Anyone have an aquarium?

amother

Wheat

Tue, Apr 27 2021, 4:16 pm

We had one. Dh took care of it. If you want it to be nice and clean all the time--and you should, otherwise what's the point--you need to clean it superficially at least once a week and empty it for a deep cleaning once a month or more often. Depends on its size, how many fish, how big they are, whether you use a charcoal filter in your aerator, how much you overfeed the fish, and more. You need to clean away the fish's digestive waste as well as battle algae. You have to measure the pH of the water and add chemicals to adjust it. You have to treat infections like ick (that's short for its name, Ichthyophthirius multifiliis, not a comment on its visual appeal). You have to have good a/c in summer or get an aquarium chiller as well as a heater for winter because if the water gets too warm or cold, the fish will die. Yes, even tropical fish can't live in warm water. They need a stable environment, and function within a very narrow temperature range. That's how we lost a tank full of tropical fish--summer in an apartment with no a/c. When the water temp reached a critical point, they all went into a sort of dance of death. In less than five minutes, every last one was a goner.

On the flip side, fish make no noise, no smell unless you fail to keep the tank clean, don't go into heat, require no vaccinations, litter boxes or walks outside, and their food takes up very little space. They can be quite beautiful and some people enjoy watching them swim around and around. (Others find it excruciatingly boring.) When they die, disposal is easy. No burial necessary.

I speak of freshwater aquaria. Salt-water aquaria are much harder to manage. Recommended? That's up to you.