Toys!

Jul. 21st, 2010 08:35 pm
nonionay: (Default)
Due to a little bump in my income, I'm letting myself get some small luxuries. I got a Sonicare toothbrush, because my dental hygienist sort of flipped out at me last week. After she scrubbed me down, she asked, "do you feel the clean difference?" And I ran my tongue over my teeth and said, "no." I guess this means my teeth are extra gritty. Because of this, I have to give extra care to my teeth. I've got mild peridontitis, which means the bones holding my teeth in are being nibbled away. Bleh.
In more entertaining news, my dentist said that my remaining baby tooth is the sort of thing a dentist is lucky to see once in a lifetime.

And, I got a new camera. My old one's ten years old, and though cutting edge for its time, is kind of clunky. My new one is relatively cheap (a hundred bucks) but I hear it's a good brand, and it's surely better than my old one.

So behind the cut, I give you my first pictures with the new camera.
Read more... )

Aquarium

Mar. 10th, 2010 08:28 pm
nonionay: (Default)
And in one of those "dear god, how could I be so stupid" moments, I discovered that the filter intake on my aquarium was completely clogged with muck. How long has it been this way? How many fish could I have saved if I caught it earlier?
And dammit, how do I get the thing back on straight so it doesn't rattle?

Fish!

Jun. 2nd, 2009 07:24 pm
nonionay: (Default)
Dutifully, I did a 10% water change every day, but it turned out I didn't have to do it for a week, as the pH is already up to tap water level. And indeed, Lord Yeti the killifish has chilled, and the tetras are no longer scared shitless. (They were swimming tilted to side, every one of them. It freaked me out.) No more eyes have been lost.

I continue to love the female. She nibbles my finger when I stick it in. :-)

Fish!

May. 29th, 2009 11:31 pm
nonionay: (Default)
I've wanted a centerpiece fish for my tank for a while now. I decided a pair of rams was a good option. But when I was looking at a blue ram (a loverly fish, if I may say) this even more beautiful fish swam by. "What's that?" It was a chocolate killifish. I adore [livejournal.com profile] csinman's golden wonder killi, but I didn't want one since dangit, I want to be different. (We both have tetras, a small pleco, and otos) But no, this guy was just too pretty to pass up. They came as a pair, male and female. As flashy as the male is, I really love the female. She's tiny and blandly brown save some white marks on her fins. She hovers at the top and doesn't do much else. She's discreet, smart and ladylike. Meanwhile, her husband's kind of a blustering idiot. Cannot find food when it's floating around his head.
He's been really restless since I got him home. To my dismay, he damaged one of my tetras. Mind you, this now makes the tetra cooler in my eyes, but it's not a fate I'd wish on anyone. The owner of the fish store gave me a polite lecture when I asked if I could return them. Even though my ammonia and nitrates are at zero, my pH is really low, and apparently this means there's a bunch of rotten sludge under my gravel, and quite possibly, this pH imbalance is pissing off my killifish. So I have hope, because I just might get through this, even though I have shame, because my tank is sludgy.

I learned cool stuff, too, like that the good bacteria colonies form in 3/4 inch circles along the glass, at 3/4 inch intervals, and if you run your finger along them, it should feel clean, and not greasy.

Lord Yeti* the killifish seems to have chilled a little, even without water changes, so maybe he's adjusting.

*Shut up, it's my co-worker's fault.
nonionay: (Default)
My frog likes to hover in the tank, going up and down, side to side along the glass. Today, for some reason, she has decided to do this in the same corner as the plecostemus' algae pellet. I don't know why she can't do it in another corner.

My new snail is also nibbling at the pellet. Satan the plecostemus has no problem shoving smail aside, but I think it's irritating him. Snail plus a frog that keeps ignorantly bouncing up and down on his head? He's one pissed pleco. He waits until the frog's in the corner, then charge out from his boglog lair and slam into the frog, pinning her in the corner. I don't imagine she'll be too badly hurt, but I'm sad she's too stupid to find a different corner.
nonionay: (Default)
The otos are out! The otos are out! I never see those sneaky little buggers. The lights are off in the fishtank at the moment, so maybe that has something to do with it.
nonionay: (Default)
I have a one-eyed shrimp!
nonionay: (Default)
Black Neon #3 died last night. He was swimming around frantically, his body angled up. San figured out that he was sinking and trying desperately to stay afloat. Since he was the only one hurting, I suspect he was injured by the other tetras. The Glolights are growing up and getting very aggressive towards each other, getting their pecking order down.

