Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The first aqua experience

Cheeru loves pets. He started to have a great fascination for fish when he saw the movie "Finding Nemo". In fact, he could even recognise so many fishes when he was barely two and half.

So, this little interest of cheeru encouraged us to set up an aquarium for him. But where do we go. We were not aware of any big aqua shop in bangalore. And even if we knew it, the fishes would probably die before we could ship it. So bad is the pollution, traffic and environment here.

When we went to Chennai, we happened to visit the kolathur area . We were so surprised to see so many whole sale aquarium shops there. There was one big shop called "Taiyo" which had a huge area with so many tanks exclusively for fish. Wow..what an amazing collection of fish. So many varieties - gold fish, sucker cat, red tail fish, eel fish, arowana, belly fish, guppy fish and may more. I even fail to get their names. There are even vegetarian fish which eat fruits and greens!!! Cheeru was so excited to see them all. He held the tender fish with his tender hands without a trace of fear. I could see the love he had for these creatures. He was really really thrilled.

The owner of the shop Mr.Ramesh was very courteous and had a very good knowledge of the fish - the food they ate, the temperature they live, the medications they need, their sensitivity to changing climate, the breeding conditions, etc etc. So, we felt comfortable in going and setting up an aquarium at our home in Bangalore

So, here are some tips if you want to set up an aquarium in your home if you are in Bangalore.

1. Choose an tank that suits your needs in terms of number of fish you wish to keep. If you want to keep around a dozen of small fish, then an ideal size would be a 2 feet tank. This will hold 12 - 14 fishes. If you are putting only guppi fish, then a 2 ft tank can hold around 200 of them..
1. Select fish that can withstand any temperature. Some fish have a very rugged constitution. For beginners, this is the best choice.
2. Gold fish are great to look but not best for a first timer.
3. Buy a heater to maintain a constant water temperature. This is needed as Bangalore has a changing climate.
4. Don't forget to buy holiday food. There are holiday foods for three days and also 15 days.
5. Buy suitable food. Don't keep changing the food
6. Change water every month. You need to change only 1/4 tank.
7. In Bangalore, you need to add chlorine to the water before you put the fsh in the water (that is cauvery water)
8. Observe the fish and check if they are happy and active
9. First time, when you feed, keep feeding the food till the fish rejects it. Keep this as a standard amount and give the same amount everyday
10. Don't keep the fish near high sound or bright light

Please remember, we buy pets for our pleasure. So, it is our responsibility to keep them happy.

So, happy fishing!!!

1 comment:

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