#i feel like there is so much husbandry on tumblr that it's gotta be a thing right? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

hella-free-space · 7 years

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Could you refer me somewhere to learn about taking care of fish? I'm hoping to move out of my house in the next year and get a few more pets, but when I was younger fish seemed to be the only animal I ever had that I couldn't care for and I don't want to get one if I run the risk of letting it get sick or die

Hey there @kat-astrophe! :D If you were younger, it’s very possible that you weren’t given all the fishkeeping tools + knowledge to be successful and that the fish you kept didn’t die because of you or anything you did

Next up, fish will get sick. They just will :T But pretty much any animal will at some point, so don’t let that deter you from getting into fishkeeping! If you want to be extra prepared to handle fish illness stock up on meds like kanaplex, metroplex, aquarium salt, epsom salt, ichx, api general cure, etc. I’m sure there’s a few posts floating around on tumblr about Fishy First Aid kits and what should go in them. If anyone has any meds to add, please do! :p

“Taking care of fish” is a very broad topic (it’s actually an entire hobby + community ;D) and there’s no one resource I can point you to that will have all the info you’re going to need to take care of any one species of fish. However, there are a BUNCH of articles, posts, groups, blogs, and youtubers that I can suggest to you! :) Hopefully this post is a jumping-off point for your research and possibly getting into The Hobby and enjoying these awesome aquatic creatures! :)this post got really long and rambly, so under a cut it goes~

Important Note: Fish. Do. Not. Go. In. Bowls. Don’t do it.

There are some basics when it comes to caring for fish + setting up a tank! :3 This post goes through the basic supplies you’ll need for setting up most fish tanks and provides an overview of the equipment that’s available (like the different kinds of filters!) in the hobby, as well as a crash course on the nitrogen cycle at the end.

Speaking of cycling, it’s probably the most important part of The Hobby :) This article provides a more in-depth explanation than the one I included at the end of the guide, linked above, and also provides some more resources on the subject at the end!

Water changes are also an integral part of fish husbandry and this post explains why water changes are so important and how to determine what kind of water changes you should do for your tank(s)! :p

Most Fishblr / Aquablr / Bettablr posts are also going to be helpful and most blogs on Tumblr will be more conservative and cautious in fishkeeping than those outside of the Fishblr+ community, *especially* with stocking.

So, on tumblr, if you ask anyone if you can keep 5 neons in a 5 gallon, they’re probably going to say “No! I’m sorry but that’s really much too small for a school of fish :/ Not many fish can live in a 5 gallon, let alone a school of fish. Neons are also pretty active and require 15-20 gallons minimum for a good size school of 6-8″ (and that’s also the advice that I would personally give) while if you ask someone on a fish forum or on a facebook group the same question, you’ll get some mixed answers. Some of those answers will be “no, that’s WAY too small.” or “Minimum school size is 6 so no” (I also agree that the minimum shoal or school size should be 6 and not 5 but that’s a tangent) and you’ll also get answers like “Yeah, they’re pretty small fish and would do fine in a 5 gallon” or “Yes! :) I have a similar setup!”

But then you’re like “BUT WHO’S RIGHT? WHOSE ADVISE DO I TAKE??” and that’s where I gotta say that you have to take all the advice you receive with a grain of salt, and then do what’s in the best interest of the fish.

My personal philosophy when it comes to fishkeeping (and animal husbandry in general) is “Fish first.” There’s going to be a lot of conflicting information, especially when it comes to finding care sheets (I definitely recommend reading/looking for more than just one care sheet/resource on any given species), so I do my best to choose the larger minimum (”minimum tank size” and stocking are probably some of the most debated things in The Hobby. This article goes over determining minimum tank size and I found it really informative and helpful. More food for thought on the subject of minimum tank sizes.

On that note, I’d also like to just insert that longer tanks >>>>>>>> taller tanks. Fish swim side to side, not up and down, and a tank that is longer than it is tall is almost always a better purchase. (example: 20 long > 20 tall, any rectangular/square tank > any hexagonal/column tank) Also consider tank foot print, since some fish don’t use the entire water column. Take corydoras, for example. They’re bottom dwellers and most of the time they don’t swim up into the water column. Most corydora sp. have a minimum tank size of 20-30 gallons. Lets say you have a 20 gallon column tank and a 20 gallon long tank. The 20 column is going to have 1-1.5 sq feet of floor space compared to the 2.7 sq ft of floor space that the 20 long provides. In this case, the floor space matters more than the gallonage of the tank, because of this species specifics needs. Keep things like that in mind when setting up a tank :) It’s not just for you to look at! You’re also creating a home + habitat for an animal, so sometimes you might have to remind yourself that their needs > your aesthetic.

If I have any more tidbits to add onto this post, I will, but there’s just SO MUCH information and I don’t think I could ever include it all in one post :p If you ever have any specific questions, tho, feel free to ask :)

This legendary Master Post has A TON of articles + posts to peruse (not all about fish, but a good portion) and I suggest at least looking over the care sheets and other articles listed.Some fishkeeping youtube channels (this post mentioned Tanked. Cool to watch, NOT cool to take stocking or aquarium advice from.) Steenfott Aquatics isn’t listed but he seems like a popular dude too :3Facebook groups and forums are also good for quick references and opinions. I don’t post in any Forums (most ‘forums’ are actually just facebook groups now, since they’re easier to access + use tbh, but when googling stuff, dedicated, fishkeeping forum threads tend to pop up a lot), but I’m a member of a few betta groups and then a few general fishkeeping FB groups like Fish Tank Talk, Sane Fish Husbandry, Fish Tank Addicts, and Steenfott Aquatics.

As a last little note, I’d just like to add a disclaimer:I suffer from Multiple Tank Syndrome (MTS) and so do many of my fellow fishkeepers. You may eventually suffer from MTS as well, because you can’t just have one fish tank.

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