Fish Get! We ended up getting a little red fantail and an older calico oranda at a fish store about 30 minutes away. Minnow picked out the fantail. I picked out the oranda, which was isolated in a separate tank because some of the other fish were picking on it. I don’t know why I was drawn to it, I honestly didn’t find it particularly cute (looking at photos online I’d decided orandas were the least pretty) but for whatever reason I decided that little guy was gonna be my bud.
I also got 10 ghost shrimp, and the first night 7 of them died and the fish seemed kinda off, they didn’t eat most of the food we put in and the oranda kept resting on the bottom which really worried me. I tested the water, ammonia was slight and ph was good, so I did a water change and put in the usual treatments plus a little medflex for the oranda. They seem to be doing ok this morning, so maybe it was the stress of moving, but I’ll stay on top of the ammonia since there’s still uneaten food in the tank.
I’m a bit annoyed the food happens to be the exact same color as our sand and the vac doesn’t efficiently suck it up (I would probably end up completely empying the tank before I managed to get those few sinking pellets). I haven’t fed fish in over a decade and I measured out a 1/4 teaspoon but that was waaaay too much, they just need a literal pinch apparently. It’s Omega One sinking pellets, so I will switch to a brand that’s darker and easier to clean up.
I visited the small aquarist shop loser to us and discovered they specialize in aquatic plants. I picked up a small crypt I had no business getting and look forward to returning to get more plants later. It’s too bad they don’t sell goldfish stuff. After visiting the two small aquarium shops I doubt I will ever go to a big box pet store again. The shops have fish that are much healthier and have such a good variety of stuff to look at.
Update: I just did an image search for Orandas and I take it back they’re cute as hell and I have the best fish ever.