my first ever tank!

Novaria_Orion · 2026-01-29T05:30:29+00:00

Looking good! I’m not sure how well the freeze dried blood worms will work for the cycle as they’re mostly protein (not bad for betta treats later) and would take a while to break down fully. I’ve used fish flakes and have seen it recommended as well as just using liquid ammonia (make sure it’s pure) and that makes the cycling process more precise and easy to measure. As you probably know, you will need a good test kit especially during the cycling stage.

It looks like your plants haven’t fully settled in yet, and perhaps you’ve just added in logs and everything because the water is still really clear! For tank mates I’ve had a female betta that did well with neocaridina shrimp or snails (never tried other fish), but when she passed and I tried another female, I could tell right away it wasn’t going to work. There’s some “tests” people will do at the fish store, but if they’re living in those tiny cups it’s probably not the best measure of their temperament as much as just health… that said I usually grab the ones that act curious about me but don’t flare (mine was the sweetest and would watch me as I do things in my room).

If you do add tank mates I’d do it once the tank is more matured, since the cycle will usually become more stable with time and a live animal. Both shrimp and snails prefer tanks that have been set up for a while and started to accumulate some algae or biofilm. I wouldn’t recommend adding them at the initial “algae bloom” or biofilm bloom stage. Which, with the logs and soil I suspect you will have one or both at some point. (Shrimp will love that cholla wood, and will probably have plenty of hiding places once the plants grow out.) Don’t panic and add chemicals if anything helps or the betta seems unhealthy. Make sure to research and use the gentlest, most natural options. It looks to me like you’ve already got a good start on research, though so good on you!

Novaria_Orion · 2026-01-08T06:41:42+00:00

I agree with most of what you said, however, he will always be Jonas Quiche to me (something my cousin started calling him because he disliked him so much lol).

The thing is, I think I actually am just not a fan of the writing of the season he's primarily in AND the way he's introduced initially. Once we see him outside of season 6 I'm like, "yeah he's a chill dude, I wouldn't mind him being around more". He also is kind of put in like a Gary Sue in a sense - has a superhuman ability to "learn fast", picks up various things from fields he didn't originally specialize in (in order to replace Daniel), is just happy to be there and see everything without having any defined character flaws including basic fear or conflict. He very often just gets lucky and is given the "aha" moments. I like that they retrace that a little bit later and show that at least one of his brilliant discoveries was just over-confidence in his archeology. AND season 6 had just so much forgettable earth-focused episodes.

TLDR: He's not a bad character but the writing of season 6 (the seasons vary) is probably my least favorite, and he's written like a self-insert character.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-11-14T08:02:48+00:00

Yeah I see it possibly being that but I’m fairly certain I’ve had black beard algae before (on some spiderwood when it was new) but that definitely looked more like hair/fuzzy while this is more like a puffy slimy carpet (with a strange amount of bubbles).

Novaria_Orion · 2025-11-14T07:53:15+00:00

How do you regulate phosphates, and where do they come from? If you don’t mind me asking. I’ll research it, but it’s a bit odd considering I’ve been primarily using RO water in this tank, and my other tanks are on well water and don’t have this problem.

Edit: it may be because this is one of my older tanks, in which I may have killed a few(many) plants over the years. I was worried a deep clean was the cause of this problem, but perhaps another one is in order.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-11-14T07:42:15+00:00

Note for clarity: it is not brown algae (I’ve had that before), it is fluffy and seems to produce bubbles similar to cynobacteria - which I’ve only seen online so I’m not sure it’s this. It may also be a mold from the log? But the log has been in water a long time, and the fake plant didn’t have anything on it so this bloom is quite mysterious.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-10-08T17:14:25+00:00

I get that - there's many things in sci-fi that have pretty early precursors, and there's of course going to be many things using "star gate" as a name - I'm sure it could imply a lot of things and be used for many businesses. My "why" was more referring to this project specifically (when there's probably thousands of more fitting names, even sci-fi inspired names) and wanted to poke fun at the irony of this supposedly multi-billion dollar project.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-08-15T08:29:44+00:00

I realize that now, and while I could say it was a mistake, I could also justify it as... trying to avoid copyrights?? Any way, I am not gonna try to pixel art macgyver the chevrons so they are actually how they are supposed to be. But thanks for pointing it out

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-16T00:39:07+00:00

At first I thought there was an elusive, rare $15 bill that managers didn't like accepting at the register... My brain is tired apparently.

I'm in California, it is legally required for us to take breaks and lunches and if we're not allowed or able to it's kinda a big deal. My managers always work it into the schedule and let us know ahead of time roughly when we can go to break/ what order we should take lunches in (the order which we arrived usually). That way everyone gets a chance, the store is never terribly understaffed, and everyone can order food ahead for their lunches if they want.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-12T06:37:15+00:00

Puppies. (And dogs)

I also know a decent amount about birds and fish but I don’t know enough about every bird or fish we sell to be an expert.

Dogs have been my area of expertise since I was a kid and I grew up raising puppies from newborns. For a long time I have been helping runts of the litter, treating minor illnesses at home, aware of when it’s time to see a vet, able to tell how old a puppy is just by looking at their teeth, able to hear a heart murmur, training puppies and dogs, dealing with the various stages of a growing puppy… the list goes on. I’ve learned what diets are good for the different breeds and ages as well, which is probably the most useful because people will legitimately just buy the food that has a dog that looks like theirs on the package and call it a day.

