#like a bunch of shrimp and a betta

[thymeandmint]

im lowkey a little desperate to set up a little nano shrimp tank so im not feeling so AOUGH about the main tank,, also i just think a nano shrimp tank would be SOOO pretty but i also know i could be moving house again before the end of the year and i dont want to set up the tank only to then have to rehome the shrimp in 2 months

[gremlinmodetweeker]

Yay. Another fish lover in the cod fandom. I love my creatures (and all fish. But my babies are superior)

Do you have any of your own and if so may I see the fellas?

So, this has been sitting in my inbox for a really long time because this is actually a sad story. Sometimes I think about it and feel the pain again, but I do love sharing my passion for aquariums, so that won out!

So, I got scammed in a housing situation, so I had to put one of my (thankfully empty) aquariums in a friend's place and the other one I brought to my boyfriend's place. I didn't get the dechlorinator, so without a car I had to wait until the next day to get the filter and heater running. So I go from one day being without a filter to about two days, but the shock of the journey (being carried up and down stairs about four times and driven around in cats) the day prior meant that most of my fish passed. A handful of ember tetras and most painfully, my Betta fish Nero.

I loved Nero dearly. He was so important to me. He came up to me when I sat by his tank each day, he would follow my finger across the glass. He was a beautiful fish and I miss him terribly.

These are the pictures of what my aquarium used to look like (this was the smaller 10g) plus a nice video of Nero!

It has brought me great sadness to have had to sell this tank. I gave the remaining ember tetras to a shop and put the shrimp in their new tank.

This is my second and now main tank. It's a big 40g that now has a bunch of beautiful bright red cherry shrimp! This is what it looks like now:

And so yeah. I love my aquarium dearly, and I miss the 10g quite a bit. However, I have this one to pour my love into. There are no fish, but I still care for the shrimp.

[naamahdarling]

What's one at-home happiness thing that you would indulge in, if you were wealthy? It doesn't have to be the biggest one, just anything you would like.

One of mine is I would pay someone to come to my house and maintain a bunch of beautiful aquascaped live-plant aquariums containing small fish and tiny shrimps. You know the ones, the kind that look so deep and lush. I'm talking lavish setups for a very small number of animals, to maximize their happiness, eliminate conflict, and give them a whole tiny, safe, beautiful world to explore.

I have always longed for a Betta fish, bought ethically, but know I could not care for one the way it would deserve. So having someone come in and maintain tanks for me would be fantastic. Neon tetras, cuhli loaches, plecos, a black and a gold goldfish together, even guppies are lovely. Maybe something big enough for an eel!!! Just little worlds in every room for me to watch and dream about. Even when the fish were hiding, I could look at the world of plants and feel happy.

What's your daydream? Feel free to describe as lavishly as you like!

[prince-liest]

I saw that you are an aquarium fan! What's your favourite kind of tank fish? Mine is certainly Neon Innesa but Pterophyllum scalare are also pretty neat!!

TIL you can change the colors of text in asks! Neat!

And oooh - haha, thanks for getting me started on this! >:) I actually do have a group of neons in my larger community tank. I think they're very pretty fish and they hold a nostalgia for me because my mom had a bunch when I was young. I don't have a tank large enough for angelfish unfortunately, and I've also just in general been won over to the pros of having exclusively non-aggressive community fish in the community fish tank, so I'm not sure if I'd ever go for angels.

That said, if she hadn't been a homicidal shrimp murderer, I cannot overstate how nice it was to put my betta fish into a 20 gallon tank. People are often focused on putting bettas in the minimum safe size of tank for them, and it feels like you rarely see the interesting behaviors you get from bettas in larger tanks discussed. She used the whole tank, patrolled and explored constantly, and it was very clear that compared to the neons, who were often just vibing, most of her actions were performed with some sort of deliberate purpose. I felt almost guilty transferring her into her current 6.4 gallon tank, though it's heavily planted and has shrimp for her to pick at.

My generic "I fucking love betta fish" answer aside, my favorite fish tend to end up being loaches! I have java loaches in my community tank, which are hilarious, active noodles, and my favorite loaches are reticulated hillstream loaches.

They're very pretty: aside from the pattern, they look like tiny little manta rays, and they spend a lot of time sticking to the side of the glass and to smooth rocks. I've got three (soon to be four when I take my friend's extra when he moves) and they're very peaceful fish that do well in a large range of temperatures. Watching them flap at each other or sift sand is always really fun.

[boogiestreetshakes]

When I was getting off amphetamine salts (funny story, I’m now prescribed them and it’s fine but it feels super weird especially cause it’s more expensive.. which is so evil.) I learned to bake too! I also showered a lot and started brushing my teeth kinda obsessively after every meal and ever snack and even after gum and stuff. I had a toothbrush i kept at work. It was weird.

