So how can you feed your guppies while you are on vacation?

Adult guppies can survive for two to three weeks without food, but you should not disrupt their metabolic processes, therefore you should not stray from their usual feeding sessions. You can use an automatic feeder or ask someone to feed them for you, which is actually better.

It is actually a mix of tank maintenance and guppy food preparation. We will get more into this as you go through the article. So if you are going to be away for a significant amount of time, keep on reading to know how to feed your guppies while you are on vacation.

How Long Can Guppies Survive Without Food?

Before we talk about the several ways you can prepare your tank for your coming vacation, you should first know the basics about guppy “hunger.” It will really ease your worries to know that adult guppies can survive for two to three weeks without a single amount of feeding.

However, this does not necessarily mean that you can just opt to not feed them when you are away. This simply means that your guppies are hungry, but since there is no available food, they will find different ways to satiate their hunger.

They will forage for food, eat algae, nibble on live plants, and the like. Unfortunately, this is bad news for the guppy fry that you have in the tank. First off, they need more food in order to develop and grow.

Second, they are going to be the number one target of your adult guppies when they get so hungry.

Preparation + How To Feed Guppies While On Vacation

As we have mentioned earlier, everything will go according to plan if you are on top of your tank maintenance as well as food preparation. More than that, you might be surprised that tank maintenance takes precedence over the actual feeding of your guppies.

Tank Maintenance

This actually takes over 70% of the entire preparation if you are going to leave your guppies alone for a while. We mentioned earlier that they can survive for a good number of days without food as they will find other ways to procure food.

Therefore, proper tank preparation is key so that they can do these natural survival behaviors. Your guppies are going to be okay when they do not have enough food, but surely, they will perish if the tank conditions are bad.

So, you really have to be on top of your tank maintenance before you even worry about how you can feed your guppies while you are away.

Clean The Filter

You should be 100% sure that your tank’s filter is clean and working properly before you go. Therefore, you should deep clean the mechanical filter and remove all the debris and waste that are found inside.

Keep in mind that you should remove as much or even all of the mulm (sludge in the filter that comes from fish waste, dead plants, etc.)

It is important to note that you should not clean the biological filter because there should still be beneficial bacteria in the tank. This will help in removing toxins and ammonia.

You can also opt to vacuum the gravel even though most of the waste falls to the bottom of the tank. It may seem tedious, but you really want your filter to not falter while you are away.

We explain what happens to guppies without a filter here.

Change The Water

You should start doing this a week before your vacation as you cannot change the water all in one go. Doing so might stress your guppies.

Just remember that the water change should be at least 50%-70% as opposed to the 20%-30% of water change that you do every week.

When you do a big water change it can remove a significant amount of nitrates from the water which will ensure that the water is in good condition even though you do not do a water change for a week.

Lastly, make sure that you treat the water to get rid of chloramine, chlorine, and other heavy metals found in tap water.

Aquarium Lights

You might need help on this one especially if your lights do not have a timer on it. By now you know that light is essential to your guppies’ way of life as they need a proper day and night cycle.

At the same time, you should move your tank away from windows that do not have any curtains, as you cannot predict how much or how little sunlight will hit the tank while you are away. Too much sunlight will cause the development of algae to be faster.

The best thing to do is to use a timer on your lights or ask someone to turn on and turn off the lights for you.

If these two options are not possible, then you can simply stick with the natural light, but make sure that the tank is still in a shaded area so as not to disrupt the water temperature.

Removal Of Dead Plants

The existence of dead plants in the tank contributes to the ammonia level. Therefore, if you see some of your live plants starting to brown or wilt, it is best to remove them altogether.

Replace the aquarium with healthy and live plants. Again, this can also be a source of food for your guppies.

Remove Or Separate Sick Guppies

Do this at least two or three days before you go. Take a closer look at your guppies and look for signs if one or many of them are sick.

It is better to remove or separate the sick ones from the tank if you are going away for a long time as there is a possibility that there will be a disease outbreak in the tank.

In the event that you did not see the sick guppy and he ends up dead while you are away, the decomposition of the guppy inside the tank will produce a lot of ammonia which can be too toxic for the other healthy guppies.

If you have problems with your guppies’ health, we highly recommend reading our article: 20 reasons why your guppies are dying!

Food Preparation

Now that you are done with the 70% of guppy preparation, it is now time to tackle the remaining 30% and that is the actual feeding process of your guppies. Here are some options you can try.

Asking A Friend Or Family

This is the best option as going this route will not disrupt the normal feeding sessions of your guppies. You can simply leave your friend or family member instructions on when to feed them and how much they can feed them.

In order to prevent overfeeding, you can prepare beforehand separate bags of the food that are already measured based on how much you feed your guppies.

Hiring A Fish-Sitter

There are a lot of fish-sitters that you can hire online and it is best to choose one who actually owns fishes as compared to someone who is just available and can follow instructions.

The reason behind this is that the fish-sitter who also has pet fishes can gauge different situations and he or she knows how to deal with problems in the tank.

They can also do tank maintenance which will ensure you that everything is working great with your guppies not just with their food but with their environment as well. The downside to this is, of course, you are going to give access to your house to people you really do not know.

Automatic Feeder

If the other previous options do not work for you, then you can consider purchasing an automatic feeder. However, you should first test this in your tank to see if your guppies will take food from it and if it is even working in the first place.

A disadvantage of using an automatic feeder is that it can get clogged by uneaten food. Moreover, the uneaten food will eventually become waste which can then pollute the water and change the water conditions.

Another disadvantage is that you cannot control the amount of food that it gives. Therefore, you run the risk of overfeeding your guppies.

No Overfeeding

For a lot of people who do not have the option to ask someone to feed their guppies, or even have a fish-sitter or an automatic feeder, they tend to think that if they overfeed their guppies days before they leave for their vacation, their guppies will not get hungry.

This is an absolute no-no. You should never overfeed your guppies as this will lead to their deaths. Not to mention the fact that too much uneaten food in the tank also causes the water to become polluted which is also harmful to your guppies.

Skip Feeding

You might just consider not feeding your guppies at all if all the options that we gave you are not possible. As scary as it may sound, again, your guppies are going to be okay (so, relax). Just another note, this logic does not apply to guppy fry.

Going back to the non-feeding part, this ensures that there will be not much water pollution. So the chances of your filter breaking down is next to none. At least, in this case, you will not worry that the water conditions of your tank will go bad while you are away.

It is also good to note that some fish breeders actually do this where they will deliberately not feed their guppies for two to three weeks. The reason behind this is that it is a way to clear the digestive system of the guppies.

So in the event that you decide to not feed them at all, it is not entirely a bad thing for them, in fact, it is beneficial to them.

The post How To Feed Guppies While On Vacation appeared first on Water World Craze.

But are they easy to keep? Yes, guppies are fairly easy to keep. However, as you can expect, there are some things that you should bear in mind for your guppies to live a long and healthy life.

Read on to find out how you can properly take care of your guppies and how you can make your life and that of your pet fish a lot easier.

1. What Makes Guppies Easy to Keep?

One of the best things about guppies is that they don’t require a lot of space. There is also little investment when it comes to having guppies as pet fish.

They cost as little as ten cents each at various pet stores, but they can be a little more expensive if they’re fancier (up to twenty-five dollars).

The flaked food that guppies require is also fairly inexpensive. If you pick up a used filter and tank, you can set up an aquarium with little cost.

Another reason that makes the guppy a popular pet fish is that it is low-maintenance. If you make sure that the tank is clean and if you provide them with good-quality food, they’ll be perfectly happy.

Like other pet fish, they can suffer from a few diseases, such as fungus infections. However, if you get your pet fish from a pet store that sources them from breeders, you have a better chance of raising healthy guppies.

The reason for this is that they often get stressed during transportation. Plus, they have a hard time adjusting to aquarium life when taken out of a hatchery.

2. What Makes Guppies Hard to Keep Compared to Other Pet Fish?

There are several reasons why guppies can be a little challenging, especially when compared to hardier species such as angelfish, for example. The lack of oxygen in the tank water can cause guppies to die.

Water temperature changes, such as putting too warm or cold water in your aquarium can also cause guppy mortality. Besides, tap water contains chlorine, which is deadly to many pet fish, including guppies.

Ammonia is harmful to pet fish, as well. How do higher levels of ammonia end up in the water? Well, an increase in ammonia can be caused by anything from a dirty filter to a dirty substrate.

Dead fish that aren’t removed from the tank can decay and also increase ammonia levels. Even uneaten fish food can decompose and turn into ammonia.

