I'm having a great week

[Taboo]

First, I was able to get my 55 gal tank. It took many days of begging my parents and stuff (the tank was on craigslist and like a 2 hr drive there and back) but it completly made my day!

Then the day before yesterday I realized that one of my RC hamsters I mis sexed (I'm really ususallly good at sexing.. i don't know what went wrong there). She gave birth 3 days ago (I found out 2 days ago though because she had them 3 nights ago and when I heard the squeaking I thought that Dmitri (the dad) was sick so I was worried about him, come to find out that Sawyer was actually a girl and had babies). I still can't believe I mis-sexed her. I checked her, Dmitri and Mikhail many times just to make sure, but I didn't check Sawyer as many times as the other 2 because she was hard to handle. Still, I was so sure... Anyways, I'm keeping all the babies. I don't know how many there are yet as I can't disturb her or the nest. And I really hope she isn't pregnant again because since I didn't know for about 24 hrs that she had babies, Dmitri was with her all that time...

Either tomorrow or Monday I'm adopting a male white ringneck dove! I've wanted doves for so long now. They're such awesome birds. I'm going to get him a mate later on after he's quarantined because the owner says he lost his mate and is sad now (I'm of course not going to breed them, and I'll quarantine his mate as well).

And then on Monday I'm getting 16 fish and 1 snail. The fish are 5 comet goldfish, 3 neon tetras, 2 albino tetras, 1 betta, 1 puffer, 1 pleco, 3 zebra danios. The owner is keeping them in teeny tanks (a 5gal and a 2gal between all these fish) which they will have to stay in untill their new tanks are completly cycled (if put them in an uncycled tank it could kill them). Luckily, I already have most of teh tanks/supplies for them. The betta will be in a 5gal, the puffer in a 5 gal if it's a freshwater puffer, the tetras, danios, and snail in a 20gal, and I'll need to get a tank for the goldies and pleco. The goldfish will go in my pond once they're large enough and I'll house the pleco in a 75gal.

[sophistacavy]

Wow, congrats on everything! That 55 gallon tank must be too dang heavy!
At first when you listed all the fish together, and you talked about just getting a 55 gal. tank, I thought you were going to put all the fish in that same tank together. xD I was like: "Well.....most of them will probably be gone the next day and you'll see a very fat betta fish sitting there all by himself... " XD rotflmao

Oh my gosh, by puffer, do you mean those fish that balloon up and have spiky-looking things all over? Thats so awesome!! What a cool pet. How big is the puffer?

What is a "RC" hamster? Is that the russian campbell's dwarf hamster? They're so precious. Gosh, they must look like freakin' raisins when they're newborns....eek. Too bad you can't look L0L.
Sounds like you have a mini-zoo like I do! I used to have betta fish, they were my first pet. I also had some fancy goldfish at one point. I used to hold the teeny hikari betta food pellets above the water, and the betta would swim right up, and I could see his eyes pivot and he was staring down that pellet lemme tell ya. It didn't take too long for him to jump out of the water a little bit, then he smacked into my finger and nabbed the food. ;]
Mine really really really really loved freeze-dried bloodworms, make sure you get yours some of those. I heard that some people get live bloodworms, but I didn't really have the desire for that.....

What in the world is a "pleco" that is going to get such a huge tank all to his/her self? That thing either must get pretty darn big, or be pretty darn aggressive......or you could just be "really darn xD" educated about fish!

Have fun with all your new animals! Keep us updated on the dwarf hammie babies! Take a few pics when they come out on their own and you don't have to worry about disturbing the nest anymore!

[Taboo]

A pleco is what people commonly call 'algae eaters'. They grow quite big (sometimes up to 2 ft long). I'm not sure what type my pleco is, but some require a 90 gal!

The lady I'm adopting them from doesn't know what type the puffer is either, but I"m hoping its a freshwater/dwarf puffer. The green spotted need a marine tank and like a 29 gal. So yeah, I'm not sure whether it's the spiny type or what.

"Well.....most of them will probably be gone the next day and you'll see a very fat betta fish sitting there all by himself... "

The lady has the betta housed with these other fish.... really I don't see how they're all still alive.

Yeah, they're Russian Campbells. They'll probably start wandering around the tank in a few days and when they open their eyes (around 2 wks) I'll be able to hold them! I love their squeaking. I'm going to miss hearing them squeak when they're grown up.

Bettas sound so cool! I hope mine will eat from my hand too. Where would I find freeze dried bloodworms? Walmart or a petshop?

[sophistacavy]

Go to this website: Betta: A Guide for Proper Care and Living Environment
Its one of the few websites that isn't a breeder website.

There is another site that is very popular and has tons of awesome info, but since it's not allowed to be linked to on here since its a breeder site, I'll just tell you to google "betta talk", and its the very first thing that comes up.

I've never looked for betta stuff at walmart before, so you might want to call your store and ask if they carry that before you go there. But a petstore would definetely have freeze-dried bloodworms, yes. I believe the two best brands are Hikari and San Francisco Bay brand.

Also, I'm not sure if the "hand-feeding" bettas thing stresses them out or not, it could because you're sort of teasing them to get them to jump. So instead of making yours jump, I would definetely put your fingers just under the water, that way he won't be stressed by jumping, and you'll still feel him when he nabs it from ya'.
You can also go "betta fishing". Just take a nice long bloodworm (they're never too long, don't worry, they're not really gross at all) and put like half of it under water (like you're fishing), and the betta will probably swim up and take it. They suck them in like spaghetti L0L!

And if you look really closely, you might be able to see the betta's teeny tiny (I'm talking really small, you might need a small magnifying glass) teeth in their teeny tiny mouths. They have a full set of pointy teeth (more like cats, dogs, etc., not like guinea pigs, horses, or even humans) b/c they are carnivorous. Don't be afraid of it b/c I told you that, even if you purposely dunk your finger in there and he came up and looked like he "nipped" you, it would barely even tickle xD (I wonder how I knew that???).

If you do research and maybe even find a knowledable vet in your area, you can find info on how to house bettas with other species of fish. You have to careful though, b/c usually you have to place a lot of non-aggressive species with the betta, b/c bettas are considered to be in the aggressive (towards other tankmates) category. The idea is to surround the betta with mild-mannered fish, so he won't be agitated.
However, make sure to also research the species you consider putting in with it, b/c some species will nibble at the betta's long, flowing tail/fins, which are actually quite delicate and fragile.

*phew* Sorry for being so long-winded! Hopefully those sites I gave you will help out more!