Sad Fish

New fishkeepers tend to want a large variety of colourful, different looking fish, but not everything in the shops will be suitable.

Choose a good aquatic shop with informative labels and always ask for advice. Write down the make and model of your tank, and how many litres or gallons it holds.

Do your own research as well as asking advice from retailers. Read books and PFK to give you an idea of the sort of fish you wish to keep, and try the hardiest fish first.

Don’t be tempted by juveniles of big fish. If your tank won’t house them at an adult size, don’t buy them.

Aim to keep community fish first, as these often stay small, and are easy to keep. Non-community fish may be large, predatory, aggressive, or all three, and are not good for beginners.

A community of small fish offers you the most choice, and you will be able to fit more of them in your tank than any other fish.

The most important consideration when keeping fish is the fish themselves. These live animals are totally dependant on you to keep them alive and healthy. They demand the right care and respect, and it is your duty to offer them the best conditions that you can.

Don’t stock too quickly

A common no-no. If you stock your tank too quickly, there will be insufficient bacteria to cope with the amount of waste being produced, and ammonia and nitrite will build up to toxic levels.

When you have a newly set-up tank, the choice in aquatic shops can be overwhelming. It is all too tempting to fill it with fish within days, but you must resist and cycle the tank first.

Cycling means maturing the tank by leaving it for days or weeks before adding fish.

In this time, beneficial bacteria will increase in number, covering all the surfaces inside the tank from the glass to the gravel to the filter media.

Bacteria can be added when you first set up the tank, giving it a kick-start into maturation.

Maturation products will either add live bacteria direct to the water or create a flock which offers a slimy home where the bacteria can live and multiply.

While bacteria are growing, water quality can change rapidly from being clear of ammonia to being high in ammonia and then nitrite.

You must not add fish within this time because they will probably die, poisoned by the ammonia and nitrite – yet the bacteria rely on ammonia produced by fish to increase in number.

Ammonia is food for bacteria, but toxic to fish. Fishless cycling is another way of feeding the bacteria with ammonia, but not exposing fish to it.

Raw ammonia (available from DIY stores and some chemists) can be added daily to feed the bacteria and make them grow in number before you add any fish.

The point at which they consume all the ammonia every day, leaving none behind, is when you add fish.

Another way of doing it is to add Waterlife Biomature or its equivalents, available from aquatic shops. A new tank takes at least six weeks to fully mature, and should be stocked slowly in that time.

New research on Blind cave fish has found that they can put even dogs to shame in the intelligence stakes.

The behavior of the Mexican Blind cave fish, Astyanax fasciatus, which in the absence of working eyes, relies on minute changes in pressure to detect the presence of objects in the water.

By using the sensitive lateral line system to detect changes in pressure, they're able to swim around without banging their heads against the glass, rocks or other fish. Blind cave fish swim much more quickly when they are faced with landmarks, like rocks, which they haven't encountered before, presumably to enhance lateral line stimulation.

There is nothing like a tank full of beautiful tropical fish to relax away the stress and cares of the day. Setting up a home aquarium can be a great family project, and a wonderful way to teach the kids about the wonders of nature. It is important, however, to get that fish tank off to a great start, and to ensure a healthy environment for your new finned friends.

One of the most crucial factors in setting up a new fish tank is to give the tank time to become established before adding fish. New aquarium owners are understandably anxious to enjoy watching beautiful tropical fish, but it is important to let the new tank sit for at least a week before adding the first fish. This allows any impurities time to dissipate from the water, and it allows the new tank owner to ensure everything is working properly.

It is important for new aquarium owners to invest in a high quality filtration system, since this filtration system is critical to establishing the biological system that will keep the tank functioning trouble free. There are many different kinds of filters to choose from, but it is vital to choose a filter that is sized for the tank. When in doubt, always buy a filter rated for a larger size tank than the one you have. Be sure to read the instructions carefully, and to change the filters at the specified intervals. A good filter will perform biological, physical and chemical filtration, so be sure to look for those specifications.

Unless you will be keeping only goldfish or other coldwater fish, a heater will be needed. It is important to also purchase a thermometer to ensure that the tank is kept at the proper temperature. The optimum temperature will depend on the type of fish, but most tropical fish will be comfortable in a range between 76 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit. It is important to let the heater work for a couple of days to ensure that it is keeping the proper temperature.

Before adding those first fish, it is a good idea to take a sample of aquarium water to the local pet store for analysis. Many pet stores perform this type of analysis free of charge, and the staff will be able to assist you in making any necessary changes. In some cases chlorine and other contaminants will need to be removed from the water, and doing an analysis up front can save you a lot of time and hassle.

