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Angelfish are gorgeous fish that are from the Amazon region of South America, and generally reach up to about 6" in length, which doesn't measure that fins distance, as that can vary greatly depending on the variety.

When feeding angelfish, they can thrive on flakes, but you'll find that they do much better on a varied diet consisting of brine shrimp, black worms, mosquito larvae, finely chopped earthworms, and guppy fry. You can even opt for frozen blood worms and brine shrimp, if you'd rather not feed live.

There are even dried shrimp, bloodworms, and other foods that you can opt for, but the frozen foods are better than the dried, and of course live is better than frozen.

If you want another option to add to your angelfish diet, you can finely grind up raw beef with unflavored gelatin, freeze in small chunks, and then add to your fish's diet. Just make sure there's no fat in the meat.

Angelfish are very hardy fish, but at the same time if their environment is not kept accurate, you may find they can be delicate. It's really a catch 22 to some degree. They are considered a community fish, but you want to watch out for smaller fish that they may eat or fish that are prone to nipping.

You want to make sure that you can keep the water between 0.6-1.2dH soft and slightly acidic around 6.5-6.9 pH. The temperatures should be between 75-85F.

As for what size aquarium, you want to house your angelfish in, you want to consider 1 gallon of water per inch of fish. It's recommended that you have one angelfish per 10 gallons for best results. And, you'll find that most keepers recommend that you house angelfish in groups of at least 4-6 per aquarium.

These fish are a medium sized fish, and you want to consider the bigger the tank the better. Just remember to add plenty of hiding places, to make the fish feel secure. Just don't overcrowd the tank with too much decorations.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Goldfish Care

March 19th 2009 14:42

Goldfish are probably one of the more popular freshwater fish besides Bettas. They are usually one of the first beginner fish that people add to their tank. I always thought that there was just one type of goldfish, but after working at a pet store, I found out otherwise, as there are so many different types of goldfish that a tank of goldfish can actually be pretty varied with between single tailed goldfish, double tailed, double tailed with dorsal fin, and double tailed with no dorsal fin goldfish.

The more common goldfish that you'll find in pet stores include, comets and shubunkins which are both single tailed goldfish, as well as fantail, pearlscale, moors, and veiltail (double tail with dorsal fin goldfish); and bubble eye goldfish, which are double tail with no dorsal fin.

When setting up an enclosure for goldfish, you want to have at least a 10 gallon aquarium with at least 8 gallons of water in it. Just remember that a 10 gallon tank is only suitable for one goldfish; even though it may seem like plenty of room for multiple goldfish please note that goldfish release a lot of waste, which can quickly turn bad if you have an aquarium that is packed. You'll be performing more water changes than you'd like, even with the 10 gallon tank with one fish, you should perform a 10-15% partial water change once a week, so imagine if you had multiple goldfish in the same tank...

Your filter will remove a bulk of the waste, but the water changes is the only sure fire way to ensure that your aquarium is clean and non-toxic for your fish.

When setting the proper enclosure, you want to have the water temperature no higher than 73F. The ideal temperature should range between 65F to 68F. In order to ensure that your aquarium is set at the proper temperature, you should make sure to include a good thermometer, as you do not want to freeze or fry your goldfish.

If you want to keep Bubble Eye Goldfish in your aquarium, you want to make sure that you can keep the temperatures below 72F, as this can cause oxygen deprivation, which can in turn case nerve damage, heart damage, and seriously lower the immune system, making the fish more susceptible to diseases.

As for aquarium decor, you want to avoid sharp objects and rough decorations that your goldfish can get hurt on. You want to provide about 50-75% cover, meaning make sure to have at least half of the tank decorated for hiding. By providing sufficient cover area, you will be able to reduce the stress on your goldfish, and in turn improve your the immune system.

Once your tank is set up, and you know how to properly care for it, it's important that you understand how and what to feed your goldfish. Generally, goldfish are scavengers and will eat anything, so you want to provide goldfish with a varied diet that is high in carbohydrates.

