Aquarium Acronyms

AC - Aqua Clear (filter brand)
BB - Beneficial Bacteria
BBR (or Kuroko) - Black Baby Ranchu
BBS - Baby Brine Shrimp
BS - Brine Shrimp
CBR - Color Baby Ranchu
CO2 - Carbon Dioxide
DIC - Dissolved Inorganic Compounds
DIY - Do It Yourself
DO - Dissolved Oxygen, or Dandy Oranda's (goldfish company)
DOC - Dissolved Organic Compounds
FBS - Frozen Brine Shrimp
FBW - Frozen Blood Worms
GH - General Hardness
Groom - Raising/Care of fish
GW - Green Water
HOB - Hang On Back (filter)
KH - Carbonate Hardness
LBBS - Live Baby Brine Shrimp
LFS - Local Fish Store
LPS - Local Pet Store
MMS - MetroMeds (antibiotic food brand)
NH3 - Ammonia
Nisai - A fish living in its second calendar year (translation: 2 years old)
NO2 - Nitrite
NO3 - Nitrate
NLS - New Life Spectrum (food brand)
Oya - A fish living it its third calendar year, or older (translation: parent)
pH - Potential of Hydrogen
Prazi - Praziquantel (anti-parasite medication)
Prime - Seachem Prime (brand of water dechlorinator), or a canister filter mechanism
Pump - The Growth/Fattening of a fish, or a type of aquarium filtration
QT - Quarantine
RO - Reverse Osmosis
Salt - Aquarium Salt
SG - Soilent Green (type of food made by Repashy Superfoods)
Shu - Shubunkin (type of goldfish)
SVR - Side View Ranchu
TMS - Tahitian Moon Sand (Caribsea substrate brand)
Tosai - A fish born in its current calendar year
TVR - Top View Ranchu
UV - In reference to a UV (Ultraviolet) Sterilizer
VT - Veil-tail goldfish
WC - Water Change

ECR Contest and Review

My betta Neptune in my Halloween ECR contest tank.

I recently participated in the EastCoastRanchu Halloween Giveaway on Instagram where I was one of several runners-up which meant that I won a pet shop grade ranchu however, it was not stated that we would be having to pay shipping costs for a ranchu which according to ECR's owner Cynthia was going to be $41+. Below you'll see the ECR contest rules.

Click Image to Enlarge ECR's Contest Rules

Unfortunately, I didn't agree with that because for one thing I'm not spending that kind of money on a fish I'm not picking out, and secondly I have spent around $50 total (if I remember correctly) on 1 fish I picked out. The other issue now is I can get a pet shop grade ranchu for $8-20 at an LPS less than an hour from me (the same place I got my previous 3 ranchu from). While I was super excited to have won a ranchu from ECR I am now left feeling disappointed. If I totaled up the full value of my entire betta setup (as seen above), it is very easily more money than that of the ranchu's shipping cost. On just the new decorations I spent to decorate this tank for the contest was at least $30.

Furthermore, I had other people on IG reach out to me about the shipping issue (since Cynthia made an issue about my ordeal with her shipping "mechanics" over social media which went as far as to say that we should have read her shipping mechanics on Facebook, and never once were we directed on IG to do as such for the competition). This person also sent me screenshots of their e-mail conversation and apparently if you didn't win a ranchu and you won a Python vacuum than you did not have to pay anything for shipping. Last I checked a gravel vacuum does not fit into an envelope which means it costs something to ship and therefore it seems to people in this contest that it was a better deal to not be a winner or runner-up. So this now becomes a bit confusing because on one hand we were to assume that a fish meant you paid for shipping while a non-fish prize meant you paid for nothing.

On top of everything I get a really rude e-mail response from East Coast Ranchu's owner Cynthia, and now I will no longer be doing or recommending future business there (you can read our email exchange below as to why). I really can't even believe that someone running a business would say that "my name is worth more than your $42" and suggesting that I am "poor" when I have purchased fish through her before. Nor was I ever "ungrateful", I was excited to win (you can tell from my email) just as much as when I was excited and appreciative in my unboxing ranchu video I did about 2 years back. She made a lot of weird rude assumptions about everything that I said, I really just don't even understand this aggressive type of behavior. I could easily say a lot of things right now about this but I'm going to let you decide for yourself what to make of it. All she ever had to say to my response about not wanting the fish was that she respects my decision and leave it at that, or she could have offered me the completely free gravel vacuum instead and offer my fish to someone else. If this was some great pet shop grade fish than why not just sell it like she does normally, or tell me that if I'm willing to spend an extra $8 or so more that she'll let me pick out whatever fish I want (this is a business after all, right?). I don't see how I am really inconveniencing her here (it's one less fish she has to send out after all), and she made this ordeal feel like a scam. This whole situation turned into a nightmare experience (fitting for Halloween).

Click to Enlarge

Click to Enlarge

There are other fish places online that offer $29.99-$35 for 1 to 2 day shipping of fish, or even free shipping when you spend $175. There are also plenty of other people selling quality fish online (cost is not an issue for me. I work on this blog in my free time between working a full time job and going to college). For me I am currently in fish keeping for the enjoyment of the fish not their show or breeding qualities. I have bred fish before and I know all the work that goes into caring/raising any type of fish, which is basically why I created this blog to begin with. I am here to try and better the fish community, and not to act as if I am above everyone else that is into this hobby as well.

Updates

Lately I seem to be having one aquarium issue after another as my Eheim canister filter had a leak after I cleaned it out because I didn't realize I had to turn the intake tube at the base of the canister in order to tighten it in place. So, a week of using many towels to absorb the water from the new carpet (also, Febreeze was a big help with any carpet smell issue) and the carpet is finally dry again (from now on I am keeping the canister in a container). Luckily I didn't go to Florida for the week or I would have came home to a bigger water mess. The other issue I'm having lately is finding a new algae eater locally so, I may end up calling one of my fish friends (whom I bred guppies for in DC) to pull some strings for me or.. I may make a road trip up to PA to find what I'm looking for. Something else I discovered recently was that I am pretty certain all my current ranchu (Sumo, Pocky, and Ramen) all happen to be a tank full of female fish. So, that's all the updates I have for now and I hope everyone had an awesome Halloween!