Anyways! I also got fish. Cause the fish would die if I slipped up and didn’t take care of them and if I did slip up then it gave me a tangible reason to get my shit together asap.

They were beautiful and swam up to the glass when I’d look at them and one liked to try and rest in my hand when I’d clean their tank and I didn’t want them to die! They needed water changes and two types of food and the ph to be monitored and the tank to be cleaned and all sorts of stuff so it kept me busy and gave me tiny little fishy friends.

I don’t have any photos but I had two bristle nosed plecos, a bunch of neon tetras, a couple betta fish at different times, mosquito fish, two bluegills, some mollies for a little bit, and I always really wanted shrimp but I didn’t have the right set up. Maybe one day. Only some of those fish overlapped. I had fish for years and a lot of them don’t live super long.

Anyways I thought that might be of interest to you lot!

This is beautiful. I had no idea fish were an option. @in-omni-scientia what do we know about fish care and when can we get our own tank.

[a-deed-without-a-name]

can you tell us about your aquarium

This is the best ask I have ever received. I hope you know the gates of Heaven have opened for you and only you, Anon.

Short answer: this is it.

Long answer under the cut. Very long, 'cause it's my birthday weekend and my gift to myself is I'm gonna gush about my stupid tank.

This is the smallest tank I've had in years - a 3.6 gallon Fluval. It absolutely counts as a nano tank, which has been both a challenge and a relief.

(My last tank - which I had to get rid of years ago, the last time I moved - was a 40-gallon that mainly featured very dumb dojo loaches and destructively horny oranda goldfish. I miss them every single day but when I surrendered them to my local fish store, the 90-year-old proprietor told me very approvingly that it's very rare for orandas to breed and dojo loaches usually don't get as big as mine did, so that helped soothe the sting a little.)

This one's technically a betta tank, but I'm still split on if I'm ever gonna put a betta in it. The literature on how much room is humane is split and it's really the luck of the draw if your fish will tolerate the inverts or harass them to death.

For now, it's just neocaridina shrimp (mostly red rilis, although a lovely orange lad and a blue juvenile snuck in there and I'm looking to get a few more color morphs), bladder snails, a ramshorn named Guts, and plants. I did not actually buy any of the snails, which is a quintessential aquarium-owner experience.

I've been working on this tank for a few months now. It's my first heavily-planted one, and it went through a few stages.

First off: I fell for a carpet seed scam.

Yeah. I know. I should've done more research. On the plus side, I got very, very lucky and wound up with something that can actually grow immersed (some kind of hygrophila, I'm 99% sure). For now, at least, it's eating all my ammonia, so yay, and I'm watching it and my water parameters like a hawk to make sure I can go full teardown at the first sign of melting.

(If I were smart and hard-working, I'd've taken everything out and redone it all soon as I figured out what a colossal fuck-up I'd committed, but I am me, so we're waiting, watching, and taking baby steps towards un-FUBARing the tank.)

But the java moss and tiger lotus, at least, are real plants, and they're doing great.

Had a few issues with the neos, but they've stabilized.

And I just recently rescaped the entire tank! Including adding in some more plant variety and tearing out ~60% of the hygrophila (yes, I disposed of it safely, I'm not going to be the reason that shit winds up in the Colorado River).

The goal is eventually to remove all of it, but for now, what's left can stay; the animals like it and I don't want to stress them out anymore.

They seem to be doing great since the rescape; much more active now that the tank has some different environments for them to explore. They love their cobblestone path.

I've got a good male/female ratio on the neos, lots of wee baby bugs swimming around, and my girls keep getting knocked up!

Harlot.

(Ignore the tweezers. Long story. And the discoloration on the hygrophila; after rigorous water testing and pinching and poking the leaves a whole bunch, seems like its ugly ass just Looks Like That. So glad my dad bought those stupid seeds.)

And that's my aquarium. I've got a little bit of duckweed in there that's not growing as fast as I'd like, and my tiger lotus does not seem inclined to make lilypads any time soon, so I'm planning on getting some water spangles for aesthetics and also shrimp thrills.

I might post some more photos once the spangles are here and I've picked up a few more shrimp colors from my LFS - I don't want everyone to be brown in a few generations, but. Some more diversity would be cool, I think.

