I am on strike today. I’m not doing nothing. (Double negative, take that English grammar.) Fair warning: below is a personal post rambling about my fish tanks. No book information whatsoever.
Last Christmas Kid 2 gifted me a 10 gallon fish tank. It’s been 30 years since I had one, so I was a bit dubious about it, but I read up on fish keeping, watched some videos, and set it up.
I wanted a planted tank, so I got some plants and some rocks and let it cycle. Look, my anubia is trying to flower.
And a tiny shrimp.
Shortly after, while I was deciding what I wanted to put into my tank, Kid 2 called with a report that she was in Petsmart and there was a male beta fish that had to be rescued from his confinement in a tiny jar.
The sad beta was purchased and name Blaze in hopes that he would one day feel better and be his beautiful self.
Blaze is a very lazy betta. He is well fed. He has a lot of leaves to lay on and a little plastic hammock to sleep in.
Shortly after Blaze arrived, I had gotten another tank because I wanted to have neocaridinia shrimp. I put a few of them in Blaze’s tank to help with algae. Bettas are predators, but I thought they were too large for him to hunt. The shrimps had promptly decided that this environment was great for spawning.
Blaze is so lazy, that he doesn’t even chase after tiny baby shrimp. He is so lazy that it took me 10 minutes to get the video below because he just could not be bothered to swim. But I persevered.
It’s been 8 months now. Behold, Blaze, the most beautiful fish in the universe.
I mentioned that I have gotten the second tank. For my shrimp. You can see how Blaze’s tank is a beautiful, orderly underwater spot? That’s because at some point I realized that I needed to actually aquascape and redid it. The shrimp tank is still in its original form.
This is Shrimperton.
It is a lawless place filled with probably about 80 shrimp at this point. I’ve made every mistake I could: I overplanted, I planted without a plan, I bought random shrimp colors and put them all together, which means they are crossbreeding and slowly turning brown… I am giving shrimp away at this point, because they keep spawning. You do not want to see what happens when they get broccoli.
I am going to remake Shrimperton. I am going to buy a bigger tank, I am going to figure out how to set it up, and yeah. I just have complete decision paralysis when it comes to figuring out how to set it up. I keep looking at pretty videos and changing my mind. Meanwhile, my shrimp are multiplying.
Do you keep fish?
But does Blaze dance to ease your soul?
First!
#jazzfins!!!
Another Plus 1!
+1
+1
+1 The first thing that came to mind😄 🐠
+1!!!
+1
Totally! 😊
Add another +1!! I always wanted to keep fish. Maybe one day….
+1 for eternity!
😄🤗
Thank you for sharing, Ilona! Blaze is gorgeous and seems quite proud of his tail (and rightfully so!). 🤩
Plus one!
Bahahaha that’s awesome! I didn’t think of that and I just read Sweep of the Heart AGAIN… 😁
Shrimperton🤣 We made the same mistake with turtles. Have fun whatever you decide to do
thank you for sharing
Blaze is beautiful
No fish tank for me, thank you, too much work. I tried it once when my children were little and my oldest (three years old,) turned up the heat for the tank and cooked them all. That was my last attempt. Poor things, good that I’m out of it I guess!
My brother did this also!
Kool-aid will kill them too 😞
When my sister was 4ish she decided that fish needed clean teeth too, so she put toothpaste in her fish tank. Fish do not need toothpaste. Then we had to have a mass funeral.
Fish tanks are very pretty, but I can’t shake the memory of holding a 60 gallon tank from toppling over while half nekked in the middle of the night during the Northridge earthquake of ’94.
I love the balance you have of chaos and control with your two fishy environments. They will be the best cared for fish in the region!
the last pet fish I had, I “won” it at the county fair. this was decades ago. I put it in a large glass mug. my cat spent her days staring at the mug and swiping her paw into the water. no worries, the fish survived the swipes and eventually died a natural fish death.
You have peeked my curiosity about the effects of broccoli. We had fish when I was a kid, and they included guppies. An ever increasing number of guppies.
oh, the childhood memories.. as long as I had a few tiger barbs, no babies of any other species survived for more than five miliseconds 😀
and we definitely want to see the broccoli massacre! it’s halloween soon…
My roommate in college had a fish tank with a variety of fish in it. It was great for insomnia – I would sit in the recliner in the dark listening to the bubbler and looking at the blue glow of the tank light….zzzzzz
Good luck with the Shrimperton tank redo!
In my youth I worked at a large pet store in Cambridge. I learned a lot about fish, reptiles, birds, and various mammals. I did have several fish tanks in my life. The one I enjoyed the most was guppies and live plants, low stress. I too would save a beta when one of those sad lonely dudes in a cup called to me. I can’t remember ever seeing one as pretty as yours.
I love your tanks. Obviously, so do the shrimp.
Blaze is beautiful! Wow. My nephew has a huge fish tank and I feed his betas and catfish when he is on vacation. I find myself just standing there watching them, so mesmerizing and restful. I think every doctor’s office should have a tank And definitely Dentists need one!
An Oranda goldfish named Ed and mystery snails! The snails are very cool to watch, come in a bunch of colors. I was told that conditions had to be pretty perfect for them to breed, and unlikely to happen, HA! Baby snails everywhere all the time. Luckily Ed eats what fits in Ed’s mouth, so no overpopulation just a chonky goldfish.
I love your spirit so much! And Blaze and your tanks are awesome
Yes, I do, platies. I too went with a living landscape. Blaze is gorgeous. I like your wild tank
My cats are fascinated. They love to cozy up to the warm tank and take a nap.
WOW, your beta is really beautiful. I’ve never seen one with that kind of tail. I applaud your tank and how his laziness made him so very pretty. and the shrimp. That’s great. I had a tank when I was a kid and hated cleaning it with the passion of 1000 suns. Hated it. With all my heart. Yuck.
Shrimperton. That sounds like a name of a town in a future short story or book.
Blaze is beautiful. Love the music that went with Blaze as he’s escaping into the foliage.
Good luck with the ever expanding shrimp population and the tank they’re in.
