I have completed step 1.

Remember how I said I had 2 more things to do to finish this tank? Well, I got the shrimp. But since they are 4 dollars each, only 3. I have 4 more to get, and I will get them another day. These buggers are nasty expensive since the store that sells em knows they are the only stocker in the whole city! Here they are acclimating.
I named them, of course. I did it by color order. This photo here it handy because it shows them in cvolor order. So does the next one. Quirky little shrimp :3
From left to right, Van, Buggie, and Moose City.
Brightest being moose city, dullest being van!

 

Then, I noticed stupid little Viktor here was determined to eat 'em.  So as soon as they were out of the bag, I would scare him with a chopstick. So, hopefully the shrimp wont let him eat them. Lol. They are not scdared of him, and don't swim away when he comes after them. It worries me.

 

They seem to really like the rocks, and my mushroom! HURRAH!

P.S- Not so good news, I noticed this right after I let the shrimp out. A worm! I think it's a larvae. It looks and moves like one. Sorry the video goes hay wire after a few seconds. My dumb tripod collapsed.

Like I said in the last post, I am extremely pleased with my new set up. Here is how it looks now that is has cleared,

I also added this cute stone mushroom from goodwill on an obscure side. It is perfect there, and only visible from certain angles. It actually isn't tacky, and I love it!

And, I got a not so good video (my first try) of him getting air.
vid.

Plus, some great images of him shedding. First time I've seen them shed! Took him over 10 minutes, and he didn't eat the skin.

I think the last one is too adorable. He's wearing a little shawl!

Do you know what's annoying?

My bowl. I hadn't changed the water since I first got Viktor, so I went about to do a water change. I realized the plants were mostly messed up from the nighttable being shifted around so often, so I re-arranged them. Worst mistake ever. I ended up with a disgusting auqascape, and a half full bowl of cloudy water. Now, I have to dig up the whole tank, and start all over again. Say goodbye to that cycle I worked so hard on!

EDIT: Nevermind! Once the new water I got turned to the right temperature, I put it in the tank. Then, I put the filter back in. It wasn't complete, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I went online for inspiration, and found a tank with gorgeous silver gray rocks in it. I thought, hey, that's what I need! I pulled out some nice rocks I have from my office, and put them in the tank. The water hasn't settled yet of course, but, I really do like it! Much more then it was before too. So, hurrah!

I got the frog! CAUTION- LOOOOOOOONG POST

This is going to be incredibly long. I mean, incredibly long. There will be 14 photos, and numerous sections. I could split it up into sections, but, nah.
Today is Saturday.
I got Vik on Wednesday, on  the way home from school. When I went to Petco, I bought him for $4.50, and spent over 13 dollars on plants. I bought 3 plants actually, but they made quite a difference to the tank. I first arranged the plants into the bowl. This is how it first looked when I put them in. (Photos taken after putting in Vik.)

So now that the plants were put in (I don't know what kind they were. They were loose and potted plants. Not labeled.), I started to acclimate Viktor.

Once acclimated, he immediately went into his new pot. :3

But then, I remembered the whole point of me acquiring more plants, was to fill in the empty space behind the pot. I realized the aqua scape was actually quite awful, so I fixed it, removing Vik from the tank again and back into his acclimating cup for 5 minutes. Now, that the aqua scape was successful, it looked like this.

That night, I watched him swim, and hide behind plants.

(The random tubing is the c02 tube. I removed it from the rock during the aqua scape, and pushed the tubing  against the side / back off the tank.)
Then I turned off the light,
and let him be for the night.
The next day after school, I rushed home to make sure he was ok. Thrilled that he had made it through his rough day, I fed him. I cut out a cube from his food package I have to keep in the fridge, and I thawed it by placing it on top of my ridiculously hot lamp.

It thawed, I took a pair of tweezers, picked up a small clump of about 5 worms, and placed it in the middle of the bowl.I waited for 6 minutes for him to go to the food by it's smell. Being unpatient then, I picked up individual worm by individual worm and fed it to him by holding it in front of his face until he ate it.

My cat used to love watching George swim. Now, being used to an empty bowl, she paid no attention to it. But while I was out of the room, I guess him swimming up to get air caught her eye, because when I came back,

She's so cute.
Anyways, back to topic. I'd like to end this with some good photos of Vik so,

Gainsvelle

     I love coming to this city. I haven't done it in a couple years. I like to visit here, and endure the ridiculously long drive, just to be in the atmosphere. Anyhow, I passed a fish store and thought I'd go in. Quite boring for a fish store actually, but they do sell rams. I like them, but a little too pricey at 10 dollars a pop. So I headed over to a nearbye reptile and amphibian store to see what they have. A cute little 1 inch peninsula newt. I asked what they were and how big they get. Friendly, easy to feed, and adorable. They grow from 3-5 inches. So I think I'll have one in my 20 gal long.

UPDATE: The 3 gallon still has no nitrates and no nitrites. ARGH! But, screw it. I'm getting the frog  tomorrow evening when I get home. I got the lid, and the plants have settled in nicely. One is dying, but the other 3 are doing fab. The corkscrew even has a new plant, 3 inches tall at least. And another new one coming up. I'm very impressed!

I hate cycling

I hate cycling this tank. 3 weeks now, and still NO nitrates. Ugh. But, my ammonia levels are low, and I have a bunch of plants. So I'm going to get Vik next weekend. Oh, yes. Well, the frog I'm getting, as you know, I am naming Viktor Shroom Stroganoff. (First, middle, and last). It's annoying to say Viktor, as pronounced ViKtour. So from now on, it's Vik for short.

Fixing the tank

Remember how I put a crack in my 2.5 gal while trying to de-rim it? (My Dad still says it was a stupid idea. I beg to differ.) Well, I'm patching that crack. I went out to Shell Lumber today and bought a panel of glass to put on the inside of tank with some silicone. AKA~ Aquarium sealent. I'll get around to the actual doing it later. For now, I'm going to chill. I'm not using that tank now, nor will be in the near future. Or the late future. So, yah.