Overfeeding can be an extremely common issue with most pet fish parents. Everyone wants to feed their fish enough food so that they aren’t hungry. When it comes to feeding guppies, the rule of thumb is doing it once a day or even once every other day.

Uneaten food pollutes the aquarium and can potentially endanger your guppies’ health. We recommend feeding your guppies for 30 seconds and then waiting to see whether they are still hungry.

You can add more food if they are, but if you’ve noticed that their interest in food has disappeared, avoid feeding them more.

3. Can Genetics Make Guppies Hard To Keep?

The short answer to this question is yes. Surprisingly enough, some guppies are more prone to getting diseases, and they also have bad genes.

Usually, most of those that you will find in big pet stores are less healthy compared to those that you can get from a breeder. The latter can even live for up to 2 to 3 years.

Some of the guppy breeds that are among the hardiest ones are the following:

• Albino guppies
• Moscow guppies
• Metal guppies
• Grass tail guppies
• Cobra guppies

4. What Diseases Do Guppies Have?

We might have already mentioned fungus infections, but that’s not the only medical condition that a guppy can develop. There aren’t many guppy specific diseases, but they can still suffer from various ones. Here are several:

• Ick
• Velvet
• Fin rot
• Flukes

All of these common guppy diseases can be treated with medication. Unfortunately, there are also diseases that can’t be treated, such as guppy tuberculosis.

Given that this is a particularly contagious condition, all of the guppies that are affected need to be removed from the tank to avoid spreading it to the other fish in the aquarium.

We show you how hardy guppies are, what diseases they have in detail, and how to keep them healthy in this article! We highly recommend reading it!

5. Can Guppies Be Bred Easily?

You can breed guppies in a communal tank or their own separate tank. Both of these methods have pros and cons.

For example, a separate breeding tank means that you can better select the parents so as to produce the right offspring in terms of characteristics and coloration.

You also have the advantage of keeping a close eye on the fish that you want to breed. Plus, there are no tank mates that might end up eating newborn fry. The only drawback is that you obviously need another tank, which calls for money, as well as space.

Communal tank breeding can be rather exciting since you don’t have the ability to control the outcome. This means that the offspring can have extravagant or striking shades.

On the other hand, you have little to no control over which fish actually mate. Communal breeding is less time consuming and also cheaper, but there’s always the risk of the adults eating the little ones.

If you plan to breed, or if your guppies are already breeding, here are a few articles you should read:

6. Do You Need to Balance Out The Male-To-Female Ratio?

Even though guppies are generally friendly, the males can tend to harass the females. In an attempt to impress them and mate with them, the males can chase the females around the tank. This means that they end up being stressed.

You should usually have more female guppies than male ones so that the attention is divided between different female individuals. If you do this, you’ll minimize harassment.

A good female to male ratio is 2:1. An even better one is 3:1.

If this seems like too much of a hassle for you to manage, you can just get male guppies. We explain what you should know about keeping only male guppies here.

7. What Do You Need in a Guppy Tank?

Like other pet fish, guppies enjoy having plenty of gravel to poke around, and also places where they can hide. Therefore, adding plants and decor to the tank can come in handy.

However, you need to make sure that there’s enough space for all of the accessories that you want to add to the tank environment. Don’t fill the aquarium with extras as you can accidentally make it too crowded.

Plus, if you have lots of accessories and a lot of gravel, you’ll have a harder time cleaning everything. Waste can get trapped in between the bits of gravel.

Since guppies prefer sleeping near the bottom of the aquarium, you might want to consider not getting any gravel at all. You can simply use sand instead, especially since it is easier to clean compared to gravel.

8. How Many Guppies Can You Keep in an Aquarium?

Guppies are very small compared to other tropical fish. Female guppies can grow up to 1.5 inches while male ones can grow up to just 1.2 inches. This type of pet fish reaches full-size maturity in around six months.

The rule of thumb when it comes to picking the right tank size is 1 inch of fish per 1 gallon of water. Here’s a handy table that might be able to help you a bit.

Number of guppies Tank capacity

• 3-4 guppies: 5-gallon aquarium
• 7-10 guppies: 10-gallon aquarium

You are allowed to keep more guppies if you make sure that you have good filtration and live plants in the tank.

Proper filtration and the plants effectively eliminate the toxic fish waste from the water environment. If you make sure that these two requirements are on par, you can even change the water less often.

In this article, we explain more on how many guppies you should keep and the dangers of keeping too many guppies.

9. How Can Water Quality Affect Guppies?

While guppies are quite hardy and can accept a broad range of water parameters, you can keep them healthy only if you abide by certain rules. The table below shows you the ideal water conditions for keeping guppies.

• Water temperature: 72-82 F (22-28 C)
• Water hardness (dGH): 8-12
• Water pH: 6.8-7.8
• Ammonia: 0
• Nitrites: Maximum 10 ppm

Changing the water is crucial when it comes to keeping healthy guppies. You should change about 30% of the water if you have a low-stock tank. If you intend to use tap water, make sure that you use a water conditioner to remove chlorine and heavy metals.

Find out the temperature of the water in the tank. Once you’ve done that, make sure that the water you add to the tank has the same temperature.

If you have an overstocked tank, you need to change the water more often.

Water quality can change guppies’ behavior. We have created a couple of articles on that you should definitely read:

10. Do You Need a Filter For Your Guppy Tank?

Even though you can run your tank without a filter, there are some risks involved in doing this.

If you do not perform water changes (at least 50%) weekly or bi-weekly, you have no control over the feeding and the waste produced by it. (We explain how to keep guppies without a filter here!)

If you really don’t want to use a filter, add live plants to the aquarium. Plants can keep the water clean, and they are also capable of removing nitrates from the water column.

If you do not want to replace the water that often, you can get a basic sponge filter. If you can afford it, though, you should consider getting an internal filter as it will give you peace of mind that your guppies are going to remain healthy.

Final Thoughts

Guppies are active fish and a lot of fun to watch. They are easy to keep if you do your research beforehand and get everything you need.

Choose a good size tank and feed your guppies a variety of food, but avoid overfeeding them. To keep your pet fish healthy, make weekly water changes.

The post Are Guppies Easy To Keep? 10 Facts You Should Know appeared first on Water World Craze.

Yes and no. A koi fish will grow to the size they are meant to. But it is possible for them to grow too big for the space they are in. If you have a small pond, you won’t be able to have large fish. It is important to make sure that your koi have enough room to swim freely.

This means that you will want to make sure you’re providing your fish with as much space as possible, especially if you plan on breeding them.

In this article, we will give you some advice on how big you should keep your koi’s pond or tank, as well as other factors that will have an impact on how large your fish will grow.

Can Tanks Stunt Your Fish’s Growth?

This is a fairly common misconception among many fish owners, whether they own koi or other species. The fact of the matter is that tanks do not have an impact on how big your koi will grow.

Regardless of the size of the tank, your fish is going to grow as much as it needs to and as much as it has been genetically predetermined to. However, having a tank that is too small will cause issues for your koi fish, and health issues can impact the amount that they will grow.

The video below shows you what kind of growth you can expect in your koi fish.  After the video, we will discuss some of the different factors that will allow your koi fish to grow to their maximum size.

Factors For Koi Growth

The tank size in and of itself will not determine how big your koi will grow, but it could cause your koi fish to develop health problems that will stunt their growth if the tank or pond is too small.

Here are some other factors that will have an impact on the way your koi grow.

1. Age

When a koi fish is in the first couple of years of its life, it will grow at a faster pace than when it gets older. There might come a time when your koi stops growing.

It is important to make sure that you provide your koi fish with all the necessary nutrients and the perfect environment so that they can reach their maximum growth potential later on.

If your koi fish does not grow much in the first few years of its life, it will be difficult to make sure that the fish will get bigger later on.

2. How many fish are in the tank

The number of fish in a tank plays a huge role in how healthy they will be and on how much they will grow.

If you keep too many fish in a tank or pond that is too small, your fish will not be able to thrive, which will have an impact on their growth. You want to make sure that your koi have enough room to swim freely, as this will help them grow as much as possible.

We will discuss how big your tank or pond should be in a later section.

3. Quality of food

As with any other animal, the quality of the nutrition you provide your koi fish will also have an impact on how much they grow.

You should make sure to consult with the breeder you purchased the fish from or with another expert to see what food would be the best option to feed your fish.

The most nutritional food would be the koi flakes and pellets, but some people like to add treats every once in a while, which might include shrimp, other live food, leafy greens, fruits, and more.

