket and some smaller slots n stuff too (I looked down those little compartments, but didn’t see a Freddy). 

Well I was cleaning up Moriarty’s tank, and put Moriarty in here temporarily. I saw Scootter hanging out near the filter flow so I decided to keep an eye on him in case he decided to follow Freddy off into the abyss~ Scooter ended up munching biofilm n such from the media and the inside of the basket. I didn’t wanna move him so I just kept an eye on him. I came back literally 5 minutes later and GUESS WHO DECIDED TO JOIN HIS FRIEND FOR A LATE NIGHT SNACK!? that’s right. Freddy ._. 

I have NO idea where the little squiggle went or where he came back from but I am glad he’s home safe now from his big adventure! :p (I’m currently figuring out the best design for a craft mesh barrier to limit Freddy’s adventures to those inside his tank)

Here’s the tank now! :p Before Freddy went adventuring, it had one marimo and the wood ornament and that was it (I discovered he was missing when I went to put in the black sand). Now it’s got some cucumber (they still haven’t touched it ;n;) my 3 good marimos (the ones I’ve had for a good 4 or 5 months now. the aquaticarts ones are in the fridge rn), black sand (really glad I went with black) and the java ferns I didn’t know what to do with lol (I had to clean them up. I had separated them into categories: spotty, healthy + new growth, growing sideways) but then I didn’t have anywhere to put them while I decided what to do with them! (I wanted to tie them to some wood and put them back in Triton’s tank...but I couldn’t find any thread .__.) so the boys get some plants for the time being :p

Scooter’s on the back far left leg of the stump and Freddy is in the bottom right hand corner :p

Thank you so much to everyone who sent asks and well-wishes about Freddy <3

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So, I’m pretty new to this. But I recently set up a 5.5 gallon tank for my betta, Freddie Mercury, and I just planted and stocked it today. I have hornwort, moneywort, anubias, amazon sword, java fern, red ludwigia, and corkscrew valisinera, and 5 shrimp (all named Davy Jones), and 1 nerite (named Sir Jimmy Morgan McGill). 

Looking back on all of Freddie’s life so far, I feel so proud of where I’ve come with this, and disappointed with where I started. I got him on a whim, back in October 2019, and I had him in a tiny, unheated, unfiltered 0.5 gallon “betta starter kit”. Ooooof... He was extremely unhappy, he had a constant stress stripe, he’d always sit in one place, he was biting his fins. He wouldn’t have lived very long like that, but then I took to researching. Never buy a pet on a whim folks, ever. Don’t do what I did. These fish don’t understand why they’re miserable, they just are, and that’s a little cruel. 

I quickly realized my mistake, and I got him into a 2.5 gallon tank, with a filter and heater, but I still didn’t feel that good about it. It was still pretty small, he still didn’t have enough space, and lately I’ve noticed him being a bit sluggish in it. So, when Petsmart had a sale on tanks, I snagged a 5.5 gallon TopFin Aquarium for $20.

And finally, FINALLY, I got around to planting and stocking it. I got Freddie some friends, the aforementioned 5 shrimp and snail. He seems to be taking to them quite well, though there is some flaring when he comes across them. I’ve thrown in some cattapa leaves, and the driftwood was only soaked for a week, so I’m hoping that tannins will leech in and calm him down a bit, plus I’m sure he’ll get used to them. He isn’t a very aggressive betta :) 

The shrimp and snail were immediately doing so well, too! In the store, the shrimp were all sitting under a rock, while the snail was literally flipped upside down- I thought it was dead. But now, the snail and the shrimp are all exploring, especially the shrimp! They’re always zooming, snacking on the algae wafer I gave them, and the snail has now made their way onto the driftwood.

I’m just so so proud of this tank, my first tank. I can see how much better Freddie is doing, how much better Davy Jones x5 and Jimmy are doing. The tank, to me, is gorgeous, and it just feels so nice to finally give my pets the home they deserve. These are basically my very first pets that have been exclusively mine, that I take care of and deal with, and I’m just so happy that they finally have this nice big tank, where they can really LIVE, not just survive. I can’t even describe it- it’s just so, so, so, good to finally see my babies doing well, especially Freddie. I treated him so bad at first, but now he has a heated, filtered tank full of live plants.

He had a bout of fin biting due to how much I was stressing him with the bad tank- but now, his fins have completely grown back and his colour is so rich. He’s zooming around! His favourite snack is bloodworms- which I give him as a treat after water changes. The bloodworms I gave him today were well deserved! He was cupped for a few hours, which I felt so bad about. 

