Why your new tank needs four weeks before fish
The nitrogen cycle in plain words, and why waiting a month saves the fish you have not bought yet.
Feeding fish: less than you think
Most fish problems in home tanks start at feeding time. A simple routine that keeps water clear.
If we could change one habit in every home tank in Nashik, it would be feeding. Fish always look hungry, especially when someone walks up to the glass, and every member of the family wants to feed them. The result is food on the soil, cloudy water and algae.
A fish’s stomach is roughly the size of its eye. A shoal of twelve cardinal tetras needs a pinch of crushed flakes that they finish in under a minute, once or twice a day. Anything that sinks to the bottom and stays there was too much.
We suggest one person in the house does the feeding, at fixed times, morning and evening. Some families keep a small chart on the cabinet. Others buy a daily pill box and fill it once a week, so no one feeds twice by mistake.
Vary the food. Good flakes or small pellets most days, with frozen bloodworm or brine shrimp twice a week, and a blanched slice of cucumber for snails and catfish. One day a week, skip feeding altogether. Healthy fish are fine without food for a day, and it gives the filter time to catch up.
If you travel for a few days, do not use the holiday food blocks sold in shops. They often foul the water. A healthy adult fish will manage four or five days without food better than with a block.
