I suppose this follows on from my previous posting regarding fish?

Question

I want to buy some fish, but from previous experience, say after a few days or so, the water stinks and clouds up. Is there something that can be bought to stop this and to save me from having to clean the bowl out each week?

Answer 1

* Make sure you start off with clean water. This is not tap water or bottled water. You can usually buy RO (reverse osmosis) water from pet shops or use filtered water from home.

* Set up the bowl/tank and leave it to stand with the filter & pump running for 5 days. This allows the nessesary bacterial to culture. If you are impatient you can add a bacterial boost to the water again from a pet shop.

* Add the fish one at a time, with at least a weeks delay. This gives the bacteria time to populate to the increasing number of fish.

* Don't over feed the fish. They should be able to eat everything within a few mins. Scoop out anything left uneaten and only feed once or twice a day.

* Make sure you buy a good filter. Clean this out on a weekly basis using water from the fish tank. If you use tap water you will kill the bacteria on the sponges and it's the bacteria that help break down the cr@p.

* Once every month change 10% of the water with more RO or filtered water. You don't want to remove too many of the bacteria but you need to dilute the toxins etc in the water.

Finally, remeber fish tanks shouldn't smell. If it starts to, go to your pet shop and seak advice.

EDIT: Just saw the advice above about not having real plants in the tank. Agree to a point. My fish love to eat the plants so once a month I add for a couple of days as a treat but remove them before they go slimy even if not fully eaten.

Answer 2

first of all, even if you get a filter you will still need to maintain the tank in order for the fish to be healthy, so if you cant be bothered, then dont get fish.

Yes they are low maintenance, but they still need regular attention.

when you get your tank or bowl home, scrub it out and make sure its clean, do not use soap or any other detergent!
fill with treated water, (you have to add some chemicals to remove the chlorine and toxic metals from the water or it will kill your fish)
add the pump and airstone and make suer anything you put in the tank is clean, so any rocks gravel etc need to be clean.

Then wait.....

at least a week.. for the water to settle and the pump to start working properly on the bacteria needed to have ahealthy tank.

after a week you may add a couple fo fish depending on the size of the tank, watch them closely to make sure they stay healthy, then after another week you may add some more.. and so on untill your have your full tank.

If you are having goldfish they produce a lot more waste than tropical so make sure you have a big enough tank to cope with thier growth and a filter to cope with all the waste.

each week you need to change about 20% of the water with clean, fresh, Treated water. Do not take all the water out at once as this will remove all the good bacteria from the tank and cause too much shock to the fish .
remove all the dirt from the bottom of the tank with a syphon.

Do not over feed fish, they need far less food than you think! overfeeding will just turn the water disgusting and cause ammonia surges.

if the water goes cloudy and you know you are maintaining the tank and cleaning the filter as recommened then you probably have a bacterial bloom, dont worry too much, its just the healthy bacteria growing, it will in time settle down, just keep up the water changes.

goldfish bowels are ok, but make sure you pay them attention and get it a filter of some sort, the smaller the tank the less the number of fish you can have.

Obviously this is a really quick and rough guide as it would take me pages and pages to explain it all to you..
read up on the subject, get some books.
Fish are very rewarding when they are looked after properly,

If you need any help, just shout out!

Answer 3

OK hairspray,

The first thing to do is nothing at all.
Sounds simple but it is hard...

Get your tank and your gravel or sand or both what ever. put in all of the fish furniture that you want and then do nothing for at least two weeks for fresh water and 1 month for salt water.

Just let the filter run for this time period. You should have no problems with the water at this point.
This will allow the tank to be a little more "stable" so to speak.
Then get a couple tiny fish. If you are having a tropical aquarium a good one to start with would be a tetra of some type. You can get the Neons or the Cardinals but the be sure to get 3. thses fish like to be in scholes of odd numbers. Why ??? Who knows.

But any way what you are going to do is feed them lightly for the next two weeks before you add anything else to the tank. This is going to start the natural biological cycle in the tank.

There is good bacteria nad bad bacteria and you need this time to build up the good stuff before you over load the tank.

Fish will poop... That poop will put ammonia in the water, and a complicated process with nitrites and nitrates and PH etc has to take place and that is why you have been having trouble.

You need to start s-l-o-w like I said and then you will have much better results.

Remember feed them lightly !!!
DO NOT FEED LIKE THE BOTTLE TELLS YOU EVER !!!

Those companies are in business to sell food not to keep your tank clean or your fish living.

if you think you are not giving them enough you are probably still giving them plenty...

Jerry

Answer 4

You need to throw the bowl in the trash and buy a 10 gallon aquarium kit. Bowls are not good to keep tropical fish in, or even goldfish if you want to keep them healthy. If you buy a kit, everything you need will be in there except fish and gravel.

Set it up and dechlorinate the water. Start your filter running and add 2-3 small fish (zebra danios are the best IMHO). Let this run for two weeks and then add a couple more fish. Give it another week and you should be all set.

Remember, one inch of small thin fish (not counting the tail) for each gallon of water. The bigger the fish, the more water it needs to stay healthy.

Answer 5

Bowls aren't very good goldfish homes. They do make little filters for bowls though, if you want to keep one there. You should get an aquarium, with either an over-the-side filter, or an undergravel one. I have both in my tank, goldfish are messy! You might want to try a different kind of fish, also.

Answer 6

Get a small aquarium with a cleaning pump on it. You will, eventually, have to clean it out, but this will delay things for a while. Also, try algae eating fish or snails and live underwater greenery.

Answer 7

you're an fool. Gods, all of them are imaginary, it really is the actually answer you receives from atheists, those human beings with the patience to war via your incomprehensible ramblings. I recommend you seem up the note 'atheist' in a D I C T I O N A R Y. Its the different large e book.

Answer 8

Use plastic plants rather than real ones.
Fish don't like bowls get a tank

Answer 9

You can get a pump for your bowl which cleans it constantly.

Answer 10

get a tank with a pump. also try a loach of some sort cos they eat algae