Blaze is beautiful and lucky to have been rescued. Shrimp are funny little things. As I was reading about Shrimperton, I remembered Declan’s discussion with George. 😳
Blaze is beautiful!
Jazz fins!
I had a tank in middle school until I Windexed the exterior and caused the demise of my fish. Alas.
We sort of keep fish in our cattle tanks. We have put trout in there, catfish, crappie and I think now gold fish (these are contained, not river fed tanks and very large.) The hawks figured out there were trout in them and sat on the edge until the trout wandered close to the surface. Gulp and gone. The catfish got quite large. Huge, in fact. But some type of bird figured out the catfish also come to the top now and then. The catfish were plucked from the tank and picked clean. Catfish have very weird skeletons and it took us a while to determine that the catfish skeletons were not, in fact, chupacabra. Or sand demons. Or some kind of land shark/ferret cross left in the sand to threaten the cattle. So I’m not sure if we keep fish or not. We sometimes HAVE fish. We sometimes have skeletons.
😂 love this!
Hilarious 🙂
I really want some beta I adore them but right now I have 6 kids, 2 bunnies and too many plants. maybe when my kids are older.
can I has shrimp? I have cherries but how cool would it be to have shrimp fromy favorite author duo 🤣🤣🤣. I have room for more!
I know several people have said #jazzfins, but the beta fish shoild be filmed woth doothing music ! I would buy that video! 🎏🐟
also if you need to slow down the reproduction of the shrimp you can lower the temp!
When they get broccoli, so they make deathane gas and explode, lol? (That’s a references to Peaches in Montague and Strong series by Orlando Bloom)
Orlando Sanchez, not Bloom! I don’t know what happened because I was picturing the hellhound but Legolas just typed out of my fingers…)
*chuckle* Always a pleasure to have Legolas in my mind’s eye.
That is a gorgeous fish. Fish tanks, though…too much work. I guess the in between cleaning times can be relaxing to watch.
Had a goldfish when young, then kept a crayfish from nearby gully for a year, then released it to back where he came from, myself.
My mom kept a tank of fish for several years, that her guppies were prone to breed out, first with black spots, then to completely black, of these spotted and black ones she traded back to the pet shop for other fish she wanted to try.
Have been thinking of having fish for years, but the ones I want could be costly, would want more than one tank so to have saltwater also, and then there’s the cats to account for! It would mean at least a 30 gallon tank for a pair of seahorses, larger if I were to add more, and, and, and…! Wishes and captive bred seahorses!
Forgot to mention our pond that Had fish, koi and a few goldfish. Had the fish for 10 years until severe freezes and drought made it possible for the raccoons to take them.
In the house should be easier.
ooohhh in the top 40 🙂
of to catch up with the blog
I’ve always wanted fish, but ended up with cats instead. I’ve done so much research into aquascaping, tank cycling, plants, environments, salt vs fresh, the works… But when I actually pulled the trigger on a pet, the fish somehow grew fur, claws, and came with an endless supply of mischief.
Ironically, two days after I adopted the cats, someone in my apartment complex was giving a huge tank plus paraphernalia away for free…
Still love visiting the aquarium though.
My cats loved sitting and watching the fish. Only one tried catching them for a short time, but gave up when she realized the glass was never going away.
I had a beta for 4 years; sadly he died a couple months ago. I’m sorry to report that I took down the tank to make more room for yarn.
Blaze is absolutely gorgeous and I think Shrimperton is cool just the way it is.
Enjoy your lazy day—it is well deserved!
Pretty boy Blaze and his lazy video were nice and calming. Thank you! I especially needed it this morning because MY spawn is not reading TKWNKM, and said, “It would be hilarious if they are planning not to write the 3rd book to be like Latour.” When I regained the power of speech at that horrifying thought, I assured her that y’all would NEVER do that to the BDH… likely because you know we’d collectively detonate!
This resonates. My mom, 60, keeps fish. And shrimp. She had a beloved beta fish to keep her population of smaller fish in check. He couldn‘t be bothered. At one point she had about 8 different aquatic containers, because she began separating male, female, younger and older fish…she is slowly reducing things now…
She keeps one langer container in her music room, where she teaches the violin to her students. The shrimp like Vivaldi and come to the front, when her students play well. They hide, when the students need to practice more. The students love them and several have gotten into the fish game, too.
My mum grew up in a time, when the kids in East Germany built small train tracks and elaborate landscapes on large wooden boards. The trains ran with electric Power. There were artificial mountains, towns, tunnels, etc. After she grew up, there never was space for such a large board in the flats we lived in as a family. I think building underwater seascapes and enjoying the lively antics of the fish is the evolution of playing with trains.
what, the fish know when the students practice?! how awesome—would never have guessed! lol
I had various fish tanks for many years. I enjoyed my neon tetras the most because they were so pretty and schooled together. One time I cluelessly added a frog to the tank. I don’t remember what kind it was, but I discovered it liked to eat fish when almost one fish a night would disappear. I caught it in the act after a couple weeks, I was so sad and mad. Not too long after that, the frog disappeared! I didn’t do anything to it lol, but a year later I found a dried up frog in the next room when I moved out of the apartment.
I do have a fish tank! I organised myself one for my 40th birthday this year – I’ve got cardinals, peppered corydoras catfish, and one female dwarf gourami, plus a fluctuating number of shrimp. I do love a fish tank, though it has been a struggle at times. I’m contemplating getting another fish tank, but to do so I’d need to sell my bookshelf, so we will see.
Blaze is gorgeous. I’m impressed with your plants. I could never get mine to last long, let alone grow and try to bloom. I gave away my tanks years ago, but I did enjoy them for many years. Glad you’re having some fun!
Does Tuna or Batty have an opinion on Blaze?? He is a very handsome fish, for sure.
Wow! Blaze has the hugest tail I’ve ever seen on a Betta! Whatever you’re doing with either tank it all seems to be thriving.
Today’s a great day to be lazy. I have stuff to do…but I’m not. I blame it on the shortening of the days and fall weather. I’m sticking with that excuse! Ha!
