The Seven Essentials of Keeping Pet Fish

In Aquariums, Fish Bowls, and Ponds

This page contains a short list of the most important essential care that your fish must have to live in good health with a minimum of stress, disease, and other problems. Every responsible fish keeper should know the information on this page.

A Brief Summary

1.  Match the fish with an appropriate home, which could be a Fish Bowl, an Aquarium with or without a heater, or a Pond.2.  Getting Started. The first few days of starting a Fish Bowl, Aquarium, or Pond are the most risky and stressful for the fish. Reduce this risk by following the advice given in this site. 3.  Change 20% of the water twice a week. Use bottled drinking water for Fish Bowls and tap water for Aquariums and Ponds. 4.  A least once a month give your fish's home a good cleaning. 5.  Twice a day feed your fish the correct floating food, so they get plenty to eat. Be sure all the food is eaten, and none of the food is left to pollute the water. 6.  Every day look carefully at your fish for Signs of Stress and Disease. If you see Signs of Stress and Disease, immediately give your fish the Recommended Treatment.7.  Also carefully look at your water. If the water is cloudy, foamy, or smelly, take immediate corrective action Match the Fish with an Appropriate Home.  Fish are hardy and have the capacity to adjust to many changes in their environment. Fish show Signs of Stress and Disease, when their environment lacks something essential such as oxygen, or their environment has an excess of something intolerable such as fish waste. With good planning and systematic maintenance the fish's environment can be controlled and most fish problems can be avoided The most important factor in successfully keeping any fish is to match that fish with an appropriate environment, which has enough space, the proper equipment, and compatible tank mates These are appropriate inhabitants for a 1.5-gallon Fish Bowl. Ten small goldfish are not appropriate fish for a 1.5-gallon Fish Bowl. In fact one small goldfish won't do well in a Fish Bowl, because that one goldfish, given the proper care and feeding, will quickly outgrow the Fish Bowl. Feed your Fish Properly. Feed your fish twice a day. Feed only floating food, live food, or frozen food. Do not feed pieces of dry food that sink. Goldfish must eat food that is labeled for Goldfish, and Tropical Fish eat a different kind of food that is labeled for Tropical Fish, so for this reason and several other reasons Goldfish and Tropical Fish are not compatible and should not be kept in the same aquarium. Give your fish several small feedings each time you feed them. Be sure all your fish get plenty to eat, and be sure they eat all the food you give them, so there are no uneaten leftovers to pollute the water. Remove all uneaten bits of food with a small net after about 10 minutes.