Buying your First Fish
There are many pitfalls when it comes to buying your first fish. Here are a few pointers how to avoid most of them.
The most important thing is to do your homework about what requirements your fish will have in terms of space, water parameters and compatibility with other fish.
The Baensch Aquarium Atlas series are a good place to start. Not cheap but very good. There are plenty of websites on the net that will also give you a good idea. Or simply contact us via this website or come along to our next meeting.
The second most important thing,
is a trustworthy and reliable fish shop. Both our sponsors come highly
recommended and they will go out of their way to make setting up your
first aquarium a pleasurable experience. They both want to keep you as a
long term customer rather than making a quick buck. There are other
dealers in the
Take your time and have a good long look around the shop. Dead, diseased or crippled fish are always a bad sign. Having said this, fatalities do happen, especially when a new delivery just came in and had no heat packs or not enough of them in the Styrofoam boxes the fish came in. Diseases do also occur but a good dealer will not sell you any fish from that particular tank.
Let the people in the shop know that you are just starting off and that you are just buying your first tank. A good shop will first sell you the tank and all the bits and pieces that go with it and advise you to cycle your aquarium first (see setting up your first tank section) and to come back once it is cycled to buy your fish.
Do not buy fish from shops that sell dyed fish.
This
is a cruel method of artificially enhancing or entirely changing the
colour of fish.
Please have a look at these links:
Practical Fishkeeping Campaign Against Dyed Fish
I am sure you will concur that this should not be tolerated. Fish shops selling dyed fish are out for quick money and do not care about either the fish they are selling or positive long term relations with their customers.
Please let the shops that sell dyed fish know that you will no longer support their business and the exact reason why.
Money
talks with these people and once it is no longer coming in they will
stop selling them. We urge you to support us and many likeminded
aquarist clubs and societies worldwide. Vote with your wallet and as
soon as dyed fish are no longer financially viable they will hopefully
disappear for once and for all.
Here are a
few questions you should ask in the shop of your choice to see if it is
a respectable one. Pretend to be interested in buying a smallish tank,
say smaller than 100 litres and ask them what fish they would suggest.
Avoid anybody who suggests Oscars, Discus or
Pick a hard
water species and a soft water species and ask if they can live in a
community tank together.
It is still
best to contact an experienced fishkeeper and go through your preferred
selection of fish. Again, feel free to
contact us through this
website or even better come along to our
next meeting and you are
bound to pick up a few hints and tips in general. We are quite a
sociable bunch and love to see new faces at our meetings.
Don’t feel shy to ask any question about fishkeeping that comes
to your mind. The only stupid question is the one you didn’t ask.
And
remember, if you join the club you will also be able to take advantage
of the 10% discount with our sponsors.