Transferring the molly

I'm transferring the molly I have over to a small, one gallon tank. The 3 gallon was disgustingly dirty, and I wanted to just start over with a nice clean little space for him until I start cycling the 20 gallon long sufficiently. (I decided to get a 20 gallon long instead of a 29 gallon.)
Here he is...

And here is a video of him swimming around in the tank. As you can see, there is no gravel at all, and I moved over the two marimo balls (which are floating because I just rinsed them out) and a branch of driftwood I gathered myself last summer in the keys.

...

The 3 gallon tank I am cleaning out, dumping the god-awful substrate, (I remember getting this amazingly expensive substrate which I ordered from a store located in California that had to ship it in from Japan. At first, it was the most amazing substrate I'd ever seen, but after a few months, it deteriorated, and would leave dust all over the aquarium. You're supposed to replace it every 6 months, but that it ridiculous, to be expected to tear up a planted tank entirely to replace it.) and setting up cacti.

My birthday was on Saturday, and my Dad took me to a plant growing place today so I could pick out my gifts. He got me about 6 cacti, so I could set up my own small terrarium like ones we had seen together in an art show. So once I finish cleaning out the glass tank, I'm setting these babies up in there, with my cacti potting soil and lava rocks.
Most of these were not labeled with a name... which is very frustrating since I do not know the exact lighting/  watering preferences, but most all cacti appreciate full sun and sparse watering, so that is what I'll stick to!

I got this chill purple & green one for the foreground... it's pretty cute.

 This little guy looks like a cubist painting. The leaves are fat and triangular shaped wedges. ( A snail snuck into my home on that leaf!)

This guy is going in the back left corner. He's spiky, and I love the light green splotches of light on him.

I know. I saved these puppies for last for a reason. I got three pink ones, and one yellow one. The color in this photo was not enhanced at all... they are just that bright! 

I can't wait to see how the terrarium plays out. 

Summer is coming, and where does it leave us?

The 3 gallon nano I had had a short life. It was beautiful for a while, and when I left on vacation for a week, trusting my family to turn on/off the lights for the plants as needed, they were left off all week. Almost all the plants died and had to be tossed. Overtime, stress and work in my world made my tank less and less of a priorety, until all the fish had died, except for one, and all the plants had died. Now, I have a barely ever fed, undergrown, sickly molly, and a tank full of fish waste and plant decay.
So what do I do about it?
I start over. This summer, I'm planning on setting up a new tank when I move into a larger bedroom. It will be a 29 gallon tank. I'll be cycling it with the molly inside, and I already have all the accesories and equipment. I have a strong, nice light, a good filter with carbon, and everything else. The stand I had been building is almost completed (it took me a year- but it's done!). All I have to do is coat it in a water resistant finish.
Until then, I'm moving the molly into an empty, one gallon bowl. He'll be fattened, and kept in crystal clear water until the 29 gallon is set up in two months.
Since no photos of the curved gallon tank were ever put up, as I never updated it, here is a video I took over a year ago at it's prime.