Mike’s Fish Tank – Fish Facts

This the time of year when people got fish tanks for Christmas and now want fish. I am getting a lot of first time aquarium owners. I want to remind people of a few things that are beneficial to your tank.A lot of people want to stock their tank right away but this is not a good idea.

Set your tank up and let it run 24 hours before putting fish in it. If doing tropical fish,you want to be sure your  temperature is stable. 78 to 80 degrees is perfect. A fluctuating temperature can cause fish to get sick.

Go easy on a newly setup tank. Too many fish too soon will cause problems down the road, usually week 3 is when things go bad if too many fish.There is a good bacteria that grows in a tank and eats the urine fish produce. Too many fish and no bacteria and the fish are swimming in their own urine. The tank will start to get cloudy in week 2. That’s just all the fish urine building up. Filters will not stop it. Only the good bacteria will fix that and it takes 4 to 6 weeks for that to grow, thus not overcrowding a newly set up fish tank.

Don’t add algae eaters until you see algae. Some people call them cleaner fish, they will clean your tank by eating the algae but no fish eats the waste or bad food that is lying on the bottom of your tank. For that you need to siphon the bottom of your tank once a month or so. This gets rid of all the crap that might be on the bottom of your tank.

Feed fish 3 times a day. Fish burn a lot of calories swimming and thus need 3 meals a day to really do well.

Feed small amounts. A fish stomach is about the size of their eye.

There is no way of knowing if tropicals and goldfish will mix. The goldfish like it cold and the tropicals like it warm.

Always take fish straight home after buying them and only let the bag float in your tank for 5 minutes, that will equalize the temperature. Floating longer can be deadly.I also get a lot of people wanting catfish because they clean the bottom of the tank, again not true. They tend to hang at the bottom and will eat the good food that might sink down there, but they will not eat any of the food that sits there and gets old. That is why how much you feed is so important.

Pets A Plenty is located on Rte 281 Cortland, across from Tops Market in the TJ Nails Plaza. 753-9213. Open 7 days a week. We now have a website. www.petsaplety.biz. check it out. I post care sheets, coupons, new animal arrivals, contests and more. Any questions, email me at friskyy@hotmail.com

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