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axtrr · 2 years

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Character Intro: Galileo

nsfw after the image and cut

summary: A half-shark who dwells deep in an underwater cave yet to be discovered and mapped out by (most of) humanity, Galileo finds comfort in the dark and the cold. His experience with humans in the centuries before he retreated to the shadows wasn't a positive one, so it was a wonder when he didn't attack you on sight when you wound up lost in his home. If it weren't for the effects of nitrogen narcosis and your rebreather quickly failing you, you probably would have struggled when he grabbed you and pulled you to an above-ground part of the cave. When you came to, you asked so many questions about what he was and how he lived day-to-day that he almost regretted not leaving you where he found you.

𓆟 after introducing yourself as a marine biologist and cave-diver, you explained to him exactly what it was you were doing, and where that mission went wrong. you also not-so-subtly begged him to come back with you, to at least let you observe his behaviors in an open environment, to which he responded with a resounding 'hell no.' you peaked his interest a little with the promise of food and a safe place to stay for the duration of the tests and afterwards, should he decide to stay, but he had conditions.

one: he was not to be treated as a wild, unintelligent animal. he remarked that he could walk on land for a short amount of time, and that the minute he was so much as talked down to by either you or one of your coworkers, he would escape whatever enclosure you had put him in and massacre everything in sight.

two: he wasn't going to eat dead fish. throw him one for dinner and he'll throw it back in your face. luckily for him, you explained, watching how he tracks prey would be an important part of your observations.

three: after you were done observing the basics, he wanted to stay with you. you argued that the only place he could even sleep was the bathtub, but he wouldn't budge. so you sighed and agreed to his terms, accepting that your water bill was gonna skyrocket in the coming months.

𓆟 this man is a nightmare to work with. you didn't ever think that an apex predator who lived in solitude for centuries would be such a diva, yet here you were, dragging him like a beached whale into the lab on days where he didn't feel like testing. you also learned very early on that he has preferences even between prey when you tried to give him a fiddler crab and he looked at you like you were trying to poison him.

𓆟 he’ll pull you into the tank. foot’s a little too close to the edge? into the tank. trying to pull him up so you can go home after work? into the tank. you started wearing bathing suits to work under your clothes, which he very quickly takes notice of.

𓆟 so, first of all, this bitch has claspers, which in really basic terms is the shark equivalent of two dicks, so double penetration’s going to be a common occurrence with him. and twice the dick means twice the cum, so sex with Galileo is a huge mess, every single time.

𓆟 he bites. a lot. his instincts have his jaws on you constantly to keep you still and he bites hard. God help you if he decides to change positions more than twice, because you’re gonna bleed like crazy.

𓆟 speaking of blood, the smell of it makes him even more excited, so if you’re bleeding he’ll probably go for another round, biting you again and getting himself into a vicious cycle, completely oblivious to how overstimulated you get as he ruts into you again and again with no breaks.

#clover’s ocs: galileo #monster lover #monster fucker #clover’s ocs #monster x you #monster x human #monster boyfriend #my fic #exophilia #asks open #requests open #terato #nsft fic #mdni #minors dni

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cthulhusstepmom · 1 year

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Gaz is a fish person.

His collection was truly impressive before he joined the SAS and now that he's in the 141 with a semi permanent home base he has a few tanks in his room(2 planted 10gals and a blackwater 5gal, for a small community tank, a copper plakat Betta, and a mustard gas Betta).

When Price finds out about the fish he gets Gaz a goldfish(a little calico from the local Petco/smart/whatever they have in that barbaric country) and Gaz dies inside while trying to gently explain just how big of a space goldfish need to his CO (also the fact that it's a Coldwater fish and that he values the plants in his tanks thank you). He puts her in a bowl for the time being until he can return her in the morning but he wakes up to an exhausted Price telling him to go the rec room. Lo and behold there is a brand new 75 gallon tank with a huge canister filter and the highest quality Goldfish pellets money can buy.

Eventually Gaz gets three more goldfish for the 75 gallon in the rec room(once it's cycled and he's sat the team down to explain the nitrogen cycle, proper maintenance and "for the love of God let me add any fish").

An old oranda that someone was looking to re-home named Cap.

A ryukin with a ridiculously tall fin named Dawn.

