Posts Tagged ‘beginner fishkeeping’

Why Do My Fish Keep Dying?

The primary reason most freshwater aquarium fish die is poor water quality.  The main causes of poor water quality is:

• Insufficient filtration
• Insufficient water changes
• Insufficient removal of fish waste
• Too many fish for the size tank

The major problem with water quality problems is that fish don’t obviously die directly from poor water quality.  They die from opportunistic diseases that take advantage of a weakened fish, such as:

• dropsy
• internal parasites
• bacterial infections
• fungal infections
• etc

Many fish-keepers will attempt to treat the apparent disease with antibiotic, anti-parasite or anti-bacterial medications, but not the underlying cause – water quality.  Indeed, particularly in the US where antibiotics are readily available, many new-comers make a bad situation much worse by treating a tank with medication that kills off the colony of beneficial bacteria, leaving the tank uncycled.

It has been my experience that, in nearly all cases, fish that are showing obvious signs of illness will not survive despite the best effort and intention.  To be sure, there are many astute and experienced fish-keepers who can nurse a sick fish back to health, but such experienced people also know that prevention is far more effective than a cure.

Good Practices For Maintaining Fish Health

Filtration

Ensure the aquarium has proper filtration.  A rule of thumb is hard to come by, as there are a number of variables, such as volume of water, number and types of fish, amount of food used, etc.  Generally, I double or triple the manufacturer’s filter recommendation.  For instance, if a filter is rated for a 55G tank, I will use two to three of those filters on a 55G tank. That might seem excessive, but it does ensure good filtration and provides some ability to ride out the failure of one filter.

Water Changes

As with sizing filters, there is are a lot of variables that go into how much and how often to perform water changes.  Internet forums are full of recommendations… from 20% per month to 20% per week.  There is a sizable contingent of well intentioned people who insist that anything more than 20% per week is harmful to the fish.  I do not subscribe to that way of thinking – fish will not suffer from having too much clean water.  I perform 50% changes weekly on my tanks with good results.  It’s a lot of work, but the Python makes it manageable.

Removal of Fish Waste

Some fish waste is dissolved or suspended in the water and is removed through water changes.  However, far more of it hangs around in the form of poop at the bottom of the tank.  Tanks that have gravel on the bottom make this situation hard to see, and without a thorough cleaning of that gravel, bad things can begin to happen, even if the other suggestions are followed.  First, I would strongly recommend most people to skip the gravel, unless there is a particular need.  Spend the money on pieces of drift wood or similar things to cover the bottom.  These can be moved around when it comes time to clean.  Regardless, the fish waste needs to be pulled out weekly as part of the water changes.  A gravel vacuum, like the Python, can clean both bare bottom and gravel bottom tanks.  Bare bottom tanks have a distinct advantage in that it’s easy to see the waste and see that it has all been sucked out.  In gravel tanks, a thorough cleaning of all the gravel is needed to ensure getting most of the waste.

Too Many Fish

Again, there is not a 100% reliable method of determining a safe number of fish for a tank.  It is safer to start out with fewer fish, and add incrementally over time.

Can a Betta Live in A Bowl?

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.

Cycling a New Freshwater Tank

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 more…

Aquarium Equipment For An Fish Keeping Beginner

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 more…

Can Goldfish Live In A Bowl?

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 more…