This section is devoted to a new-found interest: aquaria and fishkeeping. While it has been of mild interest to me when I was younger, I have never actually kept fish until now. And it came in a most unexpected way.
You see, one day, my wife came home with a tiny bowl and two goldfish. They were for our nieces, who were staying with us. The problem was, the bowl was really, really, small...1 gallon, if...and each fish was about an inch. Neither of us knew anything about keeping goldfish, and just assumed that you fed them a bit and all would be well.
WRONG.
After a few days, one of the fish starting looking listless, and within another day, it passed on. Since the other fish seemed ok, we just figured the dead one was a dud and got another. It, too, lasted about a week. Then, shortly thereafter, the other original fish died. In between these unfortunate incidents, we had put them into a bigger bowl (3 gallons), added a plant in case they were having trouble breathing, and tried to do water changes every couple of days, but to no avail. Significantly, we didn't do any water testing.
I felt badly that these poor fish died so quickly, and decided that we would not have any more fish until we did it properly, with a reasonably-sized aquarium that is properly filtered and temperature-controlled. Notwithstanding that, my interest was piqued and I started doing some research.
I eventually discovered that (a) goldfish are really dirty and ours more than likely died of ammonia poisoning, and (b) there are some fish varieties that would more than likely do quite well in a small bowl if a certain amount of care is taken. So, the same three gallon bowl was set up, and the progress of that ongoing experiment is documented here. I also became very absorbed by this whole hobby, and started reading a lot, including the most excellent site at top-left. If you are at all interested, and have not seen this site, go to it...now.
The success of my three-gallon bowl has given me sufficient confidence that I am now planning my next, proper, aquarium. As of this writing, this is a work-in-progress, but will be a "natural aquarium" following the principles of Takashi Amano, whose site is also linked to at left.
More to come, including hopefully useful links...
Copyright © 2003, 2004, Tom Otvos