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I've had many fish
as pets and found them to be interesting and soothing. Doctors
surgeries often have fish in the waiting room to calm people's
nerves as there is something relaxing about watching a tank full
of tropical fish swimming around. Even a goldfish in a bowl
makes an interesting pet and they are fairly easy to look after
if the tank is set up right. Fish are surprisingly long lived
under the right conditions, the longest living I found being
Convicts and Jack Dempseys who can reach 18 years!! That's
longer than a dog, so once again they are a fairly long
commitment!!
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QUICK
FACTS: |
Life Span - 3 - 18
years depending on the type
Care - Medium Maintenance
Food - Fish
food or flakes, live food like bloodworms
Housing -
Aquarium with cover, light, heater (depending on
the type) and filter
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GENERAL
INFO:
 Fish come in many shapes and
sizes from the smallest neons to the huge Oscars and many in
between. When setting up a tank you need to decide what sort of
fish you want to keep as many don't get along well together. You
wouldn't put goldfish in a tank with tropical fish as the
goldfish would quickly lose their tails!! There are 3 sorts of
tanks you can set up - Tropical, goldfish or saltwater and the
fish in each would be of that type. However in a tropical tank
you wouldn't mix Oscars with the smaller fish for example, as
they would soon be eaten. Ask your local pet shop for advice
once you have decided what sort of tank you want.
Goldfish can be kept in a bowl without the need for lighting,
filtration or heating, but the water will need to be changed
more often. Tropical fish need all of these as do saltwater
fish. A tropical tank is easier to set up and maintain than a
saltwater tank as you need to get your salt levels right before
you can put any fish in. Once these tanks are set up though,
their water needs changing a lot less frequently than the
goldfish's and often just cleaning the filters will keep the
tanks clean for many months. Change
20% of the water twice a week. Use bottled drinking water for
goldfish bowls and tap water for aquariums and ponds.
A least once a month give your
fish's home a good cleaning.
Another idea is to set up an outside fish pond. You can get
special fibre glass ponds to sink into the ground or a large
free standing clay pot will do. Put in some water plants like
lillies or irises and the fish should be quite self sufficient
and fun to watch.
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SETTING UP THE
TANK: |
-
 Take into account the fully grown size of
the fish. Oscars for example
start out small but end up
around 12 inches so need a big
tank.
- Place gravel on the bottom,
cleaning it thoroughly first to
remove dirt and other
impurities.
- For salt water fish, use
clean white sand.
- Set up the filter and heater
if for tropical or salt water
fish.
- For tropical or goldfish,
fill the tank with tap water and
add chlorine neutraliser before
adding fish.
- For salt water fish,
go to the pet store and buy a
chemical mixture that, when
dissolved in fresh water, gives
the fresh water all the
qualities of salt water. You
could use fresh salt water from
the ocean if nearby.
- You need a hydrometer to
check the salt balance once the
tank is established.
- Fish should sit on top of
the tank in their plastic bag to
get used to the temperature of
the water before placing them in
the tank.
- You need plants for all
tanks but can't use fresh water
plants in a salt water tank. You
need special plants like
enteromorpha, sea lettuce,
rockweed, and Ceramium for a
salt water tank. Ask your pet
store for advice.
- Give the fish some hiding
places like rock bridges or logs
so the smaller fish can safely
hide from the larger ones.
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PRO & CONS: |
-
- You need several types of chemicals and treatments for
the water and to keep the fish healthy..
- You can't use table salt for a salt water tank.
- Fish are very expensive to buy, common goldfish are
around $4 with the more exotic fish ranging up to the
hundreds of dollars.
- You can get vacation blocks for
freshwater fish and these last a few weeks so fish are easy
to care for when you are on holidays.
- You can set
up a fish pond outside for gold fish and they do very well
but you need to have some sort of cover if you have toads
and other predators around. Several of my goldfish where
taken by a large water bird that flew into the back yard and
decided to have a snack!! These are really easy to care for,
just top up occasionally!
- Don't overfeed
your fish as this will quickly lead to the tank being
polluted and kill the fish. Gold fish particularly will come
to the surface as soon as they sense movement and appear to
always be hungry. Don't give in, feed them twice a day and
only enough so that they eat it all without any sinking to
the bottom!!
- You need to keep an eye on the water
- if it becomes foamy, cloudy or smelly,
change it immediately!
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LINKS
& RESOURCES:
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