It is obvious to most people that aquarium filters capture the gunk suspended in the tank’s water, leaving it looking clear.  This is called mechanical filtration.  Filters perform a much more important function, however, called biological filtration.  As discussed in the post on cycling an aquarium, fish produce ammonia both directly and through the decomposition of their waste.  Ammonia is toxic, but the cycling process builds up a colony of bacteria that consume the ammonia to produce nitrite.  The nitrite is even more toxic than ammonia, but is also consumed by bacteria to produce nitrate, which is much less harmful.

Filters perform the important task of moving water that contains ammonia and nitrite past the colonies of bacteria.  Insufficient movement of water can result in a toxic build up of ammonia or nitrite, which can’t be processed quickly enough.  This mostly happens in tanks that are overstocked with fish or over fed with too little filtration and water movement.

I posted before about converting a 55G tank to African Cichlids.  All is going well, but I happened upon a few concerning articles, specifically this one about keeping Mbuna cichlids for beginners.  As it turns out, I managed to buy two of the three fish that the author strongly cautions against.  I have a bumblebee and two Kenyi (male and female) in a tank with apparently far less aggressive cichlids – Acei, zebras, rusty and others.

A forum member pointed me to a very good resource for getting into African cichlids.  The “Cookie-cutter setup for 55G” recommends a configuration for the tank and some solid options for stocking with fish.  I wish I had found that about 3 weeks ago.

Hopefully this will help someone else avoid the apparent mistake I have.

So, what to do with my bumblebee and kenyi???  I don’t know yet.  I am planning a very large African tank for my basement, and possibly they will end up there.  Otherwise, I will take my own advice on what to do with unwanted fish and put them on Craigslist as free to a good home.

Maybe the pretty fish you bought has gone on a rampage and killed many of its tank mates. Maybe the fish has grown too large for you to house. Maybe you just don’t want it any more.

You don’t want to flush him, but what do you do?

There are a few primary options:

1. If the fish was purchased recently, check with the shop to see if you can return the fish for a refund.
2. Contact local aquarium shops to see if they will accept the fish.
3. Advertise the fish as available for free to a good home on Craigslist.
4. Post the fish as available for free to a good home on aquarium forums.
   1. http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/forum/113-classified-section/
   2. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=15
   3. http://www.fishforums.com/forum/want-sell.html
   4. http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/buy-sell-trade/

A bowl does not provide a proper environment for any kind of fish. Bettas and gold fish are both commonly kept in bowls. though both suffer from it.

The Problem With Bowls

There are a few major problems with bowls

• Bowls generally do not hold much water.  The small volume of water results in quick changes in water parameters like temperature, ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, which can stress the fish.
• Bowls do not have filters which allow for efficient cycling of ammonia produced by the fish.
• The geometry of bowls generally provide a small surface to exchange Oxygen and CO2 between the water and the air.

If I Don’t Use A Bowl, I Won’t Have Space Or Money To Keep A Fish

Using a bowl and knowing that it’s not appropriate for fish is like adopting a dog knowing that you have no where for it to run or play – making it live in a cage.  Fish are live animals that have specific environmental needs to keep them healthy.   If you are unable to provide the right environment for a fish, you should not be keeping fish as pets.

Much like my other post on keeping goldfish in a bowl, the answer is “yes”, a betta can live in a bowl, just not for long and not happily.

The problems with a betta bowl

There are 3 main problems with bowls for bettas:

1. Bowls are generally quite small.  A betta, just like any other fish, should be kept in a larger volume of water than a bowl can provide to prevent the rapid build up of toxins and organic compounds from the fish and fish food.
2. Bowls are not heated.  Bettas are tropical fish.  They need the water to be between 76F and 82F, which is generally not achievable, at least steadily, without a heater.
3. Bowls are not filtered.  Filtering provides a mechanism for the nitrogen cycle to process ammonia and nitrite.  This is generally off set with frequent changes of the water in the bowl.

Why do stores sell bowls if they should not go in a bowl?

Simple: stores sell betta bowls because people buy them.  Unlike many other pets, there isn’t a big industry built up around preventing abuse and neglect for pet fish.  And the reality is, it keeps people coming back for more.  If you buy a bowl and a betta, the betta will live for some period of time – 6 months, maybe even a year or two.  After that, you’ll come back to buy another betta.  Additionally, selling bowls really expands their customer base.  Relatively speaking, there are not a lot of people who want a big aquarium in their house, but there are many more that find a decorative bowl acceptible.

