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So Seb and I went to Petsmart yesterday. Wow, it took so much will power not to buy another goldfish. There were some cute red-capped Oranda there and I wanted one so badly, but I am trying to keep my tank to nearly 20gals (actually 18.3 gals) per goldfish. I want them to have ample room to swim freely as they grow. Oh, but it's always so tempting to see goldfish at the pet shop. Makes me desperately wish I had more room in my house for aquariums. ):

Anyway, back to the main reason we were at Petsmart to begin with.

Lately I've been debating with myself over what would be best in a goldfish tank; gravel or sand?

I read somewhere that it was safer for goldfish to have sand, since they don't get it stuck in their mouths like with gravel. However, yesterday at Petsmart, a worker advised me not to get sand because the goldfish will be constantly stirring it up and it will be a cloud of sand in your aquarium all of the time. (And she said that sand was just for lizards and those sorts of things.. neutral ) Also, when I asked if you could use the standard gravel vaccum on sand, she told me that it wouldn't work and would just suck the sand right up. (Which I suppose is understandable xd ) I asked her how would I go about cleaning sand in my aquarium and well--I don't think she knew. She danced around that question somehow and I don't remember exactly what she said. Though I do remember her asking "Well, are you going to have fish in your aquarium?" No lady--I'm going to keep my little sister in there--YESI'MGOINGTOHAVEFISHINMYAQUARIUM. I decided on giving her a simple "Yes" to that question.

When I mentioned my concern about my goldfish getting gravel stuck in their mouth, she told me that despite the many stupid things that goldfish tend to do, she has never ever heard of an incident where a goldfish had gravel stuck in their mouth. (Which is sort of funny, because I see it mentioned and noted all of the time on various goldfish sites and forums. sweatdrop )

It was very difficult talking to her, because it seemed as if she was very interested or concerned with the people who had just come up who appeared to be looking to buy some fish. So yeah, I felt very brushed off and decided I had enough of trying to get advice from her and politely left. (And we ended up leaving Petsmart with two massive bags of rounded gravel. It's all nice, smooth and pebbly, so I hope it does well with my goldfish.)

I'm telling you, I never know what to believe with workers at pet shops! They seem to act like they know what they are doing, but often give me reasons to believe otherwise.

Scarily enough, we spent over $80 there. Since we had to break down our tank and restart it from scratch, we had to buy some proper chemicals, bacteria and things to cycle our tank. We were also out of fertilizer for our aquatic plants (I think mother keeps using it for her ivy ._.) so we bought a nice big bottle of that. We spotted a little meter-type thing that kept track of the ammonia levels in your tank. Since we are generally too lazy busy to test the water mannually, we decided to buy it. It lasts for a year before needing a replacement, and it is rather small so I can hide it on the side of the tank somewhere without it standing out. We picked up some other random things as well, like medicated food, and God knows what else. It's easy to get carried away when buying stuff like that. It all adds up to a lot without you even realizing it LOL.

Blah. I'm not 100% satisfied with the pebbles I brought home yesterday. Likely because I really had my heart set on black sand. It's probably for the best anyway, since sand has a tendency to push up the PH levels in the water.

No matter though, it will still look just fine after I get my plants and things in there. It's cycling right now, with filters that have the carbon removed. (We have to use that for now until we can buy some more carbon to stick in there.)

Mom, as usual, is in a hurry to put things into the tank. Since she knows we are not going to put in our goldfish, she wants us to move or plants in there right away, but I am way too tired. Srsly, I'm too pooped to poop. burning_eyes

Plus, I need to keep the plants where they are for now until I am sure they are snail-free. Those things have been eating the hell out of everything and it's pissing me off. Seb put some Snail Away in the tub they are in, but they are still alive. In fact, it looks like there are more snails there now. =_=

Aah, my poor Konohamaru. She is sitting in a 5 gallon bucket near me being treated for parasites. She looks so glum in there without Udon and Luffy to keep her company. The boys are looking a little put out to, today. They are not nearly as energetic as they usually are, now that they have no girl to chase about. ):

Also, she seems to be with eggs since she rests on the bottom a lot. I'm actually a little bit worried, since I'm not 100% sure that she is even really female. Sigh. >_>

I hate gender guessing with goldfish.

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