chopping

[dragonlady7]

Went chopping today. First we had to get foosh medicine. We'd used up the last bit of Bettamax we had, doing a water change to help ease the stress of reintroducing the largely-recovered peripatetic fooshella Shirley to the big tank. (She violently hates being in the little bowl. And if a betta is well enough to be violently hateful, then all is probably well. We realized that recently-- that's the key with bettas. If they hate you and the world, then they're ok. If they don't care, you should worry.)

The aquarium store doesn't carry Bettamax anymore! They said that they couldn't get it anymore. Dave was looking for it online but didn't find it. :(
Bettamax is the stuff that turns the water blue. It saved Shirley's life, we think-- it's just a general boost for fish. It has slime coat to help heal skin damage, and has antibiotics I think-- it's just sort of a supplement, and we've been using it in every water change to help ease the stress for the fooshes. But apparently you can't get it anymore? I don't know-- traumatic.

While we were there we noticed they had about half a dozen female bettas again. They don't often have them. The males are easy to come by, but the females are much less showy (and cuter), and nobody sells them.
One of them had a yellowish body with dark scale edges, bright red fins, and translucent-green fin ribs. Beautiful. Also, she was flaring at the fish in the bowl next to her. Which is behavior that female bettas aren't really supposed to engage in. A tomboy!

So we bought her. She'll be quarantined in the bowl for a little while, while Shirley finishes recovering, and then we're going to, on a day when somebody's home to watch and make sure they're ok, put her in with Shirley. Because female bettas are supposed to be social. (As opposed to the males, who will kill each other.)
Although this one's got a temper too. We had her bag floating in the bowl to let the temperatures equalize, and she was trying to bite her way out of the bag so she could swim around the bowl. So... We'll see how she does.

We need a name for New Fooshella. Our fish are all thusfar named for various drinks-- Alexander, who lived in an oversized brandy snifter for a while, was named for a brandy alexander. Gibson used to be white and live in a giant martini glass, resembling nothing so much as a gibson onion (the garnish for a Gibson martini). Shirley, being pink, is named for a Shirley Temple. but New Fooshella? I don't know! What's scarlet and pale yellow and also a bit green?

I might make a poll later. Poor girl needs a name.

We also bought some spearmint for the herb garden. Mojitos later!!

Duh-- edited to add:
Photos:
In general

Shirley, recovering
New Fooshella.


Dire straits - Forever Night Shade Mary - Desperado

Comments

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Wow, you've got some lovely unidentified flowers. Has anyone helped you figure out what they are? I'm jealous - the only flowers in my yard have been put there by me. No mysteries.

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

Eh. I wish I knew what they were, and also wish that bit of garden wasn't so overgrown. I'm dreading trying to tackle it this autumn when I take on the established garden beds. Most of where I'm growing flowers and things now were beds that were simply filled with hostas, or were part of the lawn, and so I just ripped out what was there. That bed has all these mystery flowers in it, and i want to keep some of them, but I also want to get rid of the weeds. I can't figure out what's weeds, and it's going to be much harder to deal with than the ones where I could just start fresh.

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

Is there something you could tie around the flowers so, when you do fall clean-up, you can identify the ones you want to keep? (It's a shame I can't give you pieces of my blue irises. A good half of them are sentenced to be roto-tilled this fall. I've practially got them coming out of my ears.)

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

I was thinking, perhaps yarn is a good idea. I imagine what I'll do is dig up the ones I like, and then just nuke the rest of the garden (and by "nuke" I mean "dig with a shovel until my arms fall off"). And then, then I'll do something cool with it. I'm also thinking of adding a raised bed to the front yard, but remain undecided. As I've never made one before.

*pines for blue irises*

[tehta.livejournal.com]

Is Margarita too obvious a name?

[dragonlady7.livejournal.com]

It's one of the ones we're considering. But margaritas are green, and she has hardly any green in her...
Then again, now that he's not malnourished and agoraphobic anymore Gibson's not white, but rather a lot more blue and pink than any Gibson onion should be. But at least in his case he was white.