When you first start to select your fish, make sure that you select the best stock available. This is important because you want to have a fish that is strong enough and healthy enough to withstand any trouble that you might have if you are just beginning an aquarium and are inexperienced. Try not to go for the more exotic and colorful species because they obviously are more expensive and they are harder to take care of. Unless you have enough experience with tropical fish to take care of them, you could be setting yourself up for a big disappointment.
Selecting Healthy Fishes
If you regularly visit your local pet or fish store, then you will eventually start to pick out when the store recieves a new stock of fish. Before you buy any of these new fish, you should ask an employee if the fish has been in stock for quaratining for two or three weeks, prior to being offered for sale. If you buy fish that have just been taken in by the store "straight off the plane" they might be very vulnerable and could die from disease or stress. Your local pet store should suggest that you don't buy fish that have just arrived and that you should wait until they (the fish) have settled down. Then you might want to ask the dealer if they will reserve the fish for you while the fish gets settled down.
What To Look For In a Fish
When you are first picking out a fish, there are a lot of visual "clues" that will help you select good quality stock. First, the color of the fish should be dense, and where a pattern is formed ther should be no blurring of adjacent colors. In some species where the color patterns are a special feature, the patterns should conform to the standard expected. Also, the body shape should conform to the recognized show "standards." Also, be careful not to interpret normal behvior as a sign of illness. For example, although flat fins are usually a sign of sickness, some healthy marine species keep their fins folded when swimming.
Considering The Size Of The Fish
Once you have chosen a healthy fish, you should make sure whether its size is right for your aquarium. The fish may look just the size you wnat in the dealer's tank, but keep in mind that all the fishes are juveniles, and their eventual size will be at least double their present size. You should make sure and check the size that the fish will grow to otherwise if you buy a number of juveniles, some of them could eventually grow bigger than some of your new fish. In turn the larger fish could then eat the smaller fish and, well, we don't want that. A useful tip about predicting the size of fish is that fishes with big eyes or scales usually turn out to be large.
Sources For Fishes
Unless you belong to a local aquatic society, your only source of fishes will be your local aquarium dealer, of which there are two kinds: general pet stores or garden centers, with a section for pond or aquarium fishes, while others may be specialist aquarium shops. If you just need equipment or "dry goods" such as food, then the nearest stockist will do. But if you are looking for fishes, pet stores don't really have much of a variety beyond the usual most popular species. To find the rarer, more exotic species you will have to go to a specialized dealer.
Introducing New Fish Into Your Aquarium
When you finally get your new fish home, you must add them to your tank very carefully. There will probably be a difference in temperature between the water in the fishes' bag and that in the tank, and any such sudden change may stress the fishes. To equalize the two temperatures, you should float the bag in the water for 10-15 minutes before releasing the fish. Also, add a small amount of your aquarium water to the bag containing the new fish, since the two bodies of water probably have different qualities. If you are introducing marine fishes into a new tank, you should switch the aquarium lights off, but leave the room lights on.
If You have any questions or comments about buying the right fish for your aquarium or just any questions or comments about fish and plants in general feel free to email me.
Email me at: mukhoops@gte.net
