In a brand-new tank, there is no microbe colony yet. There are several ways to do this, and you may have received instructions with your new tank. Only once the tank is cycled should fish be added. Adding too many fish at a time can also cause problems as well, even in a properly cycled tank. The microbes need time to grow with the number of fish and other inhabitants in your tank. Therefore, if you intend to have 20 fish in your tank eventually, add four or five a week over several weeks and give the bacteria colony time to keep up.
There are two ways to go about choosing an aquarium. The first is to decide on a tank based on the space you have, and then stock it with appropriate fish.
The second is to decide which fish you want, research their requirements, and then get the right size tank for their needs. Unfortunately, what some novice aquarium owners do is a combination of both. They get a tank based on the space they have and then buy inappropriate fish without understanding their needs. This can lead to big problems in your tank, and the loss of some beautiful fish. This means each gallon of water in your tank can safely house one inch of adult fish.
So, for example, if you have a ten-gallon tank, you can have five two-inch fish. This works okay for little fish like neons and guppies, but it is soon clear that, as a rule, it really makes no sense. Would you keep a twenty-inch fish in a twenty-gallon tank?
Would you keep one eight-inch and two one-inch fish in a ten-gallon? Would you keep a pair of fish each over two feet long in a gallon tank? You purchase them as small juveniles, and they grow into monsters. Always do your research before you purchase! Whether you buy a tank first or decide on fish first, either way, it is important to understand the needs of the fish you intend to stock. This is a problem often seen when bettas are kept in tiny aquariums , but it can happen in any tank.
Many species of pleco become require very large aquariums. Some fish are territorial and will chase any other fish in their claimed area. Some fish are aggressive and should only be kept with other fish that can defend themselves. Some fish are fine with other types of fish, but can potentially have issues with others of their own kind. This is why it is so important to research a fish before purchase, so you are sure they are a fit for your tank.
Sometimes it can be hard to know, and it is worth it to take your time. The situation is made worse by pet stores and their employees who sometimes give erroneous advice on care needs and compatibility. I learned this lesson the hard way myself.
Years ago I purchased a pair of juvenile green spotted puffers from a pet store that told me they were freshwater community fish. In actuality, I found out, they are ferocious little killing machines with complex care requirements. Thankfully I got them out of my pretty community tank before they demolished anyone. The positive of that experience was that I learned a lot about puffers. I re-homed one and got a tank for the other where I kept him alone in a brackish setup.
But it could have been much worse. Kind of, but really it was my own stupid fault. I should have done my homework before buying. In aquarium care, we sometimes learn tough lessons.
One of the reasons I write these articles is to help you avoid doing some of the dumb things I have done! Bad water equals dead fish. Keeping the water healthy for your aquarium inhabitants is one of the most important things you can do to avoid premature death for your fish. It is smart to have a testing kit so you know where you stand with your waster parameters.
These kits typically measure ammonia, nitrates, nitrate, and pH. For a freshwater community tank you want to strive to keep your ammonia and nitrite levels at zero, and your nitrates below 20 ppm. It is smart to know the pH reading for your water source as well as your tank itself. While there are ways to naturally or chemically alter the pH in your tank, in some cases you are best off dealing with the hand you are dealt.
However, all fish can suffer from swings up or down, so it is important to try to keep a steady pH level. Then, you have to figure out why and what to do about it.
Getting these two things right goes a long way toward keeping your tank healthy and your water parameters in good shape. Fragile tropical fish require clean, healthy water to thrive. Feed your fish once per day and as much as they will eat in a few minutes. Choose a quality flake food, or several and alternate them. Also make sure to include sinking pellets for the scavengers, and algae wafers for plecos, otos, and the like. Go easy on special foods and only offer them sparingly.
Some fishkeepers like to include veggies, thawed frozen foods like blood worms, or freeze-dried foods. Overfeeding is one of the biggest problems in fish tanks, especially smaller ones. To put it simply and crudely, whatever goes into a fish must come out. The more you feed your fish, the more waste they produce. Uneaten food decays, fouling the water. Your bacteria colony can help, and live plants can help, but if things get out of control your fish will soon find themselves in a toxic situation.
Overfeeding can also lead to algae outbreaks. Anything that makes a plant grow makes algae grow, and a nitrogen-rich food supply will turn your tank greener than an angry Bruce Banner.