I used to have a very large fish tank. I inherited it and knew nothing about fish tanks. At some point, I decided my enjoyment of it was very much outweighed by the aggravation of cleaning and maintaining it. I gave up on it and got rid of it. Years later, I found out part of my aggravation was due to the type of fish I had chosen. They were pretty and big… and produced loads of poop. It was the biweekly poop-calypse. I had to get a second tank to temporarily hold my fish while I cleaned the big one, a special faucet attachment so I could easily drain and refill the tanks, etc. My “de-stress” water feature turned into a stressful money and time pit.
I have zero interest in any hobbies which require regular chores and maintenance. I have 3 wonderful doggos, and they are allocated all of the time I have for that. Anything else must be super easy such as reading or gaming 🙂
Love the fish story! I don’t have fish. My son wanted fish at one time but I told him he would have to take care of them and somehow we never got fish!
My animal project is to try and get my mini schnauzer used to the electric clippers so I can clip off his growing dreads. You can’t even get within two feet of him with scissors. Even if I sneak them, he hears when I open them and he is gone! He at least tolerates the clippers getting close to him.
Have a great day doing nothing!
Well! I have 3 planted aquariums a la Diana Walstead’s “Ecology of the Planted Aquarium”. They are all big (125; 90; 37 gallon). They all have a 1 – 1.5 inch layer of yard dirt with a layer of 2-3 mm rock on top and lots of plants. They are all placed in front of a window. The oldest is the biggest and was set up in 2008.
The bigger the tank, the less maintenance. the first month I changed the water every 1-2 weeks. Then about one water change a month for the rest of the year. Now it is about every 8 weeks.
Your library might have the book. The chemistry and botteny was good, but the last part of each chapter was practical applications.
Remember, a bigger tank is easier to maintain!
I love how Blaze shakes his tailfeathers! He’s got style.
i do not. my dad is allergic to everything with fur or feathers, so as kids, fish were the only pets we were allowed to have. and when what you really want a dog or a cat, fish just don’t cut it. i have no desire to ever deal with fish again. now that i’m an adult i have dogs and i love them. they make me happy and thats what counts. if fish and shrimp make you happy, then by all means! maybe if i could have a talking octopus as a pet i might get interested. (i’m watching Resident Alien right now…)
we had fish. I got tired of keeping the tank clean, plus they kept spawning and we ran out of people to gift fish to.
Blaze is stunning. I had a sweet little girl betta but she died (my fault). My nerite snail however has been going strong for nearly 6 years. I rehomed her a few months ago when I thought I was going to move and the guy who took her was astounded at her size and age.
Shripwrton ahahahahahaha
maybe buy a less lazy beta fish, that will keep your shrimp numbers incheck?
Blaze is gorgeous! My family used to own a lawn and garden with a pet shop. 30 regular tanks and 4 giant tanks. Cleaning was crazy!!
I am in the seemingly small percentage of people who are not madly enamoured by fish tanks – I often find the lights and sounds headache inducing.
Not a problem you might think except both my brothers are big fish people. My middle brother kept corals (he was part of an organisation), youngest still keeps a freshwater tank.
Middle had a big clam I enjoyed seeing and a seaweed blenny I adored and named Dragon much to his dismay (fish were a byproduct, it was all about the corals so were never named, even the clownfish!) but I loved him, he was so cute ‘kissing’ the glass 🥰 and he had a second tank that was shallow like a rock pool with waves that I preferred far more to his massive one. Both tanks are gone now, life got in his way.
Youngest is still active but considering letting it go when his last fish die and isn’t buying any more.
Fish tanks, particularly larger ones, are a lot of work and money, not to mention if illness strikes or a fish becomes aggressive then you can be looking at heartbreak too. But if you love them and can afford it I know my brothers both think they’re worth it.
As I think @Raye was implying….Was Blaze your inspiration for the Oomboles? Because that is exactly how I imagine their jazz fins shimmered!
The Oomboles came way before Blaze, so couldn’t be 🙂
I refuse to be tempted! I’ve had tanks etc… but they are work that I don’t need… the wildlife in my garden, and the dog and my son’s birds will just have to do
Congratulations on your aquariums. You deserve praise on your efforts. It isn’t easy to keep the fish and other marine life forms thriving. I have never been able to keep any alive for more than one week.
Our family had a community tank when we were kids. Our dad had set it up – I don’t remember a time without it, actually – and taught us to take care of it (mainly me at first, as the oldest). Dwarf gourami, cardinal tetras, guppies, and a kuhli loach. Later we added a betta.
A friend of my mom’s gave us a 30 gallon tank with her four fairly large, fancy goldfish. Those lived to be pretty old. Around the time I entered high school we started keeping sea horses. My last couple years in high school I worked at the local pet/aquarium store, and got very familiar with other species as well.
I stick with fur kids as an adult, but still appreciate a well-kept aquarium.
Oh, forgot the black mollies, angelfish, and one swordfish in the community tank. When Dad was into something, he was really into it. The cardinal tetras and dwarf gourami were my favorites though, and they’re always the first ones I think of. And the guppies because there were *a lot* of them, and we set up a separate tank of them for a science fair project. And the kuhli loaches are just so bizarre looking that they make an impression.
As a kid, my oldest sister had kuhli loaches that were mostly calmly hung out at the bottom, but they would zoom around the gravel whenever the car engine noises came on in Billy Joel’s “Movin Out” (on the record player to date myself a little!) We thought this was hysterical as kids (only later did it occur to us that they were likely stress zoomies).
Those tanks are 10 gallons?? They look like they’re at least 30! They look huge! Is my perspective that off??
Also Blaze is the prettiest baby betta boy that ever was. It’s true.
And I now want tiny shrimp. For. Reasons.
It’s been like 20 years since I had fish. I miss them. Tho if I buy anything soon it’s liable to be a reptile or jumping spider for my youngest bc she’s obsessed.
……
I WANNA SEE WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY GET BROCCOLI! 🥦
Other than that, no, I don’t keep fish. I had a few goldfish growing up, but the fishbowl had an open top and my mom kept leaving my bedroom door open, so the cat would come in knock the fishbowl over to get the fish. It was not optimal for the cat or the fish. Or the carpet. Or anyone or anything, really. I had to give up keeping fish.
Blaze is very pretty and I’m glad he has a good home.
