octopusfilled

Old blue betta, I hardly got to know you. You belonged to the boy, but you were extremely gentle and always entertaining to watch. He owned you for two years and you brought him a happiness that will never be matched.. You will be missed. Rest in peace, old friend.

A day or two ago, I was peeking into "the shared tank" (it's a shrimp-only aquarium, situated at the boy's house.) wondering why none of the ghost shrimp had hatched out any babies. We had a few deaths after the initial purchase, tried and failed (miserably, I might add) to artificially hatch them using this method. In hindsight, we may have been a little impatient. Anyway, in the middle of whining over the possibility of the atyopsis moluccensis having a live snack, I spotted it. A little thing. A baby! Then another, and another! Three babies.. Hovering, floating, swimming? They almost looked like they were tethered to the plants, the way they move with the current. It was magical and ridiculously thrilling! Squealing with the most ultimate of stokedness, the boy and I fist-fived* and congratulated each other on being parents (of sorts). You can imagine how pleased my mother was when she was informed of her grandparent status. Too excited, forgot to take pictures, will get photographic to the max this evening. TL;DR --> Ghost shrimp had wee ones. Every day we see more of them, and another lady-shrimp is looking about ready to drop any day now. We feed them artemia food and baby brine shrimp. ..Hopefully I haven't broken any rules by posting this here! *fist-fiving/high-fisting is a collision of one open palm, and one closed fist. It happens when two extremely uncoordinated people try to give each other "props". Causes include, but are not limited to excessive excitement and unplanned celebrations.

+1 for AC! One of my (shared) tanks has an AC 30.. The little wheel that changes the.. Distance between the filter and the back wall. It used to rattle a little, but shoving some wool roving in there quieted it up a little. Happy it's working for you.

That's a radical idea, definitely better than cursing and scooping out the gunk after it goes everywhere. The more you know!

Sometimes you can find a few cans at Wal-Mart, but I think Hardware stores might have a better selection.. My local store didn't have any of the colors I needed, but.. I'm picky.

Oh no! I'm excited and a little nervous about what I'll end up with in a few short years.. Maybe even try saltwater eventually, but probably not for a while because that seems extremely difficult to maintain.

cainechow - It started out with an octopus-related gamertag I've had for a few years. Most other usernames have some sort of.. Cephalopod-type reference, but I like your interpretation much better than my boring back story! okotoks - Woah! Five.. Large tanks, or an assortment of sizes? I have a few little ember tetras, guitarritas, and two wonderfully fabulous bettas.. Though they are in separate homes. My favorite might be the vampire shrimp, even though he isn't exactly a fish..

That's a really simple yet clever idea that honestly never occurred to me. Fantastic!

nautilus - Just from reading through a handful (or six) of posts, I can see that this place is like.. a living library. senroc - I fully intend to expand my collection! It's so hard to choose, though. Phew!

I'm starting out on my own, for the first time. I've had aquariums that were supervised and controlled by parents before, but now I'm working on my own set up. Recently purchased a used 40 gallon all-in-one tank, and have absolutely no idea where to start with it, other than replacing the lights. Other than that, I have a heavily planted tank with a few fish and inverts. My favorite experiences might relate to the kind, informative, and passionate people that I've been able to meet in my quest for freshwater plants/fish/equipment. Excited to learn!