The hobby of aquarium keeping and tropic fish as pets is fairly recent in the Western World, and took a while to catch on. The keeping of fish in small indoor tanks was only seriously considered in the middle of the last century, when both in Britain and the rest of Europe a considerable interest in the subject developed...
At the beginning of the 1900's aquarists around the world began to keep tropical fishes, and it was the "trend" of so doing that started a new wave of popular fish culture (keeping fish as pets)...
The older aquarists were obsessed with copying nature in their tanks—or rather with the attempt to try and copy nature—whereas the keepers of warm-water fishes had to experiment and create suitable environments for them...
Often they started only with the knowledge that the fish must be kept warm, and this in itself raised problems, including the death of favorite weeds and water snails at higher temperatures...
So the aquarium gradually came to be regarded as most of us
see it today, as a beautiful display, not a mirror held up to nature...
However, until the keeping of tropical fish, it seems that aquarists in general thought that the proper aim of an aquarium keeper was to reproduce a segment of nature...
They now realize that their task is the maintenance of a highly artificial and restricted community of animals and plants, with a balance that can easily topple with disastrous results to at least some of the members. At the same time, aquariums can generally be easily maintained as long as a few fundamental facts are recognized and applied with commonsense to the problems that arise...
So lets talk now about some of the characteristics of aquariums and tropical fish...
The old fashioned fish bowl has almost completely
replaced for serious fish-keeping by the rectangular glass tank, either made wholly of glass or with a metal frame and glass sides and a bottom of glass, slate, or other rigid material...
Except when used for spawning, for exhibition purposes, or as a hospital tank for the treatment of disease, the tank contains growing, rooted plants; these are set in a sand or gravel layer 1 or 2 inches thick. There may be decorative rocks, but the chief decoration is usually the plants themselves, which contribute more to the attractive appearance of a well set-up tank than do the fishes...
Rectangular tanks are usually between 5 and 25 gallons in capacity; a 15-gallon tank measures 24 X 12 X 12 inches and is a favorite size. Smaller tanks than these cannot house many fish or allow proper development of the plants...
Larger tanks are very attractive and give scope for beautiful planting arrangements and for fine growth of the fishes, but they are expensive and not likely to become generally popular. Most fish lovers therefore prefer a range of medium tanks rather than one or two very large ones, but it must be emphasized that fine fishes can be grown in large tanks...
In general, tropical fishes can be housed in smaller tanks than cold-water fishes. This is because they are usually smaller and are also better able to withstand a relative deficiency of oxygen in the water...
Size for size, most tropical fishes can be crowded a good deal more than the common goldfish and very much more than fancy varieties of goldfish. A 15-gallon tank might comfortably contain a dozen 3-inch rosy barbs, four or five 3-inch common goldfish at the most, and not more than a pair of Orandas of the same size...
Fish consume solid food and excrete solid faeces. They breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, and therefore they tend to deplete their environment of oxygen and to pollute it with carbon dioxide and excrement...
Plants also breathe oxygen, but in sufficiently bright light they manufacture sugars, etc., from carbon dioxide taken from their surroundings, whether air or water, and they release oxygen. This is done in the green leaf...
Plants also absorb dissolved salts and use these together with carbon dioxide in building up complex organic compounds. Very few higher plants can utilize solid or very complex substances, and before animal excrement (usually known as "mulm" in the fish tank) is available to them it must be broken down by fungi or bacteria and made soluble...
So plants, in adequate light, tend to restore oxygen to the environment and to remove the waste products of animals. In poor light or in darkness they deplete the water or air of oxygen just as animals do. It is only in the daytime, or under bright artificial light, that they perform the complementary function to animals...
From these facts grew the concept of a balanced aquarium, with the waste products of the fishes absorbed by the plants, and the oxygen necessary for the fishes provided by the action of the plants in light...
The moral of the story? A well-planted tank with adequate illumination will usually stay clear and sweet for months or years with little attention...
Hopefully this article has given you a great insight into tropical fish as pets and the healthy keeping of aquariums.
If you need more data about aquarium fish see Aquarium Fish Food
Aquarium fish fall ill just like any other pet. The illnesses are as a result of disease. The common diseases that affect aquarium fish are mostly stress induced.