I looove planted tanks and I want one with a betta! But looking at aquariums gives me terrible motion sickness somehow… so instead I admire on the internet. So cool that you have one!! thanks for sharing 🙂 love it
I used to, but I reached 75 and have no pets at all anymore. So I like looking at yours. Thanks for sharing.
I used to race betta fish from eggs. give him a little mirror. he’ll think it’s another fish and and get his exercise displaying. that is one of the most beautiful fish I have ever seen.
I used to keep beta fish when I was a teenager. Got kinda sad each one died, as they live only 4 years (sometimes 6).
Btw if you want to film another video, you can try putting a mirror in front of him(just for a bit) so he displays his fins. I used to do that when I wanted to check if the fins were ok or not (sometimes they get diseases where the fins rot and you can see holes – but only when they display them – that happens when you buy them from a place that did not clean the tanks properly or the water was not changed regularly).
Hmmm. When you said you give shrimp away, I am afraid my first thought was: “Do you include a little tub of cocktail sauce with them?”
So I would have to say that I am definitely not a “fish tank” kind of person. Really big fish in giant tanks at public aquariums, okay. Otherwise not.
I did have a collection of seashells when I was a teenager that included some dried starfish and seahorses. The seahorses were kind of neat … until our black part-Siamese cat discovered them and decided they were crunchy, salty, delicious cat treats… To be honest, I always felt that an aquarium containing little fish or even wavy plants of any kind would just be a cat disaster waiting to happen.
I got a 2nd hand 20 gal tank and was given four guppies and they exploded! Every 2 months I was on the local FB page offering free guppies. After two years I got tired of changing the water, filter, etc. and passed it all on to someone else. Sometimes I miss sitting with my tea watching fish swim around but I don’t miss the constant sound of the filter and worry if the heater is malfunctioning.
Good morning everyone
My grandmother and my mom co-owned an aquarium shop when I grew up. So I spent most of my free time there earning my pocket money there, in between marine fish and freshwater sting rays until I had finished my university’s degree. We also had an aquarium at home instead of a TV. Worked well for my sister and me. When my grandmother retired and sold her shop some years ago, I felt obligated to keep some aquariums. So now I take care of my 900 liter saltwater fish tank while my husband looks after our 120 liter freshwater tank. I think it’s a lovely hobby and not too labour intense if set up well. Blaze is lovely indeed. If you get him a lady love or two, he would move more and you can watch them building foam nests and taking care of the babies. It’s fun to watch. Both Bettas and shrimps do well with other fish, as long as it’s not Guppy (Blaze wouldn’t tolerate someone else with almost as pretty fins as him) or freshwater puffer fish (would possible nibble his fins and certainly eat all shrimps), and combining them with othe fish would reduce the number of “surviving” shrimps and baby fish to a healthy equilibrium. The bigger the tank the smaller the workload usually is, as the “chemistry” of a tank gets more stable and it allows you more room to set up a tank that looks closer to a natural environment. My favourite landscaping style is still the Amano aquariums. But this takes a lot of landscaping work. I think the Betta tank worked out nicely and Anubia are such rewarding plants.
Greetings from foggy Switzerland
WOW he is beautiful
I love your tanks! I have 3 aquaria: a 2.5g blue neocardina shrimp tank, a 10g tank with the laziest honey gourami and red cherry shrimp, and a 20 gallon with cherry shrimp and hilarious julii corydoras and some hillstream loaches. It’s a lot of fun.
omg you should totally put blaze in Innkeeper lol but as a normal fish not the pretty dancing fish and then one of the dancing fish visits and it very confused lol
He is very pretty
lol.. no fish for me but love seeing other peoples… I love all the green & wild!
Thank you so much!!! 💖🙏 This brought me pure joy! I miss having my tanks. And please bring on the broccoli! 🙌 Blaze is the most beautiful fish and the luckiest. So are the shrimps!
I am forwarding this to my daughter who loves both aquatic plants and animals ☺️ I am confident she will finally read your books that I’ve been recommending for ages based on this write up alone. Your mind is a beautiful place, thank you for sharing it.
Omg!! I’ve been watching terrarium videos on YouTube for years. Finally have my own place and got two 10 gal tanks used online. Have one of them almost done with its first water cycle.
I too did not make a plan. Sadly, I have too little plants. So will be fixing that before I get any fish.
I had a betta once. His name was Fred The Fish.
It was years ago though. I wanted a pet in college. He had a 2 gallon tank and plastic decor and he was a pretty blue and red.
We keep Shubunkin goldfish. They look like mini Koi and are very forgiving of my poor fish keeping skills.
so, have you seen the tiny water frogs yet? about 3 to 4 inches total. there are 2 kinds, one ugly, one cute. the cute ones chirp at night. if you have an air stone, they play in the bubbles stream. how cool is that? and to Heather, our souls are eased by their dances. :)😇
I have a 120L tank that went through multiple iterations. First it was 30L, it broke. Then 60L which broke all of a sudden with no reason in the middle of the night. i just woke up from my hubby screaming “Fish! WATER! Save!”. It was funny how quickly we can scrap the fish from the ground.
Now I have mainly guppies which come in all colours, a couple of bottom-feeders and a lot of plants. I actually need to aquascape soon, it is becoming a jungle in there.
My cat loves watching the tank, I call it cat TV.
Sidenote: you haven’t seen molly’s and how fast those fish multiply…worse than guppies.
My brother gave my kids a fish tank one Christmas in retaliation for the incredibly noisy toys we kept sending his kids. They picked out the fish for it — all WAY to exotic for our skills and thus destined for short lives. Pretty while it lasted. And we loved the neon tetris fish which survived far longer than the really exotic ones.
OMG, I had no idea a betta fish looked like this! So frilly and fancy! He’s worth showing off.
If you want to make Blaze less lazy, put another tank with another betta within his eyeshot.
I don’t have fish tanks, because my mom did when I was growing up. What a PITA! But she made the mistake of putting a large variety of fish breeds in. Her two Oscars (Oscar and Mayer) ate every other fish in the tank. When Oscar ate Mayer, Oscar was given away. He was HUGE!