I’ve given the plants root tabs and a bit of liquid fertilizer, and the shrimp and snail have an algae wafer in right now, and a piece of cuttlebone to give them extra calcium. I really really hope they’ll take and do well, because I’ve never had live plants in an aquarium. I’m also a bit worried about the flow- I think it may be a bit strong for Freddie. I’m going to give it a couple days, seeing how Freddie does against the current (his other tank had barely any flow, so this one I think could just be a bit strong because his muscles are not so developed), and if he seems to still be struggling, I’m going to buy a pre-filter sponge.

So that’s my new tank! I’m so excited about it, and tbh I’ve just been sitting in my room watching my shrimp, snail and fish zoom about and explore their new space. 

Any advice would be appreciated! Please don’t be too critical of me- I’m just getting into the aquarium hobby and I am really trying my best to give Freddie, Davy Jones x5 and Jimmy the best life they can have. 

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I LOST MY SNAIL!?

Freddy the Fearless was so fearless he up and left the tank like ?????

it’s A BARREN CUBE...like there’s one fake-wood ornament and some marimos. there’s wasn’t even substrate in the tank ;n; (which is how i discovered he was gone...I went to put in that black sand.....AND HE WAS NOT THERE)

It has a lid, but there’s cutouts for the cords...he’s small enough that he could fit through them maybe...he’s also not in the filter or the filter compartment :(((((( i checked under the tank (it’s got little feeties) around back, around the counter where the tank is AND HE IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND ;n; I WAS GONE FOR like 2 HOURS (grocery shopping at walmart at 1am cuz that’s how I roll y’all~) WHERE DID HE GO ;n;

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I am the snail anon thank you for telling them I love them

You’re welcome!Bonus gif of Freddy on his way up to tell you you’re his favorite anon ^-^

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Excuse me, sir, but WHAT ARE YOU DOING. THAT IS NOT YOUR TANK. I PUT YOU IN A DIFFERENT TANK.

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I had to share this awesome piece of  a r t y’all~ @orcinusalba is a fantastic artiste and this drawing of freddy is amazing ;u; she even got the little growth line on his shell! i love it so much! thank you <333

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New tank!! I loved the cube shape and thought it'd be a great fit for the kitchen counter :) the only stock in this tank is gonna be some snails! :D Currently it's got 2 small tiger nerites (Freddy and scooter), and I plan to add 3 small horned nerites :) I kinda want some anacharis bunches for the back corners, but the anacharis here is kinda awful quality :T (and this is probably the one tank I DONT want pond/bladder snails in, ironically) considering some fake plants instead if I can't find any good live plants in town... Also, the tank lid is black and so is the back panel, and I already have black sand...I think it'll make the snails pop...but white sand looks more natural? Idk...I'm leaning towards black but I can't decide XD

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Lastly, I'd like to introduce Freddy the Fearless (he's the speediest snail you'll ever meet) and Scooter (the shyest snail you'll ever meet). They went into my new snail tank!! :D Hopefully they will soon be joined by some horned nerites and plants! For now they've got a big wood ornament, black sand to come soon :)

[unsuretati]

So, it’s kind of a long story!

When I was first stocking my tank, I got 5 ghost shrimp and a nerite snail to be a companion to my betta fish, Freddie.

Fast forward a week later and I couldn’t find any ghost shrimp in the tank. I thought that was it, Freddie was too aggressive to be kept with shrimp, that he ate them all, I couldn’t ever have any more.

Fast forward THREE weeks later, and I find a single shrimp! (Plus 4 bodies). The lone survivor of a random die off. My therapist water parameters are fine, the temperature is steady.

So about 2 weeks ago, I got 4 ghosts and a cherry shrimp from my local petsmart. They’re all doing great, I always see at least one of them swimming around, monching on the algae and dead plant bits that inevitably get into my tank.

And yesterday, I bought 12(!) new multicoloured shrimp from a local speciality store. I have orange, red, green, blue, yellow and red and white striped. They’re all colour variations on the cherry shrimp. I love them all!

In other news on my tank, I have a bit of a snail... problem... I think they came in on the plants I got. I did rinse them quite thoroughly at first, but I didn’t do a bleach dip or a quarantine because I, my good sirs, am a dumbass. Now I find myself constantly picking out snail eggs and little pond snails. It was much worse a week ago, but I feel like I’ve gotten more on top of it now. I don’t see as many, and I’ve gone a few days without seeing a snail. Any advice on how to deal with this infestation?

