#i need to add a sticker to the orders as a thank u. i gotta draw another super cyute silver ^_^

[suntails]

🐍⚔️

this is a piece from my silver artbook, currently accepting preorders!! u can get a copy here!

non-UK: suntails.bigcartel.com

UK: etsy.com/shop/SuntailsArt

[bakurapika]

coffeeshop au

“You have a front,” someone said in his ear.

It was true, Wirt reflected to himself. He did put up a front. Though Halloween had long passed, still he covered up his true face with a mask of calm collection, just as still waters on the surface of a lake could hold deep turbulence within them. But a mask is a flimsy disguise, and anyway, it wasn’t as though he’d even worn a real mask for his Halloween costume--imagine if he’d gotten stuck in the Unknown while wearing a plastic superhero mask or something. Would it have stayed on? Maybe he’d have gotten lucky and the mask would have been knocked aside as he fell in the water, just as his metaphorical mask had been.

“Front,” said the voice impatiently.

“Oh, right,” he said, dropping his wet cloth and scrambling to hit his mic button. “Sorry, sorry, I’ve got it.” Wirt wadded up the cloth into a ball and tossed it in the sanitizer bucket, almost slipping on the puddle it made as he skidded to the register.

“Hey, sorry about that wait, what can I get you?” he said (the words running together into one multisyllabic monstrosity, a product of reciting them so often). Wirt’s fake smile vanished when he recognized the customer in front of him. “Jason Funderberker,” he added bitterly.

“Heyyy, Wirt,” Jason said. The nasally greeting stretched on long enough for Wirt to glance at the clock on the monitor beside him. Two more hours on his stupid shift. “I didn’t know you worked here.”

Wirt huffed. If Jason Funderberker planned on making small talk, he’d have to do it alone. “Yeah. What can I get you?” he repeated.

“I dunno…” Jason put his finger to his chin and tapped it, staring at the menu. “Uhhhhhhh. I feel like something… cold. Do you have anything cold?”

Wirt knew looks couldn’t kill but he tried anyway. “We can make everything cold. What sounds good to you.”

Jason hemmed and hawed. “Lemme get a… cah-fey mihst-o?”

“Cafe misto,” Wirt corrected. He usually didn’t bother correcting anyone on their drink orders if he knew what they meant. Jason was going to be an exception. “That’s, like, the one drink we can’t make cold. You managed to pick out the one drink we can’t make cold.”

“That’s okay,” Jason said with an easygoing shrug. “As long as it’s not too sweet. I don’t want anything real sweet.” A group of customers came in and got in line behind him; Wirt’s finger was hovering over the order screen, tapping out the cafe misto order and ready to pay.

“What size?” Wirt asked quickly.

“Oh, though, can you put some caramel in it? And some whip cream. And it has to be decaf.”

“We can do that as a pourover, it’ll be a few minutes,” Wirt said automatically, inwardly relishing the idea of keeping Jason Funderberker waiting at the bar for ten or fifteen minutes with a shrug and ‘oh, sorry, was that your drink?’ when he handed it off. “What size.”

“And make it with coconut milk, mm! I love coconut milk,” Jason continued conversationally. Another customer entered. Jason was officially holding up the line. “You know, last night, I made Sara this drink with coconut milk and lime, and she was like, ‘Jason, this is gross,’ but I told her--”

“You were with Sara last night?” Wirt’s voice was a squeak. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach, his hand still hovering over the cup sizes.

“We were studying,” Jason said flippantly. “Everyone was there. Kathleen, Jimmy, the whole gang.” Wirt’s heart rate finally dipped back to a nearly healthy rate.

“O-oh,” he said weakly. “Good for Sara. Cup size?” Then he caught himself and stammered, “W-w-what size drink did you want again?” all in a rush.

“You should come hang out with us after work. We’re all gonna meet up here. I’m picking up their orders now.”

“There are more orders?” Wirt said weakly.

“Yeah. Okay, so Jimmy wanted a large vanilla bean--”

“Wait, wait, Jason Funderberker, what size did you want your drink?”

“Eh…” Jason frowned at the cup display beside him. “Your larges are small, right? And the other way around?”