Make sure that whatever you give your koi will provide them with the most nutritional value possible. And it’s important to feed them a few times a day to keep their digestion and metabolism where it should be.

The better they are able to digest and absorb their food, the bigger they will grow. It’s especially important to ensure that your koi are getting the best nutrition possible when they are at a younger age.

We recommend reading our following articles:

4. Quality of the water

No matter what kind of fish you have, the quality of the water will play one of the biggest roles possible on its overall health and how much it will grow. Koi fare the best in water that is between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

While they do have the ability to live well in many different temperatures, water that is too hot or too cold will stunt their growth.

You also will want to make sure that the pond’s pH and other chemicals are at the right levels and it’s always recommended that you have some sort of filter in the tank or pond to keep the water where it should be.

Clean it as often as necessary so that the water does not become too overrun with algae and waste.

5. Environment

The environment that your fish are in will also have an impact on their health and growth. Is there anything nearby that could cause your koi to feel afraid? Is it too cold or hot where you live? Do you live in a busy city or somewhere that is a lot more calm?

All of these are factors that could impact your fish. You will want to make sure that they are living somewhere that is calm and tranquil and that they won’t have too many disturbances.

We recommend reading our following articles:

6. Species

The size that your koi will get will also depend on the species. Domestic koi are the smallest because they are meant to grow and live indoors. They typically grow to be between around 12 and 15 inches.

Japanese koi are among the most popular because of their vibrant colors and size. Many breeders prefer this type because of how big they are known to get. Japanese koi can grow between 22 and 26 inches long.

You might also choose to get jumbo koi, which can grow to be at least 30 inches. And finally, the last type is butterfly koi, which can grow to be anywhere between 36 and 40 inches long, but it’s also common for these fish to grow to 24 inches.

So, these are all different factors that can have an impact on how well your fish grow. If you make sure that the pond is big enough and you keep your fish in the right conditions, you can be guaranteed to have koi fish that will grow to their maximum potential.

How Big the Tank, Pool or Pond Should Be

It is generally recommended that you have 10 gallons of water per how many inches your fish are. This is why you most likely should not be keeping your koi in a tank because there simply will not be enough room.

Most people prefer to keep koi in a small pond that is both wide and deep. For example, if your koi fish is 20 inches long, you should have 200 gallons of water.

This is why you will often see koi breeders with huge ponds in their yards. The bigger you are able to have the pond, the better. And you should avoid crowding too many fish in a small pond.

Keeping too many fish around and having a pond that is too small are surefire ways to give your koi fish problems that will affect their growth in the future.

Koi Growth Facts

There are two main questions about the growth patterns of koi fish, both of which pertain to the length of time it takes for koi to grow.

The first question regards how long it takes for koi fish to grow to their full potential. It will usually take around 3 to 4 years for a koi to reach their maximum size, depending on a number of different factors.

Smaller species can reach their maximum size in approximately 2 years and tend to grow at a faster rate.

Then, it depends on the individual koi fish when it comes to how long it will take them to stop growing.

While the size of a koi fish will depend on how well it grew in its youth, most koi fish stop growing when they reach around 10 to 12 years old. However, it’s not completely unheard of for a koi fish to continue growing even after this!

Again, the tank size in and of itself does not affect how large your koi fish are. They will not grow to their tank size and then stop. But, if you have a tank that is too small, it will cause your koi to have health problems that could lead to problems in their growth patterns down the line.

You want to make sure that the tank is big enough (10 gallons of water per inches of fish), and you also want to make sure that the koi are living in the right conditions to keep them healthy. If you take care of them correctly, your fish are sure to grow as big as they can.

The post Do Koi Fish Grow To Their Tank Size? 6 Growth Factors appeared first on Water World Craze.

To answer the question of loneliness, we are yet to explore if fishes ever get lonely or not since loneliness can be a human concept, which might not be relevant for fishes. Getting to the next part of the question, angelfish can be kept singularly in a tank given that you get all their habitat conditions right.

But it sparks off another set of interesting questions. What exactly can be solitude for an angelfish? Let us explore all the other factors of the presented question and understand it more.

Breeding A Singular Angelfish In A Tank

Most of the angelfish that we get from breeders are freshwater angelfish. The other variety of angelfish is tropical ones, which can thrive in saltwater. All the others are a variant from each of the two categories. There are not many differences in their behavior.

The only difference in their behavior comes from where have you procured your fish – is it from the wild or from a breeder? It is speculated that an angelfish in the wild might be less or not at all prone to said ‘loneliness’ than an angelfish in captivity.

Although angelfishes are said to be a community fish, they can very much thrive on their own. A lot of their behavior also depends on how they started off their journey in the tank.

Were they alone in the tank at first and has always been alone? Then they can thrive in a healthy way. If not, they can behave a little differently when left alone by various circumstances that we will explore further.

Companionship And Isolation After One’s Death

The idea of loneliness can be further aggravated with a loss of companionship. If an angelfish can thrive in solitude, without prior companionship, then what would isolation do to it after they have a companion and it dies?

Although these two situations will keep them alone or in isolation, the process itself defines the idea of loneliness for them.

When bred in pairs and in captivity, they might start searching for their partner or might search for another mate in case a tank has a group of angelfishes. You can observe this same behavior in angelfishes in the wild.

But there is a third situation as well – what if an angelfish is kept in total isolation after having some experience of companionship.

For example, what if they are transferred to another tank away from other fishes? It is observed that the isolated angelfish might start behaving differently than the angelfish that already was in solitude from the beginning.

However, if you are in a situation where your angelfish had a companion and it has died, you should be careful while getting them a new partner. Angelfish are not desperate for companionship even though they are labeled as a community fish.

If they like their new mate, then it is a happy story. Else, it can be another season of the bachelorette or bachelor – angelfish version.

Loneliness With Respect To Not Having Their Own Kind In The Tank

There can be another aspect of loneliness – not having your own kind to interact with. Since angelfishes can thrive with a selected number of other kinds of fishes, it gets a little easier to keep them together.

They might have ‘friends’ but not any ‘mate’. Does it make any difference? Does it make them feel lonely?

Now, here is the game-changing thought – adaptability. It is almost impossible to understand if fishes have certain emotions or not. Pitting this idea against different situations would need wide research on fishes, which is not currently available.

But there is one idea that can actually give us some hints – adaptability.

Angelfishes, be it in solitude in the wild or in captivity, will try to learn how to adapt in their new territory or changed situations.

Even when they have had the experience of companionship in the past and are suddenly kept in a situation where they have to be isolated, they will try to adapt.

So if you want to keep one angelfish in a community tank, we highly recommend reading our article on that here! It will show you what can and can’t do in such a situation and it will show you how to avoid losing any fish.

Stress – Loneliness In Disguise For Angelfishes

Here is one thing about adaptability, it doesn’t happen overnight and comes with some amount of stress. Whenever there is a change in environment or situation, adaptability will come with some amount of stress, as one doesn’t want to leave their comfort zone.

This is the same thing that happens with angelfish kept in isolation after having prior experience of companionship.

So what you might be looking at can be the signs of stress more than the signs of loneliness. The thing you should focus on is to make their environment stress-free by taking into consideration their water filtration, temperature, toys, and other decoration you put up in tank.

They are not schooling fish that need companionship to thrive. But if you think that they will enjoy some company of other fishes, be it their kind or another, add them and observe.

Best Tank Mates For Angelfish

Angelfish looks graceful and pretty in a tank. They are a little high maintenance as well. But they are also very aggressive, territorial, and have a carnivorous diet.

This means that they can quite happily create a gore scene if you introduce smaller, harmless fishes to the tank. Also, their mating rituals are aggressive as well. They are named angelfish based on their appearance, not their nature.

Hence, it is important for you to introduce and breed fishes that will be able to tolerate their bossy and aggressive behavior. You wouldn’t want dead fishes floating on the top of your tank due to their aquatic fights.

Here is a recommended list of mates.

1. Tetras – Black skirt, blind cave, serape, silvertip, and bleeding hearts are the best variants of tetras that are compatible with angelfish. While cardinal and neon are also compatible with angelfish, they can be nippy and they can be easily eaten by angelfish so avoid adding them to the tank.
2. Loaches – Kuhli loaches and other loaches with elephant nose or snake loaches are compatible with angelfish. (Here are 12 further bottom-dwelling fish that do well with them!)
3. Danios, Rasboras, and Silver Dollar fish – All the three are schooling fish and would swim alongside angelfish in harmony. Their temper is not aggressive, but there are always exceptions in every case. Keep in mind that the variant you choose shouldn’t be smaller than the angelfish you have.
4. Catfish – Corydoras, Synodontis and Plecostomus are quite compatible with angelfish.

