January 27, 2008

Aquarium Fish - Aquarium Fish Food Tips

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A well balanced diet for your aquarium fish is bare necessities for thier survival. As it has been known that most of the commercially available dry fish foods are always unbalanced. In a numbers of cases, the vitamin content will gradually decline at room temperature and since majority of the dry food for tropical fish often used can only be kept for about three months, it is advisable to always buy fish-feeds in small packs rather than in one large pack.

The feed preferably should be kept dry in a refrigerator. Nevertheless, all fish do appreciate a change of diet and will acknowledge your consideration with more interesting behavior, better colours, and better well-being. You should supplement the change of diet with live food; majority of which now comes in irradiated freeze dried forms to make sure that they are disease free.

Stated below are few fish food that could be found in major aquarium fish shops and I have group them into two. And they are freeze-dried foods and flake foods.

Freeze-dried foods

Freeze-dried foods are always available in aquarium stores. They are popular foods for aquarium fish. They have single animalingredient like blood worms,tubifex worm, and mosquito larvae each. Aquarist should know that freeze-foods are not in themselves complete diet but they can be mix with flake food or other type of freeze-dried foods.

TUBIFEX - This is a traditional popular food liked by most fishes. They are small red worms that live at the bottom of streams and rivers especially where large amounts of organic particles are present. Hence, it is difficult for the aquarist to collect them life from their habitat. It is therefore preferable to buy Tubifex from pet shops where they are already clean, freeze-dried and concentrated into cube forms.

Flake foods

The most popular and highly recommended brands are Aquarian®, Tetra®, and Wardley®. They are different in price and quality. Wardley is the least expensive among the three. But, the Aquarian and Tetra are richer in specialty flakes compare to Wardley.

From personal experience, tubifex tubes seem to be the most exciting feed to use for fishes. The cube can be stuck to the front inside the wall of the aquarium. The fishes in the tank will immediately come forward and bit off pieces of worms excitedly until satisfied.

You don’t need to bother removing the rest worms since they seldom pollute and in most case fishes return to the feed for further fill.

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January 23, 2008

Fish Tank - What Type of Fish Tank Supplies Do I Need?

A contributing factor to the proper maintaining of your fish tank depends on the amount of the right kind of supplies you have. Many of these vary according to the types of fish tank you have, but some of them are common in all tanks.

Replacement filter cartridges for instance, are one of the most common needed fish tank supplies. A filter is an important components used to maintain appropriate water quality and hence, if you have a fish tank and want to keep your fish healthy, you will need to change your filter cartridge often. This may result in you running out of cartridges in a moment of need. You should always have two or three replacement catridges available to you whenever you need them.

Additional key factor to keeping your fish healthy and happy, is keeping their food and feeding pattern constant and steady. You may need to stock up the food that your fish are used to. Because food companies have this habbit of constantly changing their products, and it is best for the fish to keep one food source. If you are able to find a fish tank supplies store that has your fish food at a good price, you are advised to buy a couple of them. This should help you keep your fish on a steady diet in case the food company decides to eliminate the product.

Another crucial area in fish tanks maintenance is water quality. So, to maintain a proper cleaning water in your fish tank, you need to keep a good supply of chemical cleaners. The cleaners are available in most pet stores, and they are use to keep the water cleaner and healthy. They simply dissolve into the water and the chemicals rid the tank of harmful waste and debris. You should always have the chemicals available whenever you have the need to clean your fish tank.

If you have been looking for how to maintain a good fish tank and wondering which fish tank supplies you will need, keep these simple instructions in mind. They will help you greatly in your quest to keep your fish are healthy.

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January 18, 2008

Great Tips About Domestic Fish keeping

Fishes breeding at home are kept in aquariums and ponds. The hobby of fish keeping is categorize into brackish, saltwater, and freshwater fish keeping, out of which freshwater fish keeping is the most popular. The fishes which are popular for fish keeping with the fish hobbyist are angelfish, goldfish and guppies. Different species of fishes can be retained together and sometimes fishes of the same species are kept together for breeding purpose. The favorite fish species with breeders are guppies, mollies, catfish, killifish, cichlid, and characin.

Fish keeping as a hobby was started centuries ago. And now worldwide fish keeping hobby is a multi-million dollar industry. At that time fishes were raised for food in ponds and pools. Also, due to religious reasons, fish was eaten on days when meat was not allowed. The Chinese and Japanese traditions included fish keeping for food purposes. But later the kings began keeping goldfishes and koi, because of their attractive colors. They were kept in ponds and when guests used to arrive, the fishes were shifted indoors in fish bowls. Romans were also known to have kept lampreys in pools with salt water. In ancient Egyptians Oxyrhynchus fish were kept in captivity in temple pools.

Saltwater or marine fish keeping are generally more difficult and expensive to maintain. Hence, it tends to attract experienced fish keepers or aquarists into this hobby. This is certainly not for beginners. However, marine aquaria for sure is very attractive with colorful and attractive fishes along with different types of corals. While brackish fish keeping involves both freshwater and saltwater fish keeping, due to the fact that the salinity of the water is in between that of seawater and freshwater.

Fish keepers which are into this hobby focus on the aquatic plants rather than the fish. Some hardcore marine aquarists attempt to grow coral reef with the help of living rock, worms, and calcareous rocks with algae growth, sponges, and worms. When the corals begin to grow, echinoderms, crabs, mollusks, shrimps, and as well as small fish are also added to the aquariums, which are also called as reef tanks.

