Well, I was getting ready to announce that after a week, two of my shrimpies were simply gone. No carcasses, no "one first" and then "the other." Both, within hours, just gone. Like aliens took 'em.

Today, I found one of them. It's Tiny Clanger, one of the females. Sif, the other female (she didn't disappear) I've kept an eye on since Tiny and Balder left the building. Now that Tiny's back, I hold out hope that beautiful blue Balder found some secret spot in the tank and simply refuses to come out.

Another surprise is that my many Cryptos succumbed to the melting plague. All at the same time (I've got 8 or 9 specimens planted. It was most odd. Of course, I sussed the water chemistry, which was fine -- or as fine as it's been when they were thriving. I have cut back the CO2 to prevent it from forcing the pH down whilst my ongoing battle with carbonate hardness rages. But I digress.

Today, I went to Justin and Ady's and bought 4 specimens of Lobelia cardinalis, or Cardinal plant, which, according to Ady, doesn't demand a lot of light and stays short, making it ideal as a foreground plant. It's quite squat and lovely, if a little common. It's both green and red, so it mirrors the far taller, two-toned Ludwigia on the opposite side of the tank.

I'm a little confused, because research on the web says the Cardinal requires high light and grows to several inches high. Not what I want. I planted the Cardinals between severely pruned Cryptos. We'll see who survives the race for light and nutrients. Pictures soon.

For the last three days, I have seen only one of the three shrimp in Asgard: a female, red, and redolent. Big blue Balder has vanished, the other female has vanished.

Their disappearance after the introduction of Thor and Loki makes me wonder. Siamese Algae Eaters aren't known for antagonizing or eating shrimp, so I'm not sure what's going on.

I've been fascinated for a long time by the Betta lover's affair with Siamese Fighting Fish. I've always thought, "Yeah, they're pretty, but so what?" What is it about the Betta, particularly Betta splendens, that ignites such devotion and spawns so many converts?

I can attest to certain motivations. They're fun to watch (mesmerizing). Their colors are often otherworldly. They live well in small tanks.

My yet-unnamed new short-tail Betta is midnight blue with dark tourquise highlights in his scales. He doesn't have the long, veil-like fins of the popular Betta, and I like that. I was after a Plakat Betta and couldn't find one, so I'm particularly pleased with this little guy. He's about 2.5 inches and seems healthy. I bought him from one of the little cramped Betta drawers at Justin's Ocean Aquarium. He was one of the few who exhibited some oomph.

Instead of a drawer, he's now got a 0.5-gallon tank all his own, with a small 7-watt incandescent bulb to help keep the water temperature closer to 80 degrees Farenheit, they way they like it.

Ady, Justin's wife, turned me on to the small Anubias barteri var. nana. She graciously tied it to a small piece of lava for me; all I had to do was settle it in the black-pebble substrate across the tiny divide from a couple of dark river rocks for contrast. The plant is very green and healthy. Even with fertilizer, I don't suspect it will do well in such a small, CO2-deprived environment, but that's OK. I don't mind swapping out plants every few weeks for such an otherwise low-maintenance tank.

As soon as I have pictures of [yet-unnamed Betta], I'll post them.

On Saturday, I had a fascinating visit with Nippon's Jedi Fish Master, Nathan. I told him I was interested in some Otos to complement the shrimp in Asgard. He recommended a couple of Crossocheilus siamensis, Siamese Algae Eaters. Like Rasboras, Danios, and Barbs, they're cyprinids. They are famous for eating hair algae (yes!) and will even eat planarian -- or aquatic -- flatworms.

I bought 2 specimens. Their names are Thor and Loki, in keeping with the Asgardian theme. Right now, they're about 2.5 inches, but grow to a full length of just over 5 inches. That will be way too big for Asgard, so I plan to move them to the 10g Tetra tank one of these days (don't ask me how, given the profusion of hiding places in Asgard).