The staff at your local pet store should also be able to help you choose a good assortment of fish for the new tank, based on such factors as the size of the tank and your level of experience. Not all fish get along, and not all fish will be happy at the same water temperature, so it is important to choose compatible fish. When choosing fish, it is best to place only a few hardy fish in the tank at first, and to add fish slowly. The rule of thumb is to keep only one inch of fish per gallon of water, so a twenty gallon tank could be home to 10 two inch fish, 5 four inch fish, or some similar combination. Keeping to this ratio can help to eliminate many problems seen by first time aquarium owners.

The latest thing to hit luxury spa pampering has arrived - Fish Pedicures. You place your feet in a tank of fresh water and let tiny carp fish nibble away. The fish clean off and soften the skin prior to a standard pedicure.

The Yvonne Hair and Nails salon in Alexandria, Virginia offers a service where garra rufa Doctor fish nibble the dead skin of clients’ feet. Proprietor John Ho claims that 5,000 customers have had the treatment so far. It costs $35 for 15 minutes and $50 for a half hour.

Ho was skeptical at first about the fish, which are called garra rufa but typically known as doctor fish. They were first used in Turkey and have become popular in some Asian countries.

In addition to offering pedicures, Ho hopes to establish a network of Doctor Fish Massage franchises and is evaluating a full-body fish treatment that, among other things, could treat psoriasis and other skin ailments.

Ho said the hot water in which the fish thrive doesn’t support much plant or aquatic life, so they learned to feed on whatever food sources were available — including dead, flaking skin. They leave live skin alone because, without teeth, they can’t bite it off.

Ho spent a year and about $40,000 getting the pedicures up and running with a few hiccups along the way

This photograph circulate via email and are often posted to blogs and online forums for discussion. The intriguing little creature depicted in the photograph is commonly misidentified as a "legged fish" or a "fish with legs and hands". Some postulate that the images are actually fakes created in an image manipulation program.

In fact, the photograph is genuine, although it does not depict a fish. This creature is an Axolotl or "Mexican Walking Fish". The Axolotl is an amphibian, more specifically, a salamander. Although they are native to Mexico, Axolotls have become popular as exotic pets around the world. In captivity, they are housed in an aquarium and can have a range of colours.

With a head like a fighter-plane cockpit, a Pacific barreleye fish shows off its highly sensitive, barrel-like eyes--topped by green, orblike lenses--in a picture released today but taken in 2004.

The fish, discovered alive in the deep water off California's central coast by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is the first specimen of its kind to be found with its soft transparent dome intact.

The 6-inch (15-centimeter) barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) had been known since 1939--but only from mangled specimens dragged to the surface by nets.

For female guppies, there's more to life than making babies.

A new study finds that guppies experience menopause just like humans and other animals. The study is the first demonstration of menopause in fish and raises the question of why some female animals live beyond their fertile years at all.

It was previously thought that fish don't experience menopause because they produce eggs throughout their entire lives. Birds and mammals, in contrast, have a finite number of eggs that they are born with.

Guppies typically reproduce about every 30 days and give birth to litters approximately 20 times throughout their lives. The researchers found that as female guppies aged, they began to skip litters or even stop reproducing for extended periods of time, effectively ceasing to reproduce after a certain age. In other words, the guppies were going through a fish version of menopause.

Living longer to have more babies

David Reznick, a biologist at UC Riverside, and colleagues compared the life history of 240 guppies taken from mountain streams in Trinidad. Some of the guppies were from high-predation environments while others were not. The researchers divided the life history into three segments: birth to first reproduction, first to last reproduction, and last reproduction to death.

In a previous study, Reznick found that guppies from high predation environments live longer and start reproducing at a younger age than those that were at less risk. The current study was meant to explore how and why this happens.

Using evolutionary theory, the researchers were able to make specific predictions based on what they knew about the reproductive life history of guppies.

After giving birth to their litters, female guppies don't stick around to provide maternal care. The researchers therefore predicted that if evolution by natural selection was responsible for the longer lifespan of the high predation guppies, then it should only affect their reproductive years. This is because, from an evolutionary point of view, those are the years that are most crucial for the success of the species. Scientists call an animal's ability to produce offspring "fitness."

"Guppies have no postnatal care for their young, so from a fitness prospective, when they last give birth, they might as well be dead," Reznick told LiveScience. "The only reason for them to live longer would be that different parts of their bodies break down at different rates."

The researchers also predicted that the post-reproductive lifespan--the period after menopause--of both the high- and low-predation guppies would be the same.

The study found both predictions to be true.

"The older fish, after they stop reproducing, do not contribute to the fitness of young fish," Reznick said. "As a result, the post-reproductive period is not influenced by natural selection."

