Should be arriving any time now

[mandi]

Well, the Aquabid seller e-mailed me yesterday and said he shipped my 6 honey gouramies out yesterday afternoon. They're coming from East Rochester, NY, which is approximately 2.5-3 hours from here (depending on traffic haha). He sent them out via USPS express with "should" be overnight, but its ony guaranteed 48 hour delivery, which makes me really nervous considdering he sent them in the afternoon. I hope he used a 60-hour heat pack (rather than a 40-hour one) just in case.

My dad's waiting at home to sign for them. (He's so good to me haha.) I'm sitting at my desk at work all worried. I hope he calls soon to let me know they arrived a-okay!

[Edit @ 11:30am -]
Aw CRAP. My dad just called ... the regular mail arrived, but no gouramies.
Does anyone know if USPS ever does a "special delivery" later in the day if things are sent Express? Or if it doesn't make regular mail-time, does it have to wait till the next day?? Awww I feel SO bad for them -- I really hope if they are stuck somewhere overnight that they're in our local post office and nice and warm.

[Edit @ 11:53am -]
I called the local post office. They hadn't gotten it yet, but he said there IS a 2nd afternoon delivery for Express mail packages. Yay! He also took down my cell number (at work) and my home number and he said he'd call if the package arrives, that way if it misses the 2nd mail route truck going out, we can go pick it up right away. (I go down to the post office a lot to mail ebay packages & such and this guy is always super nice & helpful -- made me feel a bit better. )

 

[sylvia]

Good luck to you and your fish - hopefuly they will arrive safe and well soon Keep us updated of course.

 

[mandi]

Good news!!

My dad just called me at work and said they ALL arrived safe and sound (no DOA's). I'm very happy! He's floating the bags now to get them acclimated.

I really want to rush home and see them for myself, but I'll have to wait till 5:00 (maybe I can sneak out at 4:30 or 4:45 if we're not too busy haha).

I'll post an update on how they're doing and hopefully some photos later too.

 

[mandi]

Well they made it a-okay, and there were 2 extras -- so I now have 8 honey gouramis! They're very little still and SO adorable.

You can see how tiny they are next to my platy (she's in the upper left corner):

 

[lucky62]

VERY NICE , they look young and healthy good luck with them .

 

[Doggfather]

Nice fish! they looks very healthy

Enjoy your now gourami! they're great fish

 

[lucky62]

Mandi , are the three in the last pic older ?

 

[mandi]

Mandi , are the three in the last pic older ?

I don't believe so. They're all the same size, but some are a bit more colorful than others.

I asked the breeder specifically if he could send me a mix of males/females (at least 2 males & the rest female if possible). He said for the most part they were still too young to tell, but he was pretty sure a few of them were males. Some of them do appear to have pointier dorsal fins (the "pointier dorsal = male" rule applies to honeys right?) and some of them are almost all white, and others have a strip of a gold/orange color along the edge of their dorsal & anal fin -- not sure if that means its a male or if its just maturing faster than the others that are all white still (?). I know the males color up gold with a blue/black throat when they're ready to breed ... we'll see I guess!!

I need to get another tank up and cycling fast ... my 20 is looking a bit overstocked now (see my signature and add 8 honey gouramis to the list!), particularly if there turns out to be a few agressive males in the bunch.

 

[sylvia]

Very nice! They are beautiful little fishies aren't they? I'm sure you'll enjoy them You have a lovely tank as well

edit: yes the pointy dorsal does apply though it isn't as reliable with honeys sometimes. We shall see...

 

[mandi]

Very nice! They are beautiful little fishies aren't they? I'm sure you'll enjoy them You have a lovely tank as well

edit: yes the pointy dorsal does apply though it isn't as reliable with honeys sometimes. We shall see...

Yes they ARE lovely fish! Thanks so much for recommending them to me!

Maybe someday when I get another bigger tank, I'll try some pearls too

 

[Gill]

They Are Adorable.

I Love the Little Criiters, so Much Personality.
I hope to add some more to my Tank. This Batch Is Healthier than Previous Batches That The LFS had.

 

[mandi]

I Love the Little Criiters, so Much Personality.

Yes! That's for sure!

I was surprised, it took very little time after putting them in the tank till they were swimming out in the open and coming right up to the glass to say "hello".

The funny part is, I'd be looking at 2 or 3 on one side of the tank, and I'd turn my head and another 2 or 3 would be STARING at me head-on from the other side of the tank. Haha. They give me that "I'm being watched" feeling quite a lot.

 

[lucky62]

The funny part is, I'd be looking at 2 or 3 on one side of the tank, and I'd turn my head and another 2 or 3 would be STARING at me head-on from the other side of the tank. Haha. They give me that "I'm being watched" feeling quite a lot.

That's cute , wondering , where's the food ?

 

[STEVIE00]

hello may i ask the size of the tank there in

 

[mandi]

hello may i ask the size of the tank there in

Unfortunately the 20 gallon for now. I'm well aware I'm overstocked at the moment ) and I'm keeping a very close eye on the water parameters as well as watching for agression -- they're babies right now (significantly smaller than my platy actually) so I think they'll be okay temporarily.

What happened was, Sylvia advised me to get 5 - 2 males & 3 famales, but I couldn't buy them locally and wound up bidding on an Aquabid auction for 6 -- and he sent me 8!

Soooo... I have a 5.5 gallon cycling at the moment, and a 10 gallon full of platy fry that are getting taken to the LFS soon hopefully -- and I'm planning to spread them out among the 3 tanks. May start up another 10 gallon as well, and a friend is offering to let me "borrow" a 29 that he's not using. *Sigh* I'm hoping to get things sorted out soon.