Sad ;_;

Sep. 30th, 2008 08:28 pm
nonionay: (human remains)
My pufferfish died.
:-(
I'm not sure when it happened. Probably last night. I don't remember feeding the fish, but that doesn't mean anything. I might have missed him Sunday and/or Monday night because I've been getting home late, and if I do that, the fish are asleep for their feedings. I do remember not seeing him this morning. Did I feed him something bad? He was all swollen up.

So now I've got a five gallon tank full of snails.
nonionay: (sepulchrave)
Well now I know exactly how much my pufferfish can eat. I accidentally stuck too many bloodworms in his tank (I usually give him 2-3, and this time he got like 5-6) and now the greedy little bugger's swimming around with a bit of worm sticking out of his mouth because he's stuffed to the brim, and the worm's too long for him to barf up.

Happy fish!

Aug. 1st, 2008 07:34 am
nonionay: (Default)
I had a traumatic moment the other day when I discovered one of my tetras was swelling up and its eyes were popping out. I know dropsy when I see it, and I'd always heard it was a death sentence. But I went to the fish store, planning to get the supplies to set up a hospital tank where it could die without letting the other eat its bacteria-bloated body. Turns out, the clerk gave me some medicine, told me to treat the whole tank, and this morning, Sevastyan Dann the tetra is shrinking. :-D
This is the same fish I thought was pregnant. I don't think I was necessarily wrong, since it got sick because I unwittingly vacuumed away the good bacteria bed. Still, I'm traumatized by the thought I've made my fish suffer.

Otos

Jul. 19th, 2008 11:37 am
nonionay: (Default)
I got a pair of otos the other day, hoping to keep them with the puffer. Audrey christened them Pain and Panic. Panic's the one who hid right away. I'd heard that aggressive puffers can get along with otos, but I'm not sure I'll be so lucky. I've already seen puffer nip an oto tail, and the otos flee in terror whenever the puffer approaches. :-(
I'll give them another day, and then move them to the big tank, and possibly to Sän's Ototropolis.
nonionay: (Default)
I spent much of today at work sticking paper in the machine every twenty minutes and waiting for the magenta toner to run out so I could go watch the Venture Brothers. Earlier this week I looked forward to it because I would be able to write without distraction. Well, because of a fire behind our work that literally melted our internet, I was completely without distraction, but I was too restless to write. (up until 3am two nights in a row.)

Other reasons for restlessness: maybe missed an interesting opportunity at the party last night because I was too slow and cold and nervous-- not to mention lacking a few social skills. Maybe I didn't miss anything, but I'll never know. Once I got over my "what if he gets attached to me in an annoying way?" fear, he was gone. I also got hit with a "don't I know you from somewhere?" pickup line. (not from Potentially Interesting Guy. He didn't have any stupid pickup lines.) Once we established that no, he didn't know me from the F+SF scene, he gave me some strange line about his memory not working right. Damn, I hate mating rituals.

In other news, I got a pufferfish! Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] hawkdancer's boyfriend, the puffer's name is Siddartha. Pics to come. I bought some bloodworms (mosquito midge larvae) to feed him, and to treat the tetras to. Let me just say, I never thought tetras were so bloodthirsty. When I dropped the bloodworms in the tank, those tiny fish turned into a swarm of blood-mad sharks.
nonionay: (sepulchrave)
So, having bought a second round of plants for my aquarium, I now have three varieties of snails! I couldn'tjust get more pond snails, now I have ramshorns. But this afternoon, that will all change. Bwa ha ha.
nonionay: (Default)
Earlier this evening, as I was typing away on my WIP, I noticed a dark lump shuffling around the fishtank. The pleco was out! He meandered over to his algae wafer, but when I slowly stood, he vanished. I'd heard that you can watch them at night with a red light. Well, I don't have a red light bulb yet, but I have a blue one, and I've got it set up in the vain hope that my body's vibrations won't keep the pleco at bay.

Now it goes without saying that blue is not red. In my old room, where I never used only the blue bulb, I never appreciated how close it is to a blacklight. Now, it's turning everything in my room blue, except for the green and orange things. The orange price tag on top of a bottle of mineral water, the green stripes on my toy tarantula's knees, the single word, "Shannara" on my shelf of unread books. Everything else is monochromatic.

