Caring for Tropical Fish

The article gives you some information on Caring for Tropical Fish. Many of you would know that I am a qualified aqualculturalists, which means that I studied the care of fish. Studying aquaculture involved learning about the latest techniques and advances in fish care. But I believe that to understand where a field is headed you need to look at where it has come from.

I have a 1930’s book on the care of tropical fish and back then, caring for tropical fish was hard. Early heaters were very unreliable and the author suggests that an oil burner underneath the aquarium is a more effective way of maintaining the temperature of the water. To make up a plant fertilizer, the author suggested pulverizing sheep manure and injecting with a syringe around the roots of the plant! There is a chapter dedicated to making and growing your own fish foods as the commercial foods that were available then were of very poor quality.

We have just set up a new tropical display aquarium in the front window of the store. The aquarium houses several different species of fish from 3 different continents. All of the fish that are contained in the aquarium were bred from captive bred stocks and are well adapted to life in the aquarium. The filter in the aquarium is completely silent and requires cleaning just once a month. A glass aquarium heater heats the water and it has its own thermostat so the unit will turn on and off to maintain the correct temperature in the aquarium. All we need to do is exchange one third of the water every two weeks, check the pH weekly and feed the fish and fertilize the plants, all of which takes only few minutes. The care of tropical fish these days is certainly no harder then the care of goldfish.

There is vast array of tropical fish that are available for aquariums in many different colours and shapes. There are old favorites such as guppies and platies with their bright colours and flowing tails. Then there are those fish that have to be seen to be believed like the glass catfish with its transparent body and long whiskers.

Tropical fish can live from 18months to many years depending on the species of fish that you keep and many are easy to breed in captivity. Some such as mollies give birth to live young in the aquarium, whilst others lay eggs and defend their young from other fish.

Although kept in a captive environment, the actions and interactions between different fish carry on day-to-day as if in the wild. You can witness males that tussle for the affections of a female and fish defending their territory from unwelcome visitors. Many of our customers who purchase an aquarium make the comment that they find themselves drawn to the aquarium of night instead of the television.

If you would like further information on the care or setup of tropical fish just drop into the store and we would be happy to discuss it with you.