stickleback fish care PLEASE ANY ADVICE what fish lives long???

Question

for a school project we have made a mini ecosystem with potato plant at top, a spider (predator) then flies coming from below where there is the decomposition section of a rotting apple, grass, dirt, then sand and gravel, next is the aquarium with rocks. we want to add a stickleback fish instead of a guppie. do they live longer? if so how long? the water we added has been de chlorinefied w/ a substance and before that we "made it rain" by pouring water through the system. HOW CAN WE KEEP OUR FISH ALIVE THE LONGEST? any suggestions will help. thanks. if you dont know then what type of fish stays alive the longest???

Answer 1

A stickleback may be hard to find, let alone keep alive. One of the secrets to keeping a setup of a mini ecosystem is that all the organisms need to be small, otherwise the system can't process their wastes and they die from poisoning themselves. A plant and bacteria will help to remove wastes, but you have to have the system be fairly large and set up for months before it can run without any help from you.

That's probably why you see guppies suggested. They're small, and don't need to have heated water like other tropical fish. As long as the water temperature is above 65o, they're happy. But guppies can sometimes be hard to keep. One thing I've found is that you have to look around to find healthy ones to begin with (don't buy any fish at WalMart!), and it helps to add a little salt to their water - about 1/2 teaspoon per gallon. Don't use table salt, because it's got iodine, but use kosher, canning, pickling, or rock salt instead.

If you can use a heater in the tank, I'd put in a female betta, but these need to have water that's 70o or more. And try to make the ecosystem as big as you can. If you're limited on space, make as much of it as you can be water for the fish.

Answer 2

Generally the larger fish live longer, but they need a much larger tank. Common goldfish, Plecostomus catfish, clown loaches etc can all live for 20 years or more. They can also grow to over a foot long in that time, so proper care for them involves a large tank, maybe 6ft long, heavy duty filtering etc. Sticking one in a smaller tank will just kill it prematurely. If you are only getting a small tank it's better to get a betta that will live happily for a normal 4 years, rather than a goldfish that will get sick, stunted and die after 2 years. But with good care even the smaller fish should live for several years. The most important thing is the tank setup, correct equipment, understanding the nitrogen cycle, and not overcrowding the tank. So many questions go along the lines of "how many fish can I cram into a...?" The next most common is "Why are my fish dying?" Coincidence? I think not. Buy a bigger tank than the minimum, put in less fish than you think it can support. Then it becomes easy care, and the fish should live for years. Ian

Answer 3

sticlebacks are not a good choice.

i suggest that you can take care a koi carp instead. its longest life span is 15 years i think. kois are easy to find and easy to feed. eats almost anything. feed it with floating pellets.