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Few
aquarium sites provide a broad menu of concise, accurate, and
simple fishkeeping information to help
anyone involved in the hobby. On this site I hope to provide
as many helpful bits of information as I can from 40
years of fishkeeping. If there is information you are looking
for that has not been addressed, please drop me a
line at
selectaquatics@gmail.com.
The Tank-
A larger tank is generally easier to care for than a smaller
one, and better for the fish. Larger tanks
(30 gallons plus) are more stable biologically and less prone
to ammonia spikes when a fish dies or someone
overfeeds. It is also best to create as natural an
environment as possible, with swimming and hiding room, for
both adults and fry. I nearly always provide
live plants, and
even plastic plants are better than none at all, with
care that you can always see the fish to keep an eye on their
health and condition. The tank should be set up
away from vents and sunny windows, to prevent uncontrolled
temperature swings or
algea growth. I provide
covers for new fish or known jumpers, but generally do not
cover my more heavily planted tanks. I use the
plastic "honeycomb" light fixture covering that I have cut it
to size for the tanks, available at any home
improvement store. All my tanks are also bare-bottom- for
reasons gone into further below, with plants
that are potted, or that naturally float on the surface. The
size of the tank has nothing to do with the size
of the fish raised in it. A tank space less than that
required by a fish will simply result in a short,
stunted life for the fish. See population density for the
best size tank for the fish you want to keep.
Repairing a leaking Tank- Tanks kept in
operation can easily last 30 years without developing a leak.
When
leaks occur it is often because a tank was stored for long
periods where it was exposed empty to wide swings
in temperature, and rarely, when it wasn't made well
initially. Tanks up to 50 gallons generally repair
relatively easily, and a good resealing can put an old tank
into nearly new condition, lasting you for another
30 years. When a tank develops a leak, you must drain it and
dry it thoroughly, then use a one sided
razor blade to remove all of the old silicone by cutting,
then scraping away as much of the old silicone as
possible. The glass must be cleaned of the old silicone, as
silicone will not stick to itself. A slim film left
on the glass will provide a pathway for a new leak to
develop. This is not as tough as it sounds- by "polishing"
the old glass with the razor blade the old silicone can be
removed fairly easily.
Any old silicone won't work. Many have additives that are
toxic to fish, and buying silicone labeled "Aquarium safe"
is the first important step. When fixing a tank smaller than
29 gallons, the cheaper aquarium safe silicone available
at manyhome improvement stores will do the job. However, with
larger tanks, a better quality silicone is needed as
the cheaper stuff isn't as easy to work with with, and air
pockets can develop, and it will often crack or lose its
integrity in a way that better silicones made specifically
for aquarium use won't. Those are available online only,
and are slightly more expensive. A caulking tube of the
better stuff will run about $11-12, plus shipping.
Be careful when handling the tank as the glass plates are
then only loosely connected to one another. Then lay a
generous bead down over where the plates meet, trying not to
break the stream of silicone from corner to corner,
careful to lay it in so that air pockets are not created
under the silicone bead where the two plates meet. Do
around the bottom first. Then, with your finger, carefully
run your fingertip along the joint to seat the silicone
into the junction where the plates meet. Do not push down to
the glass, you are forming the silicone down into the
corner where the plates meet. Then repeat with each upright
corner, careful not to create an air pocket where the
new bead lays over the silicone already in place on the
bottom. The entire process must be done on all seams in
about 10-15 minutes, or the silicone will begin to dry. Use
good quality, aquarium safe silicone- cheap silicone
will crack, could give off fumes that are toxic to fish, and
will not be as smooth and easy to work with. You want
to have it work first time. Let tank dry for 24-48 hours then
slowly add water to test it. If it continues to leak,
then you have to do the entire process over again. Larger
tanks of 50 gallons and over are less successfully sealed
first time that way, and I will often have 1" glass strips
cut to stack 3 deep along the bottom seams to seal a
larger tank most successfully.
Replacing a broken side can be done, but the
expense of the glass, the silicone and time required can surpass
the cost of a new aquarium. Tanks are generally about $2 a
gallon (when buying just the tank), but dollar per
gallon sales occur occasionally, and used tanks are often
available through Pennysaver type publications,
classified ads, and particularly if you seek out and join a
local aquarium society.