[trashshouldnt]

hello, please use this as an excuse to ramble about your favorite hyperfixation for as long as you want.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAY OKAY SO. now you all get to hear about fish again >:] [putting thjs under the cut for a bit too silly]

so im thinking when I'm older and have a bit more money i might open a fish store of some kind, cuz there's really only chain stores in my area and i wanna change that! ideally i would have like maaaybe a section for other exotic pets too but thats debatable. id have large tanks for the fish including the bettas because thats a major gripe i have with places like petco/smart, that they just keep their fish in poor conditions and make them sickly. like maybe a big display/community tank with plants and some of my favorite fish, so that beginner people can see what you can do at a more advanced level and advanced fishkeepers can go "huh that's cool he's got a [such and such fish] in there with a [so and so fish] and blah blah blah", like a real conversation starter yknow? and then i could research and make like. okay so in thinking of a pamphlet/s for the fish that get commonly mistreated [cough cough goldfish cough cough bettas] for common misconceptions and debunking it, and then maybe i could also have a website for all this so people can find links to trusted care guides!! the floor plan would obviously have to be accessible because i cant gatekeep fish, what am i some kind of fish... gatekeeper? and the kind of fish i keep there would probably change every so often with new shipments and stuff. id definitely also have a designated Cool And Awesome Shrimp Tank so people can see the different shrimp i have. that might be better as like a shrimp wall where its a bunch of tanks though...

i know you said hyperfixation and not crazy scheme but in my defense its a really cool scheme lol

[chai-the-leopard]

Hello! sorry to bother you but ive just recently found a 22 gallon tank on the side of the road. One of the pannels needs new silicone but besides that I think its good to go from the water holding test ive done. I wanna do a pretty basic betta tank with it. Im most likely going to be getting a betta from someone in the area who doesnt want it anymore, but if not im going to see if I can track down a betta imbellis. One issue is I have no clue how to take care of a betta, ive heard plenty of stuff which is just kinda obviously nonsense(placing 2 bettas next to eachother so they flare at eachother as "exercise"), so I figured it would be best to ask around to see if theres anything in articular to look out for!

The main way I learned to take care of my betta is through youtubers who run fish stores or own a lot of fish there pretty easy to find if you just search "how to care for a betta" on YouTube, but the basic stuff is the tank needs to be around 80 degrees, sponge filters are best for them, make sure nothing in their tank is to sharp, and have lots of hiding spots for them. But yeah just do a bunch of research before getting one and you should be good, also if you want to get tank mates shrimp or neon tetras are pretty good tank mates although neons can be fin biters

[mutantenfisch]

Got tagged by @katistrophe in this. I'm not gonna tag anyone though because it's past 1 am and i gotta sleep but i wanted to do this before i forget it ^^; Are you named after anyone? Aye, the library of Alexandria, so in a way Alexander the Great I guess? And also Arthur the Angel, a cartoon character my mum likes a lot.

Do you have kids? I guess my almost 9 years old cat whom i helped bottlefeed since he was a week old doesn't count? I would love to raise a child but getting one in the usual way is out of the question for me and I'd need a partner either way.

When was the last time you cried? Yesterday :') I was listening to one of my playlists and got hit in the feels very hard.

What sports do you play/have you played? I don't know if you would call karate playing? I was actually quite good at it and even got my first brown belt. Then i no longer had time for the dojo because uni and work sucked the life out of me. I now go hiking whenever i can and once i finally get my top surgery, i will hit the swimming pool again.

Do you use sarcasm? No. It usually flies over my head as well because i take it seriously and then people get upset because i get upset about not finding their remarks funny or witty, but hurtful instead.

What is the first thing you notice about people? Depends. Do they wear clothes that catch my attention? Then it's that. Do they have nice hair? Then it's that. Do they have any other physical feature that catches my eye? You got your answer. Sometimes though, it's the voice i notice first. And all this is only for noticing things about people i physically interact with. On the internet it's different of course.

What’s your eye colour? I think in English it's called hazel blue. It's like a bit of every colour eyes can have, but blue and grey are most prominent with a bit of green and light brown around the pupils.

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings, as long as they feel logical and not too forced.

Any talents? Organising train trips and cooking dinner for 2 people out of 'I have nothing in the fridge :('

Where were you born? In the city hospital most people in my area and my immediate family got born at.

What are your hobbies? Too many to list. Whatever sparks joy at the moment. Mostly in the crafty and creative fields though. I like having something to show off or use or eat that i made myself.

Do you have any pets? Aforementioned cat, a betta fish, a bunch of snails and far more shrimps than i am able to count.

How tall are you? Not even 160 cm.

Favourite subject in school: ooof that really depended on the teacher and particular topic. But all in all a tie between biology, history, German and English.

Dream job: Herding sheep on an island and making cheese out of their milk and stuff out of their wool. I just like animals and the outdoors more than most people. Even though my current job is not bad. I just can't do it full-time so it would support me on its own.

