New Betta

Originally I was uncertain I would get another betta, but as I tend to follow a lot of betta forums and such.. I couldn't resist the urge to get another.

Hi, I'm Neptune!

Meet Neptune, a seemingly young male rose petal (AKA rose tail) betta. I got Neptune a few weeks ago from Petco and have put him through a mild quarantine, since he has surpassed that I decided it's now time to share my new fishy friend on here. Neptune doesn't seem to have a huge appetite (nor is an aggressive eater) thus far although a heater may change that, and what he currently lacks in body size (which may change overtime) he makes up for with his huge fin spread. Neptune flairs with a black background and has a big curiosity of the bubbles coming from the sponge filter in his tank. As far as betta personality's go he is just a curious mellow fellow.

Updates

It's obvious to see (blog stats don't lie!) that a lot of you have been missing my posts recently (and I've missed you all as well), as mentioned I have had a pretty busy summer full of lots of adventure, and basically living life.

Blogger Stats (click to enlarge)

So what's new...

I don't really plan on doing anymore goldfish weigh-in's until I have had my fish for a year (which is just around the corner!) just because I feel their growth rates have possibly been bouncing around a bit due to some feeder issues, food and water changes, etc. After that weigh-in is done I may take a break from the weigh-in's in general, and another reason for that is Pocky and Ramen both have swim-bladder issues and I don't know how much longer I can see Pocky go through this because some days seem worse for him than others. Aside from swim-bladder issues with these 3 goldfish I really haven't had any issues with any type of disease, illness, etc. so I feel what I have been doing for them has been working out for the most part.

I'd like to start caring for some other types of fish in the near future. Honestly all that the goldfish community has taught me and everything else I've learned (be it on my own or from general research) has in my opinion helped me become a better fish-keeper in general. I don't find there is a lot of valuable online information for tropical type fish (such as guppies, tetras, etc) as there is for fish like goldfish which is partially why I'd like to venture outside goldfish as I did back when I had guppies as well.

I also ordered some Guppy-Guide logo stickers off of my CafePress shop and they're pretty cute (I plan on getting a new 5 gal. bucket or something to put the sticker on). The "clear" sticker is transparent all over and not just the background color, while the solid "white" sticker is solid all over, and I wish only the background was transparent (*hint hint* CafePress, haha). Eventually I will get around to making some more products for the shop but feel free to follow my shop for updates on that.

I just started a new Instagram account just for this blog (you can find the link on here as well) and the old one will probably be for my personal use (which may get deleted). I opted to make a new one so that it could be made more public and be strictly more aquarium/blog/fish based and such.

Fishroom / Bedroom Makeover

My fishroom is also my bedroom and starting back around April this year I wanted to create a bedroom influenced more by my fishy friends. I didn't want an overly theme'ish room I just wanted something a bit more classy, modern, aquatic, feminine, and zen. As I continue to make adjustments to my room (because Rome wasn't built in a day.. I would know since I just came back from there) I will continue to update this blog post in the future.

Click to Enlarge Image

Bed, Bath and Beyond - Venice Grommet Panel Curtains "84 in White
Currently I don't see these in white or the length I bought these online but they're in store for $39.99ea. I bought 4 of these for both of my windows and with several old 20% off coupons I saved $8 per panel. I liked these because they have a vertical creased wave pattern with tiny dots that are like bubbles, and they're a smidge sheer with horizontal lines which gives a zen bamboo grass type of feel when the sun is out.

Walmart - Luck Adjustable Satin Nickel Curtain Rod
Originally I was going to go with a glass orb finials rod but when I saw this ginkgo rod I HAD to get it and these are actually pretty nice (although I ordered these off the WalMart site they're actually from Overstock.com). These worked well with the grommet curtains I got because they can be lengthened forward, which is important since grommet panels have wide folds that would otherwise get smooshed against the wall/window.

Target - Nautical Decor
I got these nautical pots ($1.78ea on clearance) and a Nate Berkus urchin awhile back. I also picked up a quilted scale looking throw pillow for my bed which was on clearance (it's cheaper than the scale looking pillows I totally loved by Caitlin Wilson.. but I may just cave and order 'em anyway, haha).

Green Front Furniture - Coral Lamp
My parents decided to surprise me with a gift/lamp from this local furniture store and it turned out to be much larger than they had anticipated (and it wasn't something they could return either). The lampshade itself was so big that I ended up finding a different shade at TJ Maxx. My mom had originally thought this was the lamp I wanted from Wolfe Furniture but that lamp actually had a goldfish on it rather than being made of coral (erk, memory fail).