Gravel- We all
start off keeping tanks with gravel, which serves a number of
purposes. However, with the
exception of fish that require it to breed, thick layers
of gravel on the bottom are not used. However, gravel
is occasionally used this way: When spread lightly (1-3
particles deep), it can be a productive source of
surface area for bacteria to colonize and help maintain a
tank's stability, or to help cure a tank with
cloudy water issues. It won't be deep enough to collect
decaying organic matter, contributing to disease,
but it provides enough increased surface area to assist water
quality maintenance and provide a distinct
bottom for the fish, and only 1/3rd to 1/2 of the bottom
needs to be covered.
For Rooted Plants- A soil mix can be used, but it must
be changed yearly- for it can cause sickness if too old.
I pot plants in clay pots that can be removed easily, with
the roots growing in pre-soaked peat (be sure the
peat is fully soaked before preparing to put it into the
aquarium- or it may float up and cause a substantial
fouling of the water). For photos and text of how plants are
used by Select Aquatics, see Plants. The peat is
then covered with a layer of gravel or sand to keep the peat
in the pot. I recommend floating plants such as
Java fern, Java moss, riccia, duckweed, and
water lettuce.
Except for a very thin layer for looks, or to assist
biological filtration, the extra maintenance needed to keep a
tank healthy containing a thick layer of gravel was
time and effort better spent on other aspects of the
aquarium's care. Keep in mind that if you plan on keeping
larger fish that will dig into the soil, you my want to avoid
using peat, and put plants into plain gravel, and I always
use plant fertilizer. For an inexpensive and easy
alternative to standard aquarium plant fertilizers,
see Keeping Plants.
To even better accommodate the fish to a tank without gravel,
I will often set the tank up on a dark surface,
paint the bottom glass or tape black plastic (such as used in
garbage bags) to the bottom of the tank to provide
the sense of a boundary for the fish and to bring out their
color. The Odessa barbs require this.
Choice of Fish-
The choice of fish you keep contributes greatly to how well your
fish will do. Whether they will
grow to their maximum, live comfortably and breed begins with
your choice of species and how they are put
together. Which tankmates will simply torment one another,
leading to an early and and possibly expensive demise
for one of them?. Well, When a fish meets another fish for
the first time, roughly three thoughts cross their mind:
1. Will you eat me?
2. Can I eat you?, and
3. Can I mate with you?
For fish to live at their best health, stress must be kept to
a minimum, meaning that predator / prey behavior
needs to be prevented. With many fish, swordtails are one, some
minor bullying is normal and keeps their lives within
an organization they prefer. This is totally different than a
natural predator kept in that same community, whose
instincts are to dominate those it comes in contact. Many
fish will harrass tankmates, the goal is to put together
a tank where any minor aggression between species is never a
problem. Predators can be kept, but they may need to
be kept in a tank of like sized tankmates. Whenever bullying
or nipping is seen, remove the fish being picked on
and let it recover on its own for a few days, then carefully
reintroduce it. When choosing what to keep there are a
few options available to you:
The Community Tank- This is any size tank, generally
with a catfish of some sort, and a collection of species that
do well together. Some choose a centerpiece fish- such as a
pair of angels- and then keep other species that will
get along well with them. Fish act fairly predictably, so a
fish that is known to eat anything that it can fit into its
mouth, will. Watch stocking levels and be careful to avoid
fish commonly sold that will outgrow your aquarium.
The Colony Tank- This is any size tank, also with a
catfish or other type of fish that will work to keep the tank
clean, with only one other species that the tank is being
maintained for. This single population may be allowed to
breed in a group where young that survive add to the
population, or where females are routinely moved to have their
young so they can be saved, to another smaller tank.
Aggression is minimal.
Species Only Tank- This is a tank of any size where
only one species is kept. Some catfish will eat fry, so catfish
are not used. With this tank the focus is on the fish, and
may be bare bottom. Breeding is a priority, so the tank
is kept simple, so that it stays clean, consistent and easy
to maintain.
Use of Salt-
Salt is a great, simple and generally effective treatment for
simple maladies. The "medicinal dose" is
generally 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons of water, and when
certain fish, especially livebearers, are prone to
getting fungal or other outbreaks (fancy guppies, for
example), routine use of salt is often done. There have been
stores that treated all their freshwater tanks with salt and
recommended their customers do so as well, though this
is not advised for some scaleless fishes (certain types of
catfish, for example). Better ways to fend off diseases are
to maintain a relatively clean tank, and possibly dose with a
disease prophylactic (such as Aquarisol), which works
well at recommended dosages. However, diseases can be kept at
bay with consistent care of the aquarium and
following basic advice regarding water changes, not
overcrowding or overfeeding, and keeping diseased fish away
from your fishroom. Most fishkeepers, when acquiring a new
fish, will keep it in a small quarantine tank for up to a
month to ensure that nothing is being introduced to their
other fish.
