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.

The New Tank

For my birthday, May 26, I got a nice 50 dollar curved glass tank. It is 3 gallons, 7 or 8 inches tall, and just as deep. There is a lot of surface area, and it came with a filter and a (very blue) light.
Over a week, I spent 45 dollars on plants, and 30 dollars on Japanese Aqua Soil bought online.
It was extremely expensive, but worth it!

I set it up slowly, and over time, it cleared, and became perfect.
Now, I have a beautiful tank full of plants. The shrimp are redder than I have ever seen them, and my new adventourous snail (more on him in an upcoming post)John Paul is happier then ever, while he digs up every plant every day >.> 
Viktor has stopped singing nightly, and is not as active as he used to be. While he was in a large soup bowl over night the  day I was transferring them, he jumped out! I woke up with Viktor missing. I spent 10 minutes looking for him, and found him on the floor in a cardboard box. I threw him into the tank which wasnt ready for him yet, but what other choice did I have? So now, he is okay, but not as happy. He seems much more mentally impacted than physically. I doubt he will be ready for breeding him in July, so I will have to buy two breeders.
The only physical damage he suffered from the ordeal, is that his left hand has permanently shrunk up from drying out. It slightly hinders his swimming.


The tank is beautiful, and the animals are mostly thriving. When Viktor recovers, I will consider the tank perfect.

**Photos soon to come**

The Life of Tadpole Joey

I went to go explore/ catch fish in the canal and pond near my house. I saw nice fish, and a cute pair of adult fish guading their thousands of fry. But, all I caught that day was four of the biggest tadpoles I could find. I identified them as cane toads. I set them up in a jar of algae covered rocks from my tank, and they devoured it all within 15 minutes.
Over the time of five days, 3 of the tadpoles passed away, leaving me one. I named him Joey.

I kept him for weeks. His legs got bigger, and he had little arm stubs. So then I transferred him into my cracked 2.5 gallon tank, and set it up with a water and land part, so he could crawl out. I found him one day after school, a frog! He jumped around, and he was adorable. Only thing was, he hadnt grown his front legs yet! He fell on his face with every leap, and he formed his lungs before his arms. At first, he ate a few bloodworms. But then, he wouldn't touch any more. For 3 days he wouldn't eat, so I prepared to let him go. The day before Joey was to be released, he passed away. I buried the poor soul by Kavi, so he may live out his life in frog heaven.
**Photos to come soon**

RIP Buggie

Buggie has left us! Buggie, just to remind you, is one of the three musketeers. And just to remind you of who those are, my shrimp. Buggie died and fertilized due to a nitrate spark a while back, caused by a filter cartridge. You will be missed, little one.

The Dollar Weed

     Most of the people who live in a rainy or semi-tropical environment recognize a dollar weed when they see one, or at least not by the name. Well, when I saw this aquarium plant, I knew what is *really* was. So, I did a little research. I found it is seriously used as an aquatic plant, and goes anywhere from 100% submerged to 100% ammersed. Cool right? So i figured I'd try to grow some. It's odd how this is an insane weed, (see), but it's considered a high maintenance and very hard plant to grow. Lmfao. So I checked my yard for the little weed, and didn't find any. So I skated over to the park, which has a back grassy dip in between two mini hills. It's the back of the park, and no one goes there. The dip is full of weeds, So I call it Weed Valley. It's my secret little corner of the park. I went dollar weed hunting (its apparently called a whorled penny-wort in the aquarium community) and I had a hell of a time digging up a small bunch. I put it in my cute little Easter basket I use to hold hair bows in, and skated home. Then I used my extra supplies, my liquid water fertilizer, and my handy dandy jar to set up a nano of whorled pennyworth. I put it on my windowsill in full sun, so we'll see how it does! P.S~ Are you as obsessed with the aqua scape as I am? I seem to be developing a knack for this!

Viktor Loves to Sing!

     Not quite opera though. He sings an original song he wrote himself, "A super cute chainsaw rumble"  Yes my dears, Viktor, as of Monday, started mating calls! Monday night, he sang just a little bit, for about 5 seconds. Tuesday night he sung for a couple of minutes, and now it has increased so he'll sing at random intervals all the time, even during the day! Its weird for him to sing during the day because they are supposed to do it only at night. But my idiotic cutie pie sings in the middle of the day. It just always makes me smile. I cant record, since he doesn't do it for a long enough time in one go to get a good video. But this person did! His is lower pitched. My cute little manly man! Here is the video,

   

     Also, I invented a little cleaning device above. I cut out part of a sponge without any soap, that wasn't micro fiber or it'd fall apart, and didn't have any tough scrubbing strands that could scratch the glass. Then I folded it in half, stuck it on a thick wooden skewer, and hot glued it in place. I can now reach the hard to reach areas of my tank, AND clean the algea my shrimp refuse to touch, off the glass! Watch it in action.