He was dying. He had been on his back for 24 hours. I picked him up out of the fish tank and he could barely move. I dropped him in this fish tank in the pipes so that he could find some protection from the mollies.
And he bounced right back. He's still a little slow but he's making his way around the tank on all of his legs now. And he's able to give off enough of the threat display that the Molly's leave him alone.
I really need to go through and figure out all of the parameters of this tank.
Thank you for the tips, and thanks for mentioning the argonite! I've researched a lot but hadn't really looked into adjusting hardness at all. I imagine if I needed it to be softer I'd just try to collect some rain water to add to my tap water. I don't think I'll need to since I have somewhat hard water where I am, and I think medaka rice fish like a fairly average range, but it's really helpful to know that's an option!
I'm thinking a $10 21gal "muck bucket" from home depot would be my "tank" for the pond (this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-21-Gal-Utility-Tub-Storage-Tote-with-Rope-Handles-2023-0560/326915094). And I was thinking I might just see if I can get some duckweed, a pothos clipping from a friend, and some pest snails and/or some aquatic isopods for free, and buy some black lava rock as substrate.
I have some gaskets from some crummy glass tupperware containers that float and they seem like they'd make a good feeding portal so the duckweed can't choke out the surface and allow the fish to deplete all the oxygen, especially since I'd be skipping the filter
I think the lights I already have may be adequate, I have toooons of artificial light due to my sleep disorder, but if it seems like the pothos cutting and duckweed need a bit more I was thinking an affordable grow light would be my pick
If I understand right medaka are euryhaline and happy all the way up to ocean salinities (which is super cool, apparently sometimes they live in tidepools) so I figured I'd get some kosher salt with no iodine or anti-caking agents to use to help in case they have any ailments
I'm debating what route I'd wanna go for actually getting the medaka. There's apparently a breeder in my area that generally sells online but I was considering reaching out to her to ask if I could come pick up an order in person- she has a listing for like 7-8 culls from various lines, which would be like $30 with no shipping (if I can pick them up locally)
OR
If I feel prepared for a challenge, there's a specific line I REALLY love that's what I eventually want, and there's a seller that has eggs available on eBay, but I have to navigate hatching and raising fry as a new fish-keeper... Which seems a little stressful 😅 but they're so pretty 🥹 https://ebay.us/m/HuctdS they look like little tiny baby koi 🥹
But either way that'd give me a little starter population I could try to sustain since they're supposed to be so easy to breed. I'd probably wanna get a floating plant or two with bigger roots for them to lay eggs on, or make a breeding mop (I'd probably just go with the plants, something like water hyachinth or frogbit, they make more of themselves and are much prettier)
For testing I kinda feel more inclined to go for multi test strips like the aquarium co-op ones, even though I know that's much less accurate than the liquid ones, just cause it's cheaper and it feels like the tests I actually do super regularly because they're convenient and cheap might be better than only doing it more occasionally cause it's a pain
And then I was gonna do some fluval bugbites since the small granules seem high quality and are currently like $4.60 from Petco or amazon, and some seachem prime cause it's the cheapest option per unit and it seems like everone's favorite dechlorinator anyway