I've spent the last week fussing over Asgard, making sure everything is optimal for Balder, Sif, and Tiny Clanger. The shrimp are amazing creatures. Two of them have molted over the last week, leaving behind ghostly replicas of their bodies. They are frequently busy, using their two-fingered pincers on four different legs to scoop tiny scraps and algae bits into their mouths. Their intestinal tract is visible through their chitin; it produces cylindrical pellets, very small and white. With their dozen or so small rear legs they swim furiously through the water, darting from the driftwood mound into the Rotala/Ludwigia forest in the back of the tank.

When I can't find them, I'm sure they're hanging out in the cave at the rear of the driftwood mound, behind the clot of Java Moss I planted in the cave's visible end.

The two females are smaller and less boldly marked. Balder, however, is a few millimeters larger all around, darker (less translucent), with a dramatic white band running the length of his back. He's quite the stud.

I think I'm going to add two or three otocincli this weekend. I want to talk to Nathan at Nippon first, though.

Well, the 13-watt bulb I installed was so bright that it emboldened the algae within 48 hours. I removed the new bulb and put back in the original 5-watt. Better. Much better. I now realize that 18 watts in a 6g tank is more than enough to encourage healthy plant growth.

I replaced one of the 5-watt CF bulbs mounted outside Asgard with a 13-watt bulb. The vastly brighter light is evident. Now, we'll see what three areas the light boost influences most: 1) The Rotala and Ludwigia, plus the Hairgrass on the left, 2) the left-facing slope of the Riccia mound, and 3) any potential hair algae blooms.

Meanwhile, the shrimp are very happy, especially Sif and Tiny. Balder the Brave, er, went into hiding today...he may be molting.

Ugly Genius, a frequenter of FishProfiles, responded to one of my posts with some great news. He found the species identification on the German site I cited below. Clearly, the shrimp I have are Caridina/Neocaridina zeylanica.

The whole blue vs. red thing is still unclear to me, especially since today Balder, Sif, and Tiny Clanger all look alike. We'll see.

Well, from this blog, you may not be surprised, but I've taken yet another plunge. Today, I bought a 0.5-gallon Betta kit, made by Hagen of test-kit fame. It's great. It's got a hinged cover, a slot for an optional light, plus some ugly purple substrate. I plan to get black substrate with some grey pebbles. The kit even includes a horrid little plastic plant that will be just perfect.

At Justin's today, I asked him about Plakat bettas. He blew my socks off by showing me several species of Betta, from the popular long-finned variety, to several short-fin types and even some dwarfs. It was very exciting. When my light unit arrives and I've conditioned a little water, I'm going to get one of Justin's larger short fin Plakats. Wicked.

I purchased three shrimp today for Tank #2, which is now officially called Asgard, home of the Norse gods. One male and two females: Balder, Sif, and Tiny Clanger. Balder, in mythology, was the fair son of Odin and Frigga. Sif was the wife of Balder's brother, Thor. Tiny Clanger is not from Norse mythology. That's the handle of a woman on FishProfiles who helped me diagnose Honegger's malady several weeks ago. After Honegger recovered, I told Tiny I would name a shrimp in my new tank after her.

Justin at Ocean Aquarium didn't know the exact species of these shrimp (and he knows his species), but he was quite excited about them because the males were blue and the females were red. I found a reference to the Caridina/Neocaridina sp. "Roter Zwerg", but there are so many algae shrimp strains, it's hard for my untrained eye to tell. They're young right now, so they haven't come into full coloration, but you can already tell Balder from Sif and Tiny. Their final size will be a little over an inch. When they've reached maturation, identifying their species may be easier.

The tank from which they came was super acidic, and Asgard measured today at almost neutral. I used a dropper to introduce several ml of Asgardian water to the bagged water, but I'm not sure if it was enough. If the pH shock doesn't kill these guys, they're going to be happy campers. I've already seen them gorging on Asgard's algae. Yay.