Although Gourami is also often recommended in a list like this, many pet parents have pointed out that their compatibility doesn’t work out very well. They both are territorial and can get really aggressive.

In other cases, angelfish might be able to swim peacefully alongside a different breed but may eat off their fry. This can be true for fishes such as mollies, swordtails and platys.

Freshwater angelfishes are cichlids and can thrive with other hybrids of cichlids such as blood parrotfish. You can also add discus to the tank but they are more prone to diseases and need more care.

The last piece of advice we will give you is that every fish has a personality and has its own equation with other fellow tank mates. Keep a watchful eye during their interactions and observe if they all are living in harmony.

This list is not a definitive list for compatibility and there can always be exceptions to the case.

The post Can I Keep Just One Angelfish? Do They Get Lonely? appeared first on Water World Craze.

Unfortunately, it is a bit difficult to know the gender of koi fish.

Koi fish are sexually dimorphic, meaning the males and females behave and look differently, but it is also difficult to discern. There are clues in their body shape, fins, and behaviors. The size and color is not a factor as they both have various colors and they pretty much grow in the same size.

Definitely, knowing the gender of your koi fish may be important in terms of properly naming them, but it is also essential if you want to trigger their spawn. More than that, knowing the genders will help you focus on the special needs of each gender.

If you want to know how you can tell the gender of your koi fish, then you came to the right place! Mind you, it will be a little bit difficult, but it can be done through proper observation and of course, the information that we are going to share with you. So read on!

Difficulties Of Sexing Koi Fish

We are not kidding when we say that knowing the gender of your koi fish is difficult. The reason behind this is that it is usually based on subtle differences in appearance and behavior. This is the reason why it will be hard to determine especially if your koi fish are under a foot long.

Further, it will also be easier to know their gender, if they are already old. Even yet, there might still be mistakes so you always have to recheck every once in a while. There are some people who determine the gender by looking at the size as females tend to be larger than males.

However, this is not reliable as at a young age, the males can be bigger than the females. There are also a lot of instances where they manage to grow in the same size.

Therefore, you have to look at the different aspects. In fact, you really have to gently take out your koi fish to have a closer look. Let us now take a look at the factors that can help you determine the gender of your koi fish.

How To Know The Gender Of Your Koi Fish

The following are the major factors that can help you determine the gender of your koi fish. There are still other factors, however, these things that we are going to discuss are the ones that prove to be accurate in doing so.

Age

The age of your koi is somehow proportional to his or her length. In general, they are already considered mature when they are three years old. At this age, they are approximately 10 inches long.

Therefore, if your koi fish are between three to 10 inches, it is a vital clue that it will be hard to know their gender as they are still juveniles. With that in mind, it is safe to assume that you can properly sex them once they are sexually mature.

Shape Of The Body

This is where you really have to catch your koi in order to sex him or her. Make sure that you do not do this by hand, as this will stress them. Instead, you can use a fishnet that is collapsible.

A male koi that is already mature will have a body that looks slender. On the other hand, a mature female koi will have a rounded body. This usually happens when it is already the season of spawning as the females are starting to form their eggs.

In this regard, we also recommend reading the following two articles:

• How to know if your koi fish is pregnant
• How do koi fish give birth?

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Shape Of The Fins

While your koi fish is in your collapsible fishnet, you can then examine his or her fins closely. Pay close attention to the pectoral fins. These are the fins that are on either side of your koi fish.

They are the ones that are responsible for the movement that is directional. This means that they are needed for your koi fish to go up and down as well as side to side.

The mature male pectoral fins will mostly have a solid color and it will appear pointed. As for the mature female koi, it will look more round and has a slightly transparent color.

In this factor, you should rely more on the shape and not the color. The reason behind this is that koi fish come in a variety of colors that one cannot really be sure if that is indicative of their gender. So there might be females that will have a rounded fin, but it comes in a solid color.

Vent

The next thing to look at is the vent of your koi fish. The vent is the opening that you see that is between the anus and the anal fin of your fish. This can also be called as genital papilla.

But enough of the scientific terms as what you need to look at is the line of the vent. It will look like a line that appears from the head to the tail.

If you have a mature female koi fish, that line will have a crossing which somehow forms a “T” shape. More than that, her vent will look pinker and it is generally rounder.

As for the mature male koi fish, what you have is just a straight line. At times, it might look a bit thicker than a regular line which is the case for plumper male koi fish, but it is still relatively thinner and straighter than those of mature female koi fish.

Pelvic Bones

The next things that you should look at are the pelvic bones or the pelvic girdles of your koi fish. For some fish, these are located near the gills, however, for koi fish, you have to feel around their abdomen to know where those pelvic bones are.

Usually, they are far lower than the gills and underneath the abdomen. For this factor, you actually have to feel your fish with your hands as it will be hard to know by simply looking at them.

The mature female koi fish will have a soft abdomen in between the pelvic bones. This is the case as this is where she will hold the eggs.

On the other hand, you will feel that the mature male koi fish will have fused bones and that the abdomen is slightly harder. Keep in mind that in doing this technique, it is essential that your koi fish are of sexually mature ages.

The reason behind this is that when you do this when they are younger, both the male and female will have a harder abdomen and fused bones.

Tubercles

Next up are the tubercles. However fancy this word sounds, it is just a round node that shows up on the fins and heads of your koi fish. It is still unclear when they specifically show up, but more often than not, they are apparent when it is the breeding season.

During this time, you will see white spots on the pectoral fins and heads of the mature males. As for the females, they will not have these protrusions.

It is a bit tricky to catch these tubercles because they are natural and will eventually disappear after the ‘breeding drive” of your fish are done. Also, when they are mixed with juvenile koi fish, even the males will not have these so you might wrongfully determine them as females.

Again, the key here is to determine the age first. Once you know they are sexually mature, then you can have an accurate finding.

Eating Behavior

The eating habits of your koi fish are also important especially when it is nearing the breeding season. For females, they tend to eat more aggressively. There are also times when they stay near the surface as if asking for more food.

More often than not, they will continue to forage for food even after your feeding sessions.

As for the males, they will just eat for a while and then continue swimming around, leaving the females to eat what was left of the food.

If you are looking for info on how to feed your koi correctly, we highly recommend reading our Koi Feeding Guide here!

Mating Behavior

Lastly, and this is the obvious one, it is about their mating behavior. When it is not spawning or breeding season, all of your koi fish will be behaved and will just swim around the pond. However, come breeding time, the males will start chasing the females.

Moreover, the males will bump against the female in order to encourage her to drop her eggs. If you have a lot of koi fish, you will see that two males will bump a female on either side. More often than not, the fish in the middle is a female and the other two fish are males.

Do Female Koi Fish Grow Larger Than Male Koi Fish?

Moving on to the factor that we disregarded from the start, which is the size. It is a common belief that female koi fish grow larger than male koi fish. There is actually truth to this, however, it is not a good starting point in determining the gender of your koi fish.

In order for you to understand how this information came to be, it goes way back when the koi fish were first bred. At first, they paired large koi fish. However, breeders have observed that the female koi fish gets beaten up too much during breeding.

Therefore, they decided to pair smaller male koi fish with a larger female. In this way, the female will not be harmed and will drop healthier eggs. So this pattern was repeated through generations which resulted in smaller male koi fish.

But just like what we mentioned earlier, size is not a good indication of gender. There are now several external factors that will affect the size, like the area of the pond, space, type of food, etc.

This is why it is more accurate to know the gender of your koi fish with the other factors we discussed.

The post How To Tell The Gender Of A Koi Fish appeared first on Water World Craze.

But are angelfish hardy or do you easily risk endangering their health? Fortunately, angelfish are quite hardy and they can put up with a lot of variations, whether in terms of water conditions, tanks, or different types of food.

However, as you can imagine, there are things that can make them less hardy in the long run. Let’s have a look at some of them and how you can make sure that your angelfish live a long and happy life.

What Are The Hardiest Types of Angelfish?

There are many types of angels out there, and many people who are into pet fish will surely try several species before settling on one. We’ve gone through a lot of information on the topic and from what we’ve gathered, it seems that Marble angelfish are the toughest of all the species.

Zebra and gold angels can be included in the same category, which means that they will require less effort on the part of the fish keeper.

On the other hand, some of the rarest and most challenging types of angelfish out there are Altum (sometimes called deep angelfish) and Leopoldi.

Although captive-bred varieties from these last two can be available, they are quite rare and they’re also less popular since they require more care.