EDIT: oh, oh, it's out! Aw, Chelsea just slammed a door and now the dark lump is gone. :-(
nonionay: (Default)
You know what's awesome? My plecostemus. Well, maybe not too awesome, since he is a plecostemus and hides all the time. I'm not sure if he's eating, or if the snails are simply scattering his food for him. The zucchini slice I dropped in has neat little scalloping along the edge where the baby snails are nibbling it. I feel like a detective in the morning, looking for signs that he's come out the night before. "Is that a thread of poo? It is! He's been here."

But I did pay extra to get the extra bristly bristlenose pleco. So when you do see him, he's awesome, especially the way he pulls himself along the glass with only his creepy sucker mouth. I was going to name him Satan, since he was going to be the sole non-collective entity in my Hellborn-themed tank. But now I realize Satan would be a little more outgoing, so I suspect I'll have to come up with a Chthulu-esque demon whose name he can share. Probably the third member of the Howling Serpents' triumvirate.

You know what else is awesome? Iguanas. Last night, I got to play with one belonging to [livejournal.com profile] csinman's boss. We were initially going to see said boss' giant fish, and Sän forgot that I'd go completely crazy over a chance to carry an iguana on my shoulders and research Juri. it was a lot like I imagined-- like how he claws his way to the top of your head-- with a few surprises, like how I had to put my hand on my hip to balance out the extra weight, or how the lizard's ribs are right under its cold scaly skin with absolutely no padding.

LOL Yesterday was awesome.

Fish!

Apr. 19th, 2008 08:31 am
nonionay: (Default)
I got more fish last night. Three albino glowlight tetras. I'm debating getting two more, since they're happier in big groups, and they are tiny. But I want to get three more different tetras and a pleco. Meh. I don't know. Anyway, pictures can't do them justice because of exactly how well they glow. Seriously, they look like they have Christmas lights in their heads. I've got two colors of gravel: black and -- little did I realize-- albino glowlight tetra-colored. They're pretty smart about staying on the pale gravel, though when they swim higher they stand out against the plants and bog log.
Maybe I will get more. They're getting along pretty well with my black neons, but one of the big ones is chasing them right now-- I think just from the spot of gravel he was nibbling. They get along fine with the subordinate big tetras. Overall, things look good. The black neons had been huddling at the top of the tank, and now they're back at other levels. I've been regulating their lighting too, that might have helped. It bugs the heck out of me, keeping the light on all day, but it's good for them.

I was going to get Glass Bloodfin Tetras but the awesome aquarium guy said they were delicate, and I should probably let my tank settle a couple months first. Reading up on them, they sound like they might be a little difficult. But, since I think I want to get more tanks eventually, and be like, a hobbyist, I should get used to taking care of fussy fish. Someday, I want one of the huge quarter-circle corner tanks. Not a salt-water tank-- I like mine dense with plants.

Since the little guys swim near the bottom, Teisel can see them really well, and he's going crazy. Fortunately, he's stopped whacking the tank, and is content just to sit and watch raptly.

EDIT: Okay, I've only got six tetras, and they're the most fascinating things ever. One of the glowlights keeps trying to swim next to a big black neon. It goes in little circles like the yappy dog around the big bulldog in old cartoons. Eventually the big one chases it off, but it comes back later.

EDIT EDIT: I got four more glowlights. Now, they're all swimming together in one happy school, blacks and glowlights together, no bossing or nipping. :-)
nonionay: (Default)
My co-worker Ryan kept trying to shove his fish tank off on me. At first, I didn't want it, since there was no space at the House of Entropy. But now, at the new place, Keffy has set us all on a fish craze. So Ryan has just delivered his twenty gallon tank, complete with sexy black stand and other accoutrements, snails, bog logs, and his three immortal tetras. I think they're Black Neon Tetras. Until the tank settles, they're hanging out in a jar with a bubbler stuck in it.

I hope to eventually get a separate tank with some dwarf pufferfish, and I'll feed any excess snails to them. :-P I think I want to get more tetras, and definitely an albino pleco. Oh yeah, and plants. I need some plants.

EDIT: Looks like I have Mayalan Livebearing snails. Which is apparantly good, in that they are great at clearing algae, and bad, in that they breed like mad, but it's tough for snail-eating fish to eat them. If I get the puffers, we'll see if a single adult snail will provide enough soft squooshy babies for the puffers to eat and be happy.

EDIT EDIT: Holy crap, I think one of them gave birth just now! Or had one of the little boogers hidden up its shell.

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