And I felt lonely...
I got a whole new room, about double the size of my old one. But it didn't feel like my room. So I lamented to my girlfriend about how I wish I could keep a small pet somewhere who would give me some company. And the smart girl that she is, she gave me a goldfish bowl, roughly 9 inches in diameter, with two angelfish in it, since the store owner didn't have any good goldfish yet.
So that bowl became Atlantis, with Hades and Phera as it's main inhabitants. There was of course, a half inch of gravel called Gravel, a plastic boat with a plastic fisherman in it, called Midas, since he seemed to have caught a goldfish on his line. And of course, I have Aeroguy, the aerator pump of this little present.
I made water changes every week, feed them pellets twice a day and every four days, I fed them tubifex worms for two days. Hades became a little aggressive, wherein if food was introduced, he'd just barge ahead and grab as many pellets as he could in his mouth. I, in my insurmountable naiveness, thought it was quite unfair to Phera, so instead of dropping just two pellets, I dropped in at least six. If it wasn't consumed in 10 minutes, I'd remove the floating pellets with my net.
A little about my room and lifestyle. Since I am home almost all the time, I could take care of the fish. Only at night, for at least 12 hours, the air-conditioning would be on. This resulted in Atlantis getting a little chilly, but when morning came, I switched off the air-conditioning and opened the windows for some fresh warm air to come in.
The angelfish have been alive for a month now, with almost no problems, save the little trouble I had when I fed them worms the first time. There was a lot of brownish foul-smelling water, so I did a water change, while wondering if I should ever feed them worms again. Thing is, the store owner had told my girl, that the pellets were enough for them to survive. But another store owner told me that with only the pellets, the fish would be fine, but they'd never grow unless I fed them worms. So I balanced the two.
Now, after a month, I thought I could use a proper big tank. Unfortunately, my dad decided to help out in this matter. So he arranged for the tank, with a well-known store owner in the city. The length of the tank is 30 inches, the width is 16 inches and the depth is 18 inches. Mathematically, this tank should take in upto 35 gallons or 134 litres of water. However, when I manually filled water using 1.5 litre bottles, the total volume came to 102 litres or 27 gallons. The store owner also sold us a thermostatic heater, a submersible filter, two aerator pumps, one fake plant, some twenty odd live plants (I think they were Anacharis or Myrio phyllum), a whole bunch of gravel (which he said was "clean") and the medicines + de-chlorinating agents + dry food flakes + freeze dried worms + a large net. Total cost? 6000 Indian rupees, roughly about 120 US dollars.
As for the fish, I had in mind this perfect system. I wanted the tank to existent in such a way that it would require minimal care but would still be well-appreciated. To this end, I thought of using two guppies, two goldfish, two platys, two Pakistani or Yo-yo loaches (do they really roll over and play dead?) and two swordtails. Plus I thought I'd add the angelfish in later, something which I regret even contemplating. After all, the fish bowl and the angelfish are a gift from my girl, it would be insulting to her if I just used the fish and dumped the rest. As it is, she's pretty pissed off I got the tank, since it seems to reduce the impact her bowl has on my life. Whatever...
Now the store owner and Dad got into this discussion where they thought that instead of leaving the decision to me of which fish to bu, the store owner would decide himself, plus Dad wanted some extras. So he gave us four orange goldfish, two black goldfish, two white goldfish, two rainbow goldfish and five guppies. since Dad is a sucker for looks, he decided to buy two fully-mature adult rainbow goldfish, which are about 6" in length. He also bought a Silver Arowana for it's Feng Shui thing about good luck and almost made the deal to get four Discus fish, until he realized that they were expensive, so he didn't get the discus. Total cost of fish? 3000 Indian rupees or 60 US dollars!!
Thus, this is how Asgard was born, realm of the Norse gods. The Arowana (called The Judge, coz he looked like one) stayed on top, the fully-matured rainbow goldfish (Frey & Freya) and the other fish inhabited the tank. When I got home with all the supplies, I cleaned the gravel, for over three hours, just to make sure it was clean. I didn't use the fake plants, since I wanted a natural look, so I used about six or seven live plants (I dunno the species). After everything was in place, I placed the bags containing the fish for about 30 minutes, then did the 1/4 cup thing, until all the fish were in the tank. Note that I did not have a light yet, since the canopy was to be constructed in my Dad's workshop (he's an architect), and nor did I have the canopy itself.
