Oh noes! The mealy bugs came back in full force! Just goes to show how susceptible carnivorous plants are to stress :( Hopefully summer comes soon and my poor plants can finally fully recover from the neglect they suffered in the Philippines.

In the video, I discuss how I kill mealy bugs with rubbing alcohol, soak my staghorn fern to water it, and fertilize my pitcher plants.

Made the much requested Bearded Dragon Care video! I try to streamline their care as much as possible, because the easier it is, the more likely and more often you will do it. Cheers and enjoy!

Key points:
Bearded dragons are simple but exacting in their care. Adult beardies require a roomy tank with a basking spot of about 95-100F and a cool side of around 70F. They absolutely need a strong UVB 10.0 light that must be replaced every 6 months for optimal UVB output to prevent metabolic bone disease. Additional calcium and vitamins should be provided as a powder dusted on insects and salads. Weldon gets a big handful of salad every day and insect protein 1-2x a week. He also gets bathed in warm water for about 15-20 min 1-2x week.

How I transition fry to eat dry pellet food. Basic points:

- I feed a variety of small pellet foods mixed together. My current mix has: Bassleer Biofish size Medium (for 1cm long fish) Regular/Garlic/Forte, New Life Spectrum Grow pellets, and Golden Pearls (can't remember the size).

- I start to transition fry once they are swimming readily all over the tank and also recognize me as the "food bringer". That way they will start looking for food when I come up to the tank.

- Starve the fish for at least 24 hours before offering new food. This will make them more keen to try new food right away.

- Add a very small amount! Also try to forcefully put it into the tank so it falls right in front of the fish. The movement will stimulate them to eat. Make sure not to overfeed so you don't have to clean up rotting food later!

- Be persistent and don't give up. The fish will eventually take the pellet food. After they are eating pellets well for a couple of days, then I start to feeding live good again once a day in addition to pellets/freeze-dried/frozen-thawed. Variety is the key to healthy fish!

Live my life for 20 minutes in the morning before I run to work :)

Little stinkers are already starting to fight!

I decided that for the month of February (*cough* notice it is the shortest month *cough*) I want to challenge myself to do a daily vlog challenge! I also threw the gauntlet down to my fellow fish YouTubers :D We will see how many of us get to making content on the daily! I mainly did this because I wanted to keep myself accountable and make sure that I properly record the explosive growth of all my fry this month!

​Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel at Inglorious Bettas so that you won't miss an update on the Daily Vlog Challenge playlist!

How I prevent ventral fin loss in betta fry. Basically, feed a variety of food! Definitely stay away from just feeding microworms...

Had another great livestream with Joep today! We discussed "treat" (trait) selection in selective breeding. We covered our thought processes for selecting fish to breed and also quite a lot of betta genetics!

Had a great meeting yesterday with SFBAKA! Had a great time with my favorite killifish people. I picked up a pair of A. bitaeniatum Ijebu-Ode, as well as some java ferns. Thuan also gave us a lovely demonstration on how to collect Lampeye killifish and Rivulus xiphidius eggs!

It's been several weeks now since I learned of the death of my dear female bearded dragon while she was in a boarding facility during our travels. I still miss her every day and I am sure Weldon misses her too...there is far less head bobbing happening now than there once was. RIP dear Waldo.