Some fish keepers have noticed that smaller species seem to be less tough compared to adults. This is also due to the adults’ tendency to eat the young if they aren’t fed enough or if they have aggressive behavior or feel stressed in the tank.

What Can Make Angelfish Less Hardy?

Probably the most important factor in keeping hardy angelfish is their water condition. We couldn’t help noticing that most forums where fish keepers gather and discuss are packed with information suggesting that pristine water is the most important requirement when keeping angels.

Even though it’s true that angelfish aren’t as picky or demanding as many other species, and they don’t even need all the water in the tank replaced weekly, they do require a bit of care and maintenance.

If you want your fish to remain healthy and live for as many as five to ten years (which, by the way, is their average life span), you should make sure that you remove at least a third to a half of the tank water every week.

There are other mistakes that you can make when keeping angelfish. A quite important one is getting more angelfish and not keeping them in quarantine first. If you don’t do this, you might jeopardize the health and life of the angelfish that you’ve had for a while.

When you get your fish from a breeder who keeps them in a large colony, the likelihood of you getting an infected individual can be quite high.

Although the disease might not be visible, the quarantine might reveal it and give you time to treat it before you introduce the new angelfish into your bigger tank.

As for care, angelfish need good water movement, subdued lighting, as well as effective filtration. They can be hefty eaters, so you need to make sure that there’s as little food waste in your aquarium as possible.

As such, you might want to get the best filter that you can afford. Also, the pH of the water should be in the range of 6.8 to 7.8 and the temperature that we recommend is 80 degrees F.

Here are some of our articles we recommend you to read if you want to make sure that your angelfish stay healthy:

What to Feed Angelfish so That They Are Hardy And Healthy

Unlike other species, angelfish are omnivorous. You can give them both frozen and live food. Ideally, your angelfish should receive a balanced diet containing meaty and dry meal. High-quality flakes, glass worms, brine shrimp, and blood worms should be a part of their diet, as well.

You can feed angelfish up to three times a day, but make sure that you wait for them to finish eating before giving them more food. Ideally, you should only feed them for a couple of minutes at a time.

If you feed them a large meal and they don’t consume it all, this will negatively impact your tank environment and make the water dirty.

As weird as it might seem, taking too good care of your angelfish can cause a problem, too. Cichlids are known for being greedy, which means that they can sometimes eat in excess.

This also means that they might get fat since they tend to gorge too much. Believe it or not, if they get overweight, they can even die.

While they are still young, you should feed them 50/50 brand food and live food. The second gets them overly excited and they tend to eat too much of it, especially when they grow older.

As they reach adulthood, you should decrease the number of worms you give to them, and only keep them as rare treats. This will prevent them from becoming obese, since they’re less inclined to eat immense amounts of flakes, for example.

Incompatibility with Other Fish Can Affect Their Health

Most angelfish are peaceful, but they are cichlids, which means that they can be aggressive towards each other or towards other species. The truth is that they are actually opportunistic.

Natural selection is what governs their behavior. If they are kept in the same tank with smaller fish, even from the same species, they will try to attack them and even eat them.

If you make the mistake of adding a larger cichlid to a tank where you keep medium-sized angelfish, you’ll soon see that the addition is going to try to nibble the smaller ones’ fins.

Suitable companions for angelfish are rasboras, gouramis, and large tetras, as well as similarly sized catfish and angelfish. Ideally, you should avoid adding other angelfish to a tank in which you already keep several.

Angelfish are known for creating bonds with each other, and the new one will have a hard time adapting to the conditions and might either be ignored or attacked by the others.

You should read our following articles if you want to keep angelfish with other fish species or if you want to add more angelfish to your tank. They will show you what other fish angelfish can live with and the do’s and don’ts of keeping multiple angelfish in one tank:

Wrap-Up

In the end, what matters most is keeping your angelfish as healthy as possible. We hope that our post has shed some light on the things that you need to do to achieve that. As a final note, we’d like to ask you to avoid overestimating their hardiness.

They are sensitive to living environment changes as much as any other fish.

The post How Hardy Are Angelfish Really? appeared first on Water World Craze.

Betta fish are not sensitive to light. They thrive in natural lighting and need a proper day and night cycle. However, they can behave erratically when they are overstimulated by light. You can see this in their feeding behaviors. Therefore, there should always be a balance between light and dark.

In this article, we are going to discuss the proper light and dark cycle for your betta fishes. Also, we will talk about some of the effects of overstimulating them with light. So hush your worries as more likely than not, when you have the proper lighting, your betta fishes will do okay.

Do Betta Fish Like Light?

Yes, they absolutely adore the light! Given that they originated Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar, they are used to places with a lot of light as well as warm temperatures. Therefore, having natural sunlight for your betta fish will be perfect for them.

Just a word of caution, we are not talking about constant exposure to direct sunlight as this may also be bad for them. This is the case as the aquarium will be prone to overheating.

You really should not be concerned about your betta fishes burning in their aquarium, but constant exposure to natural sunlight can hurt their adorable but sensitive eyes. If you just place their aquarium in a spot where it isn’t exposed to the sun, you will be fine.

Effects Of Too Much Light On Your Betta Fish

Much like humans, too much exposure to light can bring some harmful effects. For us, we can get sunburned or even skin cancer, but for your betta fish, they become stressed and overstimulated. Take a look at some of the effects.

Refusal To Eat

As they are overwhelmed with light and cannot tell the day cycle from the night cycle, they can overexert themselves. Since they are so confused about what cycle it is, they will refuse food.

Illness And Injury

A stressed betta fish will surely have a lower immune system. Therefore, they are more prone to getting diseases. Also, in their weakened state, they cannot evade other fishes that are bullying them (if they live in a community aquarium) so the chances of them getting injured are high.

Lethargy

As your betta fish is confused as to when he is going to eat, play, sleep, etc. he will just keep on swimming and doing a lot of activity while there is too much light. You might just find him at the bottom of the aquarium when he is too weak to even do anything.

In this article, we show you 5 signs of lethargy in betta fish. If you notice these, you should be alarmed!

What Are The Lighting Needs Of Betta Fish

As we have already established that betta fishes are not sensitive to light, but they should also not be overexposed to light, it is a matter of finding the right balance.

More than that, it is also important to use the right lighting in such a case where you do not want to go natural in terms of lighting.

Natural Lighting

Although this type of light is good for betta fishes as this is what they are used to, it is not that highly recommended. The reason for this is that constant exposure to the natural sunlight causes the influx of algae in the aquarium.

This algae growth can pollute the water which can then lead to the formation of harmful bacteria in the aquarium. Also, as we have mentioned earlier, the natural light can affect the water temperature as the tank somehow acts as a magnifying glass (especially for small ones)

Unsteady water temperature levels can stress your betta fishes and can be even the cause of their deaths. So in the event that you plan to go the natural lighting route, it requires a lot of checking and maintenance.

You should also make sure that you put the aquarium in a place where there will be shaded areas so your fishes have an area where they can cool down.

Artificial Lighting

In the event that you want to use artificial lighting in your aquarium, the most important thing to note is that you should pick one that will not alter the water temperature in your aquarium. As far as temperature goes, it is okay for it to be between 74 to 78 degrees Fahrenheit.

If it goes higher, it can be dangerous to your betta fishes. So make sure that you keep the temperature in those levels. Here are some artificial lighting tips:

• Incandescent bulbs are not that efficient as they give more heat compared to light. It is as if they are “mini suns” They will not do well in small aquariums.
• LED lights are a good option as they mimic natural light, but they do not encourage the growth of algae. They also do not consume much energy, so your electricity bill will not suffer.
• Fluorescent light bulbs are also a good option next to LED lights. These are mostly used by people who have betta fishes.

Balance The Day Cycle And Night Cycle

Betta fish are diurnal fishes. This simply means that pretty much like humans, when the sun is up it means that we go on with our daily activities, and when the sun goes down, it is time to go for bed.

Therefore, your betta fishes should know when it is time to play and eat and when it is time to rest. This is why it is important to turn off the lights in your aquarium.

Your betta fishes need at least 8 to 12 hours of light and 12 to 16 hours of darkness. So do not forget when you should turn on and turn off their lights.

For a lot of betta fish owners, they sometimes forget to turn on the lights as they leave it to natural sunlight. But you should keep in mind that too much darkness can also be harmful. It can affect their colors and the overall ph level of the water.

How To Maintain A Proper Light And Dark Cycle

By this time, you know that having a proper day and light cycle is crucial for the lives of your betta fishes. There should always be a balance as too much light and darkness can have some consequences for them.