“What? No!” Wirt picked up a cup and spent two full minutes explaining cup sizes before Jason decided on getting “a medium, I guess” and thankfully handed over his phone to Wirt to type in the study group’s orders.

“We’ll have that for you at the end of the bar,” Wirt said to Jason, who took his sweet time looking at the chocolate espresso beans and biscotti before finally moving out of the way for the customer behind him.

The other customers were either sympathetic or at least polite and fast, which was even better in Wirt’s eyes. The line dwindled down quickly and Wirt scooted over to the bar to help finish drinks.

The sticker machine had printed out all the orders, and while Wirt was inclined to gripe and groan about how impersonal the thing was, it did considerably speed up the process. He yanked a sticker off and was about to slap it on a cup when he saw the name.

* SARA * Gr Latte Add Hazelnut

His heart, having worked double-time when Sara was last brought up, decided to take a well-earned short vacation and skip a few beats.

He’d do latte art. He should give her latte art. That would be perfect.

Though when he steamed the milk and it spurted in Wirt’s face and all over the counter, he changed his mind.

“Right, okay,” he muttered underneath his breath as the milk screamed beside him, staring at the soulless logo on the cup as if it’d blink. “I’ll, I’ll draw on the cup. That would be nice, right?”

Another sticker printed out on the machine--a mobile order. Wirt had to hurry. He scribbled Sara’s name on the cup and poured the latte in a decidedly unartistic way.

And then, at the last second (and with a glance around to make sure she hadn’t arrived yet), Wirt scribbled a quick ♥︎ beside the name.

“Wirt, you ready for your ten?” came his shift supervisor’s voice in his ears.

“Yeah, just a second,” he said as he tapped the mic button.

The door opened. And there Sara was, chatting happily with Rhondi and strolling to the counter to see if her drink was ready.

It was now or never.

“Hazelnut latte for Sara! Thank you!” he called out, setting the cup on the bar and hurrying to the back of the cafe without a glance behind him.

She hadn’t noticed. She probably hadn’t noticed.

Wirt kept telling himself that for ten minutes straight as he whittled away his break, scribbling disconnected fragments of lines of poetry on an extra receipt that he stuck in his pocket at the end.

At least it was over. He could tell as soon as he came out on the floor that Sara’s group was gone, leaving a trail of scone crumbs and cafe misto splashes on the floor behind them. Wirt grumbled “Jason Funderberker” under his breath like it was a curse word and did a U-turn to grab a broom and dustpan.

He was so focused on concentrating all his Jason Funderberker hatred into what he hoped would be a psychic laser beam to zap the stupid smirk off Jason’s stupid face that he didn’t notice Sara until she touched his shoulder and said, “Wirt?”

He nearly jumped out of his skin and he did drop the dustpan handle with a clang! “S, Sara! What’re you doing here? I mean, your group, and, studying, and, Jason Funderberker.”

She smiled at him. “I wanted to thank you for the latte. I didn’t know you had a job here.”

“Yeah, well.” A nervous smile flitted across Wirt’s face in return as he bent to get the dustpan. “All in a day’s work?” That sounded stupid. He sounded so dumb. Where was all that sesquipedalian poetic loquaciousness when he needed it? “‘Cuz, I mean, yeah, I work here, I gotta… save up for college? Y’know?”

“School’s important,” Sara agreed. “Where were you thinking of going?”

“I’ve got a lot of places in mind?” Wirt phrased it like a question. “I, well, I want to talk about it, but I’m sort of on the clock, and, yeah.” He started sweeping again.

“You’re not getting behind on schoolwork with an after-school job?” Sara asked, fiddling with the coffee cup sleeve.

“It’s not too bad,” Wirt said, trailing off. He wanted to stare at her fingers as they undid the cardboard glue and folded the sleeve corner back and forth, but more than that, he wanted her not to know he was staring, so he watched the crumbs he was sweeping instead. Super interesting crumbs.

“There’s that big test in English, though,” Sara said. Wirt glanced up to see her pressing her lips together tightly and then smoothing them out, and he looked away before he’d get caught. “You should really spend some time studying. It’s easier with a partner.”

“Oh,” he started, and then said, “oh.”