After about a day, the water started getting greenish and very hazy. Visibility was very low, even from above the tank, and the fish seemed a little perturbed. I figured it was becoz there was no light, so just made sure to pester my dad for the canopy and light. Anyways, cleaning broken bits of plants was tough, since I had to do this almost every few hours or so. Then last night, the unexpected happened.
I slept a little late, at about 7:00 am. At 8:30 am, my brother woke me up, saying one of my fish was on the floor. Apparently, the Arowana (Judge) jumped out of the tank, and fell four feet on the ground, where it lay there, for perhaps 30 minutes, without water and without any warmth, since the air-conditioning was on. When I inspected it, I found that it's gills were still a little active. So I put it in a large tub, with aeration and some warm de-chlorinated water. I waited and thankfully, Judge began breathing fine, though he wouldn't move. See, when he fell down, he must have broken his spine or something, coz while normally he was very fluid, now he just had an erect body and he'd float upwards in the water. I know, I know, you might think it was dead, but I clearly saw gills move, not once but many times. But it was all too much for Judge and he died. What was disheartening was that not only did he die a horrible horrible death, but he also died becoz of my negligence in getting a canopy. Instead of flushing him down the toilet or burying him where animals could get to him, I, in my emotional state, decided to follow the Hindu tradition of burning his body. Which I did. He burned little, not all, but I couldn't bear to look, so I just let the fire burn and left the scene.
Obviously, I had hardly slept and now couldn't even sleep in peace for fear of causing harm to the other fish. So I got my Dad to hurry up on the canopy and light, while I moved the fish to a large tub, with proper aeration. I then spent at least 11 hours, thoroughly cleaning the gravel, handful by handful, in hot running water. Then I cleaned the filter and the sponge, which had turned from a bright yellow, to a dull smelly green, and the heater too. The canopy still wasn't ready, but I was adamant. Above the tank, there is a shelf. I got a long rectangular shape cut into it, where I placed the light tube and got the necessary modifications to my shelf. Then, after the gravel had been thoroughly cleaned, I got the tank cleaned. The water inside the tank was all dirty smelly brown and I had to wear gloves, just to make sure I didn't get anything on my hands which might be bad for me.
After everything was absolutely clean, not foul-smelling and generally done, I again set up the aquarium, this time, using the fake plant, instead of the live plants. Earlier, I had just placed the gravel in a flat way, but this time, I made sure it had a slope, for food debris to roll down the tank, if possible. I made sure that there were enough hiding places for the fish. While in the tub, three guppies managed to jump out of the tub and were flapping about on the floor, but since I was at hand, I managed to save their lives.
Finally, the tank was beginning to look like what I initially planned it to look like. The entire thing was beautiful to look at and the fish seemed to love it. Now, just 6 hours later, the water again looks a little hazy. Not greenish, but it's a little less clearer than when I first put the fish in.
Now, the reason for this immensely long post...
1. What can I do to stop the water from turning hazy or dirty?
2. Should I dump two orange goldfish and two guppies for four loaches or two loaches and two other bottom feeders?
3. Since the goldfish poop so much, is there a particular organism I can use to clean up the tank when there is poop? Like snails??
4. Should I sell off the fully-matured 6" adult goldfish and thereby save them from being limited to the 27 gallon tank?
5. Should I put my angelfish in the big tank? Is the bowl alright or do they need more space?
6. How can I have a perfectly balanced tank, without spending too much money, using nature instead of expensive filters?
7. Could I add one multi-coloured baby turtle in this tank and will it get along with the fish?
8. What are the natural biological ways to just keep an aquarium clean and healthy?
9. Even though the filter is brand new and is apparently "imported", why doesn't it keep the tank squeaky clean?
10. How can I make a gravel vaccum at home? Kinda like a DIY.
Note: I'm in India, so there is a serious lack of the kind of equipment supplied at WalMart and Big Al's. So explanations should be clear, concise and keeping in mind my geographical challenges.
Boy, do I sound like boring little turd!!!!!!