We had fish for years- finally decided that while they were soothing and pretty to watch, they also were more work than my energy levels could handle. As they died off, no replacement and empty tank donated to kid who realized he didn’t have that much time either.
My favorites were always betas! Next was couple of angel fish for Christmas- the cat fished one out of the tank and another was found on floor- despite having a cover (smart cat). The goldfish were fun and went outside in pond when they got too big for tank. Still see them lurking there- about 6-8 in long.
So in conclusion-fish are fun but a lot of work! One tiny tank for beta is manageable .
I love the fact that you are not toilet stuffing them to thin the herd. Many years ago, I had 3 17 gallon tanks. I started with a mated pair of discus in each tank. They both started laying eggs…hundreds. So I rescued the eggs and after they hatched, I would feed them baby shrimp and super minced calves heart. When they grew a little larger than a quarter, I sold them to several fish stores and pet stores. they paid me well enough to pay for my first 18 months of college. Enjoy your tank, as after seeing yours I am thinking of getting a tank again, (go big or go home).
Im not far from you in Texas
That is so cool you have real plants, I can’t usually find any. But I have a 100 gallon
“tank” above ground I had 3 goldfish…one died from heat last summer, and one of them had babies… i had to find homes for over 30 babies…but one was black, and I couldn’t catch it like Night Dragon… and did you know they start out as black…and it turned orange this year! its about 3″ long. So I have a calico fantail I got tiny from Petco,–now 3″ long and a white one I got at a bait shop, and the now orange one that was a baby. I should only have two fish in 100 gals.. and its full of poop in the bottom. I have to clean it out, and start over, I have lillies and other bog plants. The water Freezes in the winter, but they still survive, but I bought a cast iron water heater.
I used to have a beta named Pixel. And he was a voracious hunter. He killed everything I tried to put in his tank. Even fish 4 or 5 times his size. Alas, he was meant to be a loner in life I guess? He lived only a few years but he was a gorgeous fish. I loved him, despite his propensity for violence. 🙂
He is just beautiful!
But I could not see the shrimp.
Ooooooooooohhhhhhh, pretty fishie!!!!!!!!!! 😍💕💕💕💕💕💕💕 I have never seen a beta like that’s: he’s gorgeous! I don’t have a fishtank, but I remember loving my Dad’s tropical fish tank when I was a kid.
It’s so peaceful sitting and watching the fish. Enjoy!
3 tanks: 30, 40 & 50 gallons upstairs. downstairs 150 gallon tank downstairs with koi which supports the mini aquaponics system growing lettuce, chard, basil, lavender and peppers. ALL of the fish are now family members. Even the aggressive midas cichlid (a rescue) who lives alone due to murderous tendencies.
Ooh – your aquaponics system sounds amazing!
I had fish a long time ago. I had a catfish I caught, little thing, injured from trying to swallow my lure, which was half his size. When it seemed better, I asked my boyfriend at the time to release him back into the wild. Later I found out he stuck him in a friend’s tank with an oscar “to see what happened.” (what happened is oscar are also predators, so it killed and ate it) Never had fish again. Still hate that man.
Your tanks are beautiful! I have several as well…
110g cichlid tank with a bunch of gorgeous bullies 🙂
2 20g planted tanks because 1 is never enough! Made the same mistakes as you did and one of the tanks is overrun with shrimps as well! Luckily, I still have some bright blue and a couple yellow. The reds are long gone.
Another fishkeeper! We decided to have community tanks with many fish (1 freshwater and 1 saltwater). We also have a shrimp & snail tank and it is soothing to the soul
Wow – Blaze is magnificent! I got a 29 gallon aquarium during COVID, and had three beautiful African cichlids. Until one day, sitting in my chair next to the aquarium, I was shocked to realize that I suddenly now had many, many more cichlids. Surprise! I wasn’t sure if the fry would make it as I am a novice. They are all (25 of them?) hearty and hale, and now live in a 75 gallon tank (with a beast of a pump that was a worthwhile investment). I call them calicos – they are a beautiful orange/black. My 29 gallon now houses harlequin Rasboras and black neon tetras.
I had a tank 40 years ago. Just goldfish, but they kept dying on me. I eventually gave up.
30 years later my oldest daughter tells me the she and her brothers used to stick their hands in the tank all the time when I was out of thevroom.. and that’s why I could not have fish.
Planted tanks are addictive! I fell into the rabbit hole and at one point had five planted tanks in my first grade classroom one tank was just for crystal red shrimp and I started out with regular red and white ones and then I started breeding the super fancy ones that have a lot of white on their bodies and some red I think once in a while I got a solid white, but that was unusual anyway it was so much fun but when I retired, I couldn’t keep all that work for the tanks going and moving them all to my house and tanks are heavy when they’re full of water and I live in a condo so that also made me nervous for the people below anyway I love seeing your tanks. Look at the crystal red shrimp and see what you think they do require extra minerals and care but it’s doable!
I do have fish, but I can only really keep guppies alive. I have a colony of guppies for about 8 years that all finally died out. The tank was empty for a while but after we lost the last of our elderly pets early this year my daughter and I got some more guppies. After some trial and error (and a batch of pet store fish which all died) I now have 2 males, a gaggle of females, and hopes that after the spawning which netted me the 10 females in the tank now that they will continue to thrive. I’ve never tried plants, but I kind of want shrimp now. I miss betas, we had some years ago but they generally don’t do well with other fish.
Yes-I keep fish. It’s like chips, you can’t have just 1. I currently have a sorority of female bettas. Love it!
We gave up after our little silver fish, Felicia, decided the tank was only for her and went on a murder spree of all the little tiger fish. She was supposed to be friendly. -_-
In college, my friend (now a marine biologist) set up a massive saltwater tank in her dad’s living room and built a mini barrier reef quality ecosystem. She even had a Mantis Shrimp! And that little guy liked putting on a show doing his little pocket explosion punches.
I love a good walstad method planted tank!! And shrimp are the best little buddies to watch. Currently, I am experimenting with a dirted planted pond. It is going so – so :p the algae are in over drive and the plants I try to get to grow on the surface and block out their light keep getting torn apart by playful and lawless wild raccoons.
