Fish

Week 3: Continue to Monitor Your Aquarium’s Water Quality During week three, you may see an increase in nitrites, which can be toxic to freshwater fish. You might have to make your aquarium’s first significant water change. Young recommends changing 15 percent to 25 percent of the fish tank’s water at this time. ,Week 4: Set Your Pet Fish Up for Continued Success By now, you’re likely in the safe zone, says Dr. Young. The bacteria levels have had time to regulate themselves, and the fish are likely adjusted to their new environment. “You’re probably doing pretty well if you haven’t had any issues at that point,” he says. Now’s the time to start your regular maintenance program. McClave recommends a 20 percent to 25 percent water change at a minimum of once every three weeks. The ideal way to perform a water change is to vacuum the substrate. This way, you are clearing the tank of the dirtiest water while also removing fish waste. You can use a fish tank vacuum to vacuum the substrate, says McClave. Finally, you want to continue to check your tank’s water two or three times per week. McClave says this is the best way to help your fish have a long and happy life. “The thing I always try to impress on people is water quality, water quality, water quality,” she says. ,Image via Brian Kinney/Shutterstock By Helen Anne Travis The first month is the most critical time for new pet fish. The adjustment to a new fish aquarium and tank can be stressful for pet fish, but with the proper fish tank setup, your new fish can thrive. This fish guide will help you figure out which aquarium supplies you need to set your new pet fish up for a long and happy life. It all starts with a little research. Determine Tank Size and Fish Type Before you go out and get new pet fish, you need to decide which type of tank you want to keep: freshwater, saltwater or brackish water. Catherine McClave, a marine biologist and owner of the Fish Doctor, Inc., in Manasquan, New Jersey, recommends a freshwater tank for beginners because it’s the easiest to maintain. McClave recommends looking for a fish tank that can hold about 30 gallons of water. “The more water you have, the easier it is for you to stay out of trouble,” she explains. “If you have a small column of water, it’s easier for things to go south quick.” Smaller tanks are more prone to such things as temperature fluctuations and overcrowding. Once you’ve picked out your tank, it’s time for the fun part: deciding which type of fish to keep in your aquarium. You can choose longer, horizontal tanks or taller, vertical tanks—it depends on the fish you choose. Some fish, like angelfish, thrive better in a taller tank while others, such as zebra danios, fare better in a longer tank. Mollies, platies and tetras are all good choices for beginners, says McClave. These pet fish have relatively easy environmental and nutritional requirements. They can also live together peacefully in the same fish aquarium.

By Adam Denish, DVM I had finally done it. Each year at the school carnival, we could try to win a goldfish by throwing a ping pong ball into a small glass bowl. At the age of eight, I was allowed to have a chance. After two throws that went bouncing around the table, my last attempt was a winner. “Congratulations,” the game attendants said, then quickly netted a small goldfish and packaged him up in a plastic bag of water. Herbie spent the night in a plastic container. Over the weekend, my father picked up a glass fish bowl, a small bridge and some blue gravel. We cleared a spot on a side table and Herbie lived in that bowl for about two years. We would laugh at Herbie’s silly antics as he kept manically swimming circles around the bowl. Sometimes I dropped too many food flakes into the bowl or even forget to feed him. When the bowl became so cloudy that we couldn’t see Herbie very well, it was time to change his water.  While Herbie in his fish bowl is a nostalgic sweet memory, present day fish-owning has expanded, producing a variety of options for housing just one fish or an entire underwater community. While the simplicity of keeping a fish in a bowl may appeal to those hesitant to commit to pet ownership, educating yourself on the best housing appropriate for the fish you select is a necessary first step before bringing home a finned friend.   Can Fish Live in Bowls? While it is possible for a fish to survive in a bowl of water, consideration should be given to the quality of that fish’s life. Educate yourself first before any purchase to make sure you understand your responsibilities as a pet parent.  As an exotics veterinarian, I try to convince consumers to give all animals, including fish, the best life possible. Like other animals, fish breathe oxygen and release carbon dioxide, using their gills to extract oxygen from the water. In nature, the action of currents and photosynthesis by aquatic plants replenishes oxygen levels in water continually. Waste products are cycled naturally by bacteria, as well as a host of other creatures that serve as decomposers. While replicating the conditions of a river or stream would be difficult to do in captivity, using an electric-powered filter helps to address the basic needs of providing oxygen in the water and removing waste products. Filters operate with a replaceable activated carbon bag or cartridge that cleans the water chemically and biologically by removing organic waste and harboring beneficial bacteria. Using a filter in your fish’s habitat will improve its living conditions immensely.

