A Bipolar Tank

(I just found I that this post never got published, so I'm doing it now.. Let the record show that I wrote this on June 12th, 2014.) 

Hello again! Well, I come again bearing bad news... Hippocrates, our dear sea snail, has passed. In all honesty, I have to say that his death was the most disgusting one to have to deal with... You know way back when when I thought Socrates might be dead (he was actually napping..) and I looked up how to know if a sea snail is dead, and they told me that they would stink. Yeah, well they weren't kidding. He smelled SO BAD. Only to make things worse, when I lifted his shell out of the water (with the net..) this nasty, smelly, brown liquid poured out into the water (I assume it was what was left of his actual body.. 😳😁) I'll spare you the rest of the juicy details. I'm still not sure if I should worry that the water is contaminated now.. I had a small funeral and buried his shell, remembering how tiny he was when I first got him... I'm gonna miss him a lot! He was a great snail! I other news, a couple of days ago I was cleaning my tank and I accidentally scrubbed something I shouldn't have on the filter..ll which ended in it making horrid noises every time I turned it on... So I kept it off for a few days until I could get a new filter and just for kicks I tried turning it on again today ans voila! It works! I also got some new goodies... A new bubble curtain and this stuff that's supposed to minimize algae (which I could use now that Hippocrates and Zeus are gone!). So, we'll see how this all goes.... Y'all can expect to be introduced to some new fish soon! 

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

All Sorts of Madness

A lot has happened recently in the Underwater Empire. Sadly, we have had a death. It came as a shock since we haven't had one in a while. RIP Trajan.

The rest is all to do with the snails. First of all, (as I have mentioned before...) both of them seem to have this magic superpower of floating. They'll be happily sliding across the bottom and then BLOOP! Air comes out of their shells and all of the sudden they go flying to the top. They float around for a while and then drop back down.... yeah... I know... weird, right? 

(Sorry for the lights reflecting on the glass..)

Secondly (Concerning snails...) It seems we have a rather scandalous situation on our hands....  Hippocrates has been somehow (I have absolutely no idea how he does it...) finding a way in the Aphrodite's separator. I take him out, but the next time I see him he's right back in! I haven't the slightest idea how he does it or how to deal with it. (Help in the comments??)  Are they in love or does Hippocrates just like the safety of the separator? 

(Well, if they are in love, Aphrodite doesn't seem to like Hippocrates much. She is always in the opposite corner with her regular shocked face.)

And lastly I would just like to quickly point out how much Hippocrates has grown since I got him.

WOW!

I did it!

Yes! At last I have cleaned my tank! And while I was at it, I let Aphrodite out.... for now. I also did some slight rearranging. (The water is too cloudy to take a good picture right now, but I'll post one soon.) Below are  just a fraction of the promised pictures that I took before vacation (the rest are being cropped and such...), and a link to a video that is rather disgusting. While cleaning my tank, I witnessed Hippocrates climbing over Zeus' face. :O  It's pretty bumpy and moves pretty slow, so bear with me :) Also, there may or may not be background music when you watch it...

HERE'S THE LINK >>>>>>> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8fsoZreBC4 <<<<<<<<

Check out that fin!

Socrates reaching for the sky...

Solitary confinement

Aphrodite in the seperator

ZEUS

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New Stuff, Snail Bonding, Clean Tank, and a Mystery.

Clean tank with slightly different arrangement!   

New algae-cleaning magnet

Hippocrates and Socrates feasting on algae wafer

New air stone!

Socrates cleaning Hippocrate's shell, how cute <3

New filter!

Mysterious thing I found floating in water after water change....


I'll probably add more text to this post once I have time that will provide a better explanation: ) Stay tuned!

Mission Accomplished!

Socrates finally woke up from his three day nap, look at them-'father and son'!! (I guess I could say 'Brothers' but Socrates is so big and Hippocrates is so small....)

A Mystery Solved!!