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Glass frog, gargoyle gecko 🐸🐸🐸

@rebellum thanks for the ask :DGlass frog: What is the view from your bedroom window?parking lot, fence, baseball field, brown. there are some really cool mountains and stuff here in el paso, but i cant see them from my window lolGargoyle gecko: If you have pets, what did you name them and why?I have a dog, a cat, 3 fish, and 6 snails and they all have names :pDog: a dachshund mix we adopted. Her name was Lulu when we adopted her so we didn’t change it :)Cat: a medium or long-haired kitten we got for free. My husband insisted we make them Hono and Lulu (yes like the capital of hawaii) but “HO-NO” isn’t how we wanted her name to sound, so I changed the Spelling to Hana (”Hah-Nah”) which also means “flower” in japanese ^-^ though most of the time we just call her “Tiny Kitty” lolFish: a male crowntail, my first betta! I named him Moriarty because i was insanely obsessed with BBC Sherlock at the time :) (still hoping for a secret episode or an S5 pls pls pls it can’t end that way ;n;)Snail: my first nerite snail, he’s gotten really really big this past year with me! he was Moriarty’s tankmate for the longest time :p I named him Lestrade after inspector lestrade.Fish: a male halfmoon, my second betta! I named him triton because that’s the first thing that came to mind :p i also like titan but i dont want to change his name after all this time lolFish: a female crowntail, my third betta! She was nameless for a long time, i couldn’t remember what i wanted to name her at the store (petunia? penelope? idk lol) when i first saw her o.o but we started watching trailor park boys and i just love the character bubbles and she’s blue, so I named her bubbles! :pSnails: a pair of nerite snails. Freddy the Fearless and Scooter the Shy. I named them freddy and scooter because those are the first names that came mind when i brought them home :3 Freddy would come right out of his shell the moment he hit the water, so he’s Freddy the Fearless (he also went on an adventure a while back). Scooter took a good lil while before he came out of his shell so that’s why he’s Scooter the Shy :p They’re currently in triton’s tank, munching away at all the algae in there!Snails: another pair of nerite snails. Hombre and Mack :p Hombre has this really cool ombre pattern on his shell where the tip is really dark and near his face it’s really light. All of my snails got dude names (even tho at least 2 of them are females XD) and im a sucker for lame puns so i named him Hombre :) Mack is his friend and i named him that cuz that’s just the first name that came to mind~ I think it’s hilarious that they’ll ride each other around the tank lol These guys are both in moriarty’s tank rn :p (makin a mess of my nice white sand ;n;)Snail: my last (and probably largest) nerite snail, Albert! Albert is probably about as big as my thumb O.O (he’s a wee bit bigger than lestrade lol) Albert was just the first name that came to mind (noticing a naming trend yet?). I could also say i named him albert cuz “hey hey hey, it’s faaat albert!” and he is a big and fat lil squiggle, but thatd be a lie lol srry~

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Pass the happy along! When you get this, reply with 5 things that make you happy and then send it to the last 10 people in your activity! :D

Five Things that Make Me Happy:1 ALL OF Y’ALL, DUHsrsly tho, I love all the comments and messages and asks that y’all leave :’) I genuinely enjoy interacting and sharing this hobby with all of you. Seeing all of your tanks, getting advice, reading posts, and everything inbetween helps me to grow as a fishkeeper! Thank you! :)I’m also really glad that I’ve found a social media platform where I can be a total geek about anything that I like and find like-minded people who I can geek out with! :)

2 MY MUTUALSy’all know who you are ;D I’ve managed to make a few really good friends on tumblr and they have a special place in my heart ^-^

3 MY PETSI have a dog (Lulu), a kitten (Hana), 3 bettas (Moriarty, Triton, Bubbles), and like a TON of nerite snails (Lestrade, Hombre, Mack, Scotter, Freddy, Albert). 

4 COMPUTER SCIENCEme and cs have a love-hate relationship. when it’s good? it’s fan-freaking-tastic *3* doing cool stuff like makin websites and coding smol projects n stuff~ when it’s bad? i want to bang my head against the wall and cry because the compiler is an asshole and what bugs? WHERE ARE THE BUGS!? and why you gotta throw me them segfaults bruh? ;n; okay, maybe I just have a love-hate relationship with c. 

5 THE PEOPLE IN MY PERSONAL LIFEmy friends and family and loved ones that aren’t really involved in tumblr or in fishkeeping? i love them too (even if they think I’m ‘the crazy fish lady’ lol I only got 3 fish I’m gonna need some more fish if I’m gonna live up to that title) :3