You can purchase a commercial goldfish diet that is typically going to be a flake diet, or you can purchase frozen diets, both are going to be healthy. I would actually recommend that you mix up the diet with flakes and frozen brine or bloodworms.

Goldfish do have large appetites, but they will also graze, so what is left uneaten when initially fed, will be picked up later. Just don't let the grazing fool you into overfeeding, as goldfish will produce more waste the more you feed them. Just make sure that they eat up what food you offer within about a two minute span, as after the time has elapsed, what food you add to the tank will just further poor water conditions, making the fish more susceptible to disease.

Make sure to only feed your goldfish ONCE a day.

Now, as for grouping your goldfish, you keep multiple goldfish in the same enclosure. You just want to make sure that you can provide at least 8-10 gallons of water per fish. Generally, you want to stick with keeping ONLY goldfish in the same enclosure, as they do tend to produce a lot of waste, which can cause water quality concerns and in turn health problems for other fish. Plus, with the lowered temperatures, it can be hard to find fish that can live healthily with goldfish.

When looking for companion goldfish for your current goldfish, make sure that you look for goldfish with similar traits and handicaps so that you do not have one goldfish starving while the other fish gets fat. You can mix different species of goldfish, just remember that it can be best to stick with similarly sized fish.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Get Rid of Algae in a Tropical Fish Tank

January 2nd 2009 11:28

In order to get rid of the algae in your aquarium, you first need to figure out what is causing the algae, as there are a number of reasons that can cause algae to grow in your fist tank. You need to remember that algae will grow abundantly in warm and sunny areas, so if your tank is near a window, you may consider wrapping the tank with a reflective background or just moving the tank altogether to a different location. Overfeeding your fish can cause algae, as well, which means that you should do a few partial water changes to remove any uneaten food floating around the tank and feed your fish only as recommended by the pet store or breeder, which is typically just going to be once or twice a week, and no more.

You will also want to determine what type of algae you have, as brown and green algae are typically slightly different, but for the most part, you can follow the following steps for removing algae in your fresh water tank.

You want to get rid of any algae that's on the glass and decor in the tank. Regular water changes just isn't going to eliminate the algae stuck on the glass, filter, heater, ships, plants, etc.

A good algae scrubber or sponge, and use good old fashioned elbow grease to scrub away the scum. You will want to watch out as to what type of aquarium your have- glass and acrylic tanks need different brushes in order to properly clean and in order to not scratch or harm the material.

You will want to remove any decor in the tank, and run hot water over the decor.

Once, you've removed all the visible algae, go ahead and do a partial water change so that you can get any algae floating around in the water and any algae in the gravel.

You don't really want to use chemicals unless you just can't get rid of the algae for good. The chemicals can mess with the ecosystem in your tank, so you want to make the chemical option the last possible option that you have left.

Once you have gotten all of the algae, or at least most of it, out of the tank, you want to prevent it from happening again. You can add natural elements and fish to the tank in order to remove left over algae and to prevent new algae growth. In many cases, live plants are a great option because they will compete with the algae for oxygen and other resources, and the plants will typically win. You can plant a few live plants in the tank to keep new algae growth down as much as possible. Another option is to add a few snails that will help keep the algae growth down. Plecostomus, or algae eaters, can be another great option. You will find that there is the typical hard skinned Plecostomus, or the Chinese algae eaters, which look more like regular fish. If you have a smaller tank, you may want to consider a Otocinclus, which is another algae eater that will get along great with smaller fish roommates.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Caring for Sea-Monkeys

November 29th 2008 09:43

Sea-Monkeys are probably one of the simplest pets that a child can care for, and most children find them rather interesting since all you have to do is treat the water for 24 hours and then dump in the package of crystalized Sea-Monkey eggs. Most kids like sea-monkeys better than fish, but how do you care for them?

To make things simple, all that you have to do is follow the instruction that you receive with your sea-monkey kit. You will typically get three packs- 1) water treatment, 2) sea-monkey eggs, and 3) sea-monkey food.

The first pack will be to treat the water. You'll want to dump the package into the water that you've poured in your sea-monkey container. Let the water sit for 24 hours. so that the water is fully purified and treated.

