Swim Bladder Problems

Swim bladder problems are hard to fix.  If your fish is swimming upside down, it has a swim bladder problem.

It results when a fish sucks in too much air off of the surface of the water.

Do not feed your fish flakes on top of the water– place them into the current of the filter system to push the flakes down.

Fast your fish for at least 2 days, just in case they are constipated.

Place the fish into a tank with only a couple inches of water– 1 inch higher than the top fin of the fish

This will reduce the amount of work on the swim bladder.

Add in freshwater aquarium salt to the tank.

Feed your fish mushed up peas and wait until the fish starts to swim straight again.

If the fish does this again, leave the fish in the quarantine tank for longer and slowly add water day by day.

Freshwater Fish Tank Set Up

You will need the following items:

Fish tank

Stand

Glass Tops or lid

Light

Heater

Filter

Substrate (rock)

Decorations

Bubbler

You will want to rinse off everything before you set it up.

Add the heater to the fish tank but do not plug it in.  Rinse off the filter and cartridges and set it up on the tank but do not plug it in.  You can turn on the light if you would like to.

You will need to use stress coat when you fill up the tank to remove the chlorine from the water.

You will add water until the tank is full. 

You can then add water to the filter system and plug in the filter.  You can also plug in the heater.

You will not be able to add fish for at least 6 or 7 days.

Before you add your fish you will need to do a partial water change.

Put the fish tank in a good location away from heating and cooling vents.

Do not place the fish tank near windows where the water will heat up and cool down.

Make sure to rinse off the rock before you put the rock in the tank.  Always put the rock in before you add any of the water so that the rock doesn’t float.

Add enough rock to cover at least 3 inches along the entire bottom of the tank.

Yellow Watchmen Goby

A Yellow Watchmen Goby is a cute fish which is very slender in shape.  The fish looks as if it’s crawling around at the bottom of the fish tank.

This fish always appears to be frowning.  The fish is yellow in color with light blue spots.

This fish is not aggressive but it is territorial.

This fish will chase other fish away from it’s area.

This fish will form a great relationship with the pistol shrimp.  They will share food and the goby will protect the shrimp.

These fish can live to be over 5 years old.

You will need a salinity around 1.021 to 1.025.

You can feed this fish a variety of fish flakes and frozen foods as well. 

This fish will always stay near the bottom of the fish tank.  When they swim, they appear to be hovering above the water.

This fish will cost you around $15 from any local pet store.

This is one of the most popular saltwater gobies that you can buy.

Heaters

If your fish need to be above 75 degrees you will need to purchase a heater for your fish tank. 

If you worry about your temperature going up or down by more than 2 degrees per day, you can purchase a heater.

You will be able to set the heater to come on when the water drops below a certain level.

If you want to lower the temperature you will need to purchase a chiller.  A chiller will cost you around $150-$200.

You want to purchase a heater which fits your tank’s size.  Do not purchase any heater because you will over-heat or under-heat your fish tank.

Never purchase a glass heater because it will shatter if you remove it from the water while it’s plugged in or hot.

You don’t want to have shattered glass at the bottom of your fish tank.

Always purchase plastic heaters.  Marineland makes a lot of excellent heaters that you can purchase.

Yellow Stripe Maroon Clownfish

The Yellow Stripe Maroon Clownfish is a very beautiful fish. 

They can live up to 20 years in captivity– which is a long time compared to most fish.

The fish is mainly dark red with a stripe of yellow running through the fish.

These fish have red eyes.

They will eat a variety of different saltwater fish food such as flakes and frozen food such as emerald entre and brine shrimp.

These fish are somewhat aggressive and territorial.

These fish will chase around smaller fish and slower moving fish.

If you notice that the fins on your Clownfish look a little torn up it might be because of fin rot or it might be because it chases around all of the other fish.

These fish start out small but they can be about the size of the palm of your hand– which is very large for a Clownfish.

This is one of the largest Clownfish that you can possibly purchase.

After about one year, your baby Clownfish will only grow a couple of centimeters.

Fin Rot

Fin rot is a bacterial infection which affects freshwater and saltwater fish.  Goldfish seem to get fin rot more than any other fish.

Fin rot will make your fish look as if the fins are torn and split.  The fins will also start to disappear right off of the fish. 

Fin rot is very hard to get rid of.  If you want to avoid fin rot you need to check your fish daily for signs of fin rot.

Fin rot is often times caused by:

Poor water quality

Overcrowding

Overfeeding

When fish get stressed out, their immune systems will be lowered down to virtually nothing.  This is when the fish get sick.  When you overfeed and overcrowd your fish there is excess food which decays in tank.  There is also extra fish waste in the water which raises the ammonia level.

To keep your fish from getting sick, change the water at least once every 2 weeks.

You will want to treat your fish as soon as possible.  You can purchase the medication from your local pet store.

You will want to raise the temperature to around 84 degrees.   You can also purchase freshwater salt to give your fish a saltwater bath.  Add the recommended dosage of salt which is stated on the box.

You will need to treat the water and the fish.  Remember to remove the filter cartridges because the carbon will remove the copper from the water.

Ich

Ich is a horrible bacterial infection that is common with Goldfish.

It makes your feel appear to have white spots all over the fish.  It will look as if somebody sprinkled salt on the fish.

