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Notes on how to care for tropical fish
RESEARCH BOX: We bought our son a fish tank for his birthday. It included two guppies, two mollies, six neons and a pleco. When then added snails and shrimp a few weeks later.
We were not warned by the pet shop that we had a male and female guppy and a male and female molly. We did not realise that guppies give birth to live young not lay eggs. We ended up with lots and lots of guppy babies. We also have one molly baby but it is male and the female molly died so we won’t get any more mollies.
I never expected to actually like the fish I thought I was the sort of person who only liked animals you could cuddle. But I have really fallen for the fish they are more interesting than we realised. You go up to the tank and they come up to the glass to look at you, when I put the light on in the room in the morning they immediately come to the top of the tank as they know it is feeding time. They love cucumber and will eat it out of your hand, they are really relaxing to watch.
So faced with getting rid all the babies and keeping a tank with just male or female in we decided to get a second tank and have a male tank and a female tank for the guppies. We did also give about 20 away to an aquatic shop. We bought a 90 litre tank on a stand which fits in our dinning room. Our son kept some the male fish in his tank and the females went into the downstairs tank. The males are lovely bright colours and the females are dull and green. Once the tank is properly cycled which can take up to 12 weeks (we are on week 6) we are going to get rid of another 20 or so of the young guppies and I am going to get some fancy fish.
The box is to help me research how to cycle the tank properly, how to test the water parameters and what to look for, what fish are best for our water type, which fish live with which peacefully and also to keep a track of the water readings. I am also researching shrimp and snails as they are really fun to watch too and they keep the tank clean. Our son has rabbit snails and bamboo shrimp in his tank. I want rabbit snails and maybe some giant African shrimp.
I am using it for more research as we went in blind with the first tank. We trusted the pet shop to give us advice but we were not warned that guppies can give birth every couple of weeks and we were sold a sailfin pleco for a 40l tank. A sailfin can grow to 35cm in length so will eventually also outgrow the 90l tank.
I am really obsessed at the moment and I want to get a Axolotis which is a walking fish but that would mean a whole new tank and at the moment my husband is saying no more tanks!! I do agree as I need to make sure I don’t get board of fish keeping before I commit to anymore.
– Becky
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