At last I have solved the mystery of my snail's tentacle! I was just  doing some research when I came upon an article about it. It's called a siphon. Their purpose is to allow the snail to breathe air when submerged underwater. ...And I quote....
"Many species, particularly of the South-American genus Pomacea, have another another remarkable anatomical feathure: a breathing siphon. This organ, formed by a fold of the mantle cavity at the left side of the head, is barely visible when not in use. At times the snail needs to refresh the air inside the lung, the muscles in this fold contract and the fold changes into a flexible tube-like structure (siphon), which enables the snail to breathe air while staying submerged. Staying submerged provides the apple snail with a great advantage because they are very vulnerable to snail-eating birds at the surface." 
(Courtesy of http://www.applesnail.net/content/multi_languages/english.htm ) 
Fascinating, huh? Well, now I finally know what all this madness has been.

While we're talking about snails, I'd thought I'd mention how they're doing. Hippocrates and Socrates have hardly been interacting at all :(. Hippocrates has been very active, but Socrates has been VERY inactive. In fact, I would say he's dead, but he moves every once in a while. I looked it up to make sure he's not sick, and learned that it's completely normal for older snails to be inactive. So all is well.

Just so you know what I'm talking about...

Just to give you the memo...

Augustus and Hippocrates are doing great! Hippocrates went missing for a while and I got a little worried, but turns out he was just hiding. Augustus is fitting in well! :) I took some pictures with my phone...none of them turned out good, but the result is below. I know, I know, they're really blurry and not very exciting, but hey... At least now you have some idea as to what they look like. One of them is of Hippocrate's little tentacle/psuedopod thing.. he has one too! Weird... I'm still welcome to ideas.... (see post 'What the Heck?') I only wish I could take pictures of them that did justice to Augustus' beauty and Hippocrates' size. Augustus is a light pink with a goldish, whitish, silverish, greenish tail that shimmers in the light. And man, Hippocrates is outragously tiny!!!! Enjoy!

( I'm getting really excited about some upcoming decor changes... So stay tuned, folks! ;)

He has one too! (he's so small!!)

Augustus

Just to give you an idea about his size....

Augustus

Exciting news!!!

It is my pleasure to announce that I have gotten two new fish today! Their names are Augustus and Hippocrates. Augustus is a pinky-orangey guppy with white streaks on his tail, and Hippocrates is a itty-bitty baby yellow apple snail. The reason why I got another snail is because Socrates' shell is growing algae, and I saw at the fish store that the little snails were cleaning the bigger snail's shells. So I'm hoping they'll be dearest buddies. :)  (I even made their names rhyme!!) I'll add some pictures to this post soon!

What the Heck?

Okay, so I keep seeing Socrates with this weird tentacle/psuedopod thing, and (as you can probably guess), I am really confused as to what on Earth it might be or its purpose. He will often climb to a high place, and then it will emerge from under his shell and he'll wave it around. Then he'll pull it back in and climb back down.... I did a little research but didn't find much.If anybody has any idea as to what it might be (fish expert or not,,), please leave a comment below! :) :) 

And.... speaking of Socrates...... Zeus has been bullying him lately. If Socrates is on the gravel at night, he will suck on his shell, and I always have to scare him off with the net. Sometimes, silly Socrates will ctart to climb on to Zeus' face, and Zeus 'strikes' him (I didn't know how else to put it....)

BIG NEWS! Tank Upgrade! New Snail!

Big news!! My birthday is tomorrow, and as a gift, my parents bought me a new 20 gallon tank! It came with a baby pleco and a yellow apple snail. I decided to donate the pleco to Petco, but willingly kept the snail. His name is Socrates, and he is very fun and interesting! As for the tank, my new 20 gal will replace my 10 gal, and I will be giving my 10 gal to my cousin. I also got a fancy pH tester!

This is the baby Pleco that I donated to Petco

New tank!

Socrates

Socrates

Fancy pH testing kit

Both tanks next to eachother