The aquarium should have ideal ecology which is similar to the natural habitat of the fishes. This is an extremely difficult task to accomplish. Also, it is important to maintain the predator prey relationship balance in the aquarium. Also more than the volume of the water, the surface volume is important. This is because, more the surface volume, more the oxygen levels in the water. Air pumps also are used to increase the dissolved oxygen in the water. This is part of the nutrient cycle, which should be maintained and controlled for the welfare of the fishes. Larger aquariums are more preferable and they make things easier, for example the event effects are diluted easily and the systemic shock is absorbed well.

Other factors to controll are nitrogen cycle, dissolved gases and balanced food supply. The salinity of the water should be checked regularly depending of the aquaria being maintained. The pH level should be checked to test the acidic nature of the water. For freshwater aquarium, most of the aquarist use tap water, which is a mistake as it contains chlorine. Chloramines should be used in tap water to make it chlorine free.

Depending on temperature, the aquarium can be differentiated to have tropical and cold water. For tropical aquarium, the water should be warm and the temperature should be nearly seventy-seven degree Fahrenheit. For cold water aquarium, the water temperature should be less than room temperature. For this purpose, a refrigeration device called chiller can be used.

Plants and certain organisms can be introduced in the aquarium which metabolizes the waste, especially nitrogen. But the more number of organisms added to the fish tank, the more difficult it is to maintain. The needs of all the aquatic organisms must be considered. Introducing many types of species in an aquarium is known as biological loading. Two important factors should be considered which are filtration process and oxygen levels. Aquarists interested in fish breeding should be more careful. Firstly, they shouldn’t mix many types of fishes together. They should also develop special conditions called spawning triggers for proper breeding.

Artificial ponds can be also made in the garden. It is very similar to freshwater keeping, except that they are big and out in natural conditions. Tropical fishes are a good choice for such garden ponds. But where the temperatures are cold, goldfishes, orfe and koi are good options.

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January 13, 2008

Tropical Fish Tank - Tips On How To Set Up a Tropical Fish Tank

Setting up a tropical fish tank will greatly depend on the amount of knowledge you have. If you are not knowledgeable, you may want to do a research about the project before beginning or buy a book about tropical fish that will guide you. The process is quite simple, but if done wrong, your fish will pay the price.

The first thing needed, is the purchase of the right components to keep your tropical fish tank working properly. One of the most important thing you will need is a tank heater. This will enable you to regulate the water temperature above that of surrounding air and since the fish you will be keeping are used to swimming in warmer water, you will need to keep your tank at that temperature. A good heating system will allow the fish to swim as if they were in their own natural water habitat, resulting in a better overall tropical fish tank.

Another key feature to the installation of a tropical fish tank is the filter. Aquarium filters are critical components of tropical fish tank setup hence, the filter should be enough capability to handle the size of your tank. Aquarium filters remove physical and soluble chemical waste products from the tank making it easier for maintenance. The filter also help to keep the water clean and clear to keep your fish healthy. Lack of good filtration system could lead to green water and alga deposits on your tank. This is not the desired result of any tank and should be avoided.

Tropical fish tank are often placed on specially-made tank stand. It can either be bought or built. Because of the weight of the tank, the stand must be strong enough to handle the weight of your tank and the water it holds and as well as level. Because a tank that is not level may distort, leak, or crack.

Setting up tropical fish tank is quite a straight forward process. If you have the tools needed, you should have no trouble at all. The heater, filter and stand all play a important role in keeping a tropical fish tank. They are all necessary and should not be left out of the process. They will allow you to enjoy your tropical fish tank for a long time to come.

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January 4, 2008

Keeping discus fish - The secrets of keeping discus fish

The last decades have seen more materials written about keeping discus fish than any other fish species. Anyone who’s thinking about keeping discus fish as pet in the aquarium should get well informed about their care before actually purchasing them. Discus fish are considered royal fish native from the calm and warm Amazon waters that charm through their behavior. Discus fish keeping involve having some knowledge about their characteristic and care, what to offer to keep the pet fish in optimal condition. Discus fish are known to be creatures of varying demeanors that also shown dominance.

While breeding discus fish, you discover that they are quite shy and calm as usual, but when they mates they can become often domineering to their co-habitant due to breeding domain protection. Keeping discus fish will bring lots of both challenges and rewards. It should be noted that, the weakest discus in the group often suffer bullying which sometimes resulted in death. As a result, it is advisable not keep discus fish in a groups of than minimum of six. Thus you increase the confidence of the group members and lower the risk of “community” misbehavior.

When keeping discus fish you have to respect their habits. For example, coupling is a matter of personal preference when it comes to parental care. Therefore, arranged matches are not to the like of the discus that are independent in their choice of a partner. Keeping discus fish that go through the breeding process is best achieved in a separate tank especially prepared for the purpose. In case you’re keeping discus fish couples together with the rest of your aquatic pets, you risk having some nasty violent behavior because of territorial claims. Discus fish prepare the perimeter where they are going to have their babies by cleaning it first and defending it throughout the whole period.

Once you have fry, you’ll be surprised that discus feed their young alone. However, when keeping discus fish of such different ages together, it is good to assist the parents’ effort by also giving some special food to the fry too such as baby brine shrimp. After about three or six weeks, it’s advisable to remove the fry from the rest of the fish. You should separate the fry and leave the exhausted parents recover. Use a special tank for the fry only and feed them at least three times a day to support the accelerated growth rate.

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