Adult Tropical Hobbyist with a Single Tank.
One of the most common situations. Snoop around a little to see what equipment they have. Equipment they might need:
-pH/ammonia/nitrite test kits. These save fish lives, but too many people don’t buy them.
-spare heater
-fluorescent light bulb of correct size and shape. These do burn out.
-fluorescent light hood. Vastly better than incandescent.
-filter inserts for their particular filter
-frozen fish food
-aquarium salt. Useful medication for several diseases, and really cheap. Also good for a few species to have permenantly in their water.
-aquarium thermometer. Essential and extremely cheap.
-hospital/quarantine tank. 5 gal tank with heater and mechanical filter. It is really, really useful to be able to quarantine sick or newly acquired fish. Second hand tanks are a good way to find these cheap.
-general aquarium book

Child with A Single Small Unheated Aquarium
-fish tank decorations. Many children adore these and they are really easy to find in any petstore. They are often among the cheapest fishtank related gifts.
-a ten gallon kit. If the child shows real interest in their aquarium, get them decent equipment. A lot of the little plastic kits are nearly junk. If a plastick kit has goldfish in them, goldfish that live more than a year or so will outgrow the tank.
-a small filter. Many of these tanks don’t come with them and it really improves tank conditions and the ease of keeping fish.
-LED tank light. Looks pretty, uses little energy and now you can grow low-light live plants.

Adult with Single Cold Water Tank
-pH/ammonia/nitrite test kits. These save fish lives, but too many people don’t buy them.
-fluorescent light bulb of correct size and shape. These do burn out.
-fluorescent light hood. Vastly better than incandescent.
-filter inserts for their particular filter
-frozen fish food
-Aquarium salt. Useful for treatment of some diseases and very cheap.
-hospital/quarantine tank. 5 gal tank with mechanical filter. It is really, really useful to be able to quarantine sick or newly acquired fish. Second hand tanks are a good way to find these cheap.
-general aquarium book

The best gift here is probably a 10 gallon aquarium kit.  These usually come with everything required (though they often lack a heater) and are much better value for money than buying everything new separately.  Ten gallons is large enough to have a decent choice of species, yet small enough to keep costs down and be easy to find space for.   Five gallon kits are cheaper but they are much more restricted in terms of what you can keep in them.  If you have the money, 20 gallon kits allow a wider choice of species and decor, as well as increased stability in tank conditions which may make fishkeeping a little easier.

If you are short of money, check the web for second hand equipment.  Be careful to look over what you are buying carefully.  Remember that because it’s second hand, some of it may well be mismatched, missing or not work.  You may well end up buying the problem items new and this can raise the costs above what you initially estimated.  Been there, done that.  Even so, it can still be a lot cheaper than buying new.

Many people buy plastic kits that are cheaper than glass.  These are not such a good idea for a couple of reasons.  Most of these kits lack lighting, they scratch more easily and so don’t last as well, they don’t come with heaters, many heaters aren’t safe for use in them, and they may also lack a filter.  Many of them are also too small for anything other than a Betta or some shrimp.  If your budget is limited, I recommend second hand glass aquaria over these.

Another excellent gift is a book on aquarium keeping.  There’s a lot to aquarium keeping and having a decent book constantly on hand is a good way to prevent mishaps and respond to emergencies.

If the person you are buying for isn’t yet ready for fish, or isn’t sure that an aquarium is right for them, a book can give them a good idea of whether it is what they really want, and what type of aquarium would be best for them.

Don’ts when buying for new fishkeepers:

-Don’t buy the fish at the same time as the tank.  Get them after the aquarium has been set up for two weeks with plants in it, or fully cycled by another method.

-Don’t buy a goldfish bowl for a goldfish.  Goldfish bowls are far too small for a large, waste-producing fish like a goldfish.

-Don’t buy live animals immediately before Christmas.  The stores will be insanely busy and the salespeople won’t have time to help you as much as they normally would.  In bad cases, the animals may also not be as well looked after because the staff get overwhelmed.  Buy the tank, then go back and buy fish once the tank is set up and cycled.

-Don’t buy any pet you aren’t sure they want.

Catfish leaps upward
Hovering in mid-water
Hoping for some food.

The Betta

The betta dances
Before the glass’s mirror
Rival dances back.

The Neon Tetra

Swimming together
To confuse bigger fishes
They sparkle with light.

The Guppy

Tail streaming behind
The small fish wiggles onward
Looking for a mate.

The Goldfish

Slow and yet graceful
They sail on through the water
Each alone yet not.

Note: Next week’s post will be a proper article.

One: Not do research. When I was first starting out, most of my problems stemmed from this.