[spidermilkshake]

Now that all my little nano feesh buddies are settled in (and I'm more mobile in my walking boot, rather than a heavy ole cast), I'm thinking about the Final Tank and its residents.

Assassin Snails for sure, so that this 30-gallon can be the default "this is where I trap a bunch of my pest bladder snails with a chunk of cuke and drop them off" zone. I only have a sponge filter in this one so I can try more low-flow fishes, but I'm thinking I'll add one of my small air pumps to it for some redundancy and try to see if the flow will be enough to happily keep a few bamboo shrimp. I know it's got a TON of microorganisms living in it from the ample copepod, amphipod, hydra and microworm populations (which also yee, free fish food source if I'm ever unable to feed them for a couple days), just thinking an additional source of current is what I'd need to satisfy the needs of these cool filter-feeding shrimp.

As far as fish go, fewer but slightly larger. Since it's lower surface disturbance with some already pretty lush little water sprite cuttings and nice bendy thin woodscape, I'm deciding between having a small (2-3) betta sorority since I still love bettas and it would be great to keep some in... less ignorant conditions than previous attempts during childhood where I didn't have the power to choose tanks and plants and whatnot. If not bettas, I love little gouramis! Sparkling gouramis would be lovely and too small to really bother the shrimp, and honey gouramis would be lovely as well since they're so cute and chill... well, with other fish. XD They can get sassy with each other, but I'm familiar with my flame tetras' various soap opera antics, so turf disputes and little chases are pretty normal. And on the bottom I'm contemplating a few species of catfish. Smaller corydoras of course--like a group of 6 would be great of Juliis, or Pandas, or Salt-and-Peppers. I'm also wondering if the stocking would also permit either a school of 6 or so Anchor Catfish (teeny little cute dudes who love shuffling in sand and leaves) or a Bristlenose pleco? I know it would have to be one or the other, since the filtration is large for a sponge but still relatively small. They should all get on together regardless of what arrangement it ends up being.

[lionews]

"k posting their average betta and snail wanting attention for them bc they have nothing better to say" you're right, he is average smh. little 14$ betta i bought from a breeder and a pest snail i got off of plants i ordered online. really average, both ain't worth shit. but i adore them and so do a bunch of other anons, it looks like :p

"or pictures of fish nobody gives a fuck about." shut up nerd here's a pic of my new SHRIMP! i got 12 of these bad boys! -k

.

[luxwing]

I feel like a lot of people don't realize how much work fishkeeping actually is. Even having like a 5 gallon tank can be a lot of work. You have weekly cleaning, scrubbing algae off the walls, keeping the water clear and healthy, keeping your plants and fish/shrimp/snails healthy and happy, changing the filter media but making sure you don't cause your healthy bacteria to die off and crash your tank, ect ect.

Like some people will get a little tank without live plants and fill it with chemicals and remove the entire filter padding every month thus removing 80% of the beneficial bacteria then get sharp plastic decorations and wonder why their fantail guppy or Betta got tears in it's fins that got infected and caused it to die and shit and it's like oh my god I want you to realize keeping an aquarium is WORK you can't just dump a bunch of bottles of shit in a tiny ass tank and hope your fish is gonna be happy in a barren cube for the rest of it's life (which will be short because of your negligence)

Fish are WORK just like any pet is WORK. Please understand this. They aren't decorations. They aren't something you can put in a vase with an ivy because they "look cool". Same goes for snails and shrimp. If you can't dedicate the time and work needed for a pet then don't get that pet.

For instance: I have three separate tanks (10, 29 and 55 gallon), each are heavily planted with strong filtration, aeration and quality lighting. They have been cycled for years now and because I've taken care of them the water stays at good quality. I do tank cleanings once a week involving water changes and vacuuming, with more intensive cleaning once a month that involve replacing filter media, cleaning the filters and scrubbing the tank walls where needed.

The weekly water change takes about an hour total for all tanks. The monthly cleaning can take over two hours. It's hard work!

BUT.

My fish are healthy. My snails are thriving. My plants are constantly needing repotting and splitting because they are growing so well. It's amazing to see how much my hard work makes their lives better! Even when I'm feeling my worst I get up and do the work for these guys because I know if I don't they won't live. You can't just get bored of fish. You can't decide you don't want them anymore. You wouldn't do that with a cat or dog, so why do people think they can just get rid of fish when they become too much work? Why do people joke about flushing Bettas down the toilet when they "aren't fun anymore"?

It's depressing. Just get a potted plant.