Sara reached out to take his wrist. It got in the way of his sweeping but he let her, hoping she wouldn’t feel his pulse pounding again. “Come by my place after your shift, okay? Our group should be done in an hour, and I’ve got the evening free. We can study and quiz each other.”

Wirt laughed, then he wondered why he’d laughed. “Um, yeah, that, that sounds good! I’ll bring you my markout? I get, like, infinite free drinks too.”

“Awesome. Then let me order early: I want another latte just like this one. In case we need to stay up late.” Sara leaned in and pecked Wirt’s cheek. He was pretty sure he died on the spot, or maybe that he’d already died and gone to heaven, or maybe that he’d never gotten out of that lake after all. “I think they’re waiting for me in the car, but I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Okay!” came out of Wirt’s mouth. His hand reached up to touch his cheek, where she’d kissed him, but she was out the door before he realized it.

And then, not wanting to think about it, he kept sweeping. Until he heard the door open again and perked his head up.

“Wirt?”

But this voice wasn’t Sara’s.

“I don’t think my drink is right, it’s hot. Can I get another? Maybe one of your frap-ees? Those are healthy, right?”

With joy in his heart and murder in his eyes, Wirt went around the counter and checked the clock as Jason stumbled through a re-order.

One hour, thirty-five minutes.

Wirt could make it until then.

“What are your sizes, again?”

[wangdrew]

Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Wang. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he’s ready to save anyone. But I believe Wang can save the world

my god this has been an emotional roller coaster

andrew rannells could fucking deck me and i would thank him

wangdrew is why god doesnt speak 2 us

cuz i want a tight knit wangily, i want a chat that makes cat jmemes

top ten anime betrayals

onceler pouting his lips and calling you pookie

tag urself i’m the slow decline of our general will to live

how does this gc turn from being pure to being pure sin in the span of 5 seconds im-

“I got flash backs from the Bee movie, which is also beeutiful”

this is why the falsettos proshoot is not on netflix

wangdrew wangells: the wang whisperer

whizzer is a twunk

sometimes i read sentences that make me want to abandon the internet and become amish//

its brandon uranover

bella thorne is my favourite type of pastry

“march of the voresettos” “march of the NOsettos”

maybe the real vore is the friends we made along the way

“NO VORE IN MY LOBBY” “NO NO IN MY NO”

“BACK FROM THE DAD™”

“Welcome back I hate it here”

“i’m just a vore, yeah i’m only a vore, and i’m voring here on capitol vore” chloe

“night guys im done w the vore” aren’t we all

“i’m gonNA MAKE THEM CRY WITH MY FISTS” chloe

“hello mr rannells sir, how lorge is ur wangus?” CJ

“welcome to hell lucy” Elise S

“gounod” chloe

swooty swooty coming for that booty

My mom, *ordering pizza, says it’ll deliver at 6:45*: “What fuck are they doing? Swimming to fucking Italy for the tomatoes?”

it comes with stickers and theres a whole section of the sticker sheet thats just andrew failing to do the jump on the album cover its so funny

cj is mothman???!! nOT clickbait

a vore blog just followed me

THEY FOUND US (chloe is cia)

there’s no way god would let this chat exist in his realm

ok but like am i the only one who hates when you’re in class working on some personal writing and someone leans over like “wHAt R u wRiTING??????” like your eulogy if you don’t back the fuck up you soggy lampshade

people found out christian was straight and were upset

“That you hate this gc?” “that too but mainly that i live in sweden”

are you fucking kidding me?? i was so happy, this endless hell could finally be over, all the supernatural fans who i forgot to unfollow will stop posting and i would be free, i was planning a party for the last day it airs and we would pointedly not watch it, i was going to cry of happiness, and instead,, This

Sophie

there were loads of theatre references in shrek too i think that’s bdj’s kink

groff dick pokes your eyes out even with its unimpressive length

i will stab you both with a rusty metal dildo

headline: groffs dick causes world war 3

“CAUSE OF DEATH: DILDO TO THE HEAD”

i sold it for my will to live

hey jess? what the fuck

hold on babes just gotta * loud cracking as he snaps off his velcro dick* ok

you’re in the bedroom with wangdrew. things are getting heated. you’re ready for the dicking down. everything is perfect, and you’re in love. he pauses, and whispers in your ear, “hey babes, just one sec”. he pulls away, leaving you wanting. there is a loud, resounding cracking, tearing noise, and wangdrew is holding his disembodied dick is his hand. he smiles. you smile.