My husband’s undergrad degree is in ichthyology. We have so many fish. Three tanks right now, two planted. I accidentally received a female fry Endler’s Livebearer in my shipment of Japanese Blues and didn’t notice her until it was too late. My Endler tank is overrun. I bought some fish that were said to eat fry, and they definitely don’t.
aquariums are such a peaceful 😊 enjoy the journey.
We have always had fish tanks and small ponds I gave up on koi because the herons, egrets and raccoons eat them My pond is not deep enough so they can hide. My husband built a cover of chicken wire and pvc pipe to cover it That worked on the birds but raccoons just picked it up. I now keep it stocked with mosquito fish, feeder goldfish and minnows. I love going to petsmart and rescuing feeder fish. I have a 50 gallon tank in house with three very large angels and a bunch of glow fish. I used the Plant This app to take a picture of angels and it identified them as common duckweed. There are no floating plants in aquarium
Lovely Blaze is not lazy. He is over bred. His long flowing fins, as beautiful as they are, are too long and heavy for him to swim quickly or far. They offer no help with propulsion in the water, only lots of drag. A Google search for wild beta fish will show a fish with fins that contribute to speed and maneuverability while swimming.
His fins do make him an ideal plant aquarium resident.
THIS. I once rescued baby guppies of unknown heritage that ended up having continuously-growing, ridiculously over-sized tail and dorsal fins when they matured, which eventually led to deformed spines… 😢 (Nothing like the pet trade to emphasize humanity’s propensity to meddle with genetics merely for appearances while totally ignoring an animal’s welfare.)
Much appreciation to Blaze’s rescuers, though, for giving him a beautiful and appropriate home!
Long, long, long ago, there were assorted fishies in a giant fish tank …..
No shrimp, though. Just fishes.
Goldfishes, assorted.
And — after the Giant Frog Incident — a pair of koi.
Blaze is indeed very pretty!!!!!
My dad kept lots of fish but the only ones I remember were a snake fish (which I think is really a readfish?) and the piranha – they cured me of ever wanting fish! However, seeing your beautiful beta makes up for those particular memories.
no fish or tank pets but when I was a kid my parents had large tanks with Oscars, suckerfish, and a houdini-esque salamander. Had a couple of beta fish as a teen (who lived in the little bowls with gravel and fake frond they used to give them – they definitely did not luck out on interior decorator and real estate agent).
I used to go to a dentist who had a large tank in the corner of his office. A good distraction when undergoing fillings. He also had a few spectacular plants in the waiting room. Whenever he had to change the aquarium water he used it for the plants. Interesting office ecosystem.
Had a 30 gallon tank for forever until I realized I was getting too old to cart two mostly full 5 gallon buckets out of the house during water changes. Probably should have kept it up since my upper body strength is not what it used to be.
My favorites were tiger barbs; especially the green ones. They were long-lived and basically indestructible.
I have a 50 gallon tank doing nothing in my basement. All you have to do is come to Colorado and pick it up!
Actually, I think it’s a 30 gal. Got rid of the 50s some years ago. I loved having fish, but got to the point where my travels were messing with the comfort n of the fish. So I gave it up. Maybe, someday….
Blaze is gorgeous! And I love the comment “jazzfins”! I am dazzled by this fish. So glad Blaze the Lazy got saved.
if I had a tail like that I’d be so obnoxiously full of myself!
I have 2 tanks-one of which I am slowly cleaning out to get rid of. However, when I started…. 4? years ago? I bought 5 shrimp. Also various colors.
I haven’t had to buy shrimp since.
I always wanted fish growing up and my Mom always said no. Even though when SHE was growing up they regularly had a wide variety of animals – often ones that were rescued. But now that I’m an adult, I no longer have the energy to care for fish. Keeping the tank clean since like a lot of work lol. I have cats and kids. I also work in healthcare. So I’m at my limit for keeping things alive lol.
That is awesome!
We no longer keep fish. We have a dog (a black chiweenie). If you put Blaze in with those shrimp, he may solve that problem for you, or at least make a hole in it. Don’t do it the other way, or you may wind up with two shrimpertons.
Blaze is a handsome boy, laziness notwithstanding. Shrimperton is … yeah, bit of a jungle.
I haven’t had a fish tank since I was a kid- we had one with tetras and gourami and glass catfish and (briefly) an African clawed frog, until he started eating the tetras and we got him his very own tank. Never tried shrimp. Have fun!
I currently have a 5G guppy tank at my desk, but at one time used to maintain multiple tanks.
Maybe Blaze needs a friend. I used to have male betta (one at a time!) living with chill fish like corys.
I also made the mistake of breeding larger shrimp and they tried to eat my betta, so ended up with my own Shrimperton. Betta got moved into a new tank with nicer friends.
Your tanks are lovely. It is hard to have good looking low tech planted tanks so you should be really proud of yours.
I’ve had tanks on and off most of my life. My most recent tanks have been smaller and bettas and shrimp are favorites in these tanks. I currently have a koi pond and am loving the koi hobby. It is addicting and a lot of work (I just spent 3 hours cleaning filters and doing a water change – the waste water is used to water my entire backyard and my plants love fish poop water). They are massive and colorful and hungry-friendly. My smallest koi are ~20″ and the largest is well over 2′.
I stole a 7 inch long goldfish from my son’s ex. His name is Gunther D. Fish and he and I wiggle together every morning. Gunther is still in a to small tank because his big tank is cycling now. I don’t keep fish, but now I have Gunther who is a hoot.
I used to have a beautiful blue-green-black beta named Sushi (truthfully). I kept him at work, and he was a pellet snatcher. If you didn’t drop the pellet after a couple seconds he would come out of the water and nip your finger. I got some good chuckles letting people find that out, they acted like a small fish was going to eat their finger off. 😆
I’m on my 4th betta right now in my home library aquarium.
