Many people buy tropical fish, and indeed tropical fish make ideal pets. They are great as a starter pet, they don’t need as much room as say a dog and they are generally cheaper to look after than many other exotic pets. Sadly however, many people buy them without really knowing what they are doing, and so many tropical fish die both young and unhappy, no matter how well-meaning their owner was. Here we present four things to bear in mind if you are thinking about buying tropical fish:
Make sure you buy your fish from a reputable, knowledgable pet store
There are far too many stores out there just out to make a quick buck. When you buy fish from them, they will tell you anything in order to get you to part with your cash. They will not be interested in making sure you buy the right aquarium for your fish, and won’t worry about if the fish you buy will eat each other - in their mind’s, its better if they - that way you will come back to buy more fish!
Get expert advice before you buy
If you go to a good pet store, then they will probably have expert fish keepers there anyway. However, its never a bad thing to get a second opinion when you are thinking about buying any pet, not only fish. There are plenty of fish keeping forums online, where people will be able to tell you what you need to buy in order to keep tropical fish, what tropical fish work well together, and answer all sorts of questions.
Get to know the compatibility of fish before you buy them
Some fish simply do not go well together. There are fish that are aggressive towards other fish and that are best kept alone. Similarly, there are some fish that really are not happy by themselves, and should be kept with other fish. When you are buying fish, be sure to buy fish that will be happy to live together.
Know what each fish’s requirements are before you buy
Different fish have different needs. There are different types of food, some fish need more space than others and some need the water at different temperatures. Before you buy any sort of fish, you need to make sure you can keep them well, and have everything you need to look after them.
Keeping tropical fish can be a great thing to do - they are beautiful creatures, some people find them calming, and they are relatively easy to look after - so long as you get the right advice from the start, and do whatever you can for the good of the fish.
For more information on buying and keeping tropical fish, visit our blog: http://BuyTropicalFish.org
No tag for this post.