Fish keeping home recipes/ unorthodox fish keeping

[mudkeeper]

Who keeps fish healthy and happy by unorthodox methods or home recipes with past experience with fish. I have never used water testing in any of my fish tanks. I change the water once every 2 weeks. If the water becomes to acidic (fishes fins become down, or eyes become cloudy) water change and addition of a little bit of baking soda. Then the tank is fine.
I heard about people cycling their tank with house hold ammonia, and even leaving rotton animals in the tank to start bacteria growth.

 

[Danyal]

I heard about people cycling their tank with house hold ammonia, and even leaving rotton animals in the tank to start bacteria growth.

yea, it's called a fishless cycle and is very easy to do. usually i recommend using fish food though.

 

[Onion01]

sorry to say, but that's not too responsible. You shouldn't gauge your water by your fishs' eyes becoming cloudy and their fins getting clamped. That is the sign of unhealthy fish. Instead of only cleaning your tank when it is on the verge of collapse, you should do regular small water changes

 

[duke33]

sorry to say, but that's not too responsible. You shouldn't gauge your water by your fishs' eyes becoming cloudy and their fins getting clamped. That is the sign of unhealthy fish. Instead of only cleaning your tank when it is on the verge of collapse, you should do regular small water changes

no doubt

 

[mudkeeper]

verge of collapse seems to be an overstatement. Basically, its when my most sensitive fish (the one I use to gauge the water quality) gets a little hazy eyed, that dissapears within a day of clean water (but this is not a monthly occurance but only when the situation does appear). This method has been working quite nicely for my 55 gallon for the past 2 years.

I am sure you guys have certain eyeball methods, atleast for your easier care setups.

 

[kfh]

I did this when I first started because I didnt know any better. It seemed to work for a while, but ended up causing many deaths down the road. Also it is way more nasty to un-goop the filter media/mechanism after it's all crapped up than just rinsing it while still relatively fresh. Less mess, less fish death, all around good situation.

 

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

verge of collapse seems to be an overstatement. Basically, its when my most sensitive fish (the one I use to gauge the water quality) gets a little hazy eyed, that dissapears within a day of clean water (but this is not a monthly occurance but only when the situation does appear). This method has been working quite nicely for my 55 gallon for the past 2 years.

I am sure you guys have certain eyeball methods, atleast for your easier care setups.

that method is flirting with disaster though. I'll admit I don't test my water often, but do minimum at least one WC a week. It is stressful for the fish to get to the point where they exhibit symptoms.

 

[rjmtx]

It's kind of like taking a shower when the person next to you dry heaves from your stench. Sure you can do it, but it's not recommended.

 

[mudkeeper]

that method is flirting with disaster though. I'll admit I don't test my water often, but do minimum at least one WC a week. It is stressful for the fish to get to the point where they exhibit symptoms.

Possibly, but just to add, I do clean the filters when they build up in bacteria. And do about 20% water changes once every week and half about, more or less. But I am just stating this method has been suprisingly effective. I never do water tests, but stay up on water changes and filter changes. My well water is already acidic, so the baking soda releaves some of the acidity, and also adds salt to the water, which in turns helps the fish by killing pathogens by small increase in salinity. Since my black crappie is my most sensitive fish (well before water quality effects the other fish), I can ussually gauge water quality by his behavior or appearance. This again is not a weekly or monthly event, but in the case when it does happen. He is a good sign of beggining of a build up of ammonia, or too much of a water change. Freshwater Fish often live in a constantly changing environment, where water quality changes rapidly. they are use to such stresses and are adapted to it. I was just wondering if other people had simular methods while keeping "simpler" fishtanks. Instead of using a "calorimeter" to measure chemical levels in their tank. I was just suprised seeing my dad use baking soda method for his tank, and how well it worked and I started using this method. In addition the animals I had in this system are hardy, slight fluctuations will not effect them. Just stating this before I get anymore, disaster waiting to happen comments.

 

[Danyal]

Freshwater Fish often live in a constantly changing environment, where water quality changes rapidly. they are use to such stresses and are adapted to it.

true, naturally FW ecosystems do fluctuate more than SW ecosystems but our aquariums ARE NOT NATURAL ECOSYSTEMS there is very little that is "natural" about them. it's a much better system to do the water changes before conditions get so bad that they start to adversly affect your fish. adding backing soda is fine, as long as you don't add to much and create to sudden a change.

but just to add, I do clean the filters when they build up in bacteria.

just some info, that bacteria can build up in a matter of a few days also the bacteria is a GOOD thing, you want the bacteria because it converts the ammonia into less toxic compounds, fortunately for your fish the filters are not the only place that the bacteria is going to be present.