I got a whole new room, about double the size of my old one. But it didn't feel like my room. So I lamented to my girlfriend about how I wish I could keep a small pet somewhere who would give me some company. And the smart girl that she is, she gave me a goldfish bowl, roughly 9 inches in diameter, with two angelfish in it, since the store owner didn't have any good goldfish yet.
So that bowl became Atlantis, with Hades and Phera as it's main inhabitants. There was of course, a half inch of gravel called Gravel, a plastic boat with a plastic fisherman in it, called Midas, since he seemed to have caught a goldfish on his line. And of course, I have Aeroguy, the aerator pump of this little present.
I made water changes every week, feed them pellets twice a day and every four days, I fed them tubifex worms for two days. Hades became a little aggressive, wherein if food was introduced, he'd just barge ahead and grab as many pellets as he could in his mouth. I, in my insurmountable naiveness, thought it was quite unfair to Phera, so instead of dropping just two pellets, I dropped in at least six. If it wasn't consumed in 10 minutes, I'd remove the floating pellets with my net.
A little about my room and lifestyle. Since I am home almost all the time, I could take care of the fish. Only at night, for at least 12 hours, the air-conditioning would be on. This resulted in Atlantis getting a little chilly, but when morning came, I switched off the air-conditioning and opened the windows for some fresh warm air to come in.
The angelfish have been alive for a month now, with almost no problems, save the little trouble I had when I fed them worms the first time. There was a lot of brownish foul-smelling water, so I did a water change, while wondering if I should ever feed them worms again. Thing is, the store owner had told my girl, that the pellets were enough for them to survive. But another store owner told me that with only the pellets, the fish would be fine, but they'd never grow unless I fed them worms. So I balanced the two.
Now, after a month, I thought I could use a proper big tank. Unfortunately, my dad decided to help out in this matter. So he arranged for the tank, with a well-known store owner in the city. The length of the tank is 30 inches, the width is 16 inches and the depth is 18 inches. Mathematically, this tank should take in upto 35 gallons or 134 litres of water. However, when I manually filled water using 1.5 litre bottles, the total volume came to 102 litres or 27 gallons. The store owner also sold us a thermostatic heater, a submersible filter, two aerator pumps, one fake plant, some twenty odd live plants (I think they were Anacharis or Myrio phyllum), a whole bunch of gravel (which he said was "clean") and the medicines + de-chlorinating agents + dry food flakes + freeze dried worms + a large net. Total cost? 6000 Indian rupees, roughly about 120 US dollars.
As for the fish, I had in mind this perfect system. I wanted the tank to existent in such a way that it would require minimal care but would still be well-appreciated. To this end, I thought of using two guppies, two goldfish, two platys, two Pakistani or Yo-yo loaches (do they really roll over and play dead?) and two swordtails. Plus I thought I'd add the angelfish in later, something which I regret even contemplating. After all, the fish bowl and the angelfish are a gift from my girl, it would be insulting to her if I just used the fish and dumped the rest. As it is, she's pretty pissed off I got the tank, since it seems to reduce the impact her bowl has on my life. Whatever...
Now the store owner and Dad got into this discussion where they thought that instead of leaving the decision to me of which fish to bu, the store owner would decide himself, plus Dad wanted some extras. So he gave us four orange goldfish, two black goldfish, two white goldfish, two rainbow goldfish and five guppies. since Dad is a sucker for looks, he decided to buy two fully-mature adult rainbow goldfish, which are about 6" in length. He also bought a Silver Arowana for it's Feng Shui thing about good luck and almost made the deal to get four Discus fish, until he realized that they were expensive, so he didn't get the discus. Total cost of fish? 3000 Indian rupees or 60 US dollars!!
Thus, this is how Asgard was born, realm of the Norse gods. The Arowana (called The Judge, coz he looked like one) stayed on top, the fully-matured rainbow goldfish (Frey & Freya) and the other fish inhabited the tank. When I got home with all the supplies, I cleaned the gravel, for over three hours, just to make sure it was clean. I didn't use the fake plants, since I wanted a natural look, so I used about six or seven live plants (I dunno the species). After everything was in place, I placed the bags containing the fish for about 30 minutes, then did the 1/4 cup thing, until all the fish were in the tank. Note that I did not have a light yet, since the canopy was to be constructed in my Dad's workshop (he's an architect), and nor did I have the canopy itself.