And a giant black moor named Spooky.

The little calico? Her name is Monster.

#Gaz #cod mw2 #head cannon #fishblr #i dont know of anyone else exists in the intersection of these two interests but im shouting into the void #it sure shows that i know way too much about fish huh #poor Price just trying to do nice things #he did the right thing at least 11/10 Price good job #its Dawn cause its dish soap...Soap #and Monster cause he's Kyle Garrick...Kyle

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mod2amaryllis · 10 months

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hey so i've been trying to establish an aquarium for a betta lately, but i haven't been able to introduce him to the tank because for some reason i can't get the tank parameters right for the life of me. what kinda stuff do you use when you have to deal with stuff like ammonia, nitrite nitrate PH ect?

and i'm not sure if you have any issues with this but you do reccomend any ways to get more oxygen into the water? i have another aquarium with guppies that i think might have suffered from a lack of oxygen despite there being a running filter. i've transfered the fish out while i troubleshoot but all this stuff at once has been quite a nuisance 😔

GASP tank question *throws everything else off my desk*

I'm not sure what you've done so far trying to get the right parameters, but 9 times out of 10, the right thing to do is this:

STOP MESSING WITH IT.

stop adding any chemical fixes, stop doing water changes, just step back. if set up for success, it'll almost always figure itself out.

you said you have another tank so going into this, I'll assume you already know basics like the nitrogen cycle and to dechlorinate water. I'm also only gonna discuss planted tanks because frankly i can't imagine having a successful tank without plants. i know it can be done, but it's hard work and i got no tips. plants are for lazy fish keepers like me.

to answer your questions point by point: ammonia and nitrites spike during initial cycling, then are kept at zero by beneficial bacteria as long as the tank is healthy. for nitrates, lots of plants help keep them down, and high nitrates can be lowered with water changes. i don't use any "stuff" for these things, like chemical additives. (EXCEPT for in emergencies like random ammonia/nitrate spikes, in which case you can follow bottle instructions to overdose seachem prime (my dechlorinator of choice) to bind ammonia while doing water changes to bring levels back to normal)

now for pH. stop worrying about pH. the actual number isn't that important (for BETTAS. some fish and shrimp are more delicate). i have way higher pH tap water than what all the species guides will recommend (7.6-7.8) and my fish are fine. what's important is STABILITY. making sure the number doesn't swing suddenly. using chemicals to try and get it to a certain point is oftentimes doing more harm than good because you risk swings. just acclimate before adding the betta to the tank and you'll be fine. i also make sure every tank has driftwood and a catappa leaf; the tannins will gradually and safely get your pH to a comfortable level.

now oxygen. o2 is added to the water via surface agitation, and some is released by plants. just use a sponge filter. the bubbles create plenty of surface agitation and the flow is nice and gentle, perfect for bettas. between sponge filters and heavy planting I've literally never had o2 issues. if you prefer different filtration (like a hang-on-back or canister) then use an air stone, or arrange filter output so it's skimming out along the waters surface.

alright now you've got me on a roll so I'm just gonna keep talking about establishing tanks lol

you're gonna hear a whole lot of different opinions on how to establish new tanks. I've had mostly great starts and some bad ones and I've settled on a method that works for me.

plant as many plants as possible early on. you can source plants from anywhere, but the best imo is to take from other established tanks, whether from fellow hobbyists or from stores that grow/store their plants in a running tank. you want a little stink on these plants basically. then to kick start it i add: remediation bacteria (this is not strictly necessary, i think it's more superstition at this point since I've added it to every tank and it's worked), fertilizers, a sinking fish food, and most importantly some PEST SNAILS. then i just let that thing stew. i also have the benefit of being able to pull used filter media from other tanks which greatly speeds the process. if you can take used media from your guppy tank, throw that in too.

i use the api master test kit but i don't really bother testing until end of week 1, then I'll test as much as i need til i get a good reading. once you see 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and some nitrates, like 5-10ppm, you're ok for fish.

the problem with starting tanks is usually patience. you're excited to get a new fish so you hover and test constantly, which is freaky while your tank is still cycling cuz you'll see ammonia and nitrite come up and think you have to do something about it, but you don't. give it a few weeks, treat it like a garden. the worst setup i ever had was right before a long trip. the driftwood was infected with bba spores and everything kept getting covered in this stinky sludge. even after removing the driftwood it didn't seem to be improving. then the trip happened and i had to leave it (no fish, but one mystery snail) for a few weeks. came back and it was THRIVING. crystal clear, happy plants, perfect parameters, happy active snail. that experience really hit me in the head with the patience lesson; ever since then it's been easier for me to take things one week at a time.

if this is all old news to you, my b. the special interest demon possessed me.