From the day that your fish gets Ich, your fish has about 6 days to live unless you medicate the fish fast enough.

You can raise the temperature in your tank up to 84 degrees, which will help out a lot.

Purchase medication for your fish as soon as possible.

You can purchase freshwater salt to give your fish a salt bath.  Add the recommended dosage of salt on the box.

Turn off the light to avoid causing your fish to get stressed out.

Keep adding the recommended dosage over the next week.

If you notice that your fish also has torn fins you need to treat the fish for Fin rot as well.  This is a secondary bacterial infection.

To avoid Ich in the future:

Do water changes once every 2 weeks

Do not over feed your fish

Do not over crowd your fish

Change your filter cartridges with water changes

Dropsy

Dropsy is a fish illness which affects freshwater fish.  Goldfish seems to have a real problem with this illness.

I sucked a Goldfish down through my siphoning tube and the fish lived for one year with Dropsy.

Dropsy makes your fish look like a pine-cone.  The scales will stick straight out and the fish will become bloated.

Often times, this is from organ failure.  Fish usually end their lives with Dropsy. 

To avoid any more problems, unplug your filter so that the fish doesn’t get stuck to the filter system.

You can purchase medication to try and help your problem.

You will want to fast your fish (avoid feeding the fish) for at least 1 day.  The fish might be constipated.

Fish can get Dropsy and die in one day or they can live with Dropsy for several years.

I would suggest buying medication and try to heal the fish.  Most often times, it will not work but you can still give it a whirl.

I had several fish that were 3 years old and they all died when they got Dropsy. 

Fancy Guppies

I’ve been raising Fancy guppies for the past 3 years now.  I started out with a few that I saved from my boyfriends Red Tail Catfish.

Fancy guppies can come in any color under the sun such as black, green, red, blue and many other colors.

Guppies are live-bearers, which means that they do not lay eggs– the babies simply pop out.

Guppies can live to be around 2 years old or older with proper care.

You always want a 3:1 ratio with guppies– 3 females to every 1 male.  This is because the males will constantly chase around the female guppies.

Female guppies have color only on their tails.

Male guppies have color on their top fin as well as their bodies and tail.

Female guppies can get pregnant once every 30 days.  They will have babies 30 days from the time that they become pregnant.  They can have anywhere from 1-60 babies the first time.  Older female guppies can have over 100 babies at one time.

Male Fancy guppies and female Fancy guppies will eat their babies.

If you don’t want the babies to get eaten, move the female into a breeder compartment so the babies can drop down below to avoid being eaten.

If your female guppy is not having babies after 30 days, slowly raise the temperature up 2 degrees until you reach about 80 degrees.

Female guppies will seem to have babies every time that it rains. (Odd)

You will want to have 1 inch of fish per gallon of water.  A 10 gallon tank can hold 5 guppies.

Guppies will cost about $5.00 for one pair of guppies.

If you want a specific color of guppies, keep out a non-pregnant female and place her with the male you want to breed.  If you only want black guppies then you will need to pull out the black female and black male until the female is pregnant.

Guppies are great for beginners.  They are fun to watch.  Remember to purchase a 3:1 ratio.

Goldfish

Goldfish are one of the most popular types of freshwater fish that you can purchase.  Your average Goldfish can live to be up to 5 years old or more.  These fish come in a variety of different colors and varieties. 

Fan Tail Goldfish: These fish are slender in shape and have long, flowing tails

Ryukin: These fish have somewhat pointed heads and are usually black, white and orange in color

Oranda: These fish have what looks like a cap on their heads

Comet: These fish are very slender and often times they are sold as feeder fish

There are many other types of Goldfish. You can even purchase Goldfish that have bubble eyes. 

Goldfish will cost you around $5.00 per fish.  They are a great choice for somebody who is a beginner in the fish hobby. 

Goldfish are not as easy to take care of as you might think.  You cannot simply place a Goldfish into a bowl and expect it to live.  You must place a bubbler in the tank to supply the fish with oxygen.  If you do not use a bubbler you must use a filter system.  The filter system will shoot oxygen bubbles into the fish tank as well.

Goldfish are very dirty fish.  You will want to place a filter on the fish tank.  You will need to clean the water at least once every 2 weeks.  You will also need to clean the filter system as well.  Remember that you must change the filter cartridges when you perform a water change. 

Goldfish can grow to be over 5 inches in length.  You will need to have one inch of fish per gallon.  If you have one 5 inch fish, you will need at least a 5 gallon fish tank to keep this fish alive.

Never feed your Goldfish fish flakes by placing them on top of the water.  Goldfish will suck air in while they are trying to eat the Goldfish flakes.  When a Goldfish sucks in too much air it will develop swim bladder problems.  If your fish has swim bladder problems it will swim upside down.

You can purchase many Goldfish for your tank but you will want to stick with the same variety of Goldfish. 

Make sure to fast your fish and avoid feeding them at least one day per week to avoid them getting constipated.  This will also cause swim bladder problems.

Temperature: Goldfish love cold water.  The tank will stay at around 75 degrees.  You don’t need to purchase a heater.

Avoid placing the tank near windows and heating vents because this will cause the temperature to fluctuate.

Goldfish are very beautiful fish.  I have had many Goldfish over the years.  They are my favorite freshwater fish.