It can even increase the population of pest snails in your tank, who suddenly have all kinds of extra food in the form of both uneaten fish flakes and algae.
However, those few tasks you do need to perform every month are super important. They go a long way toward battling all of the issues discussed above, and if you neglect them your fish will suffer for it. Water changes are an important part of aquarium care that can't be overlooked.
I get a lot of questions from people, betta owners, in particular, telling me their fish is doing something weird and asking if it is sick. Look, fish are weird. They are tiny little creatures with primitive brains and they could do any number of ridiculous, unexpected things. Sometimes betta fish sleep and look like they are dead. Sometimes fish spend a lot of time in one part of the tank.
But fish do get ill, and dirty water and stress are two big reasons. Sometimes a healthy fish can fight off a disease that would kill a stressed fish. Obviously, this is why it is so important to watch for signs of stress in your fish, as outlined above. In some cases, as with ich which is actually a parasitic infection , the disease is contracted from another infected fish.
But, in most cases, following the practices outlined in this article such as avoiding overfeeding and stress and keeping the tank and water clean will help a lot with keeping your fish disease-free. So, when should you start worrying that your fish is sick? Physical indications could be trouble swimming upright maintaining buoyancy , struggling to escape the pull of the filter, or labored breathing.
We all do. Learn, and move on. I once had a beautiful cichlid tank. My wife and I were going away for a week, so I left instructions with a family member to drop some pellets in a few times while we were gone. Before we left I cleaned the tank and changed the water. Smart again! But I forgot to turn the power to the tank back on when I was done with maintenance. This meant my fish spent a week in the dark, in the cold, and with no filtration.
At least they got fed. Thankfully they all survived, but I really kicked myself for that one. We all do dumb things. The important thing is to learn from it and not do it again. You may make stocking errors, forget to perform a water change, or accidentally overfeed without realizing it. Or, like me, you may accidentally force your fish to endure a week of technologically deprived hardship.
Finally, sometimes fish die for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Like all animals, aquarium fish can suffer from congenital issues that doom them from birth. Your vet can check a new puppy or kitten for these types of problems, but with fish, there is simply no way to know. It is important to review your tank management practices when you lose a fish and make changes where necessary.
But also be open to the idea that you may have done nothing wrong, and that your fish was simply destined to live a shortened life. Because some types of fish are bred in large numbers you will sometimes find issues with the stock in a particular store. There could be issues with the supplier, or how the store handles the stock.
All of that is out of your control. I'm just bewildered. What can cause someone to be perfectly fine one day and suddenly drop dead just like that for no reason at all?? It just scares me that it could happen to anybody at any moment. A lot of people have died lately. David Bowie, Terry Wogan. But I believe they weren't sudden deaths. My parents are getting older now and I'm really worried it could happen to them.
It's that it could suddenly happen just like that that frightens me the most. If someone's health slowly declines over ten years until they just cease to function anymore then fair enough. But to just die, like that, one day, for no reason at all???
How can it happen?? Electra Posts: 55, Forum Member. Could be any number of things but most probably an undiagnosed heart problem. Pumping Iron Posts: 29, Forum Member. My old kickboxing instructor dropped dead at the age of 29 through a undiagnosed heart condition. He was fit as a fiddle before he passed. Odonata Posts: 1, Forum Member. It could be a number of things, like Electra said. Although, I think I'd rather go out suddenly doing something I enjoyed.
Rather than a drawn out, painful battle, and facing the eventual inevitability of death. I've known two people to die suddenly with no warning whatsoever. One in particular was a seemingly fit and healthy person. Both deaths were caused by a problem with the heart. A ruptured aneurysm can also cause a person to die suddenly, and there are probably many other reasons a person can die without warning.
Natgar Posts: 2, Forum Member. Electra wrote: ». A colleague at work died suddenly last May - she was just Discovered in bed in her house after she failed to turn up for work. He says for there to be an afterlife, consciousness would need to be something that is entirely separated from our physical body — which it is not.
Rather, consciousness at the very basic level is a series of atoms and electrons which essentially give us our mind. The laws of the universe do not allow these particles to operate after our physical demise, according to Dr Carroll. In simple terms, the QFT is the belief there is one field for each type of particle.
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