Not each fish should put together in the same aquarium.

Nice that you are interested in my next article. This time we have an aquarium by a nice quite place and even water is runing in the aquarium. Decoration is allready in sand, stones and wood and a bacteria starter kit helped us to be ready to put some fish in our aquarium. This aquarium should be a juwel in our apartment – flashing lik a diamond. So how we do this? Puting some big fish into it or many smal fish in red and blue color? Well in this case it is up to the owner of the aquarium what he likes but some rules should be keeped. Do you remember my first story about the Neon fish and the Scalar? This could happen also to other kind of fish. Last week I put some garnels to my Koi who are not predatory fish but the act like one. Within a hour all garnels were eaten or simply vanished in the stomach of the Kois. Kois as I know eat normaly “dead food” not alive one. So I learned something new and this what you also will have the whole time with your aquarium. It is this and some other things what makes it so interesting. In principle you can say every big fish eat smaller fish if he can catch them. This is the reason why we should have places where smaller and inferior fish can hide. But sometimes the smal fish annoy bigger fish. A good example are the Sumatra barbs. They like to fret Scalar fish even as they are much bigger then the Sumatra barbs. Next thing is some fish like the Discus like is unhurried while fish like the Sumatra barb like it very fast. This irretates the Discus and they dont feel well and get shy. Next example is the cichlide from Malavi or Tanganika lake. They are real predatory fish! Eating all what they can get, even your hand will be tested if it is eatable. So what do you think if you put Diskus with Malavi cichlide together? Diectly nothing the Malavi cichlide will let the Discus in peace as long as you dont come and feet them because then its hell time. The Malavi cichlides will act like maniacs and the Discus will stand in a corner and watching from distance this spectacle. So the Malavi cichlide getting more and more fat while the Discus fish get more and more thin and die at least. So beside that Malvi cichlides like water with a ph-vlue over 7,5/8 Discus feel well by under 7, its no good reason to put them togehther. It is extrem when you buy an Arowana. This fish is very interesting but you have to have a big aquarium starting with 400 liters and beyond. Arowana is a real predatory fish! Which means dont put him with smaller fish as his mouth is together. At least I cannot tell you here which fish you can put together because it is allways a different conbination and the best way is to ask for each new fish if he can be put to the “old fish“.

Greetings, Niki Buchen

Info and tips for a new aquarium.

This time we will start with an aquarium, which mean we have choosen a good place without direct sun ray. This important because it prevents from cleaning your front screen nearly every third day. Well we have now a nice aquarium bought and even water in the aquarium. Here we have the next question which fish do we want to have in this aquarium? This question is necessary because fish is not like fish which means each kind of fish needs his own enviroment and water chemie. For example if you want to take care of Discus or Scalar you will have to get a soft water and stones with lime are absolute forbitten because they make the water hart. On the other hand many chichlids like hart water. Don´t miss understand me your Discus fish will not die if you put him in hart water but he will feel unconfortable and if you want some Discus babies it will work much better in soft water. If your fish get babies it is an indicator that you make things right. So I decide for now we will start with a soft water aquarium. Same rules as for the stones is for the sand. Use only sand which give no carbon to the water - ask for it. It also helps if you have moorkien roots in the water.  This wood gives the water a braun color just like it is in nature where Discus lives. The humin acid in the wood is good for the Discus and helps against bacteria. Some flower can also be in the aquarium like Echinodorus or Vallisneria. Flower itsselve help very much to keep the water fish friendly. And by the way if they grow good it looks nice. Discus and Scalar like to stand under roots if they are scared. So why do you not put some bambus sticks in the aquarium? You will see the Discus fish and Scalar will like it. There should be a free place for swimming and some place for flowers, wood roots and bambus sticks. The water circulation should not be to fast and you should buy a filter who transports double as much water as your aquarium has.  If it is too much circulation you can choke it a little bit but if it is not enough you have to buy a new one. Normaly you should wait minimum 2 weeks till you can put some fish in your aquarium but you can speed it up if you buy a bacteria starter kit or if you ask someone who has a good running aquarium if he can give you a little bit of his filter material but be careful that you dont take some diseases or snails with you to your fresh aquarium. It will be frustrating if you give your new fish in your aquarium and the first thing you have to do is to cure them. But if all is fine you can put after a few days some fish in your aquarium. Don´t put all your “wishes” at once in your aquarium but rather step by step one fish group by the other one and check if the new fish do well. Next time we will talk about which fish you can put to which fish.

