Crowntail Duo

[NickAu]

You should have a look at my sorority rebuild, my girls even eat the roots on floating plants. Check it out here http://www.fishforums.net/threads/my-sorority-rebuild.445001/page-9#post-3773564

 

[LyraGuppi]

Usually mine leave the roots alone after one test munch o: What type of plant is it? Do they all do that?

 

[NickAu]

Its some sort of lilly pad type plant that I left floating ( simply because I have no room to plant em in the tank ) The girls love to munch on the roots, they also eat veggies I feed the shrimp and will happily steal the Kuhli loach pellets. I am teaching them to hunt "pest snails ".

I get a MTS break the front of its shell open so it cant hide inside then dump it back in the tank so the girls can eat it, They are starting to eye off the snails and have a go at picking them off the glass.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Ronan really wanted more brine shrimp.

Magnus had more grace about it.

I'm dremeling the points off of my mopani roots. I'm not sure how intact these boys' immune systems are, so I really don't want to open any doors for fin rot. I should have three roots ready for the 20 gallon, when it's here, I'm hoping that's enough for good "tea-water". My mom's opinion on blackwater tanks hasn't changed.

 

[LyraGuppi]

All of the mopani has been sanded down. I've also got two full bags of dead oak leaves, enough to last quite a while.
I got the 20 gallon long, and a lid! 40 USD altogether. I've painted the back of the tank black, and tested the lower silicone for leaks. I have everything I need except one binder bar, I should be able to pick a pack up from Walmart tomorrow.
The 20gal long moved onto the desk where the 10 gallon was. Still not sure how people move tanks between houses and dorms, just scooting the tank one desk over was stressful enough!
I'm not sure how I'm going to aquascape this tank. My best chance right now is just tossing plants and wood at it and hoping it turns out half decent

 

[LyraGuppi]

Lots of leaves. Taken outside because my tank room (aka: the constantly waterlogged corner of my bedroom, featuring two desks) is a mess.

And what the boys' tank looks like now.

 

[NickAu]

I love it.

 

[SeanTrollope]

neat.

 

[LyraGuppi]

I just barely had enough sand, and one of the mopani pieces is floating, but the tank is filled and sitting steady at 80°F. If all goes well, I'll be starting the cycle today.
I tried to emulate this hardscape...

But ended up with this. I'll probably be able to fix it when the water clears, and that root sinks.

There's a heater and a pump in the mercy space, both filters are in the corners. Ronan's side's flow is a little more gentle, which is perfect!
Here's an artistic picture of Ronan, so this post isn't just blurry water~

 

[LyraGuppi]

The first dose is in, 3ppm!

The water cleared a bit, and mopani is almost waterlogged. I like how the root on the left positioned now, any thoughts/preference between the old picture vs the new?
I added filter gunk and some sand from the multi tank. Not entirely because of impatience, I promise! I figured I wouldn't hurt the multi tank too much if I stole a little sand from their multiple sand mountains. I'm thinking about bringing in an amazon sword from the 90 gallon, so I wanted the substrate to be a little deeper. It's not getting enough space or light where it is.
Speaking of plants, I searched around a little and found what I could use from other tanks, and what plants might work. From the 90g, I have an amazon sword, two crypts, all of the anubias from the boys' tanks, and dwarf water lettuce. Not sure if the water lettuce will grow. It seems to favour bright light right on top of it, not the LED lamp I have.
Hygrophila grew very well for me when the 10g was Azul's tank, to the point of growing out of the tank, so I'll keep an eye out for it. Rotala rotundifolia, Hornwort, Limnophila sessiliflora, smaller varieties of Crinum, banana plants, Lobelia cardinalis, and Staurogyne repens are a few more that look like they might work, I need to research them further. Hopefully I have enough plants as is, and don't have to buy any more, but I'm pretty sure I'll need a good background plant.
Sorry for the brain dump, I should have some actual betta pics soon!

 

[LyraGuppi]

Angry.

Tested the tank for the first time after Dose 1#. Nitrite is between 2.0 and 5.0, ammonia is somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0. Judging on the Nitrite, I'd say it's closer to 1, but it was pretty hard to tell. Off to a pretty good start!
I've got the mopani in position, and it's finally fully waterlogged! I'm going to try to buy more play sand this weekend, so if I do move crypts or swords over, they'll have some root space.
I'll post pictures of the tank soon c:

 

[NickAu]

LOL somebody looks happy and healthy.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Ronan has had some form of growth on his anal fin since the day I picked him up. It's grown, from a tiny anomaly to a visible bump, and turned from the colour of his fin to white, while still retaining some of his fin's iridensence. It doesn't seem to bother him (he still wiggles like mad), and it hasn't spread. It doesn't really resemble lymphocystis, It's very smooth, like his fin just bulged instead of something growing on it.
Bettas are genetic trainwrecks, so it's very likely that it's cancer.
Here's a picture of it that I took today. Pardon the particles, it was during a water change.

My phone is finally better at taking pictures, my camera won't pick up the tank without flash. I actually had to move a brighter bulb over so you could see the driftwood clearly, tannins + black background + dim lighting make for a very moody tank:

But, of course, the phone takes grainy, small pictures. Once I get plants in, and lights figured out, I should have better pictures.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Oi. Ronan's lump might be lympho. It's smooth on one side and cauliflower-esque on the other. All of my research says it's contagious, with one site specifying through touch, the others just through shared water. One thing seems to be for certain, though, there's no solid cure. I'm not sure if it's even worth it to separate them at this point, Mag has been living with him for months, and it can grow internally... I think I'll move them together into the 20 gal, but keep all equipment separate from the other tanks.
Any opinions?
Test two is in:
Ammonia: looks like .25 on the test colour chart
Nitrite: looks like 5.0 on the test colour chart
Moving onto dose #2.

 

[LyraGuppi]

Ronan's lump is growing faster than I thought. Weirdly fast. I wonder if this is new, and the little anomaly on his fin was just a mark from poor breeding, what not. You can just barely see it in this previous pic:

Just a little mark.
Literally two days ago:

Now it's this:

And there's a little fuzz on his dorsal fin. You can just barely see it in the pic.

It might just be me being paranoid, but I think he's slowed down a little. I'm not sure how much the lump weighs, especially with him already having heavy, long fins.
I found another website that says it contracts through direct contact, another says direct contact through spores/bacteria/anything in the water carrying lympho on it, etc... all say no cure. Still not sure if I should move Magnus with him. One says the virus lays in wait for the right conditions before actually attacking, so he could definitely be infected, but not visibly sick.
I'm going to do some water changes to clear the fuzz on his fin. The nearest LFS with a great stock of medicine is an hour and twenty minutes away, (there's a smaller one twenty minutes away, but I'm not sure what they have + the store is god awful) so I'm going to try to approach this the ~natural~ way.
On a lighter note, new sand. Played a sax. Weather's been nice. I'm trying to not worry too much q: