What do I need to know before buying a fish.
(Especially, if wild caught).
I suppose this may seem arbitrary to some, because all tropical fish live a warm water, isn’t water, just water? what’s the problem?
All water is not the same….if you are buying a fish that tolerates varying conditions, maybe its not a big deal. But….
Some fish come from soft, acidic, tannin rich water.
So if your tap water is hard, with a high pH, that group of Amazonian Geophagus may end up scared with hole in the head disease down the road, just at the time they are expected to look they best.
There are Geophagines that come from more neutral, more alkaline water, but they are from west of the Andes. All water in South America is not the same.
Some fish come from hard mineral rich water, so if you have soft, low pH, low mineral water, some of those colorful rift lake African cichlids, may not be as blue, or yellow as the pics in magazines show, when in your personal tank, and maybe not as healthy.
All fish from South America need warm water?
No….the Gymnogeophagus, and Australoheros, and some other species from Uruguay and Agentina have evolved to go thru winter cool down (the further south you go in South America, the colder it gets), and to stay disease free, and look their best, these fish may need that temporary cool down.
So if you put Gymno rhabdotus in a tropical tank that stays @ 80’F all year long, your Gymno may fungus up, and even be the cause a bacterial epidemic in your tank.
Beyond water, another piece of info one needs, is how big will this fish I want to buy grow?
If you are in an apartment that allows nothing bigger than a 55 gallon tank, should you buy that cute little baby oscar? IMO no, an oscar needs something in the 100 gallons plus range (better larger), and needs constant water changes as an adult to look good and feel healthy.As they grow water changes need to be increased, especially in too small a tank that easily turns to fish urine soup that no filter deals with, only water changes.
Should I buy that baby Pacu, or Red tail Cat with the hope that someone will want it when it gets too big for my tank?
Odds are no-one has a tank big enough to dedicate to that fish (something around 1000 gallons), and zoos cant take them either.
Should I buy an African Tiger Fish, or Umbi if I have a 100 gallon tank, and I scrape to get the electric bill together every month.
First off, the 100 is too small, and as ATFs and Umbis age they tend to go where there is a very strong current in nature, something akin to the Congo River rapids, or mountain rivers in Columbia. Consider the pump you’ll need to attain a flow even remotely like that 24/7.
In todays world it is very easy to find out the fishes needs, and easy enough to find out what your city’s water type is, by googling the city’s water quality report.
I’ll give you an example, of one of my personal dilemmas.
I have always wanted Uaru fernandezyepezi, one of my holy grail species.
My tap water has a pH of around 8, and a hardness of 250 ppm, these species of Uaru come from black tannin rich waters, with a pH of 3-4 and almost 0 hardness. Getting them would be foolish.
When I do get fish, I like to buy a minimum of half dozen, which would come to about $600 for this fish with shipping, would this be a realistic buy for me, “no way”, if they didn’t soon die from the out of norm water conditions, at best, they’d fill up with HLLE scars by the time they were mature.
Even though I might have some requirements like the right size tank to house them, and change lots of water every other day, getting them would to me be an exercise in being delusional.
Maybe if I was willing to buy an RO system, where I’d need to replace expensive canisters every couple months, create lots of waste water, and collect hundreds of gallons of rain water to supplement that system. I am not, at least at this point.
(Especially, if wild caught).
I suppose this may seem arbitrary to some, because all tropical fish live a warm water, isn’t water, just water? what’s the problem?
All water is not the same….if you are buying a fish that tolerates varying conditions, maybe its not a big deal. But….
Some fish come from soft, acidic, tannin rich water.
So if your tap water is hard, with a high pH, that group of Amazonian Geophagus may end up scared with hole in the head disease down the road, just at the time they are expected to look they best.
There are Geophagines that come from more neutral, more alkaline water, but they are from west of the Andes. All water in South America is not the same.
Some fish come from hard mineral rich water, so if you have soft, low pH, low mineral water, some of those colorful rift lake African cichlids, may not be as blue, or yellow as the pics in magazines show, when in your personal tank, and maybe not as healthy.
All fish from South America need warm water?
No….the Gymnogeophagus, and Australoheros, and some other species from Uruguay and Agentina have evolved to go thru winter cool down (the further south you go in South America, the colder it gets), and to stay disease free, and look their best, these fish may need that temporary cool down.
So if you put Gymno rhabdotus in a tropical tank that stays @ 80’F all year long, your Gymno may fungus up, and even be the cause a bacterial epidemic in your tank.
Beyond water, another piece of info one needs, is how big will this fish I want to buy grow?
If you are in an apartment that allows nothing bigger than a 55 gallon tank, should you buy that cute little baby oscar? IMO no, an oscar needs something in the 100 gallons plus range (better larger), and needs constant water changes as an adult to look good and feel healthy.As they grow water changes need to be increased, especially in too small a tank that easily turns to fish urine soup that no filter deals with, only water changes.
Should I buy that baby Pacu, or Red tail Cat with the hope that someone will want it when it gets too big for my tank?
Odds are no-one has a tank big enough to dedicate to that fish (something around 1000 gallons), and zoos cant take them either.
Should I buy an African Tiger Fish, or Umbi if I have a 100 gallon tank, and I scrape to get the electric bill together every month.
First off, the 100 is too small, and as ATFs and Umbis age they tend to go where there is a very strong current in nature, something akin to the Congo River rapids, or mountain rivers in Columbia. Consider the pump you’ll need to attain a flow even remotely like that 24/7.
In todays world it is very easy to find out the fishes needs, and easy enough to find out what your city’s water type is, by googling the city’s water quality report.
I’ll give you an example, of one of my personal dilemmas.
I have always wanted Uaru fernandezyepezi, one of my holy grail species.
My tap water has a pH of around 8, and a hardness of 250 ppm, these species of Uaru come from black tannin rich waters, with a pH of 3-4 and almost 0 hardness. Getting them would be foolish.
When I do get fish, I like to buy a minimum of half dozen, which would come to about $600 for this fish with shipping, would this be a realistic buy for me, “no way”, if they didn’t soon die from the out of norm water conditions, at best, they’d fill up with HLLE scars by the time they were mature.
Even though I might have some requirements like the right size tank to house them, and change lots of water every other day, getting them would to me be an exercise in being delusional.
Maybe if I was willing to buy an RO system, where I’d need to replace expensive canisters every couple months, create lots of waste water, and collect hundreds of gallons of rain water to supplement that system. I am not, at least at this point.