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Population Density-
I strive to create an environment for the under 3" fish where
they do not feel particularly
confined, and make an effort to hold down the overall density
whenever possible. Some fish tolerate crowding better
than others, but the basic rule of an inch of fish per gallon
of water for fish under 3 inches works fairly well.
The issues to be considered when overcrowding are these:
-Water will be need to be changed more frequently as the
amount of waste organics in the tank (fish waste and
excess food) will increase, stimulating biological activity,
which decreases the amount of available oxygen in
the water.
-The greater competition for resources and lower oxygen
levels contributes to an overall decline in the immune
system responses and health of the fish, leading to disease
outbreaks, which then spreads quickly to the other
equally stressed fish in the tank.
- From dealing with fighting the reduction of resources, the
overall growth of the fish in a crowded environment
is compromised, leading to undersized fish, particularly with
the swordtails.
- Breeding also slows down, and those that do breed will find
that their young are quickly eaten by tankmates that
are hungrier than they would normally be, and the
young will find it more difficult to hide in a crowded tank
- Lastly, when an incident occurs- a power outage or a a time
when a day or two must be spent away from home when
the fish are not taken care of as they would normally be, a
crowded tank may not have the flexibility to deal with
the change in routine, leading to deaths. This can then
trigger an "ammonia bloom", wiping out the tank..
I also keep generally "species only" tanks- one species per
tank, with cleaner shrimp or a catfish, which reduces
bullying and the consumption of fry.
Breeding- Many fish will
breed readily in
the home aquarium, and fish exist at every level of difficulty,
including many that have still to be bred in captivity.
Having your fish breed for you, and then successfully
raise the fry, particularly if the fish is challenging for
any number of reasons, is probably the most satisfying
thing you can do as a fishkeeper. The livebearers are
considered some of the easier fish to breed and raise their
fry. Egg layers are generally considered to be more difficult
(and most are). See the essays on breeding the
livebearers and egg layers (Puntius padamya- the Odessa Barb)
Here.
Fry and Fry Eating- A full, busy tank makes the
survival of fry, any fry, nearly impossible. All fish will eat
fry,
some less enthusiastically than others. Many
goodeids,
because of the large size of their fry, will bother them less,
but others still eat them routinely. Some people claim that
fish don't eat fry when well fed. My experience is that
most fish will eat fewer fry when well fed, but young will
still be eaten. Remove fry when you see them. Some female
guppies are good about not eating their fry, but if the young
are released into a tank with other adult guppies,
their numbers will dwindle quickly and disappear in about 2-3
days.
Your success at keeping any fish that you hope to
breed comes
down to your success at raising fry. Though they don't
look like much, and are so damn tiny, your care of those new
young the first couple weeks will dictate the size, color
and overall health of the adults they will grow into. You
cannot raise the adults and fry the same way. I will sometimes
move females to have their fry into 2 gallon containers, with
some Java moss. After the fry are born and the female is
removed, I will feed the
young lightly twice a day with
baby
brine shrimp, changing 50-70% of the water every day for
the first two weeks. If possible, after the 3rd or 4th day
I'll put them in their own 10 gallon filtered tank, or into
a net hang-in-the-tank breeder until big enough to be let go
on their own. Fry also do best when raised separately at
slightly warmer temps than the adults.
Baby brine shrimp is
essential, though finely ground flake food or one of the BBS
(baby brine shrimp) substitutes available online (such as
"Golden Pearls" from Brine Shrimp Direct) will generally keep
them going. New livebearer young do best with a particle size
of about 200 microns. Raising fry comes down to water
quality, enough food, and slightly
warmer temperature. Be
careful not to release fry in with the adults too soon, as they
may still be eaten.
Feeding-
A wide variety of foods are
available now in dry and frozen formats, dry foods available as
flake, pellet
(floating and sinking), claiming to be made specifically for
all fish, or guppies, cichlids, angels and catfish, sold
both at local stores and online. More information is at
FT3 Brine Shrimp and Foods,
but essentially you want to
buy 1. a variety (don't neglect to feed vegetable based foods
to many fish that require it), 2. Food that is fresh
(Don't buy even a name brand from the neglected pet aisle of
a local grocery store, where the food may have sat
for 6 months), and 3. Quality (Pick up what the fish need.