Of course, you also have your life and you have to go to work or go on social events. So you really cannot always check on the light and temperature in your aquarium. What can you do?

You can simply purchase lights with a timer. In this way, all you have to do is to plug in your lights and set the time on when they should be on and off. You can go about your day without even thinking if you turned on the light in your aquarium.

A good artificial lighting system that comes with a timer is the Nicrew Full Spectrum LED Light. It has three different lighting functions and modes wherein you can fully customize the lighting based on the needs of your betta fishes. This time here is awesome – you can check it out here!

The post Are Betta Fish Sensitive To Light? appeared first on Water World Craze.

Are your betta fish going to live a long and happy life in a small tank? The answer is no they are not happy, and they will eventually get sick and die because of the poor habitat.

A little too harsh? Good!

Many fish stores sell betta fish in smaller tanks. This is for practical and economic reasons, not because it’s great for the fish. Male fish cannot live with other bettas on a regular basis, so in order to get the most fish on the shelves, stores have to place them in separate small containers.

If they placed them in a big tank, the male betta fish would all fight and there wouldn’t be any product left to sell.

When people think of betta fish, they often imagine them in a glass bowl with some kind of funky live plant. Often these beautifully colored fish are seen as decorations and centerpieces rather than pets. This is not beneficial to the fish in any way.

There are many things to keep in mind when purchasing a tank for your betta fish. Here are five things you have to think about.

What Size Of Tank Does My Betta Need?

Betta fish are just like other fish, they need the room to swim around and enjoy their home. It’s recommended that the minimum tank size for one betta fish is 5 gallons. Keep in mind that everything you put inside the tank will also affect the amount of water you can put in the tank.

So if you have a regular 5-gallon tank, there will be less than 5 gallons of water if you cram the tank full of decorations.

Also, remember that you’ll possibly need a filtration system or oxygenation system of some kind. If your tank is filled to the edge and you add an oxygen pump, you might have a bit of a mess on your hands. Any tank you get still needs to have a bit of room at the top.

Betta fish are extremely active fish, that’s why they need space to swim around. If they can’t do that, they will become lethargic over time. In this article, we show you how an active betta should behave and how to detect lethargy in betta fish – you should never buy a lethargic betta.

If you have more than one betta, you’re going to want to get a bigger tank. You don’t necessarily need to double the size if you have two, but you certainly need to add a couple of gallons. The fish will all want their own space.

The typical ratio is 2:1 of gallons per inch of fish. Bettas can get up to three inches in length. If you have two of similar size in the same tank, you’ll want twelve gallons of water.

 The Sex Of Your Beta Fish

Male betta fish are very territorial and aggressive toward other male bettas. They cannot be placed into the same tank or they will fight. Even if you put them in tanks right next to each other they will start acting up.

Flaring (when they flash out their beards) will occur and that means the fish are about to get down to business. The video below shows how that looks.

Females can live together, but they shouldn’t live with males. Breeding bettas is a tricky task because male fish cannot easily cohabitate with others of its own kind.

If you plan to have females in the tank, remember they can get mean, too. Especially if there’s only two. They’ll definitely get on each other’s nerves. Experts recommend keeping at least five females, known as a sorority, so this will have an impact on how large of a tank you get as well.

How To Tell The Difference Between Males And Females

When trying to figure out the sex of your betta you need to be looking at grown, mature fish. Looking at fry that aren’t fully grown will mean you aren’t necessarily seeing all of the indicators of the sex.

Males

• Will be more vibrant and colorful;
• Have much longer fins;
• Have bigger beards;
• Look at you straight on when they are flaring;
• Longer and thinner than females; and
• Make bubble nests when ready to mate.

Females

• Usually less colorful than males;
• Have shorter fins than males;
• Beards are not as large;
• May point their head down when flaring;
• Wider and shorter than males;
• Show vertical stripes when ready to mate; and
• Will have an egg spot between their ventral and anal fins once fully matured.

Is This Going To Be A Community Tank?

Betta fish are territorial and aggressive, but they are capable of getting along with other species of fish. It’s important that fish owners research which fish will work best with the bettas to avoid unintended fights and potential deaths.

The personality of the other fish you are thinking about adding to the tank has to be considered. Fish that like to nibble on the fins of others are a definite no-no. Also, larger, more colorful fish may seem intimidating to your bettas. This can cause aggression fighting in your tank.

You’ll also want to avoid goldfish and any fish that have fins similar to that of a betta. Any fish that requires drastically different water conditions than your betta should also not be considered.

Don’t worry, though. There are several types of fish that can live with bettas including:

• Guppies;
• African Dwarf Frogs;
• Ghost Shrimp;
• Some tetras; and
• Some catfish.

Make sure to talk to your local pet store before purchasing any fish. You don’t want to have a tank full of fish fighting. It’s inhumane and expensive, to say the least.

If you’re struggling to decide which fish to put with your bettas, do the research first. And remember, every fish has different tank size requirements. When you introduce other species to the tank you’ll have to adjust the size of the tank for the space they’ll need.

Live Plants Or Oxygen Pump

Just like any other fish, your betta needs to have oxygen in the tank. Without oxygen, it will struggle to breathe and will likely just hang out at the bottom of the tank.

Keeping your bettas in a glass vase can make it difficult for them to get all of the oxygen they need. Unmoving, unfiltered water has less oxygen than clean, moving water.

Think of a pond and a river. Ponds tend to have less water movement and are often stagnant and smell terrible. When you’re next to a river though, you can sometimes see straight to the bottom and it smells fresh and clean.

It’s the same with the water in your pet’s tank.

Filtration

It’s important to have a proper filtration system (like this one) in your betta’s tank. The murkier the water is, the less room there is for oxygen. Some people will change the water in their tank more often if they don’t have a water filter, and this can work.

However, if you can’t commit to changing the water out every couple of days a filtration system is definitely the way to go in a smaller tank.

The larger the tank is, the larger your filter will need to be. The filter that can efficiently clean a 10-gallon tank is not going to work nearly as well on a 50-gallon tank. Sometimes you may even want to have more than one filter running at a time.

Keep in mind the more fish that you have in your tank, the quicker it will get dirty. Fish waste can be a serious problem for the quality of the water in your tank.

If you have a large community of fish or more than one in a small tank, the water will get dirtier much faster with disastrous results. This will mean you require a larger filter or you’ll have to clean the tank more often.

If you add bottom feeders to the mix it will help with the natural filtration of the tank. Just remember they have to be compatible with your bettas!

Live Plants

Live plants are a great way to add to the tank’s ecosystem. Not only do they look beautiful, but they also add oxygen to the tank while filtering out harmful things like carbon dioxide and ammonia.

Depending on your personality, you may want to get plants that are low maintenance. This means you’ll want to stick to green plants for your tank. If you want to have red plants in your tank you will have to adjust nutrients and lighting so they can remain healthy.

This may have a negative effect on your bettas or other fish.

Fortunately, there is a variety of plants to choose from including:

• Amazon Sword
• Java Fern
• Water Wisteria
• Java Moss; and
• Green Tiger Lotus

If you want other options, make sure you talk to someone from the fish department at your local pet store.

Oxygen Pump and Air Stone

Another way to get oxygen into the tank is to purchase a pump (this pump is a bargain – click here). Pumps will circulate the water in the tank and bring oxygen to all corners of your tank. If you have a large tank you may need more than one pump to keep the water properly circulated.

If you want a more decorative look, you can always go for an air stone like this one. These can be a lot more fun and bring a lot of oxygen (and personality) to the tank.

Air stones are not really stones, they are decorations that have a small pump inside them that releases bubbles of air into the tank. A common decoration is the treasure chest that releases a bubble every thirty seconds or so.

Are You Dividing Your Tank Up?

One way that some fish owners keep several male bettas in their tank at a time is by dividing their tanks into sections.

There are many DIY ways to create dividers in your fish tank. You can also purchase tank dividers here if you’re not extremely crafty.

A 20-gallon tank can be divided into four 5 gallon tanks using only three dividers. With four areas to house fish, you can keep several males, or a few sororities of females, too.

Benefits Of Dividing A Tank

When you divide up a fish tank you’ll have a material that the water can flow through. This means that while the fish cannot get through the dividers, the filtration system can still work as can any oxygen pumps you put into place.

This will mean there is less maintenance for you. Having several separate tank setups means double or triple the work in upkeep so your fish remain healthy. With one big tank divided up, you’ll only need to maintain that one.

