The inhabitants of the fish tank...

It has been a bit since I posted on my fish tank. The guppy didn't last 2 days and a month later my favorite fish, the dalmatian mollie, died of ick. I was very upset. Reading comments from my first blog post on this topic, I was unable to find nice swordtails at any of the local (15 mile radius) stores.

Now we have 5 store bought platies and one homebred! Well mum came pregnant and one of the fry survived. (L-R) top row: male sunburst micky mouse, female red mickey mouse, my two sunburst females in different shades. Below the suburst is a female white mickey mouse platy. Under her, a little to the left in the plant, you will see a light speck which is the surviving fry of the lighter sunburst, on the far right.

In this photo you can see the youngster on the left diagonally under the filter intake (probably 6 weeks old now) and two of my three pink glo-fish. Unseen in the photo, the fry does have twin tail fin bars, so maybe it was sired by a twinbar platy. I can't wait to watch her grow. EDITED: I did verify that the fry is female.

Photographic proof that we do have a frog in the 30 gallon tank. His name is now Waldo as I can never find him, and have gone for over a week at a time not knowing if he was still a resident. He was at the top of the tank this evening and I was able to snap this not so good photo (which makes him look larger than he is.

The first fish...

We started stocking the new tropical tank. On Sunday we brought home a Dalmatian Lyretail Molly and an African Dwarf Frog. The Molly was very lonely being a singleton, so yesterday we brought her home 2 new tank mates... a Blonde Delta Guppy and a Sunburst Mickey Mouse Platy.

What should I put in it?

Our last, and ironically my first, goldfish finally made his journey to the rainbow bridge on Saturday after gracing our tank for 7 years. Not wanting the hassle and work associated with goldfish, we are changing the tank over to tropical freshwater fish.

Yesterday we drained the tank and rinsed all the plants and gravel.

Today I bought a heater, extra plants and I wanted a new background. I previously used aluminum foil as a background. It makes an inexpensive mirror. This time I wanted something different, but I wasn't willing to spend my plant budget on a commercial background. Rita gave me the idea to shop at the dollar store, and on his way home Leonard brought home the beautiful blue table cloth for just $1!!

This is the result, now filled with 30 gallons of water and waiting to get up to temperature...

That is the Titanic. That was the largest expense we had in the tank and it was a "must have" when I saw it on the pet store shelf 5 years ago.

Now I have to pick what pretty tropical fish I will get! I was thinking guppies or mollies, as long as they are bright colored. Maybe even another frog!

Brutus' new friends!

A pair of small calico Ryukins! The one on the right is brightly colored, with the left eye black and right eye white. The one on the left is very pale, with silvery and gold tones.

I had such a hard time choosing! We purchased them at the local Petsmart at only $5.99 each! I think they are each the size of Brutus' head.

Brutus is lonely...

The photo does not do him justice as he is well over 7" long. Brutus was formally known as "Blackie" since he was a small black moor when purchased 5+ years ago. With age he changed color as he grew.

His partner, LeRoy Brown, a chocolate oranda, passed away on my birthday. My husband was kind enough to let mw know via text message while I was out to dinner with Julie & Katrin. I am now ready to get him another friend. I have been drooling at this online auction. BTW overnight shipping is not included in the purchase price. There will be a new selection posted tomorrow. But, I am a scrooge. I don't want to pay $20+ at the local store for a goldfish. I have never paid that much for a fish. Sounds bad doesn't it?!

New Betta

I am a glutton for punishment. I brought home another crowntail betta from the store we bought Patriot from. We have had him for 3 days and he is much more active than "pale fish" but he does not have an appetite. I am feeding tiny meals (2x a day) to keep offering food and I think he may have eaten only one or two pellets over the 3 days. Not nearly enough. I even offered bloodworms and while Patriot eats them ravenously, this new fish lets the float there.


He is a very striking fish. This pet store kept them in plastic cups with dyed water (blue) so you do not have an idea of what there actual color is. I thought he was more white. Oh well. He is still very pretty! My camera cannot capture is true turquoise striped with white color. I have no idea why it makes him look green.

RIP pale fish...

My pretty pale fish didn't make it. He refused to eat for us. I was going to go to buy frozen bloodworms just for him and as I was getting ready to leave, he was down in his tank. Two hours ago he was swimming but ignored the pellet I gave him.

At least we tried to give him a chance. Now to clean out the tank before bringing home another...

Rescued Betta!

OK! Because I miss my white Betta, I did go out and set up another 1 gallon tank. Patriot is absolutely stunning and is doing very well, but I missed having my white fish. I have had the tank set up for a few days and have been on the search. It's a hard search. No whites to be found anywhere. But then again, Frosty was the first white I had ever seen in a pet store (actually Wally World).

So we went to BJ's last night up in Albany. There is a Petco in the same plaza. This is not my favorite store as I always find them over priced, cramped and not the cleanest. But, something told me to go in.

They had a small selection of Bettas. The most active fish I saw was a Crown Tail who was white bodied, black marbling and blue tipped fins. Different. They actually had several Crown Tails. But I was drawn to a pale, normal finned male. The fish associate was very busy and we are all chatting, so through conversation I provde that I am not a novice fish owner.

I asked the associate to look at the pale fish, and asked if he looked healthy to her. She gave him a water change and did inspect him and agreed he did not look the best. Since I had a tank ready, she offered for me to adopt him free of charge if I wanted to give him a chance!

So here is our pale yellow boy. We are unsure of a name - any suggestions??

The new addition!

Sorry folks, he's not a puppy. Introducing Patriot! He is a Crowntail Beta. Leonard bought him for me since we lost Frosty during the ice storm due to lack of heat. My friend, Julie, has a friend who is a fish enthusiast. He told her that most Betas sold are 6 months old. Seeing him in Frosty's 2.5 gallon tank, I can see that he is still a juvenile. He should be very impressive when grown.

This is a very bad picture of Frosty, but it is the best I had. I was incorrect on how long we had him. Going by my photo records, we bought him in August 2005, not 2004. So he was probably 3 yrs 10 months when we lost him. I guess he still had a good life for a Beta. I miss him... We may have to set up a second Beta tank and bring home another white.