[bluedragonfairy2000]

Brother in a Bottle

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3 (Here), Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

Chapter 3: Betta Care 101

As the group was driving through the city, Tommy began to nod off. The gentle swaying of the car mixed with sunlight that was streaming through the windows and heating the water he was swimming in made him feel very sleepy. Tommy fought to keep his eyes open and tried to stay awake by listening to Phil and Wilbur discussing whether they should buy a saltwater or freshwater tank since they found Tommy in the ocean, but according to Wilbur's research betta fish are usually found in freshwater. However, it was no use and Tommy was out like a light within fifteen minutes of leaving the beach. Techno let the guys know that Tommy had fallen asleep and Wilbur and Phil lowered their voices to a whisper as they continued their discussion.

Twenty minutes pass and Phil pulls into the parking lot of the Aquarium World Pet Shop, after he parks he turns to Techno and whispers "Wilbur and I are going to head inside, can you stay here with Tommy?"

"Yeah, I think I can manage that, " Techno said nonchalantly as he looked down at the tiny sleeping boy in his lap.

"Ok, I will keep the car running, don't forget to lock the doors," Phil said as he and Wilbur stepped out of the car.

Techno nodded and after they closed the doors Techno locked the car before setting Tommy in the cup holder and pulled out his phone so he could browse through Twitter. Phil satisfied with this waited for Wilbur to join him and then the duo made their way over to the store. As they walked in Wilbur looked eagerly around the store trying to find everything they would need for Tommy.

"Since Betta's are happier in larger tanks we should get a twenty-gallon tank, for Tommy!" Wilbur said.

"Woah slow down for a sec Wil, We don't even know if Tommy is a freshwater or saltwater fish. Plus Tommy's not planning on staying mate, I think he will want to head home tomorrow. I want Tommy to be comfortable, but I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a tank that we will only end up using once.” Phil said

Will looked back at Phil with big pleading eyes. “But... Phil, if we get the big tank, Tommy might enjoy staying with us so much, that he might not even want to go back to the ocean, and even if he does end up going back we could always get more fish to put in the tank. C'mon Phil don’t you think Tommy’s comfort is worth spending a little extra.”

Phil looked at Wilbur before letting out a sigh. “Alright we can get the twenty-gallon tank, but we should probably get a couple of one-gallon tanks to see which type of water Tommy prefers that way we don’t have to waste a bunch of water by filling the twenty-gallon with the wrong type.

Wilbur quickly nodded with a large smile now plastered on his face. He looked back down at his phone as he began to read off what they would need to make Tommy’s stay with them as comfortable as possible.

"Ok! We need to grab a few things to make Tommy feel at home in his new tank! We need some substrate, a water filter, some water conditioner, some aquarium test strips, an air pump, some plants, and non-sharp rocks or decorations so that he will have things to swim through and places to hide if he wants, an aquarium heater since bettas are tropical fish and prefer to be in warm water, an light with a dimming function since betta's don't like bright lights, and maybe some Tannins since that usually helps fight off infections in fish and also makes the water look cool! We should also pick up some frozen brine shrimp since Betta fish like the stuff." Wilbur rambled on excitedly.

Phil nodded along as he grabbed a cart and sighed inwardly to himself. This all sounded like it was going to cost him a small fortune, but adopting kids in the past tended to have the same effect so Phil just went along with what Wilbur was saying. Phil and Wilbur went down the isles looking for the various items on their list. Occasionally the employees would check on them to see if the two were alright and if they needed help finding anything. As they looked through the isles Phil persuaded Wilbur to hold off on getting things like filters for the big aquarium. When Wilbur asked why, Phil explained that since they didn't know whether the big tank was going to be a saltwater or freshwater tank they would either have to buy stuff for both freshwater and saltwater tanks and sell off whatever they didn't end up using, or they could find out which tank Tommy preferred this afternoon and come back for a second shopping trip once they had more information. Wilbur looked slightly disappointed, but he didn't argue and instead went through the list skipping any that Phil thought they should get later. They finally managed to find the stuff they were looking for about a half-hour later and the two of them made their way over to the checkout to be rung up. As the cashier scanned each item Phil texted Techno to let him know that they would be out soon. Techno responded with a simple "ok" which made Phil chuckle at the fact that Techno could remain so stoic despite what the group had gone through today.

"Alright sir, your total will be one hundred fifty dollars and seventy-six cents." The cashier says as she finishes scanning and bagging all of the stuff.

Phil held back a small wince, they had only bought about half of the stuff on Wilbur's list. Instead of groaning about the price tag, Phil gave a polite smile and swiped his card.

The cashier printed out a receipt and handed it to Phil "Here you go, sir! Have a nice day!

"Thank you," Phil said as he and Wilbur grabbed the bags and made their way to the exit.