Another benefit is that you can own several species of fish that normally can’t cohabitate. If you want to have some goldfish and some bettas, you can do that with a divided tank.

It’s also handy if you’re breeding your bettas. Rather than have the male live in its own separate tank, you can have it living next door to the females. This will make the transfer in and out of the female’s tank much quicker and easier.

What To Consider When Picking Out Divider Material

Anytime you add anything to your tank you have to consider how the material may affect your fish.

For example, if you choose to use perforated cardboard to divide up your tank, it will eventually rot and disintegrate. Some metals will also rust or oxidize, releasing dangerous chemicals into your fish’s ecosystem.

Plastic, acrylic or silicone dividers work the best, just make sure there are no jagged edges that the bettas can catch their fins on.

Your dividers will also need to limit visibility. If your male bettas see each other, they will get stressed out. Agitated and stressed out fish are similar to humans. Undue stress will have negative effects on their health.

Also, the betta may try to attack the fish through the divider. This can lead to injuries and potentially damaged dividers.

If there is no airflow between the dividers you might as well have several different tanks. The oxygen and water need to be able to move around freely in the tank. This means that while your divider needs to block the sight of the other fish, it still has to allow circulation.

No circulation means more work for you.

You’ll want to make sure your dividers are going to stay in place when you put them in the tank. When purchasing dividers, some of them come with suction cups to hold the divider in place.

Make sure they are securely in place, because if they slip your fish will fight and you’ll have to buy new bettas.

There are other ways to hold your divider in place besides suction cups. Some people cut the material to the exact size and glue it into place. Others hold it in place with decorations or binder clips at either end that have been glued into place.

Just double-check the chemicals in the glue. You don’t want to introduce hazardous chemicals into the tank with your fish. Also, some glues may break down over time if they remain submerged in water.

Finally, you’ll want to make sure it’s a complete divider. This might seem like a no-brainer, but if there is even a centimeter of water over the top the fish may see each other.

Betta fish have been known to jump, so there is nothing stopping them from jumping the divider and attacking its neighbor.

It should also cover from side to side completely. Any wiggle room on either side of the tank can mean fish fights or injuries.

Drawbacks Of Dividers

The biggest consideration here are diseases. Unlike housing your betta fish in separate tanks, when one fish falls ill, it will spread throughout the tank.

This is really no different than having a regular community of fish in an undivided tank, but with the dividers in place, it might be easy to forget that they’re all living in the same water.

The other thing to consider is that sometimes even though a betta cannot see the other fish in the tank, they can still sense that it is there.

They don’t have a great sense of smell, but if both are hanging out at the divider, they are close enough to smell any waste the other fish might be releasing.

This can cause stress for your fish and may lead to illness or listlessness. If that happens, you may need to consider returning to separate tanks for your little ones.

In Summary

Betta fish are just like any other fish. They have their own health requirements and their own personalities. Besides that, they are also extremely intelligent and can even learn to interact with humans – read our article on that here!

A small tank will not give your fish the freedom it deserves and you are putting its health at risk when you do so.

Avoid the 1 or 2-gallon vases and get yourself a proper 5-gallon tank for your betta. They will have longer, happier lives.

The post Are Betta Fish Happy In A Small Tank? What They Really Need appeared first on Water World Craze.

But, are betta fish hardy? Yes, betta fish are hardier than many other types of fish. Bettas can survive in water with lower oxygen levels and they need less space than other species. While easier to keep, bettas aren’t low maintenance pets and have to be properly cared for to thrive. Otherwise, they can get sick and die.

Although this is a rather short answer, it will satisfy your curiosity for now. Continue reading to find out the most common betta fish diseases and how to keep your betta healthy and strong.

How Hardy Are Betta Fish?

Although they are one the hardiest aquarium fish, bettas can still get sick and die just like any other less resilient species.

You have probably seen bettas living in vases with nothing except a plant on top to feed them. While it is true that they can survive in these conditions, they won’t be happy or healthy living contained in a tiny bowl or a container.

Bettas need filtration, warm and clean water, spacious tanks, regular feeding, environment enrichment like plants and caves to remain healthy and strong. Even the hardiest betta will be susceptible to diseases and waste away without these basic things.

The most common diseases to affect betta fish are:

1. Fin Rot

Fin rot is a bacterial infection that eats away the fins, leaving a majestic betta looking crippled. In most cases, this condition is the result of poor water conditions that stress the betta and lower her immune system’s ability to fight off the disease.

If left untreated, fin rot will work its way into your betta’s body, and eventually, kill it.

Treatment consists of complete water change and medication for the initial bacterial infection. Furthermore, anti-fungal medications are also used to prevent any chances of a secondary infection.

2. Ich

Ich, also known as white spot disease is one of the most common and persistent parasite infections in freshwater fish.

The first sign of this disease is a few white spots on betta’s body, fins, and gills that look a lot like a grain of salt. However, these tiny spots are actually cysts that contain the immature stage of the parasite known as tomites.

An infected betta will rub against any surface in the tank or clamp the fins as it tries to get rid of the parasites. This condition is highly contagious and deadly if not spotted in time and treated.

Treatment includes rising the water temperature and using malachite green or other ich treatments that will encourage the cysts to detach and burst.

3. Velvet

Also known as rust, or gold dust disease, velvet is caused by parasites found in the tank’s water. An affected betta will look like its covered in gold dust or rust and will start rubbing against anything in the tank.

The treatment for velvet looks a lot like the treatment for ich and includes raising the temperature of the water, diming the light inside the tank, and treating the betta with malachite green.

You should know that velvet is highly curable when diagnosed on time, thus your betta will have a good chance of surviving.

4. Bloat

Bloat, also known as dropsy or edema is a common problem for many bettas. This condition is characterized by a swelled abdomen which causes the scales to stand out.

Overfeeding is the most common cause of bloating, however, bacteria, viruses, and parasites can also be to blame. A bloated betta might have breathing difficulties, decreased appetite and act lethargic.

Treating bloat is relatively easy and includes fasting your betta until the bloating subsides and then adjusting its diet accordingly.

Care Tips For Keeping Your Betta Hardy

As I stated earlier, bettas are hardier than most other aquarium species, but even the heartiest betta will get sick and fade away if not taken care of properly.

Contrary to popular belief bettas are not low maintenance pets, but taking care of them won’t be hard once you get used to the routine.

Here are some tips for keeping your betta healthy and strong:

1. Spacious Tank

Indeed, bettas don’t need a lot of space compared to other fish species, but keeping one in a container is out of the question! To keep your betta healthy, opt for a 5-gallon tank at least. But if possible, bigger is always better. We show you here how you should set up the tank!

2. Keep The Water Clean

While bettas can survive in poor water conditions, they won’t thrive and will eventually get sick. Thus, you should invest in a filter and do weekly partial water changes.

3. Get A Heater

Bettas don’t like cold and their preferred water temperature is between 76 and 82°F. So, unless your home is already heated to this exact temperature, you should consider investing in a tank heater.

4. Appropriate Diet

Bettas are carnivorous and will need a specific diet that reflects that. To stay hardy your betta will need to eat varied foods such as insects, insect larvae, specialized betta food pellets, and freeze-dried grub.

Make sure to feed your betta twice a day and only as much as it can eat in a couple of minutes.

5. Tank Accessories

To keep your betta hardy make sure to add plants and caves inside the tank. Live plants are always better and will create fun places for your betta to explore or hide in.

Caves and other decorations can also serve as hiding spots and will transform a dull-looking aquarium into a cozy and betta-friendly environment.

6. Cycle The Tank

Putting your new betta in an uncycled tank isn’t a good idea, and it will lower its immune system making it susceptible to bacterial, viral, and parasite infections.

Thus, before you bring a betta home, make sure that you have a cycled tank prepared and ready for the new inhabitant.

Where To Get A Hardy Betta Fish: Breeders or Pet Stores?

Bettas got their reputation for being hardy because they can survive in tiny cups. And if you have ever been in any pet store you have probably seen many bettas living this way.

However, surviving and thriving isn’t the same thing!

Bettas that are kept in these conditions can’t stay hardy for long and usually have a lowered immune system. Furthermore, there is a big chance that they are already sick but without any notable symptoms.

In most cases, these bettas can’t live long and will die sooner rather than later even if properly cared for in their forever home.

On the other hand, a reputable breeder is aware that bettas aren’t happy in small spaces and would never subject his fish to any harm. Furthermore, the breeder will know what type of food the betta needs, how to keep the tank clean, and will interact with his fish daily.

As a result, these bettas are hardier, healthier, happier, and will live longer. Of course, they might also get sick, but chances of that happening are significantly lower.