me: why will no one date me also me: dick me down, rannells

moisten my gams kate(legs)

songs include: billy ray broke my achey break heart, wangdrews green coat, crusty june and clangy janet, and our true friend is vore

our new reality tv show, called “sometimes.. wangdrew is worse”

starring:

me as me phoebe as my favorite child chloe as vore queen cj as vorer anjie as sidekick monse as mongoose holli as opponent sophie as foolish mortal geneva as judgemental death bird jess as nutbox lucy as k i n k y kate as kinky kate kev as kinky kev haven as side salad claire as foul, loathsome, evil little cockroach reilly as commondore elise as flagelise grace as covenant kristyn as chicken pot pie amanda as kraken tasha as jigglytata asher as sneaky dorito sel as sergeant cactus cait as mcmuffin jill as diet scooby snack and faith as medalling kid

“Good mother fucking morning I am going to school wtf”

“THE DICKS CAME OUT OF NOWHERE”

“2 inches of nothing”

pe poole

Hey what’s poppin’ my name is Jake Paul I’m here in the *pans up to ‘team 10 house’* Team 10 House, I hope you are having a good day hope you’re smiling hope you’re working hard I hope you *pans out to dab* dabbin’ on them haters

hey what’s up selina reeviers, if you’re new here my name is selina reevie and i’m here in the wangdrew groupchat, i hope you’re having an awesome day, i hope you’re listening to musicals, i hope you’re *whips* whipping on the hetros and let’s GET BACK TO CRYING

Skinny beetles = Skaneateles

the only 2 genders *walks up to a straight couple* so which one of you is the jazz choir and which one is the gospel choir

Chloe: what’s a good free website Jess: google.com Solie: THE SARCASM

my whole brand is made off of andrew memes

rt! the wangdrew blog is basically an archive of all our mistakes

He gad it mumming He gad it mumming He gonly gad gimself to maine

Jizzer Brown

cronch the fucking pickle man

Good Morning Everyone My Only Mood Is Death

cunt nugget

youre on punkd lucy

ok but like am i the only one who hates when you’re in class working on some personal writing and someone leans over like “wHAt R u wRiTING??????” like your eulogy if you don’t back up you soggy lampshade

Happy VORE 🍴 lentine’s day! Hope you’re ready to get some 🍫 chocolate from your special someone ❤💋!! And mayBEE 🐝 you can give them a special 😉 SURPRISE ☝💋 and VORE 😱👅👄 their CANDY 🍭🍬🍭 ASS 🍑! Send this to 10 of your TASTIEST 🍰 friends this VORELENTINE’S DAY 👄👅🙀! Get 🔟 back and you’re the TASTIEST 😋 EVER! Get 5 back and you’re GETTING SOME 👄 MOUTH ACTION 👅 Get 3 back and you’re TOTALLY VOREABLE 😋🐯🍑! Get 1 back and you’re either a VORER 👄🍭😉 or SAD

Hi! 💁😋 I’m so happy 😁😆you’ve applied for the 🎭musical 🎼group chat, we’re over a hundred 💯people who want to make new friends 👯👯‍♂ and that’s so exciting!😜 I saw 👀👀that you were okay 👌 with using Whatsapp 💬as a platform and so I was wondering 🤔if you could give me your number📲 so that I can add you?😘 I’m very excited 😝😊and hope 🙏🙏that this will work out for everyone!!😂😂😍🤳🙌

[hella-free-space]

Jessica, this one’s for you! :)

i hope your son is enjoying his new fish <3 and glad your husband has found a job! hoping things continue to go well for you and your family <3

this post is a great starting point! :) there are probably a few things missing from the supplies list i included in that post (i really gotta update that post), so here’s a more accurate one! Since you already have your betta, this post might help you out more :) more under the ‘cut’/’read more’/’keep reading’! :)