Standard Goldfish food, for example, is barely adequate
for most goldfish, and never tropicals.) Most foods today,
when bought fresh are the best they have ever been,
and all fish greatly benefit from occasional feeding of live
or frozen foods. Like some cars that require premium
gas to run well, some species require live food, but today
the quality of the dry foods is so good that many species
will survive and breed on dry food alone. If at all possible,
store dry foods in teh refrigerator, or freezer when not
being used.
Water- The single most important rule in fishkeeping
is to choose and keep fish that will do well in your water.
It is both expensive and does not always work to create water
for certain fish simply because you wish to keep
them by adding buffers and chemicals that will alter the pH
coming from your tap. Frequent water changes with
appropriate feeding are essential for fish to grow to their
full size with best color, and that will
breed as
soon as they are able. Constantly tinkering with the water is
expensive and difficult when changing the water
correctly, and the fish will respond negatively to
the inconsistencies. I have tried to create water for many
species over the years, and today would never consider it
from past experience. Yes, there are certain fish I
will never be able to keep and breed, but the fish have
evolved from environments with specific water qualities.
We have to respect that.
I test my tap water seasonally to keep an eye on any changes
to the pH and hardness, and test water that fish
arrive in from other sources to acclimate them appropriately.
Species kept here are those that do well in this
water, and species that require hard, alkaline or acidic water
(as my water is 7.4 and soft- 100ppm) are avoided.
Many fish here (The livebearers) might prefer slightly harder
water than I can provide, but they have adapted
and do well since their preferences are close enough that
they live well and breed normally. If your water is
slightly harder, they may do even better for you than they do
here. Many species sold in pet stores, though
evolved from different water conditions, have been adapted by
the wholesaler or fish store to your local water.
Be sure to ask the dealer when buying new fish what the pH
and hardness are that the fish are being kept in,
knowing what your own pH and hardness are, so that you can
determine whether the fish will do well for you.
Though they may thrive in the altered conditions, they will
rarely breed well, and if they do, the young may
not respond well to the water. Many fish found in pet stores
are expected to simply adapt, and they do.
The issue becomes important when you try to breed
them, particularly when you want fish that consistently
feel and look their best.
Information on maintaining optimal water quality is covered
more completely at FT Filtration and Water Quality.
Diseases-
Preventing disease is an important task, not because fish are
always on the verge of getting sick,
but because neglect, poor maintenance or introducing sick
fish to a healthy tank will easily create disease, which
can then wipe out the fish. Getting a disease in your tank is
not inevitable, though chances are you will encounter
something. I keep more than 60 tanks and over the past 10
years have had to treat something three times, on
only a couple fish. I have been lucky. When disease occurs it
is generally caused by stress to the fish through
a number of well defined, well understood variables. These
can be narrowed down to:
_____________
Temperature that swings or is inappropriate for the species,
Water that has become too rich in ammonia, nitrates and
nitrates (easily kept at bay
with regular water changes and care not to overfeed or
overstock the aquarium).
Less than adequate aeration and/or water movement,
Injuries and bullying from other fish, or inappropriate
items causing injury in the tank,
An introduction of a sick fish to a tank, particularly if the
other fish in the tank are already stressed,
Inconsistent or poor feeding.
_________________
When disease occurs, I always choose the
mildest treatment for the circumstance, and you must act when
the problem is discovered, for most diseases spread quickly.
Simply raising the temperature to 82-84 degrees
will often cure ich (sometimes called "white spot disease),
and the addition of salt (1 tbl. per 5 gallons) is often
enough to bring fish around when they are not acting
normally. I treat with Aquarisol for fungus and things I
might run across. When you do see a diseased fish, isolate
the sick individual(s) to its own container, then
decide how you will treat it.
Be careful when seeking out an appropriate medication, for
some of the routine medications commonly
available can become very expensive, particularly if you are
trying to treat a 30 or 50 gallon aquarium. Check
dosage in package against number of days for recommended
treatment. If the medication you use recommends
removing the plants, do so, but do not then put those plants
into a tank with other fish, as you will transfer any
biological activity that may be contributing to the problem.
Then correct, if possible, whatever it was that caused
the stress triggering the onset of disease, to spare the other
fish in the tank. Most disease organisms exist in
any tank, a compromise or weakness in the fish's immune system
allows for disease to occur. Be aware that
the best you may be able to do is catch the outbreak early,
remove the sick individual(s), and add salt or
medication as a preventative from further damage to the other
fish in the tank. But you may lose the fish that
had initially become sick.
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