Greetings, Niki Buchen

Info and tips for aquarium begginers.

Bevor I start, I want to make clear what I write is only a suggestion and should help you to get maybe an other point of view to the topic aquarium and fish. I also do not want to get to deep in details like how to count a ph-value. One reason is that I am too lazy to look for each technical term in english. As you allready could read I am not an english native speaker. One more thing about these articles of mine – everybody who has something constructive to say to the aquarium topic I wellcome. Well and now let us start. The next thing is bevor you have an aquarium bought is the question where do you put this aquarium and how big should it be? Well by the size I only can say a bigger aquarium is more stable with the water chemie. Which means your mistakes by handling with the aquarium will not be so dramatically big as by a small one. The size also depends from how much money you can spend for your hobby. Aquarium with 400 liter for example can cost much money even if you save money by the equipment like light, water heater or ph equipment. You can spend thousands of dollar by getting an aquarium with fitment which will match your furniture in your appartment. But you also can choose the cheap way with only an iron bay and a glas aquarium. Where do you want to put the aquarium? By the entry that every person who visit you can see your piece of jewellery? I think for you a nice place but on the fish side you will have scared fishes. The minimum if you insist to put an aquarium to a place very much activity is, is that your fish has the possibility to hid. Another thing is that an aquarium needs time after time your service by changing water and putting out dead things like plants and fish or changing the filter material. And it is a good thing if a water connection is not far away. I guess if you have a 400 liter aquarium and you change the water with a tub you will not do it very often and loose fun to have an aquarium. It is also nice if you have choosen a place where you can sit down and look after your fish because it can be so calmative to look in an aquarium. It is also very nice if you wake up with the light of your aquarium, I love it, do not ask me why but I do . The place is no good if your aquarium stands on parquet because even if you take care very much by changing water it will be that you will loose some water and this water will find its way to the parquet. It is not nice if you come home and the floor is wet and one day later your parquet make “waves” -I had this bad experience by my own! One very important thing is how much weight is all together? Water itselve is not light, same with glas, sand or stones or wood. Would not be good if you brake with your aquarium down to  your neighbour  under you if have one. Next time I want to write about starting and decoration of an aquarium.

Greetings,

Niki Buchen

Info and tips for a health and nice aquarium.

One of my hobbies is fish and aquarium and all what belong to this. I think it is more then 25 years ago that I started with it. My first aquarium was a 110 liter glas aquarium with a goldfish. I immediately fall in love with this hobby and decided to buy more fish but a goldfish is a cold water fish and the new one were warm water fish. So my goldfish got a friend of mine and I bought some barbs, Sumatra barbs to be exact. Well these fish were my real first one but even these I didnt keeped for a long time. One day I think nearly one week after buying they were all dead. I bought them in an aquarium shop and got ill fish who had Ichties. This is an illness which can be seen by white points on the body of the fish. Well it was hard for me (I think for the fish much more) but I did not stopped with a defeat. I wanted to be sucessfull by taking care of fish. So my next fish were 6 Scalar (it is a swarmfish and so I took 6 pieces) and I think about 10 Neon fish (also a swarmfish) beause they were so colorful. Neon fish and Scalar I did not bought in the same aquarium shop. For the ground floor I bought 2 Ancistrus (dolichopterus) beause the stuff of the aquarium shop told me that they were good for alga but this another story. So I had total 28 fish. But time after time they got less and the strange thing was only the Neon fish were disappeared. I looked under the aquarium table if a fish was jumped out but I did not have seen one. What happend? Did the pump sucked these small fish away or the died and I did not found them because of the size? So I started every morning when I looked in my aquarium fish and ups one more left. I had no idea were they were and so I went to an aquarium shop and asked what the reason will be for the disappearing of my fish. I answered many questions and then we came to the point which fish I have in my aquarium and bingo, the Scalars were the bad and hungry guys. Yea a newby as I was should first ask and then decide what to do/buy. What ever I still had 5 pieces of Neon and so I bought another 5 pieces and a new 60 liter aquarium for them. So I owned 2 aquariums after 2 weeks but this is nothing – I dont want to tell you how much I have now . After splitting Neon fish from the Scalars no Neon fish disappeared. Well this was my “aquarium start”. I told you this to show you that it is not bad to get some informations before you start with this hobby. In my next stories I want to explain step by step what you have to do and consider if you plan to own an aquarium.

Greetings, Niki Buchen