#fishblr #fish #fish tag #m2a #m2answers #long post #this is something that people can and have spoken about at great lengths but this is my two cents

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scotszoologist · 1 month

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Now that I've just about finished my PhD (just need to submit corrections yay!), I now have the headspace to be a bit more active on reddit...which for me apparently means trying to help first time fish owners on r/aquariums and r/bettafish.... I always make the effort to stay cheerful in my responses, but boy it gets tiring

PSA - If you ever want to keep fish, please, please read up on the nitrogen cycle! Both r/aquariums and r/bettafish have some excellent community built and maintained wikis and care guides, with step by step instructions for cycling (pro tip, if your local pet shop tells you that you can cycle a tank by just leaving it running for a day, they are wrong!).

In fact, overall PSA, if you plan to get any animal as a pet, please spend at least a month (preferably longer!) actively researching how to care for it. Do some searching online, read some articles and caresheets, watch some youtube videos. Find online communities, like those on reddit, and see if they have guides or links. Spend some time lurking and you'll gain so much knowledge, such as basic care requirements, important foundational concepts, signs of disease or stress and how to treat them, common issues, etc etc. Taking a bit of time to be patient can save you and your future pet so much pain and heartbreak. You'll probably find a lot of conflicting information, but if you take the time and spend some effort you can usually figure out which sources are more reputable, and at the end of the day you can also choose to err on the side of caution and aim to exceed care requirements.

It is a pet owner's responsibility to do everything in their power to provide the best welfare for their pet. You can only do this if you actually know what to do, and you need to go out there and find this information out. You also need to be aware that we are constantly learning, and so the minimum care requirements of 1990 probably aren't well regarded in 2024, and the standards of 2024 might not hold up in 2030. You need to be willing to keep learning and willing to accept that you might have made some mistakes and you might need to change the way you do things.

#rant #memes #fishkeeping #pet care

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betta-beta · 1 year

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Look, I’m not saying this is the absolute perfect set-up, but this was a PETSMART ad on TikTok, and they show a 5 gallon tank, heater, filter, and more than one plant, plus they’re demonstrating how you can ethically get and keep a fish for the Lunar Net Year. I’m taking this one as a win.

In the comments, the creator also mentioned that they cycled the tank, and while I’m not sure if that’s a pet store cycle or a proper nitrogen cycle, the fact that he’s even talking about it is amazing.

EDIT: Now that I’m looking, I can see it’s a 3 gallon, but this is still such a vast improvement over what they’ve pushed in the past.

#betta care #betta welfare

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russilton · 1 year

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I’m thinking about starting a fish tank! Do you have any advice on a tank for beginners? I’m a broke college student so my budget is like $150 and I don’t want to get a massive tank.

I can absolutely give you some advice, but also I want to stress upfront that if I seem a little discouraging, it comes from a place of caring about the welfare of fish in the pet trade. They’re all questions I had to ask myself before I got my fish and are why I waited so long to get mine.

So to start with- don’t get goldfish

Don’t get goldfish. don’t get goldfish? Don’t get goldfish!

I LOVE my goldfish, with my whole heart. They are the pet I wanted more than anything for a good part of my life. But there is no goldfish that is compatible with a small tank. Even the fancy ones need a minimum 50 gallons (30 for one, 10 each for two more, they are social and need to be kept in groups). Long bodied goldfish are pond or big tank fish, my tank is 5ft long, it takes an hour or more to clean each week, and when I eventually move with them? Moving it will take 4 people and two cars. Why will I have to move with them? They can live 10-20 years. They shit like machines because they have a massive bio load. You can’t keep most plants with them cause they’ll eat them, and you have to make sure nothing in their tank can fit in their mouth or they’ll eat it. They are aquatic toddlers. Don’t get goldfish!

