Setting up the new 5G!

**BirdOfPray** · 01-29-2010, 07:06 PM

My 5G tank kit finally came in -- almost 5 weeks after I ordered it, and about 4 weeks after I was initially told it would arrive. Darn manufacturer apparently had it on back order. Have I mentioned that patience is not my strong suit?

It came in Wednesday, so as soon as the kiddo woke up from his nap I bundled him into the car and off we went. Got the tank kit, a bag of flourite black and a gorgeous double tail betta I'd been keeping my eye on. There goes my spending money for the last couple of months!!

Right now the tank is pretty bare: couple pieces of driftwood, some red camboba, a few stems of anacharis, a little bit of Christmas moss, and a really nice variety of duckweed I got for free because the LFS can't sell it (hooray invasive species!). I've never thought duckweed was attractive at all, but they had this floating in some of their betta tanks and I kept trying to figure out what it was -- the individual leaves are about 1/2" or so, so it's a nicely sized floating plant with feathery trailing roots. If I like it in the 5G once it's really established, I'll probably move some to the 30G as well -- my hatchets would love it. I'm expecting to get some E. tenellus red as a foreground plant, and am still decided where to go from there. Maybe some java fern and/or anubias nana petite.

I've been trying to get a good picture of the betta, but haven't been very satisfied yet. I'm hoping to upgrade my light bulb in the next day or so, and that should help. I thought the hood would only take a 10-watt bulb, so I planned to use the 10-watt CFL I already had, but it turns out it'll take up to 25 watts. Sweet!

Someone's coming by tonight to look at the Eclipse hex that this tank is replacing, and I'm asking $25 for the tank + the 10-watt mini-CFL + the leftover flourite from setting up the new tank. Hopefully he'll buy! I figure the bulb was $5-6 new, there's probably $5 worth of brand new, rinsed flourite, and $15 for the tank seems decent, but I'd consider a little less. He said he wants to start a planted nano, so he should appreciate the 65000K bulb and the flourite. Wish me luck selling so I can have more money to pour into the new tank!

**Oscar_freak12321** · 01-29-2010, 07:09 PM

**rich311k** · 01-29-2010, 07:10 PM

Congrats! We do need some pictures.

**Red** · 01-29-2010, 07:12 PM

Congrats on the new tank and good luck with the sale.

**BirdOfPray** · 01-31-2010, 02:45 AM

Ok, it's been a crazy couple of days but I finally have pictures! The old tank sold for my asking price, which gave me the extra spending money to switch out the standard bulb that came with the tank (*shudder*) for a 20-watt 6500K CFL. So I now have good light for taking pictures!

Still a little bare, but I should be getting some groundcover in soon and I'm sure the camboba will take off, and hopefully the Christmas moss will also fill in nicely with higher light.

As for the fish himself:

Edit: Still working on a name for this handsome guy. Oberon, after the fairy king from "Midsummer Night's Dream" comes to mind -- and somewhat appropriate since my last betta was named Puck after the mischievous fairy from the same play. I've also considered Ramandu, which is the name of a character who's sort of a retired star (as in the shiny sort in the sky) in "Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Other than that, my creative juices have been slow this week what with the sick kiddo driving me batty.