Maidenhead Aquatics Topical Tips - June 2010

As Flaming June takes over from the frosts of ‘Flippin’ May’, the advantages of a water garden really start to become obvious. An interesting haven for wildlife that makes you feel cooler just looking at it, if you design it right you can dip your feet in and enjoy the summer.

As it’s a great time of year for algae growth with high temperatures and lots of sunlight, it’s also important to keep on top of the housekeeping. All the nutrient laden waste on the bottom of the pond is destined to become food for algae blooms and create work removing blanketweed or coping with greenwater. Strike first and remove the waste by using a pond vac. This is an issue for ponds containing fish, as unfiltered wildlife ponds generally contain creatures that inhabit the sediment and process organic matter. Not only do fishes enjoy eating these beneficial organisms but their wastes add an extra burden to the system. The more food you add to the system, the more waste is generated and with large carp nagging you to feed them every time you go near the pond, the need for a good clean up becomes clear. With the warm weather, it’s also a good time to roll-up your sleeves and get a bit wet without feeling the cold. Designs vary from those which will remove the water (optimal for fish growth) to those that recirculate dirty water through filters before returning it to the pond.

In mid summer, filters often tend to clog faster due to the higher waste output from the fish and factors such as blanket weed. It is important to avoid washing biological media too thoroughly and certainly avoid using chlorinated tap water to do so. By destroying all your filter bacteria you can suffer dangerous levels of pollutants such as nitrite and ammonia. If your filters need frequent cleaning it may be time to remove solid waste from the pond as above, or consider upgrading the filtration. Remember, no matter how wonderful your filtration may be, its only bacteria that can make it work.

With the season of growth upon us, it’s important to remember that just like an aquarium; fish growth in a pond will be greatly boosted by performing partial water changes. If you have young koi or orfe especially, a regular regime of changes will ensure optimal healthy growth. Make sure to use a tap water conditioner or dechlorinator, as chlorine can irritate fish and harm beneficial filter bacteria. Orfe are also sensitive to heavy metals in tap water and can develop spinal deformities through exposure to the chemicals often found in domestic plumbing.

Fish will be engaged in their spawning chases this month and as I mentioned in the last instalment, this can be a quiet violent and exhausting affair for the fish. Many people often wonder why there seem to be little brown fish in their pond in late summer and the reason is brilliant but simple. Goldfish are a domesticated variety of a bronzy coloured wild fish. Before they were bred into the fishes that we see today; all ‘goldfishes’ were dark brown to protect them from predators. A quirk of this colour change is that newly-hatched goldfish fry are the same colour as their wild ancestors to protect them from the many predators that eat tiny fish. As they grow, the young fish develop red patches that gradually spread and they become completely red. In many ponds, the ancient wild colour emerges (here comes the science bit – concentrate!) and tends to be dominant to the domestic red form. This means that such fish never change colour and remain brown throughout their lives. If they breed with other fishes in the pond, their offspring tend to carry the same gene and the end result is more wild-coloured fishes. The colour change is triggered by a few factors but temperature plays a large part, this is why small goldfish grown in warm surroundings are red, whereas fishes of a similar age and size in a shady garden pond may still be brown until their second summer.

Indoors

I had occasion to strip-down my reef tank this week and it reminded me of a mistake I made very early in my fish keeping life. It seems that everyone at one point or another has made the same errors and as they say that wise folk learn from the mistakes of others, I thought it was a good subject to raise…

Mistake #1

As a twelve year old novice aquarist, I was given my first ‘big’ fish tank. It was a massive 24 x 12 x 12” and arrived as five pieces of glass which I had to stick together. Eventually I managed to make it leak-proof and filled it with tapwater. The next day I was offered an entire tank-full of fishes and so in they went. Within 24 hours they’d started to die and I wondered how I’d managed to buy so many dodgy, unhealthy fish. Little did I know that they were dying due to my crystal clear water being full of toxic pollutants and long before I’d heard the term, I found out about ‘new tank syndrome’.