TJ Maxx - Fish Decor and Lampshade
I picked up several decorative fish from here within the past few months, some of which were even on clearance ranging from $2.99 and up. I also saw a really cute seahorse I was going to get but I was too impatient to wait in line that day (if it was meant to be than it will still be around later). I ended up buying another lamp ($30 at TJMaxx) just so I could put a much smaller lampshade on it (because a 2ft x 1ft lampshade was just too enormous for my room.. or our house honestly), by getting this lamp it was actually cheaper than just buying a single lampshade.. but I'm not sure what we'll do with the extra lamp base because it's pretty retro (and not in a good way, lol).

So Long Meko

Back in 2013 I got my 3rd betta fish Meko, whom was a great fishy friend and was most like my beloved Mr. Moto. Sadly this week he caught 'dropsy' and didn't make it through the week during treatment. It has become apparent to myself that most adult sized betta fish from pet stores tend to live about 2 years (give or take). Several months back I had cured Meko from another illness and now in this case I do feel that his age had been catching up to him. I'm not sure if I will be getting another betta as I had been thinking of doing something else with his 2.5gal tank, but only time will tell. Much love Meko and hope you enjoy the big fish bowl in the sky.

Lionhead Progress (8th Month)

With Pocky's swim bladder issue becoming more noticeable over the past few months I do worry about his struggle in terms of health as Ramen seems to cope better with this issue in comparison. I do find it odd that both of these fish started showing swim bladder issues around the same time and yet Sumo seemed perfectly fine until this week. This could all be bad genetics which means some bred fish are more inclined to have issues such as swim bladder. I have tried changing their pellet food over the past several months now to possibly remedy this swim bladder situation because I really don't have time to be thawing and pre-soaking food to give to them several times a day in hopes that it may have a positive impact on them.

So this week I did purchase some new sinking pellet food by Cobalt and I am honestly hoping to get some results with this (in terms of swim bladder issues) because unlike the past sinking pellets I have tried (Hikari, New Life Spectrum, and Omega One) this stuff actually sinks as soon as it hits the water... there is no floating at the surface briefly and then it sinks, this stuff just straight sinks to the bottom. So in terms of keeping the goldies from gulping air at the waters surface (which in turn can have a negative impact on their swim bladder) this keeps the food under the water. Honestly I feel like after this many different types of sinking pellets for goldfish that if this doesn't help with their swim bladder problems (even a little bit) than I am pretty much done trying to combat the situation with diet. I do plan to do a more in-depth review of the Cobalt fish food in the near future just to let everyone know how it's working out.

It has been 2 months (roughly 60 days) since I did the last weigh-in for these fish (hope you didn't miss my lil trio too much) and they have had some pretty big weight gain results.

Pocky, Sumo, and Ramen (left to right)

Pocky is no longer that fastest growing of the 3 fish (due to issues mentioned previously) but he has managed to put on 18g (0.3g daily) regardless and now weighs in at 86g. Sumo has managed to gain 39g (0.65g daily) since his last weigh-in and is now 116g. Ramen has had the biggest weight gain with a whopping 49g (0.82g daily) which puts him at 121g.

Ramen

Below you'll find the goldies 8-month growth chart.

Growth Chart (click to enlarge)

Tetra ColorFusion LED Light - Review

As I was browsing through the fish isle of WalMart around the start of this year (which means this light is still working today after lots of use) I came across the Tetra ColorFusion LED light for around $20. This light clips onto the inner tank hood rim of the aquarium (cord has an additional clip to go around the side) and gradually rotates through several colors which allows you to pause the color rotation and keep the light on a shade of your choosing (and to turn it off you hold the button down).

2.5 Gallon Aquarium Setup with the Tetra ColorFusion LED Light

This LED light has 3 primary colors (blue, red, green) and 1 neutral color (white), and you also get a few various shades in between during the light rotation (purple, turquoise). This is a true led light so it brings out any metallic sheen, neon, etc on fish and/or decor (it's actually quite nice). This light in my opinion isn't that bright so I don't feel it would be enough to adequately grow plants (or cause algae growth) or use effectively on a large aquarium as this mainly makes for a nice night time aquarium mood light. This unit is waterproof which allows me to top off my little 2.5gal betta tank (pictured above). Overall I would give this 4/5 stars, and I'm going try this on my goldfish tank because mine don't really care for bright lighting.