Supplies

-2.5+ gallon tank the tank you have comes in a 1 and 2.5 gallon kit. The 1 gallon measurements are  7.5" x 7.5" x 10.25" and the 2.5 gallon measurements are  12.3" x 9.4" x 11.4". hopefully now you know which tank you have! the 1 gallon kit comes with a little bubbler (not a filter, just an aerator / air stone) and an under gravel filter (how effective under gravel filters are at holding a cycle is debated, but for now, don’t worry about that) and the 2.5 gallon kit comes with a filter (but it’s way too strong for a betta...it would have to be baffled). 

if you have the 1 gallon kit (it looks like you’ve got the air stone, so probably the 1 gallon) you can get a sponge filter! however, in a tank so small, a stable cycle is hard to keep :/ in my opinion, you’d be best off spending 10 dollars on a 10 gallon tank (even if it is sparsely decorated) (rn at petco the 1$/gallon sale is going on so 10 gallon tanks are just $10!) first, before getting a filter. why, you ask? well, because if you only have 1 betta, waste will build up muuuch slower in a 10 gallon than in a 1 gallon and you could honestly probably get away with not having any filtration for a while...since the bioload (how much waste is produced by a fish) of 1 betta is so small...as long as you do large weekly water changes (at least 50% 1x a week). also, any heater (even those small 7.5watt ones, which are the lowest watt ones i’ve found) will be unsafe for a 1 gallon, mostly because the risk is pretty high for overheating the tank :/ with a 2.5+ gallon one, you could get an adjustable heater! these ones are great and the price is just as great! only downside is that they have short cords (i own 3...but its not an issue since all of my tanks are pretty darn close to their outlets) :/ think of waste (ammonia, which is toxic) building up like this: you’ve got 1 gallon of water and 10 gallons of water. in this analogy, colored drops (like food coloring or something) will represent your fish’s waste. let’s say you put 5 drops of coloring (waste) into the 1 gallon tank and 5 drops into the 10 gallon tank. the 1 gallon will be a lot darker right? because in the 10 gallon the color will be way more diluted! same goes for waste. (this is also why ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are measure in “ppm” or parts-per-million. it’s a proportion instead of an exact measurement: like 1/2 (proportion) vs of .25 inches (exact measurement) if that makes sense) - water conditioner it removes chlorines (some also remove chloramines and heavy metals) from the water and makes the water safe for the fish

- filter  – How sponge filters work + how to set them up – Pros + cons of sponge filters - heater (76-82F) i have three of these heaters and they’re great! the cords are really short tho, thats the big downside :T this post has a ton of other heater suggestions! - thermometer glass ones are my personal fave, and way more accurate than the sticker kind. i think theyre 1-2$ at walmart! - 1+ hide (caves, terra cotta pots, an ornament, just a place where they can hide out or chill in) - decor (lots of decor ideas listed below!) - silk/live plants (plastic isn’t the best idea since plastic plants can tear a betta’s delicate fins) – craft mesh “betta beds” (you can buy plastic craft mesh sheets at walmart for like 1-2$ and you get a few big sheets!) – dollar store flowers (remove wire, soak to make sure they don’t bleed) - pvc, terra cotta pot, mug, glass, jar hides (your cabinet, goodwill, dollar store) – dollar store betta tanks – diy decor – craiglist, facebook marketplace, offerup, letgo, etc. BE HUNTIN FOR THEM DEALS! – anacharis is pretty cheap: one bunch at petco is 2.99. the stuff grows like CRAZY and it makes a great floating plant! it’ll send of lots of runners and in no time your fish will have a big anacharis jungle to swim in! plants also use the nutrients in fish waste to grow. since anacharis grows pretty fast, it uses up lots of waste! i have it in my 10 gallon with little led light and it went from 8″ to 24″ in 2-3 weeks...that’s crazy imo. – petco and petsmart usually have plants and supplies for sale on their website but not in the store. if you show the cashier the online price, they’ll match it at the checkout so make sure to do some online window shopping before you go! – hobby lobby and micahaels have a ton of their floral stuffs on sale right now as well! just be sure to avoid glitter and remove any metal stems, etc. in the ‘diy decor’ link above, there’s a video that shows you how to make diy silk plants! you definitely DONT have to make plant weights tho...you can usually set silk plants on the bottom of the tank no problem, and there’s nothing wrong with floating plants either~ - quality food i like new life spectrum thera +a pellets (long name, i know, but i know u can buy them at petco!) or omega one pellets or the betta buffet flakes. frozen foods like blood worms and shrimp are also good additions to a betta’s diet :) hikari betta bio gold is an okay food (i know they sell it at walmart, so that’s why i wanted to mention it), but its got fillers. for now, whatever you have  for food will be okay :) just wanted to give you some options in case you want to change your food in the future. - test kit this kit is my favorite! the value is faaaantastic and the tests give more specific readings than the strips :p - lid bettas can be jumpers so lids are recommended. if your tank doesn’t come with a lid or is an odd shape and you can’t buy one, then craft mesh may be good option! it’s really cheap at walmart or craft stores and you can cut it with regular scissors. it’s basically plastic mesh…you can weigh it down or create a frame for it since it’s pretty light ^-^ - light if you don’t buy a kit that comes with a hood+light combo, or any light at all…you’ll probably need one! leds are a good choice :) i just bought 2 of these nicrew lights and they work amazingly! definitely bright enough for at least medium light plants and super white~ you can also buy clip-on LED with a gooseneck like this one (tho i’d be sure to check the measurements on lights as cheap as these!) or even a light from home depot~ for a tank that small, you could also use a desk lamp. with a desk lamp you could probably grow low-light plants like anacharis and anubias. when i had a little planted vase on my desk, i just went to goodwill and got one for $3 ^-^” - water change bucket honestly just really helpful to have...if you have one bucket (or any large container, tbh) you can empty old tank water into it and then after you’ve dumped that out, you can fill it with new tank water and add conditioner to prepare the water before adding it to the tank!