Okay with that out the way, there are lower budget friendly fish, but please consider that they’re a pet and while you can do most moderate fish vet care at home, you will be their vet and that can be expensive. There’s been more than a couple times my boys have taken up my free spending budget to get chemicals or food they need.

Make sure caring for them is something you can fit in your weekly schedule. You’ll need to clean their tank every week by doing a water change, this maintains a healthy nitrogen cycle. This means removing some water and then replacing it with fresh dechlorinated water, swishing filter media in old water, and removing waste and any plant trimmings you may need to do. Fish keeping is like keeping an entire ecosystem, you’re trying to create an out of place environment, and that means you’re the boss. Same goes for reptiles and amphibians.

Last point before I get to some recommendations: do your research. Do it online. NEVER rely on a pet store for your lone source of advice. I love my local fish store but I don’t trust even them as my sole source of info. Also be wary of where your info is coming from. If a website is owned by an aquatic product company, they’re going to give you info that favours their products.

Get yourself well, well acquainted with the nitrogen cycle, it’s the foundation of fish keeping. Make sure you research every flora or fauna you want to put in your tank, know it’s needs and if you can meet them, and how it interacts with other fish or animals. I had a fish die because he ate one of his tank mates I was assured he wouldn’t and it gave him bloat. Mistakes happen, and I was devastated by it. You don’t have to always assume the worst, but be prepared for it.

Genuinely the best advice can come from Reddit. I know, I KNOW, reddit is full of know-it-all pains in the ass. And that’s why it’s great for aquarium info, because you will find no greater treasure trove of guides and wikis on recommended care, because these folks will have spent a lot of time correcting people’s care, and have made guides to point people to. Every question you can think of has been asked. I’ve frequented the r/goldfish sub when I needed care advice or just wanted to share my boys. YouTube can also be great if you want more gentle and personable advice. There is a product review for everything and a treatment guide for any ailments. Research the critter you want back to front and back again. Know their diets, lifespan, favoured habitats. Look at how other successful keepers are keeping their fish.

Please never settle for the bare minimum. Just because a fish CAN live in a lacking environment doesn’t mean they should. Just you wait till you see their little personalities come out, I can’t imagine not doing the best I can for my boys when I see their little bodies light up when I walk into the room. Their love is humbling.

So, recommendations! First of all: tanks

If you’re in America, I believe petco (or pet smart? Google it) have something called a dollar a gallon sale. This is insane and I wish we had it here. If you want something small, 5gal can keep a betta fish quite happy, if you can spare the space, a 10 gal is much better! I have an 11 gal tropical that I find the maintainance on finicky, but easier than the big tank. The bigger you have the more you can keep. Anything you keep in 15gal or below tends to be considered a “nano” tank, and it’s best to follow guides for those kinds of tanks. But also, be wary of articles trying to tell you one kind of fish CAN live in a nano tank, and every other keeper site going “okay but it should be in a 20 because it needs to be kept in a school”

My currently uninhabited tropical 11, looking a little hairy. The heater broke and I’m waiting till I can get a new one, but the plants don’t much mind since it’s in a heated room.

If you don’t have access to cheap tanks new, try eBay. Yes eBay. My 126 gal 5ft tank? £41 second hand from a downsizing cichlid breeder. It should have cost £500 or more new. You can get some insane deals on stuff from smaller businesses on there too. I’ve also been told to keep an eye on Facebook marketplace. I tried but I abhor Facebook and favoured eBay.

Equipment and chemicals:

You don’t have to go to the fancy brands but trust me it’ll last longer and probably work better. The stuff I bought from a good and mostly trusted label always stuck around. It’s also good to buy from smaller fish focused businesses, because they’re putting the work in to test and cater to fish keepers. I’ll always go to somewhere like seachem or fluval, rather than pets at home, even if it’s more expensive, because my fluval siphon still works so well two years later, and seachem prime and alert has yet to steer me wrong. If you can, invest in higher quality foods too. I’ve got so many compliments on my fish after switching to repashy gel. It’s more dear but I can prep the food and freeze it in advance, it’s much nicer on their tummies, they love it, and it comes from a company that focuses on exotic pet food blends.

