I have 8 goldfish, and 1 mini plecostomus (sucker fish). They are all of the fancy variety, with chubby tummies and pretty tails. I'll eventually put some pictures up on this post.
Tank 1 is a 60 gallon tank that Mr. Higbee used as part of his proposal scheme (more on that later). Four of my fishies live there:
Goldie - Goldie is a Ryukin fancy tail, gold colored, Petco goldfish. She's a girl in my head (none of my goldies have hit sexual maturity, so I've neve been able to sex them). She's a very pretty pale gold, doesn't have a very big hump, and has the longest, prettiest tail and fins of all my goldies. When we bought her, we had also purchased Bif, who had a mustache, but he succumbed to a bacterial virus before his medicine could really kick in. Both are named after fish from Phineas and Ferb. Anyway, she's pretty mellow with no real quirks; she just chills and looks pretty.
(All of our other fishies are from local fish store Reef Connections. The staff there are wonderful, and one of them lives across the street from Mr. Higbee's parents. He has AWESOME fish. )
Kyle - Kyle is also a Ryukin. He's mostly white, with a red patch on his head that goes up his back until his dorsal fin. Kyle is HUGE, but lately has slowed growing. He like to do back flips and barrel rolls and play int he bubbles. He's named after Kyle from South Park.
Butters - Also named after a character from South Park, Butters is Ranchu with almost no head growth. He's mostly matte white, with a flew shiny scales here and there, and an orange patch on his "shoulders". Butters is a bit slow. I have two vases in the tank for decoration, and he likes to chill out in the bottom one. But sometimes that causes him to miss meal time. Like this morning, Mr. Higbee fed the fishies, and Butters was chillin' in his vase, and didn't even notice that the other fish were swarming the surface. He's special.
The Wee Baby Seamus - Named after Archer's son Seamus from Archer, the wee baby Seamus is yet another Ryukin. When we bought him he was SO teensy tiny, like thumbnail tiny. We were in an Archer kick, and the name just came to me. This kid grew like okra, FAST. We have had him for half the time that we've had Kyle, and he's bigger than Kyle! He's a pretty dark red, with a white chin and throat, and his tail is white with orange stripes. The wee baby Seamus likes to eat bubbles, and spit water at the tank lid. When you try to feed him, he spits so much water in his excitement!
Tank 2 (30 gallons - Craigslist for $40!)
Clyde - Clyde is a really pretty black and orange Ranchu. He doesn't have much head growth, but I have high hopes! When Bonnie is in his tank (more on her in a bit), the two are very aggressive players. They swim everywhere all the time, and constantly push each other around.
Sucker fish - Sucker fish LOVES to eat. Other than that he's a pretty typical pleco who hides and chills.
Tank 3 (30 gallons - Reef Connections kit)
Token - Named for Token from South Park. Token is a Black Moore (telescope). He's a soft black matte, with a really nice tail. Unfortunately he has quite the hare lip. The top lip is literally folded back into his mouth at the weird angle. He used to like in tank 1, but since his eyes make it hard to find food, and his mouth makes it hard to eat food, I had to put him in a different tank to ensure that he ate enough food. He's grown a lot since his move. I will eventually get him a buddy who also has vision issues so that he won't be lonely, but will still have a fighting chance for food.
Quarantine tank (20 gallons - friends found it for free and said I could have, then other friend re-sealed it for me). I currently have 2 fishies in quarantine.
Bonnie - Bonnie is a Ranchu, and is a pretty mix of orange and white. Not much head growth yet, but she has many more years to live. She is in quarantine because earlier this summer I had major water quality issues - nitrate levels were totally out of hand. I was doing 10-20% water changes every day, and using Nitraban, and still the levels wouldn't come down. Bonnie started looking REALLY bad. Her fins were totally shredded up, and she was really listless. So into quarantine she went! She's much better now, but I still haven't moved her back in with Clyde.
Nameless - Nameless is a Ryukin that was bought to keep the quarantine tank up and running. At the time we weren't sure what to name him, and we weren't sure if he would survive, so we waited to name him. He was nicknamed Nameless for the time being, and it's now stuck. He was super tiny at purchase, but is now almost ping pong ball size. His fins were also affected in the nitrate fiasco, so he's still enjoying the salt bath with Bonnie. But he's definitely much better.
Sunday, August 26, 2012
Saturday, August 25, 2012
About me
My name is Lisa, and I am many things! Half Japanese, goldfish enthusiast, Eskie mom, wife, the list goes on. A general home body, I like hanging out with the husband, Mr. Amazing, and my furchild, r'eskie Chloe. Gardening is teaching me to eat my veggies more often, and working in a high school office is teaching me patience, and keeps me laughing.
I hope that I can get this blog going in a direction that incorporates my pets (and others'!), gardening, crafts, and my work.
I like books, Star Wars AND Star Trek, Pokemon, and omg David Tennant. If you don't know David Tennant then you don't know superawesomesexyamazingfunny in one gorgeous package; stop reading my blog, and go watch Dr. Who. Now. Please.
Anyway, I hope you like my little blog.
And here's my Chloe!
Summer garden
This year Mr. Amazing and I planted our first garden. Earlier this summer our wonderful landlords had built me four 4x4x1 raised garden boxes and filled them with wonderful dirt and compost. We bought started plants at Home Depot (or Lowes, I can't remember); Chinese eggplant, okra, bell peppers, yellow squash, and at the begging of Mr. Amazing, yellow watermelon. While I don't like eating veggies quite so much, I love to grow things. My green thumb is new and exciting!
We've had so many veggies this summer. We ate so much squash that I thought I'd turn into one. And I learned a great way to cook eggplant: slice it up really thin and lay it out on a baking tray. Drizzle with EVOO and sprinkle on garlic salt. I also like to sprinkle Chico Spice vegetarian spice on it, too. Broil in the oven for 3 or 4 minutes, flip them over, and then broil another 3-4 minutes. Then eat them all up! It tastes like cheese to me, and I adore cheese.
I gave all the okra away. I can't stand the gross stuff! My mother, on the other hand, ADORES okra. I grew it for her, and I am extremely pleased with how it turned out. It's a very sturdy plant, grows very quickly, and produces SO much. I will forever use it to shelter other plants. They started out as little two inch sprouts, and are now almost 4 feet tall, with stalks almost an inch in diameter.
The bell peppers are finally taking off. The poor things are getting too much sun. Turns out they need more shade than "full sun". They are still getting some burned patches, but are trying really hard!
NONE of our watermelon turned out well. Turns out, once they start producing, you really aren't supposed to water them very much.... So that was a big fat disappointment, but we live and learn, and have many more years of growing to figure it out (plus the internet is helpful). We tore out the watermelon plants today. The vines had taken over so much of the yard, so the grass of super overgrown. Mr. Amazing did some mowing, and now everything is nice and neat again.
We need to dig up the dirt and get it ready for its fall crop. I have seed packets for carrots and snow peas. The brand (Seeds of Change) say USDA Organic; I hope they grow well! I worry about GMO products, and am always suspicious when I buy plants and seeds. I just bought some seeds online from Heirloom Solutions: Parisian carrots, wild arugula, mixed lettuces, and broccoli. I'm super excited to plant and grow more food.
I plan on slowly changing the way I eat, and slowly changing the quality of the food I eat. Growing my own food is my second step. (Step 1 was switching to only buying and eating farm fresh eggs - free range, no hormones or steroids, and locally laid! Chris's eggs were my "gateway eggs".)
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