The first thing was Thoth. After his time came, there was Atlantis. Following was Neptune. And now we have my current betta. I couldn’t think of a name when I first brought him home, so he has the temporary moniker Steve. I tried out several names, and nothing worked, so he’s still Steve. Steve is a zippy little dude with a very small zone of comfort. Steve has many a snail neighbor… (Thoth ended up with a pair of assassin snail friends due to the pest snail population) Steve doesn’t care about snails. It would sometimes be great if Steve would appreciate a meal of baby snails. But no, Steve prefers I stay on top of pest control. I’d love more assassin snails… but found out it’s illegal for pet store to sell any type of snail in my state. It’s too cold for me to order assassins through snail mail. I must continue being a snail assassin while Steve watches from inside his TARDIS.
Clown loach love snails, but they require a much larger tank as they grown big. 100 gallon minimum is usually suggested.
I must confess that I googled if that kind of shrimp is edible.
My daughter bought a tank but it was too much work with her babies so, I was gifted a fish tank sans fish but with SpongeBob accessories. I bought some guppies. I bought guppies from the same tank, having asked if they were the same sex. I didn’t have too many guppies for my size of tank. I was good. They were lots of different colours. Then I got eggs. Then I had to buy a second tank (bigger) because now too many guppies. Then I had babies and some survived being eaten but now I had a spare tank so I bought two beautiful black goldfish (from the same tank). After a week I had one goldfish and a skeleton. My guppies lasted years until they were all the same sex, all black/orange, then got old. My one goldfish lasted a long and lonely life being called Hannibal. I sold the tanks.
Fifty or so years ago I had a fresh water fish tank in an apartment. Nothing spectacular but when changing the water I saved the old water and used on my indoor plants. Do people still do that? Healthiest plants ever. Hey, Blaze is living his best. Love your work.
What a weird coincidence- I also have a betta that I picked up about a year ago after a hiatus of ~30 years, and it also sent me sliding down the rabbit hole of planted tanks and multi- tank syndrome.
Unlike Blaze, however, my Pazuzu, named for the Babylonian spirit of Death and Destruction, is both highly predatory and very serious about being the only sentient thing in his glass kingdom. Given his reaction to pest snails and baby brine shrimp, I can only assume that neocaridinia would find life alongside Zuzu nasty, brutish, and short.
Partly for that reason, my second tank ended up being a 17 gallon cube with celestial pearl danios, a hillstream loach (probably my favorite fish, aside from zuzu), and a single male clown killifish who utterly terrorized his fellow killis (male and female) to the point of death, but, on his own with unrelated fish, is a model citizen.
Then there’s the little seven gallon bookshelf tank where the surviving clown killi refugees are now happy as stripy little rocket ships can be.
Finally, I liked the small bookshelf shaped tank so much that I sprung for a bigger one that sits along the whole back edge of my desk. It’s 39” long, but only 11 gallons and home to a school of a dozen chili rasboras. I originally meant to transfer the killi refugees to it as well, but everybody seems so happy where they are that I just can’t pull the trigger.
Stuff I’ve learned so far: 1) longer, shallower tanks are way easier to plant and maintain, and most fish prefer them.
2) The exception to #1 is Pazuzu, who, as a long finned betta, absolutely loves his 15 gallon cube (with the water kept a bit low so it’s not too deep). He’s an active, highly territorial fish and he swims well, but not especially fast, and the cube allows him to lurk in the middle and feel like he has “command” over his entire space since he can reach any corner with just a short burst.
3) teeny fish in small- medium tanks are so.much.less.work than bigger fish in big setups. Even the difference between a celestial pearl danio (a gorgeous little ‘nano’ fish itself) and the micro rasboras is huge in terms of bioload and upkeep, and the work involved in maintaining ten to fifteen gallon tanks with a single betta or school of rasboras is so minimal compared to the 30 gallon tanks my family used to have as a kid.
4) a ‘bookshelf’ shaped tank that can sit on my desk as I work is by far my favorite setup. If I ever do spring for a bigger tank, I’d go for the next size up (essentially the double-wide version). There is just something about watching tiny fish tool along a long ‘river’ of a tank that makes me so happy.
Wow! That is what fish tanks should look like! I am not sure the fish is lazy, it just too hard to move with that luxurious fin. We always seemed to have goldfish, sea monkeys, snails growing up. I was much older than I should have been when I was retelling the miracle of my fish that changed colors when I was 5…guess I totally believed what my mom told me, ha! I promised my son we’d get him fish to fill his little 2 gallon tank when he was young. The empty tank still sits there and he is 22 now.
If you have the room (their tanks must be large), try clown loach. They are such funny fish. When I first got them, they used to scare the heck out of me. They sleep on their sides, their back, in odd places. They are completely motionless. Any other fish lying on its side on the bottom of the tank is very sick or dead. No clown loach earned their name. They do conga lines around the tank (they prefer schools of at least six). They are very personable.
Wait until one of the kids sees a sad clown loach all alone in a fish store tank and brings it home. You will be hooked. You will need more to make it happy. 🙂
BTW you will able to get back at the kid. Clown loach can live 30+ years so they may be get them back. Mine are our oldest pets. They have outlived dogs who lived to be 18yo while Lenny and Spot are still gulping down zuchini.
I love this! I had my own planted fish tank/aquascaping experience during Covid, but with with Fancy Guppies and Ramshorn Snails rather than a Beta and shrimp.
I learned a lot… but my biggest lesson was this… do not plant grass unless you’re ready to trim the grass and clean the tank weekly (getting all the grass clippings out was super tedious.). And my snails reproduced so fast I was removing dozens each week!
I loved it though and kept at it for a few years. Unfortunately, my guppies got sick and I lost all but 3 a couple years in. I was also living in a tiny apartment at the time and eventually decided to give the remaining guppies to my nephew (he bred guppies at the time and was happy to take them) with hopes of starting a new (larger) tank after I moved to a larger space.
Seeing your video has inspired me! It’s been a couple years since I shut down my previous tank and I’m in a new house with a lot more space. It just might be time to get that bigger tank started!
Blaze is absolutely gorgeous! I had a beta named Kamui (named after the character from X, iykyk) back in college. He was a beautiful blue and indigo and seeing him everyday made me happy.
