The Aquarium Page
The Aquarium Page
I really enjoy owning and maintaining an aquarium full of goldfish! Fish are pleasant to have as pets because they are quiet and relaxing to watch. If you are thinking about starting a tank of fish, here are a few suggestions to help you get started. You should also talk to other fish owners and pet stores to get additional advice on your specific needs. You will find that not all aquarium owners agree on procedures, and you'll find that ultimately the best way to learn is to get in there and find what works for you and your fish. My advice comes with no guarantee of 100% success; I'm merely dispensing what I've experienced in my years of caring for fish.
Select fish
that look healthy. Those that dart around and look energetic are most likely
to be healthy. Be wary of tanks with high percentages of dead fish and those
with sick fish. Things to look for include swollen stomachs, red/swollen
gills, bleeding, swollen eyes (that shouldn't have them), and white corpuscles
or stringy material hanging off the fish's body. Those are all indicators of
disease, and you're asking for trouble if you introduce such fish into your
tank. You will generally have better luck at better pet stores, particularly
the kind that specialize in fish and aquatic life.
If you're
undecided as to tank or bowl, I would tell you to go for a tank. I've
done this both ways and have had great success at both, but most of the
equipment and other products on the market cater to tanks instead of bowls.
Remember,
most products like water conditioners and medicines have dosages that are
intended for ten gallons, and multiples thereof. This is another reason to
consider a tank, since they are typically made in multiples of ten gallons.
This should also be remembered when you go to purchase these products.
You must keep your tank size in mind when you consider how much medicine or
conditioners to buy.
Do not
overpopulate your tank! Too many fish cause for crowded situations and toxic
buildup. Keep the species and tank size in mind when purchasing fish.
Also, when
purchasing a tank, you'll run across those that are made extra long or extra
tall. You ultimately know what space you can allocate for a tank, but
remember, fish generally swim back and forth far more than up and down, and a
longer tank will cater to their natural swim pattern.
If you're
debating freshwater versus saltwater, keep some things in mind. If you've
never had a tank before, keeping a freshwater tank is generally easier than
saltwater, and beginners should really go with a freshwater tank. I've also
found that more products are easily obtained for freshwater tanks.
Furthermore, saltwater fish tend to be far more expensive than freshwater fish,
and they tend not to be as robust.
Live plants
for the tank are nice, but they can be an enormous hassle, especially if you
have insufficent lighting. Unless you know exactly what you're doing, you're
better off with artificial plants. This is especially true if you have a
snail, since they'll make a salad out of your tank decorations if you use live
plants.
When starting
a tank, set it up without any fish and leave everything running for a week.
This gives helpful bacteria a chance to establish themselves in the tank prior
to arrival of the fish. This prevents the buildup of nitrite and ammonia that
can ruin freshly established tanks.
Introduce
fish gradually to the tank. Leave the fish in the plastic bag, and gently
place the sealed bag into the water for about 20-30 minutes. This allows them
to get used to the temperature. Then, gently release them into the tank.
There are
preventative measures you can take to keep your fish healthy. Most fish
diseases are easily prevented by keeping the populations at reasonable levels
and not overfeeding them. You should also clean the tank regularly, changing
only part of the water at a time. During tank cleanings, you can put
dissolved copper salts into the water to prevent ick and velvet. You also
need to keep the filtration system in good running order.
If you
maintain a bowl, here are my words of wisdom. I had two comet goldfish live
in a bowl environment, and they lived to be seven
years old:
Make changes
to your tank gradually. If you need to make adjustments to the pH or hardness,
do it very gently over the course of several days. Radical changes in the
condition of the water can put severe stress on fish, and kill weak ones.
Purchase a
water testing kit to test for pH, chlorine, ammonia, nitrite, and hardness.
Regular tests can expose problems. You should also perform tests upon sight
of sick and/or dead fish.
If you get a
sick fish, isolate it from the others in a hospital tank. Treat the hospital
tank with the appropriate medicines. This also keeps the main tank clean of
the muck that clouds the water in the process.
When treating
sick fish, follow the dosage directions in the package. Misuse of medicine
could cause overdose or a buildup of resistance by the disease to be killed
off.
Remove dead
fish from the tank as soon as you find them. Dead fish can change the chemical
makeup of the water.
It is
difficult for seasoned aquarium owners to accurately diagnose fish illnesses.
However, there are plenty of resources online you can go to in order to make a
diagnosis, and order the appropriate medicine. One that I like is the
National Fish Pharmaceuticals, which has
easy-to-follow charts to diagnose some of the more common problems.