Reznick wonders if the same might be true for other animals, including humans.

One of the most universally served fish in restaurants throughout the world is tuna. Aside from being delicious and popular, tuna is extremely versatile. However, for all its culinary glory, tuna remains a controversial fish. Catching practices have been criticized for their cruelty to other marine species. Another problemis that the wild tuna population is hard to sustain, because most of the species grow very slowly. And studies have shown that tuna, especially the Bluefin variety, can be high in toxins like mercury. So, what to do? Try something new! Here are some suggestions:

* Haddock: This rapidly reproducing fish rivals tuna in popularity and distribution throughout the world, because it is tender and flaky. We commonly associate Haddock with fried preparations, such as the British classic, fish and chips. Young haddock are sold as "scrod" in New England. I love poaching it and/or mincing the filets for croquettes. I also recommend breading and baking the filets or steaming them over a bed of greens. (Careful: Since haddock is so flaky, it falls apart when sautéed or over-handled with a spatula.)
* Pollack: Though Pollock is the most heavily distributed fish for human consumption, it is fast-growing and considered one of the most sustainable fish. Best of all, it has virtually no detectable levels of mercury. Pollack proliferates North Atlantic and Artic waters. My favorite is whole-smoked Pollack, often available in seafood specialty stores.
* Sardines: While not immensely popular in the United States, fresh sardines can be delicious. Sardines are actually a few species of herring. I love buying whole fresh sardines (gutted) at my local seafood market, rubbing them gently with olive oil, seasoning them with salt and pepper, and then roasting them in the oven at 500°F for 5-7 minutes. Drizzle with lemon or orange juice and a splash of Sherry vinegar for acidity.
* Mackerel: Like sardines, mackerel also include several species of fish, including the King mackerel, Spanish mackerel and Atlantic mackerel. Mackerel is rich in Omega-3s and has a naturally smoky flavor. I recommend Atlantic Mackerel. Treat them to a similar preparation as the sardines (salt, pepper, lemon, olive oil, and whole sprigs of fresh thyme). Or try another route: First, roast some potatoes in the oven. (try Purple Majesty potatoes. They are a rich blue color and have a creamy flesh, as if they were grown with a little butter in the soil!) When the potatoes are tender, raise the oven temperature to 500F and place the fish filets (with or without skin) on top of the potatoes. Cook for 5-7 minutes, depending on the size of the fish. Serve with fresh lime or a drizzle of Balsamic.

1. The colder the water, the more nutritious and safer the fish. Coldwater fish, such as salmon and tuna, contain more of the omega 3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA than do fish from warmer waters, such as catfish, red snapper, trout, and pike. As a general guide, the warmer the water, the lower the oil content of the fish. Ocean fish tend to be safer than lake fish, which are more likely to contain traces of environmental pollutants.

2. Fish is good heart food. Some fish are high in heart-friendly cholesterol-lowering fish oils. Omega-3 fatty acids, especially DHA, have been linked to reducing total blood fats, reducing LDL (bad) cholesterol, and raising HDL (good) cholesterol. Fish oils rich in DHA are good for the heart. They keep the platelets, the saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol from sticking together and clogging arteries, contributing to heart attacks and stroke. After all, fish fats are called oils, meaning they flow rather than sit. One study showed that one serving of salmon per week cut the risk of heart attack in half. In another study, researchers who followed more then 20,000 male physicians between 40 and 84 years of age for eleven years found that those who ate fish once a week were 52 percent less likely to die of a fatal cardiac arrhythmia (irregular heart beats) than those who consumed fish less than once a month. The heart-friendly effects of fish oil seems to be related to their ability to lower total cholesterol, raise HDL (good cholesterol), and lower LDL (bad cholesterol).

Since fish fat actually seems to be good for people, might this cast some doubt on the conventional nutritional wisdom that a high fat diet contributes to heart disease? It would probably be more accurate to say that right fats contribute to heart health, wrong fats contribute to heart disease. As evidence look at the Eskimos, who have a diet very high in fat, yet have lower levels of cardiovascular disease. Is this because they eat a lot of fish? (It may also be true that Eskimos have a genetically different way of metabolizing extra fats that protects their heart.) It is also true that most people who eat fish regularly have healthier lifestyles and diet in general.

3. Fish is good brain food. Not only is fish good for the heart, it's good for the head. Fish oils are healthy because they contain the two essential omega 3 fatty acids: DHA, which are particularly valuable as nutrients for the cells of the brain and nervous system, the eyes, and the adrenal and sex glands. Come to think of it, those are the organs that helps us think, see, and enjoy sex. Fish food = good brain and heart food.