Post 22, in which we all have the plague

I had to call in sick to work today. While I’d like to just call it a migraine with nausea and sensitivity to sound and light, it was accompanied by a 100.8* fever, so who knows. The fever had broken by noon, and the light/sound sensitivity has improved dramatically, but the migraine is still lingering and gets particularly bitey if I try to get up and move around. So here I sit in bed making a blog post.

I lost a Bolivian Ram during the quarantine and medication process. The other one lived through it all and seemed to have maybe perked up some, so I moved him back into the 125g, but he’s still staying very pale and hovering in the plants. Even if I drop food right in front of his face, he won’t eat it, despite looking emaciated. The one healthy ram has also not accepted him back and has been chasing him and nipping at him. I very seriously doubt he’s going to make a recovery, and I’m starting to debate humane euthanasia, both to prevent him from suffering and to protect my other fish.

I think I have to chalk this up to bad stock. Moving forward, I’ll really make an effort to buy from private fish breeders or, if I do buy in stores, to only buy fish that I can lay eyes on rather than having them ordered in.

On top of the loss of a Ram, one of the female cherry barbs launched herself out of the tank. I have no idea how she did it, as I found her body on the ground a couple feet away from a covered portion of the tank, but somehow she did. After not having lost any fish since I set this tank up, I lost two in one day, and will likely lose another soon. It’s a part of fishkeeping, but it’s a bummer.

My one healthy Ram:

I doubt I’ll be able to add any more Rams to the tank. This guy is already established, and he’s acting very territorial toward the sickly Ram that he was once buddies with. I doubt he’ll accept brand new Rams unless I could guarantee a couple females. I’ll see what Aquabid has to offer, but he may just be a loner. He has the apistogrammas to hang out with I guess.

Speaking of apistos, look at this guy! I really enjoy my apistos and I’m so glad I got them.

The long-finned blue-eyed pleco continues to do well. Hampton insisted her name was Gabrielle, so I’ve been calling her Gabby. She’s not as much of an asshole as my other pleco, as far as I can tell.

The aforementioned asshole between some wisteria and swords, who has gotten big and has grown some bristles on her mouth:

The betta is also doing very well. While I  may not like working with the substrate in his Ebi, the plants really seem to like it and are growing at an impressive rate. I don’t have a shot of his tank for this post, but I’ll try to get one for the next post. Both the wisteria and the nymphoides in particular are growing really well.  The betta himself is, sadly, still nameless.

And just for funsies, Iggy and a group of cories all pursuing the same algae wafer:

And to wrap up a short post, a very sweet picture of Ellie and Jazz. Jazz had been on the couch for a little bit already, and Ellie hopped up and insisted on being almost right on top of her sister: