Reading Our Pets

@jeanne-mayell

Blessings and many thanks Jeanne. Oh how we so love our fur babies!! That loss takes a while to heal though its true they sure do try to ease our loss in their own very different way. I felt her looking down at me and her physical body from above. First i felt an animal do that. It felt right and good but helped me to know she saw me crying and missing her. She truly knew she was loved. Oh the sweet sweet purring the evening before. All swaddle wrapped against my chest.

I sat outside with her so she could catch the feel of the evening breeze. Rocking my body and hers tight against my face and chest and stroking her ears and tiny little face.

She felt like a tiny kitten again. Happy, happy fully open to me and my love sweet baby again.  It was our best and lasting connection forever time. So precious. I am blessed and so truly  grateful.

@polarberry

Oh my yes it is. Thank you for your caring dear friend.

@michele-b

So sad and so beautiful was your writing about your Kermit.  You helped her to die well and is there anything harder to do than that? I'm so glad she was yours. She must have been so glad too. 

@ghandigirl

Bless you dearest ghandhi girl. You who so truly know the breadth and depths and complexities of loving an animal. Their lives can be challenging, their passing difficult, but the love and loving are so worth it. 

Moonbeam,

I am working on a little write-up about neons for you. Will post as soon as I can.

@michele-b  So poignant and well written. I have walked this path many a time and helped others do it as well.  I have always thought.. the reason they don't stay as long as we do is they came to teach us of unconditional love and their reward is to spend more time in Heaven than here teaching.

Knowing that their love opens our hearts and enriches our love and enables us to learn care and compassion and empathy and courage and strength and most of all... that unconditional love...we are more able to extend it to others in our world because we learned from masters.

I look forward to the day.. when I cross over.. to see the many many fur friends and loved ones I have been blessed to know in my time here. I know you do as well.

Holding space for you as you grieve. Much Love and Light.

@polarberry, that is so kind of you, thank you! I do not have the tank yet. It is going to sit on her new desk which I will build this week. After that we're going to get the fish and tank. Seeing your comment, you'd say get the tank first and the water running for a few days before I get the fish?

A WAPO columnist wrote about how her dog who just passed had saved  her family. And then I saw the story she wrote when they first got the dog 12 years before against her husbands will.  These are wonderful heart bursting stories. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/19/AR2009051902223.html?itid=lk_inline_manual_

https://www.newsbreak.com/news/2051402405139/my-dog-tank-was-a-precious-creature-that-saw-no-dividing-lines

@moonbeam

Glad to help! Yes, that's correct, you definitely don't want to put fish into an uncycled tank as they will quickly die. Neons in particular are susceptible to new tank syndrome.

A good rule to remember is that fish like a clean dirty tank! What that means is that fish waste creates ammonia, which will kill them very quickly. So in order to prevent this, the tank and filtration system needs to be full of good bacteria which eats the ammonia. The process of creating the good bacteria in the tank before adding fish is called cycling, and it takes about 6-8 weeks. How big is the tank?

Parrots incredibly talk to each other. Cuteness overwhelm. Okay, I am assuming they are just uttering what humans taught them. But the nuzzling would be heartfelt. I heard one of them say the other's name, Gabriel, as he nuzzled him.  Gabriel has been having mental health problems.   https://www.flixxy.com/parrots-incredibly-talk-to-each-other-like-humans.htm

@polarberry, ooh thank you for the tip! I'd done what the store clerk told me and just drop them straight in. Tank will come in next week then, no fish. I'll add plants and decorations and just let it go? I mean cycling, water temperature etc. just no fish?

I'm not certain about the size. The store clerk said to take this one https://www.intratuin.nl/superfish-aquarium-start-30-tropical-kit-zwart-25-l.html (haven't bought it yet). It contains 25 liters of water.

@jeanne-mayell ooooh I love animals talking ? ? ? ? 

I wish I had a nickel for everytime I've heard a store clerk tell a customer that. Most of them don't know what they're talking about. Once, I heard a customer ask the clerk what kind of fish she could keep in a small bowl on her desk. I felt like screaming, "None!" The clerk proceeds to tell her she could keep three or four goldfish in one. I was so pissed.

Anyway, the hardest and most aggravating part of a tank is the set-up and the waiting. It would be sweet if we could just add the water and the fish, but not only is that inhumane to the fish, it sets you up for water quality problems down the road. Another rule I like to follow is the old adage, Am ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

There are two basic ways to cycle a tank, which I will go over. The other thing about the stores is they specialize in selling you all kinds of crap you don't need. You are in the Netherlands? Do they have big-box type stores there?

@polarberry, oh yes I know, which is why I like to do research before I buy! I had already discovered that what they'd said about the amount of animals needed wasn't true and was about to make my list of things for the tank. Your tip about the water is gold though. Should have known since it is the same with a garden pond. Will treat it all like that. Make a nice aquarium and keep it like that for at least 2 months before adding fish. You think that the 25 liter tank isn't too small?

The store I went to specializes in animals and gardens. It's a bit better than a massive store like Big Box: focus on just two things. Mega stores have all gone bust here. We have city centers with lots of shops. There is no need for US like mega stores or shopping-malls; because the layout of the towns differ from the US. Hard to explain, but to make a long answer short (which is too late now), we have a couple of good pet stores too;-)

Another video of uplifting pets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4_V7ZGCYDE  

Hi moonbeam,

Sorry for the delay!

There are three products I am never without. You might be able to get them at your fish store, but more likely you would have to buy them online. They are API master kit or test strips, Seachem Neutral Regulator and Seachem Prime.

The best way to test your water is with the API Master Kit, which tests all components of the water individually, but I use the dip-and-read strips also. They're handy and especially good if you are short on time. You just dip them in the water, swirl, and read. They will quickly tell you if something that can kill you fish is off, like nitrates.

The second product is the Neutral Regulator. It adjusts your ph to 7.0, which is safe for most tropicals. It also removes chlorine and detoxifies ammonia. It doesn't remove the ammonia, but it detoxifies it so it can be removed by your filter and eaten by the good bacteria in your tank. Neon tetras are one of the coolest fish ever, but they are finicky in that they don't like *new* tank water, known as new tank syndrome, because there isn't enough good bacteria in the tank yet, and they prefer acidic water with a lower ph (6.0).

The third product I recommend is the Prime. It is the toilet paper of the fishkeeping world, imo.  

I am never without it. It can be used in an emergency situation, like if you test your tank and something is severely out of whack. It can also be used regularly to keep the water perfect.

Then there is a product called Bio-Stone. I have one, or several, depending on tank size, in all of mine. It is a natural stone that shoots good bacteria into the water naturally. They are expensive but worth it. I think a small one is twenty dollars and a large one 30, but they only have to be replaced every two years or so.

Whew! Next I can go over how to get the tank set up, or perhaps you'd just like me to stop talking. Let me know. ? 

I forgot a couple of products. To cycle your tank, you will need good bacteria. Seachem Stability, Tetra SafeStart or API Quickstart are good. I'm partial to the Seachem line. Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride Solution drops are good.

There are a few ways to cycle your tank after you get it set up. The most common is to cycle it with *starter* fish. Personally, I don't like that because I think it's inhumane. Conditions in a new tank aren't right and it stresses the fish.

The easiest way is to add the good bacteria, the ammonia and let it run. If you know someone who has an established tank, you can borrow a filter from them and that will introduce good, established bacteria to your tank. Avoid adding Prime or anything to your tank during the cycling process as you want to be able to watch the interaction between the bacteria and ammonia. You will have to test daily until the nitrate and ammonia levels read 0.

It can also be done by feeding live plants but that is trickier.  It involves feeding them and and causing ammonia build-up. Are you using live plants?

I did the calculations and 25 litres is approximately 6 & 1/2 gallons of water. The general rule of thumb is one inch of fish per gallon. Neon tetras max out at about one and a half inches when grown, so that would give you room for four, max. They are shoaling fish and would be much happier in a larger group, so if possible, I would recommend a larger tank. Since it's going on a desk, I'm guessing you want to keep it on the smaller end, but even a ten gallon would give them more swimming room, and you could get a half a dozen.

@polarberry, thank you so much for your great advice and work on getting me the info! Everything is clear and much appreciated, but.... you say 10 gallon for about 6 fish, but won't that make the neons unhappy? They have to be in a larger group?

Would you also say to put a lot of plant-life in the tank for them to hide in etc?

It's just that they feel more secure and happier in a larger group. They shoal naturally in the wild, in huge numbers. Six is the absolute barest minimum I would keep. Otherwise they will get stressed and can even get aggressive with each other. I always recommend keeping them in a specialty tank, which you are doing, as they are like popcorn to so many other tropical fish. How many would you like to have?

I rooted around in my fish chemical cabinet and found a bottle of API Quick Start. It says to add 10ml per 10 US gallons (38l) and the Dr. Tim's ammonia drops are four drops per gallon of water, so you won't need huge amounts of either. 

Neon tetras like a dark substrate, preferably gravel, and low lighting and a planted tank. Live plants are a bit more of a hassle than artificial decorations, but they look beautiful and help remove nitrates from the water. You just have to drop some Seachem Flourish or API Leaf Zone in.

I am in the process of setting up a cardinal tetra tank that will house about a hundred. ? 

Does your daughter have a favorite color or does the room have a color scheme? It can be really fun to color-coordinate the fish with the room. I might be able to suggest some fish that thrive in smaller tanks that aren't quite as particular about tank conditions. Is her heart set on neons? I don't blame her! They are one of my favorite fishy.