Hence, you might want to consider buying from a breeder and paying a bit more for a fit and lively betta than getting one from a pet store and watch as it gets sick a month later.

Also, you want to make sure that you buy a very active betta fish. We show you in this article how active the betta fish you buy should be!

Besides that, we also show you how you can detect lethargy in betta fish. Lethargy is always a bad sign as this can show that something is wrong with the fish – either mentally or physically.

The post Are Betta Fish Hardy? 6 Things You MUST Do appeared first on Water World Craze.

For an experienced fish keeper, they are quite easy to care for. However, as with any other fish species, there are some caveats. They don’t react well to inconsistent or wide variations in water chemistry.

Even though they are not extremely active swimmers, they do need a fairly decent amount of space in the tank. They have a somewhat large size, which means that they require a tank with great depth.

There are many factors you need to keep in mind when getting angelfish. Continue to read to learn what makes keeping angelfish hard for most people and what you need to do to keep happy and healthy angelfish!

1. What Makes Angelfish Hard To Keep?

Both their requirements in terms of tank size and food can make them a little more challenging to care for compared to other popular aquarium fish species. They also have several health problems that they can suffer from, and these can affect the other species that live in the same tank.

1.1 Angelfish Virus

If an angelfish has been infected with this virus, it will show a considerable lack of energy, it will swim unnaturally with the fins kept close to the body, and it will also produce an excess amount of slime on the surface of the body.

Some fish point their noses up and stop moving altogether.

Secondary infections can develop due to the fish’s inability to move. The infectious period of the disease lasts for about three weeks, but the majority of the angelfish don’t survive for more than several days.

This disease is spread either by placing an infected fish in the same tank or by placing a non-immune angelfish in a tank where there’s one that’s currently infected.

1.2 Hexamita

Hexamita is a parasitic disease that spreads throughout the body of the angelfish. The fish stops eating and starts producing white and stringy feces. Sometimes, it can spread to the head and along the fish’s lateral body lines, where it can produce large holes.

If the parasite spreads and reaches the internal organs, it will cause death.

In their natural habitat, angelfish aren’t normally affected by Hexamita. However, some fish experts believe that a lack of fresh plant material in the diet of angelfish, along with poor water conditions, could be two causes.

1.3 Velvet Disease

Also known as Gold Dust Disease, this is another parasitic medical condition.

If an angelfish is affected by this disease, it can be coated in gold, green, or brown particles, breathe more rapidly than normal, exhibit less energy, eat less, as well as rub itself against objects or decorative plants in the tank.

Some fish might also produce higher amounts of slime and could keep their fins at their sides. The parasites can effectively burst from the skin of the angelfish, which means that they create the perfect entryway for bacteria and other germs present in the tank.

Angelfish can get infected with the parasite if an infected fish was placed in the aquarium, if the tank substrate contains it or if some aspects regarding the aquarium setting for angelfish have been compromised.

1.4 Other Diseases

The health of angelfish isn’t affected by the three diseases that we have described above. Some of the other things that can harm them are Ich, mouth fungus, flukes, anchor worms, Popeye, as well as dropsy.

2. What’s Easy About Keeping Angelfish?

Compared to other difficult cichlids, angelfish are more or less beginner-friendly. If you don’t feel ready for a saltwater tank, you can choose freshwater angelfish as they are perhaps easier to care for.

The most important aspect of keeping healthy angelfish is making sure that they have the right living conditions, the correct food, as well as the right companions. As we have noted in the section above, they can be sensitive to a variety of infectious agents.

Ideally, you should carefully inspect the food that you intend to give to your fish. Wild-caught prey is a no-go, in this case, as it could contain parasites or other microorganisms that could affect the angelfish’s health.

If you plan on adding a new fish to your community tank, make sure that you quarantine it for a minimum of two to four weeks. This will allow you to observe it and see whether it’s healthy.

3. How Picky Are They When It Comes To Food?

By nature, freshwater angelfish are omnivorous. They do tend to prefer a meat-based diet, though. In the wild, they feed on aquatic invertebrates and small crustaceans, but in a home aquarium, they accept a broad array of foods.

You can offer your angelfish a diet composed of pellets and cichlid flakes. You could supplement it with live foods, as well as freeze-dried or frozen foods. Generally, angelfish enjoy brine shrimp, bloodworms, white worms, as well as other crustaceans and even small insects.

Since they are omnivorous, they can also benefit from the addition of plant matter to their diet, such as fresh vegetables or algae wafers. Frozen and live foods can be fed either as treats or to induce spawning.

Ideally, you should rotate their diet on a day-to-day basis and only feed what they can consume over several minutes 2 to 4 times a day.

The rest of the food that they might not eat will affect the quality of the water over time, so there’s no point in feeding them extra if you notice that they have no appetite.

4. How To Ensure The Right Living Conditions For Your Angelfish

Angelfish need a deeper tank because as they grow, their anal and dorsal fins develop, as well as their pelvic fins. It’s not unusual to see an angelfish grow until it reaches a foot in height.

An aquarium that measures at least 16 to 18 inches is recommended. Otherwise, the fins aren’t going to develop properly. Many fish breeders have seen angelfish with bent dorsal fins or damaged anal fins if they were raised in a tank that was too shallow.

A 20-gallon high tank would be the minimum size required, but a 29-gallon one would be even better. This size is the correct one if you intend to grow a group of six to eight juveniles. If you can afford it and you have enough space in your home, try getting a 55 to 75-gallon tank.

Tall aquariums are the best when it comes to accommodating the body shape of angelfish. But how can you know just what size is suited for the number and exact breed of angelfish that you own?

To make it easier for you to find out, we’ve put together a table that you can check out below.

If you’ve purchased a tank from a thrift store or online and you don’t know its size, you can use a method to calculate the capacity that your angelfish need.

Some breeders think that 1 inch per gallon is not enough as this would lead to an overstocked tank and the potential for the fish to develop health problems.

To keep the water quality on par without having to perform any changes too frequently, you can utilize a 1 inch per 2 gallons rule. Keep in mind that angelfish are extremely sensitive to poor water quality, so having more space means having fresh water for a longer amount of time.

The recommended temperature range for angelfish is between 75 and 84 degrees Fahrenheit. If your tank is kept in a room below 75 °F, use an aquarium heater to increase the temperature.

The water should be slightly soft, with a hardness between 5 and 18 dH. Replace around 10 to 25% of the water once or twice a month and make sure to treat tap water using a conditioner before refilling the aquarium.

Freshwater angelfish are native to the Amazon River, which means that they prefer a somewhat acidic pH environment (between 6.0 and 7.5). They thrive in a densely planted setup.

For more information on angelfish tanks, read our article on the right tank size for angelfish here! It will not only show you the right tank size, but also the right tank shapes for angelfish – not all shapes are good for them!

5. Do Angelfish Accept Companions?

Since angelfish are omnivorous, they can prey on smaller fish. They are opportunistic and eat almost anything they have in sight. They are usually peaceful, but they can be particularly territorial if they have developed a stable nuclear family.

There are species that can also stress the angelfish as they tend to dart incessantly about the tank. These are rasboras, danios, and rainbowfish, so you should avoid keeping angelfish in the same tank with them.

Tetras can be nippy with angelfish, as well, so they do not make the best choice of companions.

Some of the ideal companions are surface-dwelling hatchet fish and killies. If you have a tank larger than 75 gallons, you can choose a group of festivums, especially since they tend to live in the same environment in the wild as angelfish.

Other good bottom-dwelling companions are kribensis. Most catfish, loaches, mollies, dwarf gouramis, as well as oddballs, can be kept in the same tank, as is the case with African butterflyfish.

We have listed 12 bottom-dwelling fish that do quite well with angelfish in this article – read it here!

Try not to mix different angelfish species together as they might behave aggressively toward one another since they can compete for resources and territory.

Oscars and Convicts are a no-go with angelfish, and barbs should be avoided because they can harass freshwater angelfish to the point that they bite their trailing fins.

If you want to keep multiple angelfish in one tank or if you want to keep you angelfish with other fish, we highly recommend reading our articles on that below. They will show you how to avoid that any of your fish get hurt or even killed.

Verdict

For an experienced fish carer, angelfish aren’t really hard to keep.

Extensive research is required if you have never had tropical fish before since as we have shown in this post, angelfish can suffer from diseases and have their own requirements in terms of tank size, water conditions, and diet.

The post Are Angelfish Hard To Keep? 5 Facts You Must Know appeared first on Water World Craze.