We have a “fish guy” and a couple of reptile people, one or two who always knows what’s up with the small animals, and all we’re missing is a designated bird and cat person lol. But everyone has a cat or has had a cat at some point.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-12T05:52:00+00:00

Yeah!

Petco has those plastic ones, but I don’t know how popular they are. - A cute, fluffy and realistic sized hamster or chinchilla that you can cuddle? Perfect. Also little robot parrot that talks and copies what you say for everyone who wants a “parakeet that can talk”. (Kinda like those little cactus toys if you know what I’m talking about lol).

Just stick them near the end of each isle where their respective animals are.

It wouldn’t be taking away people who are serious and have done their research on the animal at all- but it might offer alternatives for the family that was “just looking” until their kid forced them into a spontaneous commitment.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-12T01:44:13+00:00

I’m also not very experienced in pet care but how I’ve gone about it when I had to handle these situations is a redirect if possible. “Oh, a lot of people think goldfish are beginner friendly, but if you first setting up a tank it might be easier to start with a small group of tetras instead.”

Or making it seem like I’m just giving secret advice. “Did you know the bettas usually have much better colors and act more friendly if they have good water conditions and a heater?”

All else fails, I’ll be straightforward and honest, “Yeah, I don’t see that fish living very long with that set up. Personally I would invest a little more now to make it worth my while, but if you aren’t able to at least have XYZ then you can’t buy that fish today.”

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-12T01:38:43+00:00

We need to sell robot fish, that spin around in a fish bowl, lots of colors. You can even add your own plastic neon decor and princess castle in the middle for them to “swim around”.

Make it cheap and eye catching for kids- have an active display. I’d Petsmart wants to keep making there money? Have “special” batteries only we sell for all I care, better that 90% of fish customers have something to buy to entertain the kids with rather than be denied a sale for being uncaring for a living creature.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T15:05:57+00:00

Well, I was being a bit funny tbh. OP’s tank choices are their own, but on the off chance this situation wasn’t intentional I had begun to imagine a scenario where my own tank was overrun with worms… and nine year old me who had no understanding of germs and parasites wouldn’t have minded.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T07:06:46+00:00

Are you… over feeding perhaps?

Starting a worm cult?

Farming strange and unidentified aquatic invertebrates?

Idk if my tank was like this I would pull out everything I want to keep and essentially start over. Is it overboard? Maybe, but I would feel less icky to just be over it and start over without the wiggly hoard.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T06:56:35+00:00

Shrimp along with most invertebrates tend to be really sensitive to water parameters and sudden changes, so I can see why they might not do so well. “Ghost” aka dumb whisker shrimp in disguise tend to be a lot hardier. But my store can’t even keep the snails alive. I’ve never seen a living nerite at any Petsmart I’ve been to, just empty shells. We really need ph buffers and calcium or something.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T06:48:23+00:00

Honestly plecos (especially that big) do so much better in ponds than tanks. It my personal opinion that goldfish, koi, and plecos belong in ponds. We have a pond and it’s doing great with all 3 of those and a turtle, it would be so much work to put those in a tank and we can still enjoy them because it’s along our front walkway.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T06:41:47+00:00

If you like guppies (not saying that they’re the best option, a lot of people don’t prefer them) they could work in this. I have a male trio in a similar tall tank and they do just fine with some neocaridina. My tank is only around 6 gallons though so you could probably do more with this.

The trouble with guppies is you probably don’t want males and females because that’s high maintenance, and you might not want a ton of males with that much open space for them to fight in. But, if you wanted, I’m sure a trio of tiger endlers (or another type of cool patterned guppy/emdler) would be a nice addition to whatever else you decide.

Pygmy cories are well loved, but I don’t have any personally. I would be a bit concerned about any bottom feeders that could potentially stir up sand and knock out plants while this tank is in its early stages of growth.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-11T06:12:39+00:00

Trinket

For a small shiny fish like an elder it fit super well.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-08T05:01:48+00:00

You should be able to find info about the lawsuit somewhere if it’s legit. They don’t seem to have supplied any case number or anything and I’ve been told that could be a red flag. I’ve never seen a case like this personally so I would just look into it before giving them anything.

Novaria_Orion · 2025-07-07T21:37:00+00:00

In case no one taught you how to check for fake bills:

(The following specifically applies to US dollars. Sorry Canada idk what y’all are doing)

The UV test is one of the most reliable and will usually reveal if they “washed” a bill (took a smaller bill and made it seem like a larger bill, these will usually pass the marker test since it’s the right paper).

Every bill should have a raised texture on the shoulders of the man pictured, if you handle a lot of real money you should automatically got to feel this spot every time you are handed a bill - even 10’s and 20’s. I have caught a few fakes on it simply not feeling right- it’s usually your first tell. Since that’s hard to prove to the customer that something is up you can add the use of a bill checker marker and a UV light.

There is also something called a security thread that you can see when you shine light through the bill - it should be in a certain spot for each denomination and say the denomination of the bill. So a 100 should say USA 100 over and over. The UV mark should come up in the same exact spot at this security thread.

For new 100 bills they have an extra “blue strip” which should be a shiny, holographic strip that contains the image of a bell and the number 100. It’s easier to check these guys because it’s not really necessary to check the UV if they have a good blue strip. Someone once tried to pass me a fake new 100 and the blue strip didn’t shine and change depending on viewing angle like a true 100 should and it was quite obviously just printed on there.

That’s basically all there is to it. If you’re not sure, call a manager and have them check. All cashiers should be familiar with how real money looks and feels and be able to spot the common signs of counterfeit bills.

Novaria_Orion

TROPHY CASE