After about a day, the water started getting greenish and very hazy. Visibility was very low, even from above the tank, and the fish seemed a little perturbed. I figured it was becoz there was no light, so just made sure to pester my dad for the canopy and light. Anyways, cleaning broken bits of plants was tough, since I had to do this almost every few hours or so. Then last night, the unexpected happened.
I slept a little late, at about 7:00 am. At 8:30 am, my brother woke me up, saying one of my fish was on the floor. Apparently, the Arowana (Judge) jumped out of the tank, and fell four feet on the ground, where it lay there, for perhaps 30 minutes, without water and without any warmth, since the air-conditioning was on. When I inspected it, I found that it's gills were still a little active. So I put it in a large tub, with aeration and some warm de-chlorinated water. I waited and thankfully, Judge began breathing fine, though he wouldn't move. See, when he fell down, he must have broken his spine or something, coz while normally he was very fluid, now he just had an erect body and he'd float upwards in the water. I know, I know, you might think it was dead, but I clearly saw gills move, not once but many times. But it was all too much for Judge and he died. What was disheartening was that not only did he die a horrible horrible death, but he also died becoz of my negligence in getting a canopy. Instead of flushing him down the toilet or burying him where animals could get to him, I, in my emotional state, decided to follow the Hindu tradition of burning his body. Which I did. He burned little, not all, but I couldn't bear to look, so I just let the fire burn and left the scene.
Obviously, I had hardly slept and now couldn't even sleep in peace for fear of causing harm to the other fish. So I got my Dad to hurry up on the canopy and light, while I moved the fish to a large tub, with proper aeration. I then spent at least 11 hours, thoroughly cleaning the gravel, handful by handful, in hot running water. Then I cleaned the filter and the sponge, which had turned from a bright yellow, to a dull smelly green, and the heater too. The canopy still wasn't ready, but I was adamant. Above the tank, there is a shelf. I got a long rectangular shape cut into it, where I placed the light tube and got the necessary modifications to my shelf. Then, after the gravel had been thoroughly cleaned, I got the tank cleaned. The water inside the tank was all dirty smelly brown and I had to wear gloves, just to make sure I didn't get anything on my hands which might be bad for me.
After everything was absolutely clean, not foul-smelling and generally done, I again set up the aquarium, this time, using the fake plant, instead of the live plants. Earlier, I had just placed the gravel in a flat way, but this time, I made sure it had a slope, for food debris to roll down the tank, if possible. I made sure that there were enough hiding places for the fish. While in the tub, three guppies managed to jump out of the tub and were flapping about on the floor, but since I was at hand, I managed to save their lives.
Finally, the tank was beginning to look like what I initially planned it to look like. The entire thing was beautiful to look at and the fish seemed to love it. Now, just 6 hours later, the water again looks a little hazy. Not greenish, but it's a little less clearer than when I first put the fish in.
Now, the reason for this immensely long post...
1. What can I do to stop the water from turning hazy or dirty?
2. Should I dump two orange goldfish and two guppies for four loaches or two loaches and two other bottom feeders?
3. Since the goldfish poop so much, is there a particular organism I can use to clean up the tank when there is poop? Like snails??
4. Should I sell off the fully-matured 6" adult goldfish and thereby save them from being limited to the 27 gallon tank?
5. Should I put my angelfish in the big tank? Is the bowl alright or do they need more space?
6. How can I have a perfectly balanced tank, without spending too much money, using nature instead of expensive filters?
7. Could I add one multi-coloured baby turtle in this tank and will it get along with the fish?
8. What are the natural biological ways to just keep an aquarium clean and healthy?
9. Even though the filter is brand new and is apparently "imported", why doesn't it keep the tank squeaky clean?
10. How can I make a gravel vaccum at home? Kinda like a DIY.
Note: I'm in India, so there is a serious lack of the kind of equipment supplied at WalMart and Big Al's. So explanations should be clear, concise and keeping in mind my geographical challenges.
Boy, do I sound like boring little turd!!!!!!
