50 Ways To Kill Your Fish: Buy Sick Fish

This advice may sound obvious, but buy the healthiest fish you can. When you go to the pet store, don't let the employee choose any ol' fish that ends up in the net. I used to stand in front of the shop tanks and stare at the fish forever until I was sure of which ones I wanted... the most lively, engaging, beautiful creatures possible!

I used to stand in front of the shop tanks and stare at the fish forever until I was sure 50 Ways to Kill Your Fish: Buy Sick Fish

What Are the Signs of a Healthy Fish? (aka How Can I Tell If My Fish Is Sick?)

It can really depend on the species, but here are some general guidelines of what to look for:
  • Appetite: Healthy fish are always looking for food, so loss of appetite is one of the first telltales that something's wrong. Don't be afraid to ask an employee to feed the fish as proof of their hunger. This is especially useful for species that are notoriously picky eaters.
  • Swimming Ability: You should be able to immediately spot any fish that are having difficulty swimming, can't stay upright, or keep bumping into things.
  • Energy Level: Lethargic fish with no energy can be a sign of illness (or they could be sleeping). Conversely, swimming quickly or erratically can be a sign of distress.
  • Breathing: Look out for fish that keep gasping for air at the surface or have unusually rapid gill movement. 
  • Outlier Behavior: Remember that Sesame Street game "One of these things is not like the other"? Yeah, don't pick the oddball. If this fish is alone and it's supposed to be schooling fish, just say no. If it's hovering near the water surface or sitting at the bottom (and that's not usual for the species), then beware. If it's an overly aggressive fighter or an overly shy wallflower hiding behind the filter for a long time, it may be way stressed out.
  • Imperfections: This isn't a comprehensive list, but some common signs include...
    • Wounds: ragged or white burns on fins and tail, short barbels, holes, missing scales
    • Discoloration: faded color, white patches, cloudy eye, stress bars, inflamed gills
    • Parasites: white or gold spots, worms in poop or gills
    • Deformities: scales that don't lay flat (like a pine cone), swollen eyes, crooked back or tail

I'll give you an example. Our new turquoise and yellow betta suddenly died while in quarantine, so I wanted to replace him with another turquoise and yellow betta. There was a beautiful one that looked very similar to our original fish, but he just seemed... not very responsive. I know bettas in cups don't have a lot of room to move, but still. On the other hand, there was another all-blue betta who wasn't maybe as striking, but was very responsive and lively. I chose to go with personality and health over appearance, and I'm happy to say he's just as dynamic and charming as the day we got him. (o˘◡˘o)

In the King of DIY's How to Keep Discus video, the speaker recommends starting with obviously healthy stock because a poor quality fish will not magically turn into a beautiful specimen. That advice of course all depends on your goals in fish keeping. There are some people who like to rescue sickly bettas (or other animals) from stores or friends. There are numerous amazing transformation pictures posted online, so good care can definitely go quite a ways. However, just be aware that if you choose to go that route, that's no guarantee of success because you are starting off at a disadvantage. It's going to take a lot of effort, time, and money to potentially bring your patient back from the brink of death.

I used to stand in front of the shop tanks and stare at the fish forever until I was sure 50 Ways to Kill Your Fish: Buy Sick Fish
I always enjoy seeing successful betta rescue transformations. (Source: Reddit)

Picking happy, healthy creatures is going to give you the best leg up in, well, not killing your fish. Hopefully now you'll know what to look out for. Good luck and keep on swimming!

Komentar

Posting Komentar

Postingan populer dari blog ini

How To Fix Cloudy Aquarium Water For Axolotls

Gambar
Axolotls are one of the messiest pets I’ve ever owned, so how do you keep their tank water nice and clear? Well, there's a lot of different reasons why your aquarium water may be cloudy, but if you have a pet axolotl, most likely it’s because of their poop! đź’© These cute little creatures can produce big ol’ brown logs that look like miniature dog turds. Unfortunately, axolotls just seem to have a knack for stepping right on them and then poof, you’ve got poo dust all in the water column. Yuck! 4 Ways to Fix Cloudy Axolotl Water So to keep your water clean of axolotl poo particles, here are my top four suggestions, listed from least time intensive to most time intensive: Axolotl poo (source: headFeed from caudata.org ) Tip #1: Bigger Tank Get a bigger tank with more water volume. The more volume you have, the more diluted the waste will be and the clearer the water. This advice can also be rephrased as “Don’t overstock your aquarium.” For example, I started off with ...
Baca selengkapnya

How To Raise Cory Catfish Fry

Gambar
Apparently your cory catfish have been, ahem, gettin’ busy, and there are white little eggs all over your glass. Babies! So what in the world do you do now? Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about raising corydoras fry. How to Breed Cory Catfish Okay, for most of you, breeding corydoras was probably an accident, but here’s what you can do to encourage it. For me, I had a 20 gallon tank with 6 adult-sized albino cory catfish (to increase my chances of having enough males and females). To get them in the mood, condition them by feeding lots of good food, and then do some water changes with fresh water a few degrees cooler than normal. Next thing you know, everyone’s gettin’ frisky, the males are chasing the females and doing the T-shaped mating position, and then the female lays sticky eggs on any ol’ flat surface around. Female albino cory catfish carrying newly fertilized eggs in her pelvic fins How to Collect Corydoras Eggs If you leave the eggs alone, ...
Baca selengkapnya

Do Axolotls Need Salt? | How To Make Holtfreter’S Solution And Other Salt Recipes

Gambar
Do axolotls need brackish water? Then why do axolotl websites always talk about Holtfreter’s Solution and other salt recipes ? And why is it so hard to make them? In this article, I cover: Recommended pH, GH, KH, and salinity levels for axolotls Easy recipes for making Holtfreter’s, Modified Holtfreter’s, and John’s Solution (found on axolotl.org) The effect that salt solutions and aquarium salt have on pH, water hardness, and salinity Recommended Water Hardness for Axolotls First off, let's examine the axolotls' natural habitat. They come from high altitude freshwater lakes in Mexico City, but there’s not a lot of isu how on what the water quality used to be like because nowadays the large lakes have been reduced to narrow canals and have been affected by pollution and runoff. Comparison of axolotl habitat in 1500's versus 2000's (modified from Places Journal ) However, I did find a veterinary article titled Water Quality Explained: How It Can Affect...
Baca selengkapnya