#beginneraquarist

[jkfishworld]

Pulsating Xenia appreciation post! 🙌 This coral is a perfect option for beginners looking to give a pop of color to their tank! 🪸 . . . . . .

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TANK UPDATE:

Sorry for not posting for awhile, I’ve gotten discouraged on the whole fish-keeping thing so I just haven’t felt the desire to post anything until now. So the first picture is the tank right after Ren had died. Then I went up to see my girlfriend and bought $70 worth of plants and plant care. I got the stones from a youtuber, Lifewithpets, and if you want those stones I’ll leave the link to their website. I’ve grown to strongly despise algae. I’m pretty sure my tank has been going through the Nitrogen cycle again and that’s been awful. I tested my water levels yesterday or the day before and they were honestly horrendous. I’ve had to change the water in my tank twice or more a week and I’m really trying to limit myself to do only two water changes a week. I know too many water changes can kill my fish or at least harm them but my water has been awful. I’m going to look into getting a feeding dish and some activated carbon and zeolite crystals to hopefully help with my water levels. I plant on getting more plants eventually and a few more fish but so far this is what I have.

New Fish in tank (will put pictures up later): 

-3 Cherry barbs

~one female, one male, one veiltail female

-Siamese Algae Eater (will make post about him later)

-4 ghost shrimp (one died)

~two males, two females

-4 Albino Corydora Catfish

~two males, two females

Plants:

-Sagittaria subulata

-Compacta (Hygrophila Corymbosa)

-Alternanthera reineckii

http://www.lifewithpetsgci.com/store.html

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Alright guys...I have some really sad news..... Ren has passed away. He got fin rot and I couldn't get the medicine but I had aquarium salt and either way he just kept looking worse and he may have had a symptom of fish Tuberculosis and honestly, I wasn't going to risk the health of my family for him. I loved him so much and it was the hardest thing for me to do to put him down but honestly I feel like it was the best option. But I will no longer be keeping betta fishes, at least not anytime soon. That was one of the hardest things I had to do and I cried so hard when I finished. The sadder part was the fact he swam immediately to the top when I took the lid off to get him and I felt absolutely awful. But I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't thought it needed to be done. I will be keeping other fish and will give tips on those. I had to get my mom to do something with him because I couldn't bring myself to do it. I think my water has a little of ammonia in it (and I think I realized it too late) and honestly the substrate I have might have caused issues too. Either way he's in a better place now and I'm heartbroken. My corydoras are still ok and I'm about to sterilize everything I have and do a 100% water change so wish me luck...gah I'm crying just typing this. Thank you all for the support of this blog and following me. I have 61 (I think) followers now and I'm shocked I've got that many. If anyone has questions or anything then please don't hesitate to talk with me.

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So after two times of trying to post this on mobile. I decided to use my computer. 

TANK UPDATE: 

I did my first water change today, and it was hell. Could’ve been worse. But still hell. I only did 30% water change and doing the math for the gallons and ounces and stuff really helped. I would suggest investing in a big ass measuring cup for water changes. I was gonna wait until Friday to do one but I tested the water today and I had small levels of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite. Which can kill my fish and I obviously don’t want that. Also while doing water tests, I dropped not one, but two of my test tubes. Guess I shouldn’t drop them on tile floors, should I? 

Anyway, onto Ren

So Ren has been acting a little weird. As you can see, he’s trying to eat the wafers I have for the corys, which I expected him to kind of do. I tried flakes for one feeding and he ate a few of them even with me trying to stop him. I fed him last night and this morning and both times he ate it and then spit it out. I let the pellets soak for two minutes so he can eat them a little easier. I’m just gonna watch him and read some more and see if anything is wrong. But enough of me rambling. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask! 

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TANK UPDATE:

The fish, have been named. My delta tail betta is named Ren. I got four albino corydora’s today who are named Kakashi, Kiryu, Allen, and Jiraiya. All white hair anime boys because I’m a weeb. I don’t know their genders so I just threw those names out. Ren has nipped at them a little but besides that, he’s been pretty ok with them so far. Fun fact, Ren loves the bubbles from the filter. He chases the bubble’s reflections from the glass and it’s the funniest thing. He also attacks the bubbles on the surface. He also booped my finger again today. So I had a mug that I got forever ago and I just sterilized it and threw it in there with the extra mushroom because I felt bad that they only had one hide away, I’m gonna move the mushroom a little because it looks a little weird (I think anyway). I plan on testing the water tomorrow to make sure that none of the tank water messed up mine, I didn’t put their tank water in with mine but some of it was on the net I had to use to get them out with. I promise that the supply list posts WILL come, I’m just low key dreading it. I also have a big BIO 103 test tomorrow and a paper due Tuesday so that’s always nice. I don’t want Ren to eat the flakes I got for the cory’s so I’m gonna try to maybe put him in the cup for a little? I’m not sure yet, I don’t want to stress him out but I don’t want him eating the flakes either. If anyone has suggestions, I’d love to hear them!

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So today my filter came in this morning and I did a 90% water change before I put it in. It's bigger than I thought it was gonna be but I'm not mad 😹. Anyway, meet my new betta! He's a delta tail and I fell in love with him at the store, he's been super active since I put him in and he's the biggest weirdo and I love him. He's not aggressive at all and I was blessed with a boop on the finger today when I stuck my finger in there the second time, I put it in there the first time to see if he was aggressive. I barely bumped his tail fin with my fingernail and he just scooted away a little. He keeps swimming through the space between my thermometer and the glass like a weirdo. I'm getting some albino corydoras tomorrow and because they'll come from a local store and they look super healthy, I'm just gonna dump them in there because I don't have a hospital tank to quarantine them in yet. I just wanna get them pretty quick so there won't be any chance for my betta to become aggressive, even if he's pretty chill now. I might end up getting shrimp later on down the road but right now I'm just gonna get some albino corydora catfish. If any of you can think of any names, just let me know! Thanks for the help today @aquariumsinadorm

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So remember how I said all my stuff would be here by today? Well it turns out it did. Except for the actual sponge filter. Which isn’t supposed to get here until March 16th-April 6th. So because I’m impatient and wanted to have a fish by this weekend...I ordered another filter. So at least I’ll have a filter for my corydora’s when I get a hospital tank. The other sponge filter I ordered SHOULD be here by Saturday. But enough about that. The set up I have is a little stupid looking but it’s effective, I hate having to bend down and do some stupid karma sutra bull shit to try and reach the damn thing so I just hung it up, and I think if there are any water leaks, there won’t be any water spillage on the cords? At least that’s the excuse I’m using. After I get everything in and situated, I might make a list of everything that I got for this tank. Actually I’ll probably do it for my next post...or maybe a bunch of different posts. Either way there will be a shit ton of pictures/posts coming out about everything I had/wanted to buy. And it’s a lot. Also, that math test I was studying for the other day? I MADE AN 82. HA. Still probably failing my other classes though. 

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TANK UPDATE: So the fog on the sand didn't go away and I talked with a friend of mine who is an aquarist and she said it might be bacteria that could hurt my fish. So because I don't have any fish in there yet and I don't have my filter or heater or testing kit yet (all these things are supposed to come today so I'm super excited!) I did a 90% water change and then treated the water with conditioner, the second picture is after I did the water change and treated it. I thought it'd be fine to leave untreated water in there but I realized that might cause bad bacteria growth that would be a bitch to get out so. If I get everything today then I'll do another tank update tonight, I'm currently studying for a math test and trying not to cry so. 😭 Thanks @aquariumsinadorm for the help!!