What could I do to promote my fish with good health?

Question

What can I do to help them have a healthy life?

Answer 1

Many factors come into a fishes health and not all of them overlap into one general catagory. Looking at cichilds, there are many different reccomendations on the water hardness and ph. Then you have your Goldfish which are cold water fish that can tolerate a wide range of condtions and still do well. My thoughts for general good health are pretty common sense I guess, but this is what I think, in no order of priority:

1. Water Chemistry- Weekly water changes and a proper cycle out will do the biggest work for your fishes overall health I think. Prolonged exposure to the nitrogen compounds have been shown to significantly reduce the immune system and subsequently, fish health.

2. Consistancy in Water Chemistry- The key here is just as I say, consistancy, meaning you are not fighting a continual battle with your ph and water hardness. You stablize these condtions prior to populating the tank and let it stay as is. You do more damage adjusting to what is reccomended then just letting a fish who's already adapted to the conditions just live in it. Common sense though, if you have a lethal range of ammonia or nitrite, you take action and don't just say well he's been in there a few days and not having problems so I don't need to do anything.

3. Lighting-Over use of lighting or extended hours of lighting can really put you in a battle with algea. Keeping a good schedule on your lighting can help your fish become less stressed as well as provide the needed light for your plants and cutting down excess times which help promote algea.

4. Diet- Keeping your fish on a balanced diet always helps. If your staple food is flakes which most people prefer because it's easy to store, cheap, and you don't need to make repeat trips to the store to refill as often. But you can buy some good frozen foods such as brine shrimp and blood worms that your fish are sure to enjoy as a treat. Some fish also like to eat insects in the wild and buying enough for a one time feeding occasionally should your fish eat insects would be a nice treat also. Krill is another good alternative here.

These are only a few of many possibilities you could do to promote good health and I am sure other people could bring up things I did not, but the goal here is to give you input on what you could do, and the more responses you get, the better for you to have all aspects covered, as this is supposed to be a true team oriented function in yahoo answers, not a matter of I'm smarter then you. Our job as the answerers is to give you the best possible, accurate, reliable information to care for your fish, so I hope someone help support you with additional information I did not think of.

JV

Answer 2

1. Don't use chemicals in the water- they need nothing except dechlorinator. Chemicals only complicate matters and increase the chances of something going wrong.

2. Maintain it every week - your fish should be worth the twenty minutes it takes. Do a partial water change of about 20-25%, vacuum some of the gravel. It's a good idea to scrub algae off the glass before changing the water so you can remove some of it. A well maintained tank stays healthy for a long time.

3. Don't overfeed them. Fish don't need much food. When it comes to flakes, feed them what they can eat in about two minutes, total. If you prefer to feed them twice, do it for a minute. This is a very rough guide - use common sense. Overfeeding causes obese, unhealthy fish and a messy tank. If food isn't eaten within a few minutes, remove it and feed less next time. If you go away for a weekend, just leave them without food. Fish can go weeks without food, and those feeding blocks they sell don't offer much nutrition and can pollute the water. Trusting somebody to feed them could result in disaster.

4. The rest is about research - learning about fish and making sure you stock them in the right numbers, with the right types of fish, and in the right sized tank with the right decorations to suit them. Get to know your fish well by observing the tank so you can quickly diagnose when something is wrong.

Answer 3

Depends on what fish/set up you have, but the biggest thing is regular partial water changes. At least 25% a week for most set ups (low light planted tanks being the exception). Feed regularly, but don't overfeed. Add as few things as possible (chemical wise I only add Prime when I do water changes) and don't mess with the pH unless your fish need it (rift lake cichlids, discus, etc).

Answer 4

NO CHEMICALS! you should never have to add chemicals to a tank to make your fish happy.

make sure the tank is big enough. if the tank is not large enough for your fish, they will become stunted and live a short, unhappy life. this involves research. find out as much as you can about your fish.

diet. do not over feed, nor underfeed. feed a balanced diet. again, research the dietary need of the fish.

water. keep the water clean. this means do not over feed. do not over stock. keep up on weekly or bi-weekly water changes. if your pH is not what the fish is used to, acclimate him slowly to the tank. fish do not need the perfect water conditions, they need stability. by acclimating him over a few hours, it reduces risk of shock.

spend time with them. sounds dumb, but its true. a lot of fish look for their owners from time to time. my betta recongnizes me and always swims over to where i am.

Answer 5

routine maintenance schedules --

weekly cleaning and changing 20-25% of the water in aquariums.

in smaller tanks (like for bettas) i have had good luck with aquarium salt. about once a month use 1 tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water when changing the water. it keeps bacteria levels low in the tank and in places like the gravel where you can't really clean i think it helps a lot.

if you have a high ph use some aquarium wood to drop it down a bit unless you have fish that love hard water like african cichlids.

try growing plants that live on fish waste. aquarium mosses and water sprite are really good choices. adding any natural filtration helps keep your water at safer levels for your fish.

keep them warm -- in an optimum temerature rage -- for most tropical fish its 75-80 degrees.

Answer 6

Mimic there natural habitat (such as a planted tank if they are freshwater). Giving them lots of hiding spaces. Doing your research about your fish species and what they like, what temperature they like to be kept at, there PH range, what they like to eat, what environment they like to be in, what type of fish are housed with them usually. Doing weekly water changes.

do your homework on how to cycle a tank and keep it maintained. It's easy once you get into it.. it's just reading and leanring my friend.


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Answer 7

there is a chemical to put in the water, and it does exactly what you asked, but i can not remember the name. all stores that sell fish have it most of the time. its in a white bottle.

Answer 8

clean tank plenty of air supply