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Maintaining a tank

4K views 11 replies 4 participants last post by  joeshmoe 
#1 ·
These are just my opinions on keeping fish, possibly someone can disagree or correct my line of thinking, as I am not an expert.

Fish are swimming around in their own waste, which is probably the reason most fish die. So what can you do:

1) Don't over feed, reduce the amount of food you give them. I took my last tank down to 1 feed per week and the fish lived for over two years, until I bought some new fish, then all but the upside down cat fish died.
2) Get a Big biological filter, as your local water authority may use for your waste.
3) Change water regularly, but with tap water you add chlorine (and possibly other chemicals), this is not good for the fish. I have a pet hate for using chemicals to get rid of other chemicals, so I air-rate the tap water as much as possibly to let the chlorine evaporate.
4) Use better food. Fresh live food is the best, but frozen food is great. You will also notice an improvement in colouring in your fish.

Another problem I found was introducing diseases with new fish. You have a good setup, plenty of well established fish, so you decide to buy that nice sword tail in the pet shop. Next thing you know half your fish mysteriously die. So what can you do.

1) Find a shop with not only a fish mad aquarist, but one that displays active disease control. eg, quarantine tanks for new stock.
2) Have a quarantine tank of your own.
3) Don't fix it if its not broken, in other words, if your tank is settled don't interfere by adding more fish.

Rogue fish. There is always the odd fish that will just keep killing its fellow tank mates. You can't train fish, so what can you do.

1) Get it its own tank
2) Rehome to lfs

It is a good idea to pick fish for your lifestyle. If you are very meticulous and don't go on holiday, then you could probably look after a marine setup. If you are a child or worse still a teenager, then stick with a tough as old boots gold fish.

It's also good to read books and ask experts. Knowing the temperature range, ideal pH, whether the fish is fresh water or brackish and what environment it comes from (river, lake, etc) helps.

*I edited this as some of this is wrong enough for the hobby.:wink:
 
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#2 ·
wow where did you come from! J/P
There's some good info there. I have also put an aggresive fish in with the goldfish. Oh and swimming around in there own waste isnt the real fact that fish die. There wastes have ammonia in it, so that is the reason why there is fishless cycling and cycling with fish. So there can be bacteria that grows in the tank which eat the ammonia, which than turns into nitrite, which than turns into nitrate...
 
#3 ·
1) Don't over feed, reduce the amount of food you give them. I took my last tank down to 1 feed per week and the fish lived for over two years, until I bought some new fish, then all but the upside down cat fish died.
For which case, make sure the fish eat the food in 5 minutes. Then vacuum the leftovers. Feed only once a day for adults. 3 times for juveniles.
2) Get a Big biological filter, as your local water authority may use for your waste.
The filter should work well. A good quality one is best. there's a Nitrogen cycle which is connected to the filter.
3) Change water regularly, but with tap water you add chlorine (and possibly other chemicals), this is not good for the fish. I have a pet hate for using chemicals to get rid of other chemicals, so I air-rate the tap water as much as possibly to let the chlorine evaporate.
Dechlorinators are also available and are very effective. However your method still works.:wink:
4) Use better food. Fresh live food is the best, but frozen food is great. You will also notice an improvement in colouring in your fish.
Another point is varying the food menu. Don't just stick to one food as the fish won't receive various nutrients at that.
 
#5 ·
Joe, what fish does your friend keep? That's abusive killing fish when you're tired of them.:shock:

Ecotack, I made necessary corrections on your post. Pls be careful with the advice you're giving.
 
#6 ·
I think my best suggestion was to ask experts. I am more of an expert with dogs, especially ones that are a handful, and know its the owners fault for not understanding the breed.

The same goes for fish. I had difficulty keeping tiger barbs in a community tank, but a colleague told me if you keep a big enough shoal they just fight amongst themselves and leave the other fish alone.

If you want to go into depth with the whole tank setup, then you need to think in terms of an ecological setup, rather than "oh, that fish looks nice".

I took on a large and boisterous great dane (dog) from a guy who was head hunted by the UK's largest aquarium (and reptile house). This guy had an attic full of snakes he was breeding. He had a marine tank that was fully automated, with controlled pH, salinity, temperature, etc. His setup was near perfect, requiring very little maintenance, which was useful as one of his fish and an urchin where venomous.
 
#8 ·
cihlids and clowns and plecs and neons and i dont no any more i dont no how they dont get stressed with all those diff fish
What cichlids are they? I don't see anything wrong if the cichlids are apistos, angels or discus. Clown loach is out of the place. Clown loaches are known to reach 30 cm in a few years if conditions are excellent and will eat even the tetras if they fit in the clowns' mouth.

Ecotack, I hope you understand why I edited your post. Your colleague is right re the tiger barbs but it's more possible if tank has large space. Cramped space will only irritate them causing them to wreak havoc instead to other fish.:)
 
#9 ·
Ecotack, I hope you understand why I edited your post
Sure, I was hoping to open a discussion, rather than give advice, which is why I invited it in my first sentence.

As I said, it was my opinion. My opinion is open to change, I am not an expert, I am not always correct, I live and learn. We learn by experience and if you can read about other peoples experience, you learn that much quicker. I know more now than I did this morning :D
 
#11 ·
rams and i think key wholes
Joe, both fish are from South America and thrive better if kept with tetras and other fish of the same origin.
Blue rams are very delicate. However if you are willing to keep them, do so if your tank has established.

I'd recommend you retrieve both cichlids if you know their basic requirements. I'd hate your friend's father for trying to kill the fish. He is the one to be blamed, not the fish.

The minimum size of the tank if you want to keep both is 40 gallons.

For a 10 gallons tank, you have to choose only one of the two. They'll thrive better if your tank is established.
 
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