|
When adding fish to your aquarium, remember to
calculate the maximum number of fish that your aquarium can handle, and use this
number conservatively. Having too many fish
make it difficult or even impossible to maintain good water quality so it is
very important that you avoid overstocking your tank.
How many fish?
The rule of thumb is that you can keep one inch of fish per gallon of
aquarium water. Although if you have a larger aquarium, you can actually put a
little more than that, but this is simply a guideline and should be kept in mind
when buying or adding fish. For larger fish or smaller aquariums, you defiantly
want to follow the rule, and actually add a little more.
Buying Fish
When you buy fish at your pet store, you will most likely
have them in plastic bags. Make sure that the pets store fills the bag
with oxygen. Be careful with the fish, and try not to disturb or shock your fish
during transport. Also remember that a fish will usually only last in a bag for
a couple hours.
When adding new fish to a aquarium follow these simple steps:
1.) Float the plastic bag containing your fish
in the tank so that the temperature in the bag can adjust to that of the
aquarium. Let it sit for about 10-15 minutes.
2.) Let the fish into the tank by carefully
unsealing the bag and gently inverting the bag into the tank, letting the fish
out.
3.)Continue to monitor ammonia, nitrate and
nitrite levels throughout the week. If a sudden peak occurs in after adding
fish, stop adding more fish until that peak diminishes.
Where should I buy?
When buying fish, it is usually best to buy them from a large retailer, because they are usually healthier, and some even offer guarantees, such as Petsmart, which offers a 14 day guarantee. That means if your fish dies, you can take the fish back with your receipt for an exchange or a full refund.
When picking out your fish, look at them closely and make sure their bodies are
free of any fungus or white spots. Last thing you want to do is bring a fish
home with disease to infect the entire aquarium. Usually it is a good idea to
add medicine to the aquarium, just to be safe, which will kill most common
diseases. One we would recommend is Mela-Fix. If you have any question about
adding fish or buying fish, feel free to ask
us.
Adding to a New Aquarium
Something you will want to keep in
mind, when adding fish to a new aquarium, is the "new
tank syndrome", faced by many new aquaria hobbyist. When an aquarium is
first set up, the filters need to be matured before new fishes are added. The
duration can span from 2 weeks or more depending on temperature, number of fish,
aeration and pollutant levels.
The so called beneficial bacteria are normally able to cope with levels of fish
waste to which they are accustomed to, in short the tank is only mature for X
number of fishes at that time.
Adding new fishes will increase fish waste in
the tank in which the bacteria need some time to build up in sufficient numbers
to cope. Remember how fish waste are converted to ammonia in the nitrogen cycle.
Each time new fish are added, the ammonia level fluctuates. Ammonia can be
lethal - it can remove protective mucus membrane from fishes which exposes them
to infections. Generally fishes try to overcome this loss of membrane by
producing more mucus in the gill region and their gill filaments will clog and
the fish would suffer from "breathing" difficulty.
This then leaves a big possibility that the new
fishes actually "suffocated" due to lack of oxygen. Existing fish are
more adaptable to those slight variations because they had lived in those
conditions for quite some time, but not the new fishes.
E-mail
this page to a friend!
|