Blaze is magical; I have had two bettas and and a couple of mixed fish tanks, none of which have lasted very long. My son had a small frog his other mother got for him called Chocolate Chip who lived the longest. My very odd sister freaked out my then 8 year old by asking him if she could have his frog’s body for a spell when he died. I really wish she had been joking…
Just got a beta two weeks ago. Hugin. Getting a snail tomorrow. Not stoked with my set up so far and he seems like the world’s second laziest fish
Ooooooh shrimperton !! I feel you🤣😅😅. Hubby has 7+ aquarium going. One of them is a lawless Shrimperton with Guppy ( because I like colorful Guppy) too! Another has a beautiful beta 🤩 and one is an underground aqua scape and it keeps going on! Every few months I look there is a new aquarium 😅
I did a beta couple for my science class once. (taking pics of their mating and egg laying and all that). Dad pretty much set the whole thing up. I just watched. Then after the baby fish were born, dad put them (the baby) in a mini pond in front of the house. Months went by, I never saw those fish again, so I asked dad. He said the day after he put the fish down, there were rain, the rain overflow the pond and baby fish were all dead.
The beta is absolutely beautiful
We had a fish pond with many different kinds of fish that would come to eat when we rang a bell. Then there was a raccoon massacre, and weirdly an unexpected blue heron who found our tiny backyard pond. Then for a while we had frogs, but apparently frogs migrate. After that my husband was too sick to do all the work. But the fish years were good years.
Are we ever getting any more of Hugh and Elara?
Hi Amy,
Any news about future Hugh and Elara books will be shared on the blog when Ilona and Gordon have updates to announce, and will be available as official news on the Release Schedule page https://ilona-andrews.com/release-schedule/
Thank you for your understanding. Your repeated entries have been deleted.
Oh boy! The struggle is real with these setups but it’s always so fun to see them thriving. We have had saltwater/coral tanks (with both fish and corals reproducing and needing new homes); a freshwater tank with some small fish; and a freshwater tank with shrimp. Currently we have dart frogs (Golfodulcean poison frog, very pretty but not actually poisonous in captivity) and are in the process of setting up a new paludarium for them with a tiny pond to see if they will start reproducing.
PS Blaze really is beautiful; he knows he is meant to be admired!
Beautiful tanks though! Even the wildness of shrimperton! I used to work at Georgia Aquarium. I know how much goes into “aquascaping”! Blaze is gorgeous. Whenever I go into petsmart I wan to bring all the beta fish home, they all look so sad , but it doesn’t work that way lol. Used to keep fish at home, then hermit crabs.. now we just have cars and our snake, Coconut fettuccine.
I know you typed Blaze, but all I heard was Ood.
You managed to keep him alive for that long??? all my betas died within 2-5 months 🙁 I don’t keep a tank anymore.
Blaze is gorgeous, the most beautiful beta I’ve seen so far
I have too many tanks….it’s an addiction. I couldn’t get shrimp to live for years. I’m uncertain what I did differently, but now they’re everywhere. EVERYWHERE. I find them in tanks I didn’t put them in. I spend more on shrimp food than the cats. I feed them to my chickens. It’s a problem. I should probably just get another tank to isolate them in. Yeah, I’ll get another tank.
I used to have fish as a child and enjoyed it. I have 4 cats now. And one of them went through the chaos line twice, and skipped the braincells as a result. I can’t trust him around well… anything. So I have not gotten any more fish, although I would like some. Guess I’ll have to live vicariously through you guys. 🙂
Blaze is a gorgeous fish. And I love Shrimperton. Thank you for sharing, love this.
I went down the aquarium rabbit hole about 7 years ago – I had 2 55 gallons, a 30 gallon, 3 10 gallons, a 20 gallon and some other oddballs.
Very fun though! But my water canNOT support shrimp – I don’t have DI water and the city treatments are not nice for shrimp. Even treated water isn’t enough.
I love fish and I love shrimp. Once a shrimp colony is established with nooks and crannies to hide in a population control fish is good. A pea puffer is adorable!
We did the Beta fish thing for a while. They are little arseholes. Can’t count the numebr of times we had to rescue it after it jumped out of the tank. Lovely to look at. I recently found out that the youngest and her bestie used to have tea parties with the fish. They were goldfish and belonged to the bestie. When they moved we inherited them. I was always amazed at how hardy they were and come to find out that during tea parties they were in the tea pot!!
No fish tanks for me, I have pool PTSD.
As the youngest of 3, I was left at home while the older 2 moved out, and I was left with all the maintenance on the above-ground pool. I still can’t smell Ajax or Comet without flashing back to scrubbing the metal deck all the way around, by myself, constantly stained by the oak leaves. Then skimming and vacuuming. Then scrubbing any in pool algae. By the time I finished, I just wanted to go back inside.
my mom had aquariums. i loved them.
i have to find a new place and move before the end of march and i live in a very HCOL area. i’d move but my neurospicy kid is doing well in this school district so i’m pretty desperate to figure it out.
as the tension ball winds ever tighter, i’m trying to find silver linings. one of them is that i am hoping to set up an aquarium or two in the new place. i actually just saved a video of the best plants for aquariums. (i already have my mom’s transcendia in a glass, trying to save it from my neglect.)
blaze is beautiful – thank you for saving him! and shrimperton is going to be fabulous.
This is a world’s colliding moment for me. Never did I expect to run across fishkeeping on this blog. Mind blown.
Those are lovely tanks! I started keeping fish earlier this year and also had to break down a tank to properly scape it, and had to get a second tank in order to keep other fish. I think the hobby is a pyramid scheme to get people to keep buying more and more tanks. Unfortunately it’s working on me.
OH! Blaze IS the most beautiful fish!
Too get Betta Video (yes that is a pun)…hold a mirror to the side of the tank.
Yes, so Blaze can see his evil twin’s reflection.
The evil twin must be defeated!
laziness can wait
I read this post when it came out and lo and behold, my son wants a shrimp tank. So had to show him your post. He said your tank looks nice.
We have 3 tanks, one with a pelco—he had tank mates that my husband accidentally killed and one in each of the kids rooms with a koi betta. And soon to have 4 with our own shrimperton.
Yes
I kept Pea puffers. A blue crown tail named, Bob. And multiple breeding fancy guppies. A lovely hobby.