The duo soon arrived at the car. Techno quickly unlocked the doors and Phil popped the trunk. Phil and Wilbur quickly packed all of the pet supplies into the trunk of the car, having to stick some of the more fragile things on the floor next to Techno. once they had finished loading the bags into the car Phil and Wilbur climbed back into their seats. With the shopping trip done the family pulled out of the parking lot and started on their way back home. Tommy was awoken by the sudden movement of the car, once he realized where he was he looked over at Phil.

"Where are we going now?" Tommy asked, he was still nervous about what these strangers could have planned for him, but he was also extremely curious since this was his first time exploring the mainland.

“We are heading to our house. We got some stuff for you while you were sleeping, so you don’t have to stay in that water bottle tonight.” Phil said.

“Oh um... thank you? you didn’t have to do that though.” Tommy says it was rare for Tommy to be given anything so the fact that these guys got him anything was intriguing. Maybe if he played his cards right he could trick these guys into giving him something super valuable, so that he could be the envy of all the other brine catchers.

"We know mate, we just wanted you to be too comfortable during your stay," Phil says.

Fifteen minutes later the family pulled into their driveway. Phil went to the front door to unlock it, once he had unlocked the door he props it open so that they could finish unloading quicker. Techno picked up Tommy's water bottle with one hand and used his other hand to help his family bring in the rest of the pet supplies from the car. Techno set Tommy's water bottle on the countertop, and Tommy took this opportunity to survey the house. The house was quite large, at least compared to Tommy, and from his position on the counter, he could see the majority of the house. The bottom floor seemed to be a mostly open concept as the living room, dining room, and kitchen, were all connected without being blocked by any doors. the only thing that separates the living room from the kitchen was a half wall and the counter that Techno had set Tommy on. There is also a staircase that he assumes went up to a second floor. Tommy only knows what the general layout of the house is because the nereids that he used to steal from had similar-looking houses.

As Tommy was observing the house, Phil, Wilbur, and Techno finished bringing in the bags. Once all of the bags were inside Wilbur rushed over to one of the bags and pulled out to glass bowls. He carried the bowls over to the kitchen before running over to another bag and pulling out two smaller bags that seemed to be riled with tiny rocks. Tommy watched as Wilbur poured one of the bags into one of the bowls and then poured the other bag into the other bowl. He then watched as Wilbur went back to the bags and grabbed out two bottles. Wilbur pour one of the bottles into one of the bowls and emptied the second bottle into the remaining bowl before carrying the bowls one at a time to the counter. Tommy stared at Wilbur in confusion.

"What are the bowls of water for," Tommy asked Wilbur.

"Oh well, we wanted to get you a big tank, but since your part betta fish, and we found you in the ocean we didn't know whether you would be more conferrable in salt water or fresh water, so we wanted to let you try both before we set up the tank, but before we can have you try out the different tanks we need to get you out of this bottle. I'm going to grab some scissors, I need you to swim to the bottom of the bottle so I can get you out." Wilbur said.

Tommy had no clue what scissors were, but if listening to this human got him out of his bottle then he was willing to try almost anything. So Tommy swam down to the bottom of the bottle and waited for Wilbur to return.

Wilbur soon returned with a pair of scissors and started to cut the top off of the water bottle to make a hole big enough for Tommy to fit through.

"Careful with those scissors mate," Phil said slightly worried that Wilbur might accidentally injure Tommy while trying to get him out.

"Don't worry Phil, I know what I am doing." Wilbur said as he finished cutting off the top of the bottle "There you go, Tommy! no, let's start with the saltwater tank since that's probably what you are used to.

"Um, ok," Tommy said as he swam back up to the top.

Wilbur picked up the bottle and helped maneuver Tommy into the glass bowl that contained the saltwater.

"Well, what do you think?" Wilbur asked.

Tommy swam around for a minute before looking at Wilbur. "It feels fine to me," Tommy said with a shrug not knowing what the point of this was.

"Ok, good! do you want to try out the freshwater now?" Wilbur asked trying to hide his excitement at getting to experiment with a real mermaid.

"Sure," Tommy said casually, he let Wilbur pick him up and quickly dry him off before being placed in the freshwater bowl.

"What about this one?" Wilbur asked as he watched Tommy swim around trying to get used to the water.

"Woah," Tommy said as he swims a little faster in the bowl "This feels amazing! I never knew water could feel this good!" Tommy's eyes sparkle as he says this and his scales seem to get slightly more vibrant the longer he stays in the fishbowl.

"Oh! well, it's a good thing that we tested this out then, now we can go make sure that your actual tank is suitable for your new freshwater lifestyle." Phil said. "we should probably head back to the store then so that we can get the stuff we need.

"Ok! we will be back soon Tommy! If you need anything ask Techno ok? Wilbur asked.

