Tag: pets

Hi! Today was another scorcher. In the photo above, the asphalt looks dark and wet, but in reality it was just so hot that the tar took on a different look. It seemed like it was ready to melt into goo!

I was on my way to the local fish store to buy another Siamese algae eater and check out some of the live plants. There are some benefits to having real plants vs fake in the aquarium, the most important is that they improve the condition of the water by absorbing ammonia and CO2. But they also are a lot of fun to grow!

You will have to do a little trimming once in a while, but it’s not often and it is very easy. If you turn off the filter and then trim, the cut leaves will float up to the surface and it’s easy to gather them.

I didn’t buy any today, though, just looking and deciding how to plant the new aquarium. I have lots of ideas, but am thinking about what the focal point of the aquarium should be. Will it be a large rock (think mini-Half-Dome), a nice piece of driftwood, or perhaps a striking red plant? I haven’t decided yet… but I think I want to plant a bunch of small ground-cover type plants, and then some tall grasses in the background.

There is a whole art of aquarium design called “Aquascaping”. It’s fascinating and beautiful! Most of the tanks are very wide (and large) for a nice panoramic design, but my tank is a “tall” style, so it will be a bit different, and there are not many aquascaping examples out there for this type of aquarium. So, I am taking my time to figure it out. I did find this site that has a lot of nice layouts and the plants they used to create them. It’s a huge help!

I hope you had a nice Saturday!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！How’s it going?

So, my wife and kids are in Japan for a month and I am at home with the two kittens and the dog. Which means that I get plenty of “attention”.

We’ve had cats for about 18 years now, but it’s been a while since we had kittens. I don’t remember if our previous kittens were as naughty as these two are – they will knock everything off of any surface they can reach (or jump onto) and generally wreak havoc around the house. Yesterday, one of them even fell into the new aquarium! 😠

But when they get sleepy they are very cute. For instance, the photo above is their normal way of sleeping. Crazy, huh? These two sisters are really funny! So, I guess all the trouble is worth it. 🐱 Maybe.

Well, I hope you had a great day! Meow!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！Hi, how’s it going?

Today it’s Independence Day here in the States, and I spent it at home relaxing, watching a lot of baseball, and doing a lot of research for the new aquarium. I have a rough plan for how I want to decorate it, and the mockup is below:

I want to keep the tank kind of simple, with a black and white color scheme, with the black being some flat shale rocks, one standing, and two flat, and the white being the substrate (gravel). Then, I’d like to have at least two type of plants, maybe three. After the success of growing plants in the small aquarium, I realize that they can grow fast! So, I am going to start with just a few and see how it goes. The mockup only shows the starter plants, but I’d like to have it pretty lush in the back of the tank, and keep the front and left side of the tank open.

As for fish, I will keep this a barb tank, and add a Siamese algae eater or two. And then I should have enough room to get a few more barbs. I saw some green barbs at the pet store today, so I might go for those. The last thing will by my Malaysian trumpet snails. I hope they thrive!

Anyways, I hope you had a nice day, and we’ll see you tomorrow!

おやすみなさい！

– B 

こんばんは！Hi, how are you?

Today I noticed a small crack in the side of our 10-gallon aquarium. It’s funny because it just popped up out of nowhere! (I’m pretty sure nothing hit into the glass) Anyways, I was worried that the crack may grow and I’d have a huge mess on my hands, so I went out and bought a new 20-gallon aquarium kit.

I’ve wanted a larger aquarium for a while now and the 20-gallon kit was on sale. It includes the essentials such as cover, lighting, filter, thermometer, and heater. I also decided to go with a very light-colored substrate that I always found attractive. It will be a nice change from the river-gravel we’ve been using in our 10-gallon tank.

In the photo below, you can see some of the steps I went through to get the new tank up and running. The trickiest part was moving the new aquarium into the old one’s spot. Basically what I did was to transfer about 70% of the water out of the 10-gallon tank into the 20-gallon tank. Then I could safely move the smaller tank to the bench. Then, I transferred the water back into the old tank, using a 1-gallon jug. Finally, I could move the new tank to the table, added the new white substrate, then filled the tank up with clean, treated tap water and added some of the decorations from the old tank (after cleaning them). You can see the present condition in the photo at the top of this post.

I checked the condition of the crack in the old tank, and it seems like it isn’t growing, which is good news. That means I have some time to let the water in the new tank get ready, and also plan out how I want to decorate the new tank. I’m doing some research now (which is fun!) but I’m pretty sure I’d like to use more live plants. They look so nice and it’s cool to watch them grow. And with double the space, we can get more fish! 🐠

And don’t forget about my precious Malaysian Trumpet Snails! In fact, I added one to the new tank already and he’s cruising around. 🐌 I hope he survives and helps prep the tank by conditioning the water. Speaking of water conditioning, I cut a small piece of the biological filter and added it to the new biological filter to kick-start it a bit.

One thing I have not done in the past is to test the water’s chemical levels but with this new tank I think I will begin doing that and taking more steps to keep it nice. Our current tank is looking a bit ragged! So, just more things to research and learn, which is fun. 😄

Well, I think I will call it a night. I’ve been up since 3am (for an airport drop-off) and it is already 12:30am. I’ll have to post-date this blog entry since it is so late. 😴

おやすみなさい！

– B