If there’s one thing you don’t cheap out on, filters and heaters. They are the engines that keep your tank moving, and if they break it’ll leave you scrambling.

When you’re doing your research, make sure to look out for having emergency supplies ready. I have a make shift hospital tank stocked away, back up battery air pumps incase there’s a power outage, and a large lidded bucket should my tank fail and the fish need to be put elsewhere.

Plants:

If you’re keeping anything other than goldfish, you will probably want some tropical plants! It can be expensive to start and a bit scary looking, but they’ll help your filtration by eating up all the adverse chemicals in your tank! Plus, it’s self growing decor.

I can personally recommend Anubias, Chinese water weed, crypts, Java fern, Amazon swords, Mariano moss balls, hornwort, Java moss.

All of these are low light low tech plants that don’t take much care, and those first three are my faves. A good local fish store can help you pick some that suit you, mine did!

Finally, the bit you were probably looking for: fish

Assuming you’re going for a small nano tank, I would genuinely recommend a betta fish!

They’re generally affordable, not too much maintenance, don’t need to be kept in groups (in fact, you SHOULDN’T keep them in groups, solo only), and so pretty and full of personality. Do not follow any advice that lets you think you can keep them in fuckin vases, you can’t. But you can keep them in 5-10 gal heated planted tanks.

Please avoid buying them from anywhere that sells them in cups, I know it’s tempting to save them, but all you’re doing is encouraging that business by giving them money. I have seen people get sicker ones free, but be prepared for that potential heartache. They aren’t sold like that in the U.K. usually and you should only be buying from places that keep them in small isolated tanks. Support businesses that care for their fish, and you will get a healthy fish for it. Remember for chain stores, it can benefit their business model that your fish dies and you come back to get a new one. Not all stores are like that, but some are.

If bettas aren’t your ball game, consider nano schooling fish like raspbora or some tetra! I’m personally looking at pygmy corydora and ottos for my small tank.

And don’t count out invertebrates! Look up Amano of Neocardinia shrimp! (Aka cherry shrimp), I will be getting myself some! There’s also so many freshwater snails, and you’ll probably end up with some whether you like it or not. I have hitchhiking ramshorn and mystery snails in my nano. I couldn’t kill them if I tried! They just plod along growing in my tank without my help at all.

At the end here it’s worth just saying: you are going to make mistakes. You will. We all do. You may lose fish for it, and it’s heartbreaking. I’ve lost fish in my learning journey and it strikes you down hard. But that’s why it’s important to do your research, it reduces the likelihood of it, and means YOU know that you did your absolute best.

Got to the end? I’m proud of you! That was so much, here’s a video from last night of my boy tiger bothering me for cuddles while I was scrubbing. He won’t leave me alone till I stroke his back or tummy. If it looks like the water is low, it is, we were doing a big big clean yesterday.

#if you can stomach all the words there’s fish video at the end of this #asks #anonymous #mark rambles #mark talks fish #wow long post #personal

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captainadwen · 1 year

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u ever watch something idly to chill and then three hours later you've consumed dozens of fish tank creation and review videos and and realize that proper fishtanks should mini simulate ecosystems and have levels and plantlife and algae eaters and bacteria and nitrogen cycles and also

pregnant shrimp are 'berried' because it looks like they have berries and its very cute

#im diving deep u guys

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is-the-fish-tank-big-enough · 2 years

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what do you think would be the smallest fish tank one could keep while still providing the fish (or shrimp?) with proper care? im not planning on keeping fish anytime soon, i dont have the room or money for it, but all the multi-gallon tanks you talk about always sound so intimidatingly big

TLDR: For a first time fish keeper I wouldn't go smaller than 10 gallons.

This is because you're dipping your toes (pun intended) into tank cycling and maintenance. You've gotta establish the feel of having a tank: having a schedule for water changes, how long your tank can go without a change, what nitrogen cycling looks like in the first place...you can and will need to read up on all this, but when you actually put that knowledge into the physical world of fishkeeping? Whole different ball game! I don't say this to scare you, but to emphasize how important hands on practice is.

The smaller the tank, the more delicate your nitrogen cycle is. Less room for error. It'll need water changes more often if there's a fish in it with enough bioload. Beginners tend to be unskilled with that sort of thing at first.

