New Arrangement, Decoration, and One-Year Anniversary of 20 gal. Tank!

Just posting to tell y'all about my new tank arrangement- I got a new decoration for my birthday, which (the day before my birthday) was also the 1 year anniversary of when I got my tank. Happy day, everyone!

Oh yeah, so in my last post I mentioned my sighting of fry, supposedly belonging to Nyx. I haven't seen anything since that post... I guess they all died? :( :(:(

The new arrangement. (Yes, I temporarily took the coliseum out..)

Here's a nice picture of Hippocrates. I thought it was strange that his shell was turning brown.

A close-up of the new decor.

Remembering the one-year anniversary of my 20 Gal. tank!

"  " 12/7/12- 12/8/12

CRAZINESS all around!

I was sitting, looking at my tank a bit after the aquarium lights had turned off, thinking to myself about a particular rock looked an awful lot like a tiny fish. Then, to my suprise it moved and I realized that it WAS! A little black fry (that looks exactly like Nyx) was swimming around by the plants! Do you know what this means??!! Nyx has been pregnant the whole time I've had her! All the signs were there- a big belly, (I thought that was normal for platys..) she had been surface resting, (I thought she might have ben ill) and a little white dot under her stomach! I feel stupid for not figuring it out before! I put her in a breeder tank in case she has more overnight. As for the rest, I'm hoping the plants will be sufficient to protect them (other fish are known to eat fry). I'll take another look in the morning to try and get a better knowledge of the situation. Let this be yet another example of how you should learn about the fish before you buy 'em! There could be 20+ fry that may not survive due to my lack of experience and ignorance on the subject! :z

Speaking of worryful things, I noticed that one of the Pachi has a big white splotch on his body. I'm crossing my fingers that it's not Neon Tetra Disease- a contagious (even to other species) and deadly disease that has no cure! :O

(The fry were too quick and tiny to take a picture of, but I promise they're there! I'm not insane! My mom and brother saw them, too!)

More Pictures of New Fish

Rameses at work

Persephone is already bonding with the new guppy!

Rameses' face

Rameses

Nyx

Nyx and Rameses are friends.

Nyx

Persephone is already buddies with the new guppy!

Rameses

Alanyani/Dioynisus/Demeter/other

Nyx

An early TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY present!!!

In honor of the two year anniversary of having my tank, I got three new fish!! I got Rameses, a CORY to represent remembering the original fish from 2011, a GUPPY (I can't decide between Demeter or Dionysus for a name..)

to represent all the new friends we've gained since then (Persephone was all alone and needed a friend..), and Nyx (I named her that because Nyx is the god of the night, and she is midnight black, hence the name!) a PLATY (or molly?), an all new fish to represent the new adventures in the future! Here are some non-official pictures (I may keep the cory one, it's very nice!):

^Rameses

^Nyx

^Dionysus/Demeter/other

Got new fish on 10/29/13 (for the record)

Once again, I have been negligent to post to this blog even though stuff has happened. Claudius disappeared, and Messala died, just to keep things simple. My tank now has an emptiness that I hope to fix in the coming days/weeks. Messala's death was very drawn out and painful to watch. He started swimming on his side (see picture below) and seemed unable to swim right-side up. He looked like he was suffering a lot. I almost wanted him to die, so he'd be put out of his misery. He was like this about 3-4 days before he passed away. Messala was another one of those fish that spent a lot of time in my tank (8 months to be specific) and I am more attached to than others. He was a wonderful fish and I'll miss him a lot. Now there's just the 5 Pachi, Aphrodite, Persephone, and Socrates.

A chalk memorial to Messala

(No, he's not dead.) Messala swimming on his side.