- siphon is optional, and for smaller tanks a turkey baster works! you can also just get some airline tubing and use that...same principle! siphons usually have a plastic tub attached to small rubber hose (same thing as airline hose) and they help to drain your tank when you take old water out of it during a water change.

What’s this cycle thing?

It’s the Nitrogen Cycle! 

All fish produce waste. Because all aquatic animals produce waste, they require (biological) filtration of some sort to process that waste.

Fish produce waste in the form of ammonia. Ammonia is toxic above 0ppm (parts per million). So you’ve got all this ammonia floating around in the water, right? and you’ve got water running through your filter…so these bacteria start growing all over your fish tank, wherever there’s water flow, but we want to concentrate on the bacteria that are growing in your filter media. This bacteria will be processing the waste that your fish or aquatic animal produces :)

So your fish produced some waste, and it’s floating around in the water as ammonia. The first bacteria (#1) that grows will ‘eat’ the ammonia and then ‘poop’ out nitrites.

Nitrites are also toxic to aquatic animals above 0ppm though :/ so then another bactiera (#2) grows and it ‘eats’ these nitrites that are floating around in the water and ‘poops’ out nitrates.

Nitrates are safe for fish (up to 20ppm)! :D Since there’s no bacteria that’s going to grow to eat these nitrates that are in the water, we have to physically remove them by doing a water change. A helpful post about water changes, how they work!

If you have live plants, they will use some of the ammonia, nitrite, and/or nitrates in the water as nutrients :) Some plants will use more than others, as some plants are heavy root feeders, some are floaters, and some prefer to be somewhere in the water column. (note: live plants SHOULD NOT totally replace water changes! water changes are still necessary even for planted tanks :3)

To recap, “the cycle” aka “the nitrogen cycle” goes like this: Fish waste (ammonia) -> bacteria #1 -> nitrite -> bacteria #2 -> nitrate -> water change

Okay, so how do I make “the cycle” happen? How do I “cycle” my tank?

Note: knowing where you are in the nitrogen cycle (how much ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate is in the tank / being produced) requires a test kit.

Keep your water parameters .25ppm ammonia/.25ppm nitrites/20ppm nitrates or less :) In order to do this, you’ll have to do a ton of water changes, but your fish will thank you since ammonia and nitrite are toxic to fish! Bettas are pretty hardy, and one of the only fish that you can perform a fish-in cycle with, so just be sure to keep those parameters as low as possible until your readings are 0 ammonia/0 nitrite/ x nitrates (these are the parameter readings for a cycled tank). After that, make sure your nitrates stay 20ppm or below, doing a water change whenever they reach 20ppm or higher. Also note that it’s important to continue to test ammonia and nitrite levels even if your tank is cycled, since sometimes parameters spike or a cycle crashes, and you wont know unless you’re checking for that!