Now, if you've had tanks and know your stuff? Shrimp and snails can live happily in a 5g. Not sure I'd personally be ok with putting even "nano" fish in a 5g. I want my pets to feel enriched and enjoy schooling (if they're a schooling fish).

If you really wanna go nano you can try raising brine shrimp in a 2g (which are usually raised and used as food in the fish hobby, but if you've heard of sea monkeys... they're the same kind of critter) .

#asks #is the fish tank big enough #small tanks #10g #5g

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meowmeowuchiha · 1 year

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how the snikety snack do I do the whole “set up aquarium keep fish alive and happy” thing?? I was gifted a 3 gal and a 5 gal tank and a bunch of this whit powder nonsense (looks like coke and I’m tired rn so I cannot be bothered to dig it out to figure out what it actually is) I’d like to do a Betta in the 3 gal and like maybe a couple small fish in the bigger one?? Do you have any recommendations? Thank you for your time and putting up with this ramble

DFZCGdgchvj

Okay so

Without knowing what the white powder is I can't tell you anything about that.

As for setting it up, it's going to be the same for a betta as it is for other small fish!!!

Find the substrate you want (gravel is easier to clean, but sometimes people would rather use sand) and after you rinse it (with gravel at least you poke a bunch of tiny holes in the bottom, cut the top off, then run it under the faucet) just dump it in the tank! Typically you want roughly a pound of substrate for each one gallon, but this can vary depending on how deep you want the substrate and the overall footprint of the tank.

Then, select an appropriately sized filter and heater. Personally, I don't recommend anything Tetra brand, as I've heard far more bad than good about it. My top recommendation for filters is the Fluval aquaclear series, as you can decide what kind of filter media you want, can adjust the flow rate, and they typically last a long time. I have the size 20 filter on my 3 gallon (it's recommended for 5-20 gal) and I can adjust the flow rate enough so it doesn't bother my half-moon betta at all!!! For heaters, it's a lot easier. I just have a little aqueon heater for my 3 gallon, and it's worked just fine for me. Just make sure you have a thermometer so you can monitor the temperature of the tank properly, because if you don't, you might not catch it if the heater breaks for some reason.

Then decide on the decor.

That's going to be more personal taste than anything, with the only real exception being if you have fish with very long, flowing fins (like most bettas you'll find in shops). Plastic plants tend to be really rough, and sometimes fish with large fins can knock them into the rough decor and shred them up a bit. So if you get a long finned betta, I recommend either silk or live plants. Most live plants don't require extra care, either! If you want to know more specifically about live aquarium plants, just shoot me another ask. I don't want to do a COMPLETE info dump on you all in one post.

Once you have all that decided, you put it all together and fill it up! If using tap water, you'll need a water conditioner to make it safe. I always recommend Prime. You get the most bang for your buck with that, and it doesn't just get rid of chlorine, but also chloramines, which some places use instead of chlorine. Most other conditioners ONLY remove chlorine.

With the betta, you can typically put one in immediately since they're incredibly hardy, but best practice is to wait for a week or so until the tank "cycles", meaning the nitrogen cycle has stabilized itself. With other fish, you practically HAVE TO wait until the cycle stabilizes. Big chain pet stores and even most local fish stores offer free testing of your water, so you'll know if it's cycled or not. You can also get your own testing kit, and I ALWAYS recommend the liquid test kits, as they're far more accurate and easier to read than the strips. They all have instructions in them and they're easy to follow, even if it can sometimes feel tedious.

Once everything is set up and fish are in there, then it's typically fairly simple.

Turn lights on and off, leaving them on for roughly 8 hours (6-10 is my recommendation if you want to avoid a bunch of algae)

Feed once a day, never any more than the fish can eat within one minute (I prefer pellet foods, as they make far less of a mess and are easier to portion. Bettas will get 2-4 pellets a day, usually)

Change roughly 20% of the water once a week to once every other week, depending on how many fish you have

If any issues like diseases crop up, then you can Google, ask pet store employees (those who work with fish at least), ask others you know who have fish, or ask me again!!!!

Best of luck in your new adventure and don't hesitate to reach out and send me another ask if you need to!!!

#Fish #Aquariums #Fish care #Tank setup #Ask

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