It always seems there's more to learn keeping fish and that many articles on fish species behaviour are written by people who've never kept them.
So what top pearls of wisdom have you learnt (probably the hard way like me) along the way ?
Here are a few of mine:
- Successful fish keeping is 80% waste and water management
- When buying equipment that forms part of the fishes life support, use the redundancy principle (always have two and buy two smaller heaters rather than one big one, so if one goes wrong, the water temperature goes wrong slowly). There's nothing worse than losing fish because equipment has failed and the shops are shut or you're on holiday and there's no secondary system in the tank.
- Australe and Gardneri Killifish both like to supplement their diet with the fins of other fish, so don't try to keep them in a community tank.
- When choosing a red claw crab, buy the timid one skulking under a rock if you want him to get along with your fish
- Never leave a well meaning neighbour in charge of feeding your fish when you're away, use an electronic feeder. It's grim coming home to rotting food in the tank and listless fish (likewise don't use a dissolving block of food)
- Fish haven't read the books on how they're supposed to behave
- Small unplanted quarantine tanks are more likely to induce stress and disease. Quarantine tanks need to be a smaller version of a display tank for best results.
- Guppies only have one thing on their minds and trying to house the offspring is your problem
.....
So what top pearls of wisdom have you learnt (probably the hard way like me) along the way ?
Here are a few of mine:
- Successful fish keeping is 80% waste and water management
- When buying equipment that forms part of the fishes life support, use the redundancy principle (always have two and buy two smaller heaters rather than one big one, so if one goes wrong, the water temperature goes wrong slowly). There's nothing worse than losing fish because equipment has failed and the shops are shut or you're on holiday and there's no secondary system in the tank.
- Australe and Gardneri Killifish both like to supplement their diet with the fins of other fish, so don't try to keep them in a community tank.
- When choosing a red claw crab, buy the timid one skulking under a rock if you want him to get along with your fish
- Never leave a well meaning neighbour in charge of feeding your fish when you're away, use an electronic feeder. It's grim coming home to rotting food in the tank and listless fish (likewise don't use a dissolving block of food)
- Fish haven't read the books on how they're supposed to behave
- Small unplanted quarantine tanks are more likely to induce stress and disease. Quarantine tanks need to be a smaller version of a display tank for best results.
- Guppies only have one thing on their minds and trying to house the offspring is your problem
.....