Solution: had I known the importance of introducing fishes gradually or the role of bacteria I might not have very nearly packed in fish keeping for good. Today I leave a week before adding a very small number of fishes and try to add mature filter media first. I’ve tried some of the new generation filter-start cultures and they can work really well and always, always test your water.

The lesson: when you start, nothing looks as empty as a fish-free aquarium but the one thing you can’t do without is the one thing nobody can sell you - patience.

Mistake #2

With my tank now mature I added fish until I was finding that a few were gasping at the top if the filter started to block. I had a look at the number of fish and added them up, using a stocking level recommendation I found out that my tank was overstocked and was even worse when I worked on the adult sizes of my fish. It was time to get a bigger tank.

Solution: ask, or work out, how many fishes your aquarium can comfortably house. Remember that even large fish start out small and human nature tends towards a ‘just one more fish’ attitude. Use the time it takes your tank to mature to do your homework and get a rough plan of which fishes to choose.

The lesson: Fish shops are full of appealing fishes and the temptation is to cram your tank full of them - Don’t! Know when to say no and plan ahead. I’m not going to try to stop you buying fish because buying new fishes is lots of fun and the novelty never wears off. I’m just saying buy a bigger tank or get some self-control.

Mistake #3

By now I had two tanks of tropicals and fancied something a bit more challenging. I’d seen and heard a lot about Oscars and knew that they were big fish that made great pets. I had an empty 24” tank and I could buy a small Oscar. I planned on buying a bigger tank once my pet was in need of it. ‘Boris’ grew from about an inch to six inches in what seemed like a couple of months. He made the tank look tiny and sulked due to a lack of space. I asked my parents for a big tank, they said no and I sulked even more than Boris.

Solution: Do your homework and ask experienced people their opinion. Perhaps the best decision is to buy an aquarium large enough to be flexible as your hobby expands.

The lesson: never buy a fish for a tank you don’t have yet. This is a hard one to manage because temptation is a terrible thing. If you don’t know beyond a doubt that you can house any pet properly, wait until you can.

To avoid health issues, place young fishes such as Albino Oscars in a big tank from day one

Mistake #4

This was where we came in and the inspiration behind this little segment. I can’t believe that it took me as long as it did to make the classic hardware mistake of leaving my heater turned on while I drained the tank. I nearly repeated it last week and dashed over to the tank in time. The first time it happened I was performing a large water change and left the heater high and dry. The sound of hissing brought it to my attention first and I panicked, filled a bowl with icy cold water and dropped the heater in. It cracked instantly, leaving me with a bowl filled with mains voltage and broken glass. I also had no heater, no money and the shops were closed until the following morning.

Solution: modern heaters now tend to come with an auto-shutoff which cuts power to an overheating appliance. They may not be the cheapest models but you’ve only got to break one cheap heater and you’re already worse off buying a replacement. Buy quality equipment that won’t let you down and unplug the heater ten minutes before you drain a tank to allow it to cool down.

The lesson: from the start, culture good habits such as turning off heaters when you do water changes. Remember to turn them back on and give yourself a reminder. A famous author wears mugs on a length of string around his neck as a memory jogger but use something that works for you. If in doubt, buy a spare heater for those emergency moments.

I’ll embarrass myself by revealing more mistakes next time but may have to restore my credibility by sharing the mistakes of others as well!

As summer rolls on, temperatures in aquaria start to climb and can reach uncomfortable levels for delicate inhabitants such as those from coral reefs or mountain streams that are accustomed to high oxygen levels. Consider adding a source of supplemental aeration such as an air pump for freshwater species or even freeze some bottles of water to float in your aquarium unopened, just remember to leave some expansion room for the ice. If all this sounds like hard work, you’re right, a chiller unit can do it all automatically for you. Remember that because fishes are cold blooded, warmer fish need more food to cope with a higher metabolic rate.

As a closing note, although I had to strip my tank down prior to moving house, I managed to rear a small number of Bangaii cardinals. Here’s one of the little guys before leaving for the Bracknell store to join the tank-bred fishes there.

 

Young Bangaii Cardinals are perfect miniatures of their parents