Two: Not do regular partial water changes. Because I hadn’t done number one, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to do this, or how one should do this.

Three: Put too many fish in the aquarium. This compounded problem two.

Four: Assume fish are short lived. A few fish, like annual killifishes, live only a few months in nature but a Corydoras catfish can live for up to seven years in captivity and a goldfish can reach 20 years of age. If you make this wrong assumption, you may not notice you are doing something wrong.

Five: Buy one of each species. Many fishes are schooling and do not do as well without the company of their own kind.

Six: Keep goldfish in a goldfish bowl. Common goldfish can grow up to 12 inches in length and produce large amounts of waste. They do not belong in goldfish bowls.

Seven: Started with too small a fish tank. A five gallon tank makes a perfectly good aquarium, but water parameters can change quickly and you can’t keep many fish in there.

Eight: Not feed bottom feeders sinking food and depend on one brand of flake food for everything. Corydoras catfish get hungry and don’t feed off the surface. Fish benefit from a varied diet just as we do.

Nine: Keeping a Betta in a community tank without a plan B or enough hiding places for fish to get away. It killed one of my Neon Tetras, so we put the Betta in a breeding trap that wasn’t really big enough for it.

Ten: Put a Pygmy Gourami in with Cherry Shrimp. Pygmy Gouramis may have small mouths, but they regard shrimp as food and that one fish harassed the shrimp unmercifully. If it hadn’t been for the extremely thick live plants I think I would probably have lost all my Cherry Shrimp.

The last one wasn’t all that long ago, so such mistakes aren’t limited to beginners. No matter how much you think you know, do your research! And if you possibly can, keep a spare tank for quarentine, hospital use and unexpected animosities.

Some of these species are sometimes illegally wild-caught and exported from their countries of origin; just because it is on this list is not a recommendation for keeping it.

Enormous Tropical Aquarium Fishes (Over 16 in.)

Red Tail Catfish: Phractocephalus hemioliopterus
Arapaima, Pirarucu: Arapaima gigas (potentially to 16 ft. usually less)
Arowana: Osteoglossum bicirrosum, Osteoglossum vandelli
Black Arowana: Osteoglossum ferreirai
Asian Arowana/Green Arowana: Scleropages formosus
Australian Arowana: Scleropages jardini
African Arowana: Heterotis niloticus
Tiger Shovelnose Catfish: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum
Shovelnose Catfish: Sorubim lima
Reticulated Pimelodid: Perrunichthys perruno
Plecostamus, Pleco, Suckermouth Catfish: Hypostomus plecostomus
Snow King Plecostomus: Liposarcus anisitsi
Blue-eyed Panaque, Blue-eyed Plecostamus: Panaque suttoni
Sailfin Plecostamus: Pterygoplichthys gibbiceps
Walking Catfish, Albino clarias: Clarias batrachus
Fire Eel: Mastacembelus erythrotaenia
Ornate bichir: Polypterus ornatipinnis
Knife Fish; Featherback: Notopterus chitala
Mozambique Mouthbrooder: Oreochromis mossambicus
Gourami: Osphronemus goramy
Black Shark: Labeo chrysophekadion

Sources:

Butler, Rhett A. 1999-2008. Mongabay.com – San Francisco, CA

Practical fish keeping http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/home.php

Mills, D. 1987 Illustrated Guide to Aquarium Fishes. Galaxy Press, England

1) Tell all your friends and ask them if they would take in your fish. Throwing in the fish-keeping equipment, such as the tank, heater, filter, lighting and so on, may make them willing to do this if they are not otherwise able to.

2) Go to your local petstore and ask them to take back your fish. Some petstores will pay for returned fish, and more will accept free fish so long as they are healthy. I have used the previous two options exclusively in the past when I moved to a new city without a car. If, however, you really find yourself stuck:

3) Put an ad saying “free tropical fish” in the buy-and-sell.

4) Contact an aquarium club and offer your fish there.

5) Some SPCAs may take fish, but not all will have facilities for keeping them.

6) Feed them to your carnivorous pet. Warning: some fish are toxic. You may also not wish to do this to your pet fish.

7) If you really cannot find a home for them, I have been told that a humane way to kill small fish is to put them in a freezer with a very small amount of water, or for larger fish is to sever the backbone just behind the skull.

It is possible to move fish when moving house, or even when moving cities in some cases. As I do not have a car, I have never been able to try this.  All the accounts I have found sound quite complicated as the fish must be kept at a reasonable temperature and with sufficient oxygen during the move. The larger the distance they must be transported, the more difficult this gets. Whatever you do, do not release them into the wild. For an explanation as to why they must not be released into the wild, please see the article on invasive species in the fish conservation section of this site.