So, remember how I was talking about how I wanted a 10 gallon community tank in my living room? I did one better… we bought a 20 gallon tank. It’s so big, I love it!

Today we added the first few fish to it.

I’m working from the living room today so I can observe. They are obviously still in adaptation mode, but I need to make sure that nobody gets bullied. I did my homework and found a list of fish that can be (relatively) safely housed with a male betta, so I’m keeping an eye on them to make sure he doesn’t start picking on the other fish.

Their initial reaction was a bit different than I’d have expected. Here’s a photo of the tank before I put any fish in it:

So, the betta immediately swam into the big tree decoration. He’s come out a couple of times, but mostly is camping out inside, in the dark, far away from the other 5 fish.

I got two mollies, a white molly and a dalmatian molly (mine is more black than white). The white one initially was hanging out near the surface, and ate most of the food I put in there. Now he’s exploring a little bit more, but still spending more time near the surface than anywhere else. The dalmatian one has been exploring pretty thoroughly and likes to follow the bottom feeder around. Now the two mollies are spending more time near each other.

The neon tetra was initially cowering behind the tall plants (literally, he looked like he was shaking) for a while but is now out and about.

The guppy seems the best adjusted so far, he’s been exploring the whole time and is now content to hang out with the tetra; they’re BFF’s hehe.

And, the cory catfish, in true bottom feeder fashion, is playing with the gravel at the bottom of the tank.

So far everybody looks happy but the betta; I prefer hiding in the dark to attacking other fish though, so we’ll see how he does when he’s done playing in the dark.

Once these fish are established, we’ll pick up a few more; either of similar types or more of what we’ve got.There’s a few other kinds that can co-exist with a betta as long as he’s not snarky. If he seems really docile, I might try some angel fish - they’re labeled as “use caution”, so they may or may not get along with the betta, depending on individual temperament.

When I got my apartment, I pulled my little 1.5 gallon fish tank back out of it’s box and set it up next to my desk and stocked it with a red/white (he changed colors.. he was more blue/white when I bought him) betta named George. George is the most entertaining fish I’ve ever had. When I first put him in the tank, he was picking fights with his reflection in the tank. Once he got used to himself, he started picking fights with the gravel at the bottom of his tan, which was hilarious. Then when he got bored with that, he started playing with the currant from the water filter… he’d swim up to the top, relax his body, and let the flow send him “flying” across the tank. Super cute. He also likes to stare at me when he knows I’m watching him.

I noticed that George was really fond of laying on top of the little plactic plants that were in there but they didn’t seem to be treating his fins well, so I bought some live plants and a little cave to put in his tank. That triggered the need for an aqaurium.. his tiny tank seems so FULL now, and OMG I really want to do more aquascaping.

A few weeks ago, George got really sick. He turned grey, stopped eating, and spent all his time laying in the corner of his tank. After a few days, his breathing started looking really strained as well. I took in a sample of his water for testing to see if it was a problem with the ph balance or something but I was told that the tank water was nigh perfect. I started reading all about betta illnesses and stuff trying to figure out what was wrong with him. I was worried that I’d look over and find him belly up (and at one point he looked so bad that I almost hoped I would just so he wouldn’t be suffering anymore, cause it broke my heart how miserable he seemed to be) but George is a trooper. I took him in to the fish shop to see what they thought and they said “well, he looks pretty terrible but an antibiotic might help him. don’t get your hopes too high though.”

So we came home and started his antibiotic and stress reducing treatment. Within 3 days he was back to his old self again

But all the research made me realize how fascinating fish really are, and how they have personalities and all that. Pair this with the want to do more aquascaping and I seem to have a problem. I want a 10 gallon community tank for my living room. George is going to stay here by my desk so I can see him all day cause he rocks, but there’s a bunch of fish that you can (relatively) safely tank with one male betta. I saw one once; my friends dad had a large tank with about 9 fish and a male betta; he was HUGE. It was cool. I want a tank like that.

I might get one this month, which would be exciting. I’m researching what kinds of fish I can put together. Anybody have any suggestions?

I went to the Oregon coast this weekend with my Portland Adopted Family! It was a pretty spur of the moment trip, where we decided to go on Wednesday and left Friday. We were planning on camping, but all the campsites were full. We did manage to get a pretty sweet deal on a nice suite right on the beach though! This picture here was taken from my balcony. We went to Newport, and it was a beautiful weekend! There are some photos on my Flickr, but I haven’t gone through all of them yet. Expect more up in the next few days.

Anywho, we got there Friday night just in time to watch the sun set. Then we got all comfy and drank a bottle of wine and explored the area near our room. The puppies were running around like maniacs. There wasn’t really much to do at that point, since things were closed and it was dark and stuff.

Saturday we got an early start and took the puppies down to the ocean and walked along there. Xoie was not at all into the ocean this time but the sand didn’t seem to bother her. After that we ordered room service breakfast (just because we could!) and headed to the Historic Bayfront area and walked the dogs through there. We’d leave one or two people outside with the dogs whenever somebody wanted to go into a shop. Then we went to the Newport Aquarium which was pretty cool, but not as good as the Seattle Aquarium. After that we went and had lunch at the Rogue Brewery, which was the actual excuse for the trip to the coast. I wanted to go to the brewery for my birthday. So, I had some good beer and a decent meal (my pulled pork sandwich would have been amazing if it had 3x more meat and 5x more sauce) and a great dessert and it was nice. Then we headed back to the hotel for an afternoon siesta and trip to the swimming pool. THEN (... yeah we had a really long day hehe) we went back to the Bayfront and went to Mo’s for dinner. OMG. Can I just say… YUM!!!! Seriously. Yum. I don’t even really like clam chowder and this stuff was awesome! It’s world famous and stuff. Anyway, after dinner we walked the dogs around some more and went back to the hotel because we were pretty tuckered out.

Sunday morning saw more beach walking and some frisbee playing, as well as cereal and coffee. Then we got all packed up and drove along the coast stopping at the attractions like the Devil’s Punchbowl (which was not that full when we got there) and the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse (which is haunted, but I didn’t see the ghost). I have pictures from both of those that will be up eventually. Anyway then we went back to Mo’s for a light lunch and headed back to Beaverton.

We did stop at the Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln City though. I bought my mom’s birthday gift while I was there! I can’t say what it is because she reads my blog, but I am totally winning the Daughter of the Year award with this one

So yeah, it was a great weekend! I got home and did laundry and played with Xoie. She’s suddenly really clingy though, and I’m not sure why. She just sits on my feet and cries when she can’t see me.. it’s really sad. Hopefully she gets back out of this phase soon, cause she’s usually really independant.

That’s all for now!