Some Fundamentals of Healthy Fish Keeping.

Some Fundamentals of Healthy Fish Keeping.

Fishes in captivity are quite vulnerable to diseases and death. As a result, you have to be on a constant vigil as far as the maintenance of fishes in an aquarium is concerned. This article looks into some aspects of healthy fish keeping, which should especially be helpful for the beginners.

Compatibility Check. Your aquatic pets mix should be compatible to each other. Mixing aggressive with peaceful fish should be avoided as the former may attack the later. A hostile environment may soon push the peaceful lot to stress.

Buying Healthy Fish. Fish health in your aquarium is usually rooted to the mix you have selected. Therefore, the essence of healthy fish keeping originates right from the healthy specimen bought. While purchasing new fishes for your tank, keep in mind the following points:

Avoid picking fish from cloudy or dirty tanks.

Avoid buying fish from an aquarium with decaying plants or dead fish.

The specimens should not have cloudy eyes, torn or clamped fins, skin sores, or any other morphological or behavioral sign of illness, or neglected care.

Ensure that your seller takes the responsibility of safely delivering the specimen to your doorstep.

Cautious Handling of the New Fish. Traveling while shipping causes severe stress to the fish and therefore at this point, they require cautious handling. Once home, as a standard, place the new fish in a Quarantine Tank to significantly lower or possibly eliminate any infection the new fish may be carrying. In the Quarantine Tank, observe the new fish for any abnormal behavior (hovering near the surface or the bottom, darting, hiding, odd swimming, clamped Fin, & color change), poor or erratic feeding, and movement. While the abnormality may be induced by infection or parasites, the quality of water in the tank may also be requiring a check.

Reducing Stress. The key to keeping a fish healthy lies in minimizing and avoiding their stress as much as possible. Stress destroys the protective Slime Coat on the fish body, thereby making them more susceptible to diseases. In addition, due to the loss of Slime Coat, fish spend more energy in their movement, and disturb the gaseous exchange through their skin. As a result, the fish grow weak. The stress factors of a fish include but are not essentially limited to, Tank Mates, Tank Size, Tank Temperature, and other Tank Water Parameters (pH, KH, specific gravity, & trace elements level). Overall, high water quality keeps your fish stress free to a significant degree.

Tank Size. Keep a tank of adequate size to accommodate your fish easily, while allowing ample space to them to move around.

No Overstocking. For healthy fish keeping, it is important that your aquatic pets get proper nutrition and an amenable environment with a lot of movement space. This can be achieved by moderating the quantity of your aquatic pets. Take care not to overstock your aquarium. Overstocking does hinder free fish movement and their nutrition.

Tank set up. Make sure that your tank provides ideal environment to your aquatic pets so that they stay stress free and healthy. Regularly maintain your tank and keep checking its water quality, followed by frequent water change. Dechlorinate the water before filling it in the tank, check all your Aquarium Equipment for their sound working, and keep the temperature amenable according to the requirement of your aquatic pets. Keep your tank tuned with the right proportion of Aquarium Water Additives to remove Nitrates, balancing Ammonia & Nitrites, stabilizing the water column, and removing the cloudy appearance from the water, while replenishing vital nutrients in it.

Chemicals Free. Keep your chemicals dispensing in the aquarium to the minimum. Chemicals do not much good to fish and therefore, they should be resorted to as the last solution only.

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