Just Starting Out?

Venturing into the world of fish is usually very exciting and is a great way to in touch with a slice of nature. What other living creatures from the jungles of South America and Asia or the Rift Lakes of the African continent can you keep in your own home. Not to mention our own beautiful native rainbowfish.

Of course 95% of the fish for sale are bred in large fish farms in Singapore, Hong Kong etc. and the majority of goldfish are bred in Australia. So wild caught fish are the exception rather than the rule. The way the Amazon is being chopped down for farms and not to mention gold there will not be many fish to get from the wild in years to come.

Thankfully many of these species extinct in their native habitat will hopefully continue to exist in our aquariums.

So, keeping fish sounds great doesn’t it?

Sounds almost easy. Fill a tank with water, add fish, feed daily. Simple. Piece of cake.

Well, not quite. But you knew that, right?

Still, it isn’t that hard or expensive. I mean, a decent wall unit costs over $1000.00. And it’s just wood or laminated board.

So, assuming you are reading this because you are interested in having an aquarium in your home, things to consider are :-

Best position for it.

(a) How large you want it to be.

(b) What type of fish to choose.

Taking (a) first. The best position is away from windows and doors. Too much light and you will have hard time keeping the algae under control. Sunrooms also are not the best places for aquariums. You also should put it where you can see it when you are at home. It might look great in the foyer as a statement for visitors to admire but how much time do you spend in the foyer. A new aquarium will be watched more than the t.v. for a few months.

Next (b). Three things to consider:-

• The larger the aquarium is the less the water conditions fluctuate, so a more stable environment for your fish.
• Goldfish grow large so bigger is better
• Cost. Smaller is usually cheaper

Lastly (c). What type of fish is your own preference and it is hard for us to advise you . But, take into consideration your own circumstances with regard to how much time you have to look after your pets. It will require about 40 minutes each fortnight to clean and do a 25% water change on a 3 or 4 foot aquarium. Goldfish are generally hardier and can put up with a little neglect more than tropicals.

TIP: Buy a good book before you buy your aquarium. It’s money well spent. Because if you read it and decide it is all too hard, you have saved yourself a lot of money.

Things you might learn are big fish eat little fish, nippy fast moving fish chew the tails of long finned fishes , tropical fish are cleaner than goldfish. What is a community fish and what is a cichlid. In fact you can never learn enough.