Oh Claudius, where art thou!?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Athena, who I have always thought to be immortal, is dead. She has been the only guppy to live over a year in my tank. She survived through the Black Plague of my tank, and has been friends with guppies from Eiosepa to Claudius! (That's FIFTEEN GUPPIES! :O) She was always the familiar face to make me happy in hard times. Nothing ever brought her down. Even when Aphrodite continuously nipped her tail it would always grow back. Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War is a fitting name for her after the many battles she's fought and the long life she lived. I can easily say she has been one of the best fish I've ever had in my care and I'll miss her a lot! 

Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and War

One of the last pictures I took of her. (about 2 days before she died..)

(Here's an example of the algae I mentioned in my last post.)

:(

Well, Artemis died. She actually died on August 30th, but I have been lazy about posting to this blog as of late. She was a wonderful fish for the four days I had her. That morning was a terrible day for the Underwater Empire. I woke up in a hurry, late for school and found her dead. Not only that but somehow Messala had found a way into Aphrodite's confinement overnight..... locked in the monster's den. Messala ended up losing most of his tail from nipping, and has never been the same since, although his tail has grown back. In fact, him and Athena seem to be going on the downhill spiral and I'm quite sad. It rained at Artemis' funeral, which I found fitting. My tank has turned a goldish-brown with algae without Zeus' constant cleaning, which finally leads me to something positive..... I'm getting a new, small albino Pleco this weekend! He'll only grown to 4 in, so I will never have to sell him! I'll keep you posted as best I can.

Also, Artemis just happened to be the only one of my new fish that I didn't get a picture of..... :( ( I do, however have a not-graphic picture of her dead corpse if you want it, so leave an answer about if you do/don't want to see it in the comments..)

Claudius

Persephone

3/5 of the new Pachi!

Aphrodite is scared of Hippocrates..

Messala on the downhill spiral.

Messala on the downhill spiral...

Somehow she got out of confinement...

... and Hippocrates got in!

If You Love Something, Let It Go & Repopulation

It finally happened. I sold my beloved Zeus. It was very sudden, in fact, it happened while I was at school so I couldn't even see him off. Zeus, although a little creepy sometimes, was an extraordinary fish. Anyone that visited was amazed by his size. He was so peaceful and cleaned my tank so well. He helped me gain so much experience in aquarium keeping and I'll miss him SO MUCH! It would have been selfish for me to keep him. He would be uncomfortable and unhealthy. Well, as they say- if you love something, let it go. I love you Zeus!

Well, now that he's gone, I have A LOT more space in my tank, allowing me to get more fish! After facing extinction during the 'black plague' of my tank, the Pachuses are back! I now have a school of five Pachi. I also got 3 new guppies- (I named them using the ones you picked on the poll!) Claudius, Persephone, and Artemis. I'm über excited to have new fish (it's been awhile...)! I don't currently have good pictures of them individually, but here's the one I took while they were acclimating: (sorry you can't really see anything, I'll add good ones soon!)

Bright solid yellow- Artemis, Greek goddess of hunting ( I chose the yellow one because in Greek Mythology, Artemis is the twin of Apollo, who (in my tank) was very similar in appearance.)

Blue/Silver swordtail: Claudius, Roman emporer

Red, purple, multicolor- Persephone, Greek Goddess of

False Alarm

Well, I got a call last Tuesday. It was someone who was interested in buying Zeus. They said they'd be over in an hour to pick him up. My mother and I went to work, tearing apart the tank in an attempt to capture Zeus. He almost jumped out of the tank multiple times! Well, long story short, we eventually caught him (after my floor was soaked and my tank torn apart...). I said all my goodbyes and then waited for his new family to show up. After about a half an hour, I had to be somewhere and left my mom to take care of it. When I got home, I thought he was gone and went in to my room to put my tank back together and to my utter surprise, found Zeus in his usual spot! WHAT? Turns out after my mom waited for an hour and they still hadn't come, she called them back and they said they didn't want him anymore. So all that for nothing! But then we got another call today and somebody else wants him! We're still working on getting back to them, but hey! These may be my final days with Zeus.

Here's just a FRACTION of all the pictures I took while I waited:
 

What I saw when I came home