The average lifespan for bettas is 5–7 years—but that lifespan can vary widely, depending on factors like: Wild vs. captive: Wild Betta splendens bear little resemblance to their captive-bred counterparts popular in the aquarium trade. Fish in the wild are subject to predators and other dangers they wouldn’t experience in a home fish tank, which may shorten their lifespan. Breeding: Decades of selective breeding have transformed the betta from a neutral-colored, short-finned species into a vast array of vibrantly colored varieties with fins of all sizes, shapes, and lengths—but issues of inbreeding may result in a shorter lifespan for some fish. Care and keeping: In the home aquarium, key factors that affect longevity include suitability of the environment, adequacy of the diet, and protection against disease. To a certain extent, the amount of time you have with your betta fish comes down to luck. When you purchase a betta, you may not get any information about the fish’s genetics or even their age. The betta you bring home could already be 6–12 months old.,Jump to section How Long Do Betta Fish Live? 7 Tips To Increase Your Betta’s Longevity

The price range for koi fish is, well, pretty broad: It starts at around $10 for a juvenile fish and scales to over $20,000 for an adult, show-quality, Japanese koi fish. As an alternative to purchasing koi from a fish farm or pet store, koi enthusiasts have the option to adopt from a koi rescue. Joseph Jaramillo, rescue coordinator for Southern California Koi Rescue in Los Angeles, says, “Koi adoption provides hobbyists a unique opportunity to save money while also helping to save a life.” Rehoming fees can be pennies on the dollar compared to the typical purchase price of koi. For example, the rehoming fee for many jumbo koi fish from Southern California Koi Rescue is around $50. For comparison, the average starting price for large koi from a California-based supplier is $225.,Jump to section Buying or Adopting Koi Fish What Are the Most Expensive Koi? First-Day Koi Fish Supplies Koi Fish Costs Over Time Why Are Koi Fish So Expensive? FAQs About Koi Fish Costs

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By Adam Denish, DVM             You may be searching for the answer to the ultimate question, “How long will my fish live?”  Scientists around the globe have dedicated their careers to studying lifespans of people and animals to determine why some animals, like Galapagos tortoises, can live well over 100 years while a field mouse only lives two or three years. An animal’s life span is affected by a number of genetic factors including physical size, heart efficiency, metabolism, age of reproductive maturity and length of reproductive viability. Environmental factors including disease, predation, drought and starvation are also at play in determining the lifespan of an animal. When we pose the question of how long our fish will live, we need to consider how well the fish is fit for life genetically and then assess the environmental risks. While determining the life expectancy for individual fish can be more of a guessing game, we can use some indicators about size, reproduction and the environment to give some broad determinations. Size Indicators that Determine How Long Fish Live Physicist Dr. Geoffrey West has made a correlation between size and cell efficiency and applies methods he uses to determine the energy needs of different-sized cities to the way living organisms use energy. West puts cells of organisms on an even playing field and then scales their needs by a factor related to their physical size. West explains that if a mouse and an elephant both have the same number of heart beats in their respective lifetimes, the difference in life expectancy would be determined by the rate of their metabolism. The elephant lives a more efficient and longer life due to slower metabolism. We can take this assertion and apply it to tropical fish as well. It is true that larger fish like plecos, Oscars and clown loach have a longer life expectancy than small fish like bettas or killifish. These large fish are the elephants in the aquarium.

Cloudy water is a common—and frustrating!—problem for aquarium owners. While cloudy water isn’t necessarily harmful, it’s a sign that something is off-balance with your aquarium. If you’re wondering, “why is my fish tank cloudy?” you’ll likely want to fix it quickly. After all, we always want to clearly see our fish friends swimming around.

If you’re new to the aquarium hobby and looking for beginner-friendly aquarium fish to stock in your first tank, we’re here to help. Inexperienced aquarium hobbyists often find freshwater tanks more affordable to set up and simpler to maintain than saltwater tanks. In this guide, we explore 10 of the most beginner-friendly freshwater pet fish species.

Wild male dwarf gourami is an astoundingly beautiful fish. The deep-bodied, laterally compressed male can reach a size of about 2.5 inches, with the female staying a little smaller. The wild form of the male has a metallic turquoise blue face and body, with a dozen or more bright orangey-red vertical stripes transecting the body from behind the gills and extending into the long-based dorsal and anal fins, as well as into the tail fin. The attractive female fish, on the other hand, is not nearly as colorful as the male, being a pale silvery-blue with a faint trace of orange-yellow vertical stripes from behind the gills. Manmade strains of dwarf gouramis are available, in which the male fish is predominantly blue or red, giving rise to the powder blue, neon blue and the red or sunset forms of the dwarf gourami. The female fish of all these varieties are much the same: a pale blue. It’s therefore important to buy a male and female from the same source, particularly if they are going to be used as breeding stock. The dwarf gourami (Colisa lalia), belongs to the family Belontiidae and has a labyrinth organ that allows it to utilize oxygen from air gulped at the surface. The labyrinth organ contains a maze of lamellae that are well-supplied with blood vessels that absorb oxygen, enabling the gourami to live in water that has low levels of dissolved oxygen. Another peculiarity common to gouramis is the long feelerlike pelvic fins used to touch things and even to greet other gouramis. These long pelvic fins are also reputed to have taste cells. Today all dwarf gouramis reaching the aquatic hobby are bred at fish farms in southeast Asia. When buying these fish, take time to observe them to ensure they are healthy and swimming well. Healthy males will always be sparring or observing other males in their vicinity. Make sure the fish you select do not have any ulcers on their bodies and that the fins, including the long feelers, are all intact. It’s easy to tell the colorful male from the smaller, plumper female. Additionally, the male’s dorsal fin is slightly longer and more tapered, compared to the rounder tip on the female. So, picking a male and female pair should be relatively easy.

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