The micro-organisms which cause these diseases may be present in the water as part of the normal micro fauna and grab the opportunity to infest or infect the fish when it is stressed and its normal defense are weakened.
Different ways aquarium fish suffer from stress
- Aquarium fish usually start experiencing stress starting from the time it's about living the breeding farm till when the end purchaser finally picked it from retailer. Most beginners don't really know how to handle fish.
- The quality of water is another cause of aquarium fish stress. Different fish species have different water quality that will make the environment conducive for them. Quality parameters like pH, water hardness, high nitrite and carbon dioxide level, low dissolved oxygen salinity of water, water temperature and others.
- Any change in environment like physical damage, leaches, lice and introduction of new fish that is not quarantine could lead to stress in aquarium, thus making life non conducive for fish in aquarium tank
- Change in weather condition is another factor that leads to aquarium fish stress. When there is heavy downfall as you know the weather will become cold and this could lead to stress in aquarium.
- Poor Diet as a result of lack in nutritional requirement always leads to poor performance in fish immune system. Fish immune system will struggle to operate efficiently. This will result in a stressed fish.
Warning signs of illness in aquarium fish
You can easily know when your fish are going through stress if you watch them very well and often. You will notice signs like fish swimming with clamps up (closed) in their fins, hovering in a corner, heavy breathing and fish brushing its body against objects. These are warning signs you need to act on immediately.
How to reduce stress in aquarium
To reduce stress in aquarium, you need to guide against factors that lead to stress. The following are tips on how to prevent stress that ultimately leads to illness:
- Make sure you have detail information about the fish species that you will be introducing to your tank. Enquiring about its requirements before you buy it will help you a lot. Thus, ask lots of questions before making your purchase.
- Knowing the right food for your fish is another important thing you have to know as this may vary from species to species. If you have this knowledge you will be able to provide foods that are rich in nutritional ingredients that your fish require.
- Keep the environment clean.
- When you want to introduce new fish, make sure it's quarantined to reduce the risk of disease.
To get more information regarding aquarium fish check out Aquarium Fish Food
The micro-organisms which cause these diseases may be present in the water as part of the normal micro fauna and grab the opportunity to infest or infect the fish when it is stressed and its normal defense are weakened.
Different ways aquarium fish suffer from stress
- Aquarium fish usually start experiencing stress starting from the time it's about living the breeding farm till when the end purchaser finally picked it from retailer. Most beginners don't really know how to handle fish.
- The quality of water is another cause of aquarium fish stress. Different fish species have different water quality that will make the environment conducive for them. Quality parameters like pH, water hardness, high nitrite and carbon dioxide level, low dissolved oxygen salinity of water, water temperature and others.
- Any change in environment like physical damage, leaches, lice and introduction of new fish that is not quarantine could lead to stress in aquarium, thus making life non conducive for fish in aquarium tank
- Change in weather condition is another factor that leads to aquarium fish stress. When there is heavy downfall as you know the weather will become cold and this could lead to stress in aquarium.
- Poor Diet as a result of lack in nutritional requirement always leads to poor performance in fish immune system. Fish immune system will struggle to operate efficiently. This will result in a stressed fish.
Warning signs of illness in aquarium fish
You can easily know when your fish are going through stress if you watch them very well and often. You will notice signs like fish swimming with clamps up (closed) in their fins, hovering in a corner, heavy breathing and fish brushing its body against objects. These are warning signs you need to act on immediately.
How to reduce stress in aquarium
To reduce stress in aquarium, you need to guide against factors that lead to stress. The following are tips on how to prevent stress that ultimately leads to illness:
- Make sure you have detail information about the fish species that you will be introducing to your tank. Enquiring about its requirements before you buy it will help you a lot. Thus, ask lots of questions before making your purchase.
- Knowing the right food for your fish is another important thing you have to know as this may vary from species to species. If you have this knowledge you will be able to provide foods that are rich in nutritional ingredients that your fish require.
- Keep the environment clean.
- When you want to introduce new fish, make sure it's quarantined to reduce the risk of disease.
To get more information regarding aquarium fish check out Aquarium Fish Food