What is “Cycling”?

A “cycled aquarium” is a tank that has established bacterial colonies to process fish waste, in the form of ammonia, into nitrates.  It is very important for aquariums with fish to be cycled, as ammonia is toxic to fish.  Adding fish to un-cycled aquaiums will generally result in most or all of the fish dying.

What cycling is NOT

Despite the bad advice of so many pet store employees, cycling does NOT mean adding water to the aquariums and letting it sit and filter for a few days.  Doing that can be useful to make sure your equipment doesn’t die right away, but does nothing to cycle the tank.

How to Cycle a Tank

There are three methods for cycling:

• Fishless cycling
• Fish-in cycling
• Seeding a tank

EVERYONE who ever keeps fish has used one of those methods.  Those that are not aware of the choice have chosen fish-in cycling by default.  Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some pearls of wisdom I wish I had when I was starting out with my aquarium.

Starting Out and Buying Aquarium Stuff

Accept that you are going to kill some fish on accident.  You will either learn from the mistake or drop the hobby.

New Aquariums need to be cycled.  Taking the time to understand what this means is a must.

Small tanks are not easier to keep fish in than large ones.  Maintenance on a small tank takes less time, but a larger tank provides a larger volume of water which generally provides a more stable environment for fish, and is more forgiving of mistakes by beginners.

Under-gravel filters suck.  You will hate them.  Also see the comment on gravel.

Unless you have a specific need, don’t put gravel in the bottom of your tank.  Go with a “bare bottom” tank, and add decorations.  Leaving the tank bottom bare will make it easier to clean out the fish waste.  If it is not kept clean, it will contaminate the water, causing sick and dying fish.

Do not buy fish on impulse.  Read up on fish that you are considering buying.  Many small and cute, colorful fish in the pet store grow up to be demanding monsters.

Don’t rely on the tank size rating when buying a filter for your tank.  Most filters are rated on their flow without media, which will slow down the flow.  You want filtration that will turn the water over between 5 and 10 times per hour.  For a 10 gallon tank, that’s a 50 to 100 gph filter.  For a 55G tank, it’s 225 to 550 gph.

Canister filters are well worth the extra money.  They are quieter and more powerful than the kind that hang on the back of the tank.

Maintaining a planted tank is much harder and more expensive than it looks

Spend the extra money and get a “master test kit” to test your water with (this is the kind that uses drops of reagent chemicals in test tubes).  The test strips are not that reliable.

Online pet stores are MUCH cheaper for most food, chemicals and hardware.

Pet stores regularly sell fish that are entirely inappropriate for 99.9% of fish keepers.  Know what you are buying and whether you can properly care for them.

The employees of pet stores only appear to know what they are talking about.

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on setting up a new tank, particularly the big chain stores like Petco, Petsmart, etc.

Don’t accept the advice of pet store employees on how to treat a disease with your fish

• Pet store employees have a medicine to sell you to cure just about anything you can come up with.  The trouble is, medicine can rarely cure the cause of a problem. Read the rest of this entry »

People new to the fish keeping hobby are often not fully informed about what equipment they will need.  Unfortunately, that often leads to being turned off to the hobby, as it can be considerably more expensive than than originally planned.

In this post, I’ll describe the most commonly required equipment and supplies for a standard freshwater aquarium.  This is a good list for keeping the most common types of community freshwater fish.  If you are keeping some species of fish, such as African cichlids, or you have extreme water conditions, such as very hard well water, you may require some additional equipment.

Basic Equipment Required for Starting an Aquarium Read the rest of this entry »

Large goldfish that barely fits into the small bowl

So, can a goldfish survive in a bowl?

The short answer is yes – for a while.   Many people equate the fact that a goldfish can live for some period of time in a bowl with their ability to live in a bowl in general.  The most common “comet” goldfish are generally cheap (under $0.25US) and sold while very small – usually less than 1 inch long and pet stores often have bowls in the vicinity of the gold fish.  All of this makes it reasonable to believe that they can be kept in a bowl.

No, they can’t.

There are two major problems with keeping goldfish in a bowl

Read the rest of this entry »