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 So, you're thinking of keeping fish. You don't know it, but you are about to undertake the most amazing journey of your life. You are at the cross-roads to the Great Barrier Reef, a river bank in Central America, or maybeit will just lead to the stream in your backyard. There are a few things a traveller must know before hitting the road; so, you must learn as much as you can about your destination before leaving home. You don't want to end up in the Amazon in the rainy season!
It may seem obvious now, but I will stress this point, know what you are doing before you start doing it. Read, a lot. Then ask questions. Then ask some more questions. This article cannot hope to tell you all you need to know, nor will it guarantee success, but it will get you on the road. As you become more experienced, you will realize that there is much more to fish keeping than just having an impressive tank in your living room, you may become a biologist, botonist, taxonomist, geologist, and a little bit of a lot more 'ists! Sounds impressive doesnt it?
There are many questions you must ask yourself before commiting to a certain kind of fish. You must answer such questions as; what kind of fish do I want, fresh, brackish or marine? Small or large tank? Are the different fishes I want going to live happily together? What size tank do I have room for? Can I afford it? Do I want real plants? Will my fish eat them plants? Are the plants poisonous? Can they live in my tapwater? You cannot compromise when it comes to making your fish happy, they must come first.
Go to the biggest, or best, fish storeor public aquarium you can find. Browse through their show tanks and let the kind of fish you want dictate what kind, and size of equipment you need, wallet permitting. Make a list of the types of fish you want and apply the above questions to them fish. You must come up with a plan. The compatability of the fishes must be checked before they are mixed, big fish will usually eat small fish! It can be very annoying, and tear-full waking up and not knowing where your fish went, you know it didn't just swim away! Many factors besides wether or not a fish will eat another will determine which fish can live together. Salinity, alkalinity, temperature, territory, habitat, and lighting requirements all play an important role.
Feeding needs are another important aspect, do you want to keep fish with different dietary needs, requiring you to feed a variety of different foods at each meal? Will the slow fish be able to compete with the hungrier, faster fishes? Never make assumptions on what works from what you see in your dealers tanks, many baby fish will live together for a short time, but as they grow their differences will become apparent, give them some space, food to fight over, and a couple months growth it will be a different story entirely.
I can't emphasize the importance of being knowledgeable and getting it right the first time, there is no point in spending all that time and money to learn that you can't even keep the fish you want. You will have to change species or start your tank all over. You don't want to be in my situation with two beautiful oscars in a 10 gallon tank! It simply will not work. That is when people like me find that their tanks are breeding, not their fish!
Happy Fishing!
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