Okay, but what about water changes??

This post

explains how to figure out how much water you need to change!

You should do a water change at least 1x a week! You need to remove at least 50% of the tank’s water 2-3x a week for now (if you have the 1 gallon tank), and when you upgrade you can do it 1x a week. After you get a test kit / can monitor your water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) you can figure out how much water to change and how often. You can remove the water via a cup (just scoop out the water) or a siphon (a ‘gravel vac’, tho most will be much too large for small tanks, airline tubing, a turkey baster, etc.). If you have a large container or totally clean (not used for chemicals, dirt, etc.) bucket then you can prepare your new water in that! add dechlorinator to the new water in the container, sitr well, then add it to the tank. make sure the temp matches. since you have no heater, let the water adjust to room temp (since the tank should also be room temp) by letting it sit out for a while before adding it to the tank. if you don’t have a container to make new water in, you should take out water from the tank, add dechlorinator to the tank, then add new water to the tank (preferably at room temp...as a sudden temperature fluctation can shock your betta. extreme temp shock will kind of paralyze your betta for a while so its important that the new water matches the tank temp within a few degrees). you can remove the fish if you’d like and then add him back after you’re done.

The order i think you should buy supplies in:

- water conditioner (you said you have some, but you wanted to get a better one) - 5+ gallon tank - filter - heater - thermometer (it’s pretty cheap, so you could probably buy it sooner rather than later) - decor  (1+ hide, silk/live plants, substrate (sand, gravel, etc.)) - test kit - lid - water change bucket - light - quality food

why this order? - your fish will die without water conditioner. it removes chlorine (some also remove chloramines and heavy metals) from the water, and your fish cannot live in chlorinated water. - a bigger tank means that you can safely heat the tank. a bigger tank also means that waste will be more diluted so as long as you keep up with large weekly water changes (of 50%+) then you can hold off on the filter for a little while. - filter after getting a bigger tank, best to find a filter and start fish-in cycling the tank! - bettas need heat to regulate body temperature (like reptiles!) and it’s an important basic necessity - you should get a thermometer as soon as you get your heater. even if you get an adjustable heater (which should come with an internal thermostat, so it knows when to turn off/on and keeps the tank from being too cold/hot), the heater may be off by 1-2F, meaning that you could set it to 78 but the tank’s actual temp is 76. it’s just good to have and only 1-2$ so you could probably get it around the same time you get your heater. - bettas need cover to feel safe / not be stressed: another important part of your fish’s overall health and wellbeing! hides, decor, plants, etc. bettas love space but they dont necessarily like open space. there’s cheap diy decor links throughout this post and below! - if you’re doing large weekly water changes, your ‘water parameters’ should be okay, but knowing what those parameters are is still important! so definitely make plans to get a test kit :) - i dont think that jumping happens that often, so foregoing a lid for a bit and getting more important items first is okay imo...but its still an important precautionary item to have, so i recommend still getting one! - a water change bucket will make your life so. much. easier. about $3-5 at home depot or walmart. usually they’re 5.5 gallon buckets! - you can put the tank in a well-light place in the room (NOT in direct sunlight tho) and be okay! if you want to get a light so you can see the tank better, go for it :) - i think that buying good quality food (if you dont already have it...usually protein should be 38%+ and the first few ingredients shouldn’t be “__ meal”s but whole ingredients) comes last since if you’ve got your fish you’ve probably also already got food...so your fish has food and that’s already covered! upgrading the quality or adding variety can wait until you’ve got all the other bases covered :)