After 24 hours, you will add pack two that has your sea-monkey eggs. Using the food stick or your hand-bubble maker (depending on what kit that you get, you should get a syringe type tube to make bubbles), gently stir or push water into the water. You don't want to be too rough because you can damage the eggs. You just want to make sure that the crystals are all fully dissolved.

It will be very hard to see the newborn sea-monkeys, so you may want to wait a day or so and use the magnifying bubbles to view the tiny sea-monkeys.

Wait another 24 hours and aerate the tank. You will want to find a container that can hold all of the water that is in your sea-monkey tank and pour the water back and forth about 4 to 5 times. (Again, sometimes, depending on what kit you purchase, you may receive a areation tool to pump water into the tank.)

It is important that you areate the tank because baby sea-monkeys consume a lot of oxygen in the beginning of their life. You will also want to make sure that you aerate the tank once or twice a week when throughout the course of raising sea-monkeys.

After 5 days, you will want to feed your baby sea-monkeys for the first time. Using the third package, dip your food stick in the pack and fill it up just half way. Dump the food into the tank and let your sea-monkey babies eat. You will want to feed your sea-monkeys just ONCE a week. NEVER feed your sea-monkeys anything that isn't included in your initial kit. You may have to purchase more food, but make sure that you purchase more sea-monkey food, and that you don't give them other fish foods.

As your sea-monkey tank begins to grow and your sea-monkey population increases, you'll want to watch for algea and remove any algea floating in the tank. Some people will tell you to leave the algea in the tank becuase of food and oxygen, but I wouldn't leave it in the tank, as it may upset the water balance. You will also want to keep the bottom of the tank clean of excess food, waste, and algea by gently sucking it up with your aeration tube. If you notice algea on the walls of the tank, you'll want to use a Q-tip and gently wipe it off.

Also, over time, the water will begin to evaporate. You just need to add more water to the tank.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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What Are Sea-Monkeys

November 28th 2008 09:21

Sea-Monkeys are probably one of the most popular pets among young kids. I know that I had them when I was a kid. I even brough them to science class, which gave me the name "Sea-Monkey Girl" for the remainder of the school year. I didn't care though, call me what you want because sea-monkeys are cool!

Sea-monkeys get their name from their funny behavior and long tail, although, they are nothign more than mere brine shrimp. Sea-monkeys are actually a unique species of brine shrimp known by the scientific name Artemia nyos; they are a variant of Artemia salina.

The brine shrimp hybrid grow larger and live longer than the average brine shrimp because of the new forumlas that keep them alive longer under certain situations.

Sea-monkeys hatch instantly as soon as they land in the treated water. They will live about 2 yeras with the proper care. The sea-monkey eggs are packed around special crystals that keep the eggs alive until they hit water, to which they will instant hatch and grow.

After hatching, the sea-monkeys are very small, which is why it can be hard to overlook them, but within days you will start to notice your sea-monkeys have grown substantially.

Within a 4 week period, you initial sea-monkeys will grow between 1/2 to 2/4 inch.

There are tons of sea-monkey products that you can buy with loads of different aquarium designs to choose from.

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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Common Fish Diseases

September 7th 2008 19:50

Below you will find the more common disease that you will find in tropical fish species. Under the disease, you will find the common symptoms.

Ammonia Poisoning
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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Caring for Betta Fish

June 4th 2008 14:27

Betta Fish are popular pet fish because of their beautiful, full fins and colorations. They're main downfall is that you can't house multiple Betta in an enclosure, but that doesn't mean that you can't house Betta fish with other fish. You just need to make sure that the other fish are in fact compatible with Bettas.

The Fish Bowl
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Posted By: Whitney - Category: Fish

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Betta Fish Compatibility

May 25th 2008 13:48

Everyone tells you that you can't put a Betta fish in an aquarium with any other fish because they'll fight and kill the other fish... Well, this isn't 100% accurate. Male Betta fish cannot under any circumstances be housed with other Bettas, but they can be housed with certain fish. In regards to female Bettas, some keepers say you can house females together, but others say it's best not to, as even some female Betta fish can be aggressive.