Fishes 01 (Aug 09 - Dec 09)

[millionairemind]

The boy has been pestering me for months to get a pet, most notably fishes. Last Friday, I finally gave in. Brought him to a local fish shop and spend a couple hundred to get a fish tank, accessories and of course fishes.

Unfortunately, the fish shop owner lied to me about just pouring in water, adding dechlorinator and putting in the fish and that they will be alright.

All the fishes died within 24 hrs. Sigh... the boy cried his eyes out the next day.. and I have been running up and down to contain the damages and trying to fix the problem.

What I cannot tahan is people lying to me when I rely on them for expert advice. This owner is never going to get another piece of my business

Turns out that you need to clean and cycle a brand new tank for at least a few days before introducing fishes.... duh..... how stupid I am...

Thankfully, I got a lesson out of this, how to teach the boy about life and death...

And now the new fish tank is still cycling... and I will get a new batch of fish this Friday, from another fish shop

[Aspellian]

All the fishes died within 24 hrs. Sigh... the boy cried his eyes out the next day.. and I have been running up and down to contain the damages and trying to fix the problem.

What I cannot tahan is people lying to me when I rely on them for expert advice. This owner is never going to get another piece of my business

Turns out that you need to clean and cycle a brand new tank for at least a few days before introducing fishes.... duh..... how stupid I am...

Thankfully, I got a lesson out of this, how to teach the boy about life and death...

And now the new fish tank is still cycling... and I will get a new batch of fish this Friday, from another fish shop

no wonder didnt c u posting recently - cos you are busy setting up your aquarium and damage control.
good that you see the positive side of things - ie. an opportunity to explain to your kid.

i used to rear fishes too: some simple tips (you can find out more on some fish forums)
- when change water, dun change all - wait the fishes cannot take it. change half the water (unless your filtration system is the ferrari-type - no need change water forever; with eco-bacteria system)
- ideally is to leave the water overnight before pouring into the system
- if its a totally new tank set-up - you may wish to slowly introduce the fishes in. ie. test water. abit like stocks. buy a bit, got profits (or your fishes dun die), then you buy more. like that also more fun, can determine what type of fishes to buy!
- not to buy aggressive fishes - some fishes are predatory in nature - will eat up other small fishes - you will have to damage control again if your boy is shock about fish-eat-fish world!!
- have some rocks, branches etc for some fishes to hide (looks nice too)

fish tanks are always exciting! in no time, i am sure your kid will be an expert with more knowledge than you! can go library borrow fish books for him to read - danger is that he will want to buy more and more fishes to add to his collections!!
enjoy your quality time!!

[winston]

Ha Ha ... I have two very big fish tanks before.

When you wash your filters, make sure you dont wash everything. You need some of the good bacterias in your filter. I hope you bought a good filter, which usually consists of 3 parts ie. foam, charcoal and nitrate remover.

Also, dont change all the water, 1/3 at a time is ok.

Ideally, you should also give the fishes some privacy. That means having some plants, rocks etc there, so they can hide behind them.

Also, you should have some gravel and an under-gravel filter. That way, the dirty stuff gets sucked under the gravel. Also, slope the gravel inside so that the fishes would have some privacy.

There's alot of joy watching the fishes breed. Try getting some guppies and in no time, you will see some additions. However, you may need to scoop out the baby fishes and put them inside a "net container" inside the fish tank, else they would be eaten by the bigger fish.

BTW, I had an arowana before and I was very sad when it died...

[Aspellian]

There's alot of joy watching the fishes breed. Try getting some guppies and in no time, you will see some additions. However, you may need to scoop out the baby fishes and put them inside a "net container" inside the fish tank, else they would be eaten by the bigger fish.

yes.. the joy of watching the fishes breed is tremendous! i have bred many different spieces but i always find the african cichlids the most interesting. the female fish will scoop up the fertilised eggs in its mouth and will not eat anything until the eggs hatched. even after hatching, the mother and father fish will continue to look after the baby fishes. whenever there is danger, the fry will all swim back into the mother fish!! it is simply amazing!!!!
http://www.aquariumfish.net/information ... fish_3.htm

[iam802]

...

All the fishes died within 24 hrs. Sigh... the boy cried his eyes out the next day.. and I have been running up and down to contain the damages and trying to fix the problem.

...

Ok, you are not alone with this.

But, my damage is far far lower than yours.

My kid won some fish in those fun fair. Same thing, pour water, try to keep it alive...and within 24hrs ...(well u know...same story)

[millionairemind]

Wrapped up Freshwater Aquariums for Dummies over a 2 day period.

I have recently taken up keeping freshwater fishes as a hobby and I should have read this book before venturing out to get all the equipment and fishes... this would have saved me the first batch of fishes

A little knowledge really goes a long way. The second batch of fishes is surviving well (fingers crossed )

It's a well-organized book with specific sections on how to:

* Choose the right aquarium
* Select the best fish
* Get good deals on equipment
* Maintain a clean, healthy environment
* Handle tank pitfalls
* Breed your fish

Recommended for goondu beginners like me

Available from NLB.

Currently wrapping up The Tipping Point, starting on The Shock Doctrine and going to start on Outliners

Will let you know if they are any good

[winston]

So when is the Arowana coming ?

[millionairemind]

haha W, not yet lah.. dont' think I am ready for such a BIG commitment to keep arowana.

I am a newbie hobbyist. Its really fun though..

I found it especially soothing looking at the lighted aquarium with all the aquatic plants and different colored fishes.

Currently have this kind of goldfish and some platies for a start. Looking at adding Bettas, swordtails (died in the first batch) and more goldfish variety in about 2 weeks time.

[winston]

Guppies can breed very fast...

[winston]

If you have a group of Neon Tetras, they are very nice too