Supply Suggestions: - first off, i always recommend checking letgo, offerup, facebook marketplace, craigslist, and/or other local classifieds or ‘for sale’ sites! also check out any thrift stores like goodwill! you might find some of your equipment or decor at super low prices!! i’ve gotten all of my equipment either on sale or second hand so there’s absolutely no shame in hunting for second hand deals! - seachem prime water conditioner lasts foreeever (it’s highly concentrated so you only need a few drops per gallon! i use a pin to poke a hole in the seal of a new bottle instead of totally removing the seal so that i can count how many drops i need!) and will neutralize ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for 24-48 hours in case of any parameter level spikes! if you can’t find prime, that’s okay! most liquid water conditioners will do just as well. i know that tetra makes some “betta+ water conditioner” or whatever but you don’t need a “betta-specific” water conditioner...most things labeled “for bettas!!!” are gimmicky and unnecessary and you can use the ‘regular’ product most likely :p - 10 gallon tank at petco, $10 - if space is an issue, consider a 12″ bubble bowl (3-5 gallons of water, depending on how much decor is in the bowl and how full of water it is). you can find them at some walmarts in the floral section and most hobby lobbys/michaels. at hobby lobby, you can present their 40% off coupon and it’ll probably be about $10 as well. a bubble bowl will probably not work with hang-on-back filter, tho, but they usually work great with sponge filters. - sponge filter from petsmart - sponge filter from amazon - pack of sponge filters from amazon - small hang-on-back (HOB) filter (azoo palm, also called azoo mignon) - thermometer - heater from amazon - terra cotta pot hide (craft section at walmart, $1 and no drainage hole which means your fish can’t get stuck in it! you don’t have to buy it at walmart, and it can have a drainage hole. just make sure the pot is actually terra cotta and not painted and if it has a hole, just bury the pot deeper into the substrate (gravel, sand, the stuff you’ve got on the bottom of the tank). - silk flowers from craft stores or the dollar store. hobby lobby gives a 40% off coupon and they’re always having sales on seasonal floral stuff so you could get a big bunch of silk greenery or stem(s) of silk flowers for cheap! - glassware hides (ceramic fully glazed/sealed mugs, glasses, glass bowls, glass mugs, etc.) can be found in your own kitchen or at local thrift stores, often for less than $1! if you need to disinfect something, DONT use soap, use hot water or hot water + vinegar instead! be sure to rinse extra well if using vinegar. - anacharis costs 2.99/bunch at petco. try to get the greenest looking one (sometimes the ends are or a stem or two is brown tbh but it gives new grown pretty fast!), and then prune / throw any any brown parts. if all of the edges of the leaves of a stem are brown, but the middle/stem is green, keep that stem til you see new stems branching off. when those new stems are 2+ inches, just snap them off and throw away the original stem. if the stem turns more brown and doesn’t give off new shoots, throw it away. if the stem is totally brown on one end but green on the other, cut off the brown part of the stem and keep the green. anacharis can be cut / snapped into pieces and then grow from the pieces! - craft mesh to make a lid with. i think it’s also called plastic craft canvas or something like that and you should be able to buy it at craft stores as well - you can also use craft mesh to make those betta hammocks i linked to in the ‘supplies list’s ‘decor’ section above. you cut out a strip and then tie the ends together with thread / fishing line or use zip ties. whatever you have available. - i gave lighting suggestions under the ‘supplies list’ section above

If you’ve never had fish before, these posts might also be helpful!

General Fishkeeping + Equipment: Fishkeeping 101 “Seeding” a tank Why do we do water changes? How much water do I change? Invest in a waterchange bucket Aquarium siphoning + vaccuuming Baffling a filter  Everything I’ve learned about filters and filter media

Decor + DIY: DIY Aquarium Decor An ask that lists some easy aquarium plants How to superglue plants to stuff Tidbits for Planted Tanks

Care Guides: A betta care guide: All about bettas! I bought a betta, now what do i do!? (fish-in cycling included!)

Other handy dandy posts (written by other awesome tumblrs): Fishless Cycling Masterpost There are a few different ways to cycle a tank and this post is insanely informative! How to do the thing (cycling) Cycle your tank! Handy Articles Master Post Getting the most out of aquarium plants Plants melt and that’s okay Big list of aquarium plants List of low-light aquarium plants Planted Tanks for Beginners and So Can You Comprehensive Planted Tank Guide Dollar Store Fish Tank “Cleaner Fish” Why They Don’t Exist & Your Aquarium Doesn’t Need One By Ren Brooks

endnote: i think i’ve covered most stuff? someone let me know if i forgot stuff, or leave a reblog/comment with links or extra info!! :)