"Ok" Tommy replied as he watched Wilbur and Phil leave.

Techno turned to Tommy "Do you need anything?" he asked in an anxious tone.

Tommy thought for a moment before shaking his head "I think I'm alright for now."

Techno let out a sigh of relief "Ok, I'm going to watch some T.V. you're welcomed to watch it with me, can you see it alright from here?" Techno asked pointing over at the T.V.

"If you mean the black box you are pointing at then yes I can see it fine," Tommy said.

"Ok let me know if you start to get hungry or something," Techno said as he walked over to the couch and turned on the T.V.

Tommy marveled at the moving pictures on the black box. Tommy begins to wonder how he got lucky enough to not only be found by nice humans but be given a chance to see and feel such amazing things. Tommy relaxes as he finally feels safe for the first time in a long time.

[millibelle]

mmm one of my baby platys was born w a crooked spine and he hasn’t been growing as quickly as the other platys his age. he’s about 2 months old now and roughly the size of a 1 month old platy. some trouble swimming and the like. I’ve put a couple of betta hammocks at various hights in the tank and that seems to have helped him move around but I don’t know what else i can do for him :(

ive considered moving him to another tank so i can be SURE hes eating. my available tanks:

1 gallon: empty rn, i just use it to take pictures of my fish

5.5 gallon: mopani wood and some water wisteria, used to keep shrimp in it.

10 gallon standard: unknown piece of driftwood and some amazon swords

10 gallon tall: snailville usa, population ten million trumpet snails. its literally just sand and snails in here i used to use it as a quarantine tank but i havent added any fish in like 2 years so now its just chilling

60 gallon: the one he is in right now. bunch of platys, a betta, 7 danios, and 5 corydoras. 2 big pieces of spiderwood and some …. rosette swords? sword plants of some kind. i bought one like 4 years ago and i kept splitting it as it got bigger so now i have a bunch of them but idr what they are. also a bunch of duckweed

[whumpbby]

Hi! So this is kind of a random ask, but I know you have beta fish, and I’m considering getting one. I’ve had beta fish in the past, and despite educating myself on how to take care of them they haven’t lived very long, so I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me. For my past beta fish, I keep them in a five gallon tank (for clarification, I never had more than one beta fish at a time. So I didn’t have multiple of them in the tank don’t worry—they just all lived at different times in the same tank) that had a filter with a pretty low flow on it. I never saw any of the fish have problems swimming with it on. I always used a highly rated water purifying product for the tank water (I forgot what it’s actually called) and I never had any sharp plants that would hurt their fins. I fed them a little every two days because I heard that feeding them everyday was bad for them. Do you happen to know what I was doing wrong? It was frustrating for me because I put a lot of effort into keeping them alive and healthy and then I would see people who kept them in small half gallon bowls have their fish outlive mine. It’s been a couple years, and I want to get another, but I don’t want to accident hurt/kill another one. How do you care for your beta fish? Do you have any advice? Sorry about the rant, but I follow you for your Jason content and happened to stumble upon some of you fish posts and need help. Thanks so much for reading this, and if you do end up offering any advice, I want to thank you for that too!

Hi dear, sorry if I took long to answer - tumblr notoriously does not inform me of messages>> 

I understand your pain - especially that the situation with bettas is very frustrating. They tend to suffer from quite a few genetic defects (they are prone to tumours, for example) and are a very abused fish in the aquatic industry.  Oftentimes by the time they will get to a caring and dedicated owner, they’ve already went through a lot:0 We just don’t know how healthy the fish is before we got it. 

I am by no means an expert, I have lost a few babies since I started the hobby a couple years ago and I can only assume what a few of them suffered from:( One thing that seems to work is leaving them and the tank alone for as long as you can once it’s all set up and cycled and running - apart form the regular maintenance. I am a chronic fiddler who needs to change and add plants, filters, etc, so I constantly have to hold myself back form doing things to the tank. My sister has the same betta for a second year now and the only thing she does with her tank is water changes once every couple weeks - and both him and a thousand of cherry shrimp that live there thriveXD 

Some things I nowadays pay attention to that may be useful, however, are:

- water temp has to be consistent, on the warmer side. I keep mine at 26-27C (I don’t know how much that is in F, sorry>>). To that effect the tank needs a lid - it will trap the warm air, protecting the betta form inhaling cold air then they come up for a breath. They labyrinth breathing organ is quite sensitive to that.

- I feed my boys twice a day, so I am not a part of the ‘feed them little’ club. I give them a little pinch of the good flake in the morning (Bug Bites is nice) and a 3-4 granules of a King Betta or a pinch of a protein-rich micro pellets in the evening. A betta breeder I talked to a couple times advised that it’s better to feed the boys a couple times a day in small quantities rather than once - keeps their digestive tracts working and they can avoid constipation. Constipation happens often with bettas and is a headache to solve. I leave frozen bloodworms for special occasions and just rotate the dry foods for variety.  

