This is what I've been doing

The other day Caleb and I went out to the garage to find the fish tank and all it's stuff. We found the heater, filter, lid, light, and box of chemicals and stuff which we brought in and cleaned up. Then we had to uncrate the actual tank. When we moved from Austin, TX to Leesburg, VA the movers built a wooden crate for the fish tank, then wrapped the whole thing in blankets, put it in the crate and there it stayed for 5-1/2 years. It was very safe there. When Caleb and I went to uncrate it, we realized that we wouldn't be able to pull out the nails with a hammer - they were in too deep. There were also some pretty serious staples holding the thing together. Clearly we were going to have to rethink the way we were getting into this.

Caleb immediately suggested a chain saw. This was not a surprise since Caleb frequently suggests chain saws - for every situation. I realized that a small handsaw would probably get us into the crate so I grabbed that. Caleb wanted to know why not use a chainsaw. That led to a discussion of the right tool for the job. I pointed out that while a chainsaw is helpful in some situations, it just won't do for every situation. He thought about it for a minute and then agreed that sometimes you need an alien plasma rifle too. Thinking outside the box - that's my boy!

We got the crate opened, Mickael brought the fish tank inside and we got it set up (it's a 20 gallon, not a 10 gallon - I realized this when I was dumping gallon number 8 into it from my 1 gallon pitcher). We've declorinated the water and added bacteria to get the ammonia/nitrate/nitrite cycle going and we're almost up to temperature with the heater. The bacteria will be ready to have fish added by tomorrow afternoon, but I'm still trying to bring down the pH. Once we get the pH down where it needs to be, we should be ready to get some fish. We are planning on moving Balto the betta upstairs to this tank (he's been through a lot, he deserves a bigger place to live). This has meant rethinking some of the fish we were planning to add to the tank since we don't know Balto's opinion of other fish. (We do know that Balto talks smack at the sofa a lot -red floral - and he'll get sassy with us if we're wearing bright colors, so I'm assuming he's not just going to ignore other fish.) After spending way too much time figuring out what kind of fish can go with betta's, we've decided on Neon Tetras (they're bright colored but they move fast and don't mess with other fish) and some Cory Cats. Everything I found said both of these work well with bettas. I'd love to get some fancy guppies (did you know there are show guppies - the idea of a guppy show just cracks me up), but opinions seem to be divided as to whether or not guppies and bettas get along - it seems to come down to individual personalities of the fish involved.

So for now we're waiting on the water to get sorted out and then we get to go fish shopping!