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| Thread ID: 52699 | 2004-12-27 01:59:00 | Aquariums, Fish & beetle???? | beetle (243) | PC World Chat |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 307988 | 2004-12-27 11:16:00 | I kept tropicals all through high school and actually managed to keep them alive for years. The best tips I can give are: 1) Let the water in your tank age before introducing the fish. Do not fill the tank and go out and buy fish in the same day, leave the tank for a few days to settle. 2) Don't clean the tank too often. Fish get stressed out at water changes and constant fussing about with water temp and pH readings etc just kills them. Leave them alone and they survive a lot better. 3) When cleaning the tank and changing water only remove one third of the dirty water. Complete water changes are bad for your fish, they like consistancy. 4) As mentioned in the earlier post, start with guppies or some other easy to care for fish. Catfish and similar sucker fish are also easy to care for. Neons are happier in a school, so plan to get at least 6 or more. 5) Don't Don't Don't over feed your fish. They prefer to be a little hungry rather than swimming in rotting fish food. Have fun and enjoy, tropical fish can be very soothing and a great alternative to TV. :) |
Sb0h (3744) | ||
| 307989 | 2004-12-27 16:55:00 | I agree with sbOh - let the water age a few days first before you buy your fish. Neons are beautiful but you need a few and they can be a bit problematic (dying suddenly) whereas guppies will tolerate most things. Any suckerfish is a neccesity to keep algae away - stay away from snails tho'. I agree with the overfeeding - depending on the fish - feed them only what they can eat in say 10 mins twice a day - a little bit at a time. Good luck sarel |
sarel (2490) | ||
| 307990 | 2004-12-27 20:14:00 | I have only ever kept cold water fish, and all the hints above apply to them as well, in terms of tank care, water care, algae, snails, feeding, fin rot etc. Some of the coldies were easier to keep than others - basically the ones that have been bred further and further away from the original stock (ie the ones with big frilly fins and googly eyes) are harder to keep (in my experience anyway). Coldies seem to produce inordinate amounts of waste (yech) which is a bit unsightly, and their breeding habits in a tank :blush: will put you off males for the rest of your life :yuck: !!! Incredibly violent in the confined space, and in our case, terminally damaging to the poor female in question. I think we had the wrong ratio of males to females. Very enjoyable in some ways, but hard work to keep them healthy, and they aren't as responsive as Rover or Tiddles... Hard to cuddle too. |
John H (8) | ||
| 307991 | 2004-12-28 05:01:00 | Oh cripes!! Saw this thread and suddenly remembered the new additions to the family in The Girl's room . :eek: She bought herself a bowl, gravel, weed and three little goldies just before Christmas then took off up north leaving strict instructions not to forget to feed them . Yesterday I discovered one rather deceased member of the trio tucked under the weed and cringed at the thought of having to break the news . Went away for the night but remembered to feed the remaining two before leaving, returned home, saw this thread and rushed off to give them another snack . . . uh oh . . . now the second one was (upside) down, one to go . :( It wasn't my fault - they looked stressed out before she left but how the heck am I going to break the news now? She is not due back for three more days so should I wait for #3 to pass away to goldie heaven then text her? Or should I wait until picking her up from the airport? :stare: *Bites nails and decides to hop on the plane that she hops off . * Good luck to you, Beetle! :dogeye: |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 307992 | 2004-12-28 05:14:00 | It wasn't my fault - they looked stressed out before she left but how the heck am I going to break the news now? She is not due back for three more days so should I wait for #3 to pass away to goldie heaven then text her? Or should I wait until picking her up from the airport?Go to the nearest pet shop or fish shop tomorrow and simply buy three more similar sized goldfish - she will never know ... ;) :p | Jen (38) | ||
| 307993 | 2004-12-28 10:32:00 | Gee, that's sad FoxyMX, not a nice predicament to be in. If she did all that the shop advised after such a short period of ownership there is a good case for a free replacement. Re the bowl, the ratio of water to fish is governed not by the amount of water but the amount of surface area. If the bowl narrows towards the top, it is preferable to fill it up to the widest part only, provided there is still enough water, so that it gets the most oxygen/air transfer. (That's why an aeration pump allows a greater ratio of fish to water.) I am not suggesting that your three fish were too many for the bowl as the shop would have allowed for that I guess. There are many possible causes for the demise of new fish. Some causes: Not letting the water stand long enough before introducing the fish, not floating them in the plastic bag long enough to equalise the water temperature before releasing them, not in the best of health at time of purchase, fly spraying without covering the bowl, too many fish in the bowl (unlikely with only three unless a very narrow top and filled to the top, or very small bowl), over stressed, too much fish food - not what they eat but what they don't eat. >If you don't make dust, you eat dust. Good one, spoken like a true CRF230F dirt rider! :D |
xxll (5902) | ||
| 307994 | 2004-12-28 21:26:00 | Thank you for all your advice and tips, xxll (for both interests, by the way ;)) . The entire setup was purchased from one pet shop and as far as I could tell The Girl followed the instructions given by the shop pretty much to the letter regarding letting the water stand, releasing the fish, etc etc . Personally I think she stressed them out too much fiddling around placing the weed and ornaments after the fish had moved in even though I told her to leave them alone . She was also scooping out excess food after accidentally giving them too much so I am sure it was stress . I don't use flyspray so it wouldn't have been that but what about perfume?? She marinates in some ghastly cheap stuff . . . :yuck: I didn't know that about filling the bowl only to the widest part - this bowl is OK as it is big and wide at the mouth but the last lot of fish we had lived in a real "goldfish bowl" with a narrow neck and it was filled to the top . Couldn't have made the fish very happy though, as they both eventually committed suicide by jumping out of it! :o >If you don't make dust, you eat dust . Good one, spoken like a true CRF230F dirt rider! I am working on it . . . . :D Trust you are making lots of dust yourself lately . :thumbs: |
FoxyMX (5) | ||
| 307995 | 2004-12-28 22:56:00 | I quite like chips with my fish yum nemo and chips ;) |
Codex (3761) | ||
| 307996 | 2005-01-07 06:56:00 | Ok got fish, tropicals, and am worried im over or under feeding...... help please.... when i do feed them its like that movie piranhna???? glad i not a peice of food.... types, 5 fish , 2 algae eaters and a sucker thing...LOL names beyound me at mo. i would like to get a book or a site that helps me identify them, and gives good guidelines to go by...... thanxs b :confused: |
beetle (243) | ||
| 307997 | 2005-01-07 08:08:00 | Where did you get them from. Did they not tell you what 'species' it was? :eek: What sucker thing :p | ~sy~ (95) | ||
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