- I change water every week - and every other week make sure to vacuum gravel the substrate. In the planted tanks I vacuum only about 2-3cm of the top layer to not disturb planting substrate below and not to suck up any shrimp, so it’s a gentle operation. In the gravel where there is no growing substrate I go deep - the reason being that I want to free any possible air bubbles stuck underneath where bad bacteria may grow. 

- Pick a filter and stick to it. I was very bad at that, but I finally managed to hotwire a combo that seems to work so I will stick to it;) If you can stand the noise, I advise a sponge filter - it’s so easy to clean and manageTT If you can’t stand the hum of the air pump and the bubbles, I recommend a matten filter - or hotwiring an internal filter to a sponge filter - like so - instruction in German, but the visuals are very self-explanatory;] I used gel superglue to connect the filterhead to a sponge filter and now all I have to do once a month or rarer is to pull the sponge off and squeeze it few times in the used tank water! And sometimes clean the showerhead from algae;] It saves you so much money on the cartridges (corner sponge filters are a couple £/$ and last years) and provides extra filtration. My shrimps also eat off it;] 

- get a snail. Seriously, I have a snail in every tank - a single nerite will do best for a 5gal. They don’t breed in sweet water, don’t grow large and will keep your glass clean for you - I have not cleaned my tanks’ glass since... ever>> Joe I and Joe II do it for meXD They also provide company for the betta and something fun to look at. And he will scarf uneaten food form the gravel. 

- I assume you know about the nitrogen cycle, so I will not bore you here about bacteria and such. But a best chance of saving the betta form stress when you get him home is a cycled tank. You can get an ammonia testing set - or, if you find that a bit intimidating (I do for some reason) you can go to an aquarist shop and they will check your water for you. My local store in town does it for free. I am not sure about big box stores, tho. If you see something being wrong with the betta, check water and see if it needs to be changed asap. 

- water changes are mandatory and have to be regular. A 5gal is a convenient size - I am using a 5l bottle left over from mineral water as a measuring tool;) This way I know I am always changing roughly 1/4th of the tank’s water. It’s very easy to see how much water I removed and how much I have to put back in - I can control the water temp and add dechlotinator/vitamins etc before it goes into the tank, so I do not shock my critters with too hot or too cold water. The rule I practice is leaving the dechlorinator in the bottle for about 10 mins before pouring it all into the tank. 

- you don’t have to be intimidated by planted tanks:) A little bunch of anubias on a stick is often enough to start with and a good look for a tank, in my opinion. It also makes for a more natural space for the betta he will certainly appreciate. The less fancy stuff the better - I got my first natural rocks form the side of the road (ofc I boiled the life out of them before they got even close to the tank) and they are usually quite cheap on amazon. A stick with a plant and a rock and some small-size gravel is often enough to look good. The plants will also help with eating up nitrites and keeping the water healthy.

- goodness, what else. Medicaiton. Ok. I have tried many meds for my boys and once the fish is in a bad way not much will help, form my experience :( My med set consists of Melafix - I add it to water according to instructions whenever I see my betta without appetite or acting off. It’s a mild anti-bacterial mixture that does not affect snails/shrimp. If that does not help, I use eSHa 2000 or eSHa Exit - they are two very comprehensive meds that deal with a variety of problems. I have never used aquarium salt, but some people swear by it - there’s no specific reason I don’t use it, I just never got around to it.  

This is all the chaotic advice, but things to remember (I am not trying to be condescending, I just don't know how much you know;]) are: cycled tank, regular water changes&filter maintenance, consistent temperature and quality food. Bettas are hardy little suckers, but sometimes they are also frail in ways we can’t see until it’s too late. I am already seeing a tumour growing on one of my boys and there is nothing I can do about it except giving him the best life I can - he is still going strong, but I know he will probably not last to the end of the year. It’s a hobby that sometimes seems thankless, but if you do everything right, even if they leave early, at least you’ve given them a good and peaceful time before that:)

If I you have any more questions or just want to share woes, feel free to message, I will do my best to answer:)

[lucianartwork]

do you like fish? do you like shrimp? do you like to see people with a marine biology background get new family members?

<< my twitter will be inundated with new photos and videos of my developing bioactive aquarium with three new children!! >>

THE CAST: Phantom (Halfmoon Marble Betta) Sebastien (Amano Shrimp) Zachariah (Amano Shrimp)

i will be uploading a whole bunch of sketches later in the week, but for now i’m going to be excited about Babies.