Christmas comes early at Wet Pet

I want to preface this blog with a statement regarding how awesome my husband is. He knows I love this "hobby" (read: obsession) (read: expensive obsession). He spends money he does not have on me and my fish. Actually, that man would go into debt for the rest of his life to buy me a unicorn if I asked him for one.

Yesterday, the universe sent me a message. At least, it felt like it. Wet Pet sent out notice that they were having a $.99 per gallon tank sale. At the same time, Petco sent out notice that some of their stands were 50% off. If that isn't a loud attention-getter, I don't know what is. I saw the adds and from 7:30 to 8:45 went completely bananas. Then I snapped out of it, told myself to simmer down, and let it go.

But my loving husband knows me so well. He knows I hadn't let it go in my heart. I was perfectly willing to wait, but he saw the perfect Christmas gift in the form of whatever tank I wanted. So he told me to order the stand (a nightmare) and go to Wet Pet today and get a tank. So I did.

The tanks Wet Pet had on sale were 10s, 29s, 55s and 75s. The big ones sold out immediately. I don't have room for another 55. The only place left in the house for a tank is the basement. So, a 29 is perfect. It fell into place that Wet Pet had 29s and the stands that were on sale were also 29s. Fate?



This morning when the snow/sleet/crud began to taper off, Ben and I made the trek to McMurray. We got the tank, and I also bought a light for it. It has a 10,000k bulb that Frank from Wet Pet said I may want to change out for a 6,700k. Dwarf cichlids don't like super bright light. I have time to think about it.  While I was there, I decided that I wanted Pygmy Cories. The 6.6 is small but it has a large footprint, so pygmies are doable. The catch is that Jerkface is, well, a jerkface. So when I got home, as I acclimated the pygmies, I swapped bettas. Rhaegar is a gentle soul (watch him make a liar out of me). Jerkface needs to live alone and I swear that he doesn't like the 6.6. He seemed so happy in the 2.5 for the past few weeks. When I put him in the 6.6 he began to hide and cower. I hope he'll flourish in the 5.5. Rhaegar, meanwhile, took to the 6.6 immediately and has been exploring. One of the cories came right up to him and he didn't bat an eye. (Not that he can. Fish have no eyelids.)

Now that they're in there, I realize I should have gotten 6 rather than four. Next time I'm at Wet Pet I'll get two more. They are so tiny that they take up no space at all.

 

Corydoras pygmaeus

Rhaegar, out and about

Meanwhile, my lamp came two days early. Did I mention that? It's a sunlight lamp for people with Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's a 6,700k bulb. How can you go wrong? I put on the glass top I bought at Wet Pet 10 days ago, and the lamp is above it shining down on the plants and Jerkface.

With the bright light cropped out and the drapes closed

So, after Christmas I can get to my 30 gallon tank and the cycle. Hopefully it'll go quickly. I have the meantime to consider the following:

1. Filter: I have the HOB from the 55 or I could buy a Penn Plax Cascade 700
2. Substrate: Eco-complete for the plants or sand for the cories I want (Frank at Wet Pet said Eco-complete was fine for cories)
3. Stocking: My heart is set on a dwarf cichlid tank, but I'm intimidated. I've considered rams, apistos and kribs, or any combination thereof. Frank at Wet Pet said I could fit three breeding pairs of d.c.'s in the tank. I think apistos may be too tough for me. They had beautiful electric blue rams, gold rams...all kinds of rams.

I also have to decide what will go with the d.c.'s. Dither fish are recommended. I also want panda cories, if possible. I have a lot of research to do.