Fish Care

[CornSnakeLover]

I think Bettas and Guppies should be a no or cations...

Other then that brilliant charts

[Roxy89]

have u got any pics on lager catfish


thanks
roxy89

[MJ75]

What type of catfish? Or just large ones?

[The_Real_Moreliaman]

Originally Posted by mike515

cheers for that. Its exactly what i was saying lol.

i work in a small fish shop and i know exactly how important decent staff are with that sort of shop. The slightest little thing and my boss goes mental. Customer service is key.

Sorry i resent comments youve made too...and to the others that slate maidenhead aquatics in general.........not all maidenhead shops are they same & they DO employ people with experince, infact most managers also get sent to sparsholt college ! which im sure would be a higher level of knowledge than 95% of its customers !.
A few years after closing my own aquatic & reptile shop i worked in maidenhead aquatics for several years and never gave the wrong information, sold the wrong fish or just wanted to make money from the customer......And just as in my shop, customer service is a priority & was always praticed in the maidenhead store i worked in...so its not just little shops that care about customers.........the implication that maidenhead do not employ decent staff is offensive, just because someones been given poor advice or poor quality fish in 1 shop that doesnt mean the rest will be the same.
Dont avoid maidenhead aquatics....go there and decide for yourself !


Anyway..this threads meant to be advice for people!!...so..WATER CHANGES !!...people MUST do their regular water changes...they are very important for both fish & plants.....Water changes reduce nitrate & phosphate levels, both of which are toxic to fish in high levels & they can also cause algae growth...........regular water changes also replace minerals & vital trace elements that the fish and plants have used to grow and remain healthy (just like every other animal that needs them to grow).
They also replenish the aquarium water with minerals that help stabilize the water chemistry, A lack of these minerals which get used up could cause a PH drop which isnt good for both fish or plants.
The water changes must be regular & preferably around 20% once a week would be an ideal amount to change for the average stocked aquarium.....ideally it would be better to change some of the water everyday....but this is extremely labour intensive...so most do the weekly change.
The reason why water changes must be regular is because of the reasons above and also the toxins & PH levels....believe it or not but theres a VERY big difference between water of 6.8 ph & water thats 7.2 ph ...if you change water once a month the levels will have built up to an extent that when you do a water change you can shock/stress the fish, in pretty much the same way as sudden temp changes will shock too ! Stressing fish can lower the fish's natural defensive systems which can allow parasitic & other infections to attack the fish (pretty much the same as we can catch colds usually when we get stressed or are feeling down)
The above of course will depend on the stocking levels in the tank...if its heavily stocked then the water changes should be slightly more....say around 25% every week, less if theres a fewer fish.

So there.....DO YOURE WATER CHANGES LIKE CLOCKWORK !! They are more important than you realise !!

(let me know if ive missed anythin, & no i dont give a about any spelling mistakes, punctuation or grammer inaccuracies)

[goldie1212]

those charts are rubbish IMO. no goldfish, fancy or common, should be housed with cory catfish for a start, they are small enough to be eaten, but because of the catfish spines they get stuck in the goldfish throat and both fish will more than likely die. also, guppies and bettas should never be mixed.

as for fish shops, i use maidenhead, but i never ever listen to any advice any fish place gives me. i research all fish im interested in before i buy, so i know they are right for me.

petsathome told me not house fancy goldfish with commons/comets/shubunkins as the fancies would be eaten what a load of rubbish, but they never mentioned anything about the feeding (making sure the fancies got enough to eat) or the spawning (commons tiring out the fancy females too quickly) which are the true issues with housing them together.

maidenhead have had lemon fin barbs in that they have had listed as maximum size 12 inches and under a totally different name (considering they were already 15-18 inches each in the tank they were in!!!) but some members of staff do seem to know their stuff. i go for the members of staff that i know wont stress the fish more than neccessary when catching etc. i only really go to maidenhead as their fish are usually disease free at the one i go to.

tank advice, well as already said, i think the most important thing is water changes, regular water changes,with gravel vacs. my tank gets 60-70% every weekend. if your fish arent used to such large changes and you want to begin doing so, gradually build up each week. always remember to use dechlorinator.

try to add live plants to you tank, it will help keep the water quality up between water changes, and the fish love them too. even a small bunch of pond weed is better than nothing, and cheap to replace if the fish eat it.

dont use tons of chemicals to treat simple diseases such as white spot, they can be just as easily cured using a temperature increase, or a temp increase with aquarium salt. much easier on the fish, and works just as well.

research the fish you are wanting to buy before going out to buy them. you can usually put a fish on hold in a fish shop if you want to, and pick them up later on. it gives you time to go and research before you are landed with a 12" bala shark or 24" common pleco 6 months down the line shoved into your 30g aquarium, or find out that the beautiful baby oscar fish you bought 6 months earlier is actually a little killing machine and wipes out all your stock.

you need to research-
adult size (stock your tank according to the adult size of the fish you want not the size you buy at)
dietary requirements
temperature requirements
compatibility
minimum tank size
schooling or solitary

try to give all fish a mixed diet, based around a good quality pellet food (flakes tend to lose all vitamins etc within seconds of them going into the water) then add either live or frozen foods such as daphnia/brine shrimp/bloodworm as a treat a couple of times a week.

make sure all fancy goldfish have sinking pellet foods as they can suffer bouyancy issues with any floating foods. they will also need greens in their diet, i tend to feed mine cooked shelled peas twice a week,but they also enjoy orange and broccoli.

cant think of anything else right now, apart from the obvious, research the nitrogen cycle, this is extremely important in keeping a happy healthy aquarium.

[dogkennels]

Hi
This is very good thing to care their pets there are the various designs of the fish aquarium where you put their fish and care.Bits for pets have latest collection of fish aquarium where you care their Fish.

[dogkennels]

Really Very good discussions
Thanks.

[mrhoyo]

How come this is a sticky? I came on looking for advice on general fish care and its just a load of people saying that maidenhead is rubbish.
Can we have a proper, clean sticky on general fish care?

[DonDonP73]

warm water or cold water

[mrhoyo]

Originally Posted by DonDonP73

warm water or cold water

Warm water