For many, fishkeeping looks like an easy enough hobby, but hear me out when I tell you that there’s more to it than meets the eyes.
If you’re serious about setting up an aquarium, you’ll find that there are many things to consider like fish compatibility, tank size, water chemistry, and tank maintenance.
In this guide to freshwater aquariums, I’ll walk you through the steps to set up your first freshwater tank.
By the end of my beginner-friendly guide, you’ll know:
Hermit crabs make adorable pets but these little packages
of cuteness are high-maintenance and require very exacting care
Hermit crabs are widely believed to be easy to care for,
and ideal first pets for children. Neither of these beliefs is true.
Unfortunately, hermit crabs are very difficult to keep healthy, and they should
be kept in groups. Not only are hermit crabs are not hermit-like at all, they
are gregarious partiers who will keep a crab-party going all night.
You’ve probably seen the clear plastic critter-carriers and
one-gallon fish tanks where hermit crabs are sometimes displayed. These are not
safe homes for hermit crabs. In fact, if the critter-carrier has a standard
“berry-basket” top for ventilation, the crab inside is probably already dying a
slow and painful death. Hermit crabs breathe air through modified gills. They
will drown in water, and they have no lungs. If the gills ever dry out, the
animal is in serious trouble. The resulting death by suffocation can take
months, but it is inevitable. Therefore, maintaining sufficient humidity in the
hermit crab enclosure is very, very important.
This brings us to the topic of equipment.
ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
This list is a very rudimentary introduction to the
equipment needed to keep crabs healthy.
An aquarium tank, marine terrarium, or large covered
enclosure strong enough to contain wet sand. Be sure the cover is tight enough
to prevent the crabs from pushing their way out, that some air can get in, and
that it keeps moisture inside the tank;
Water-conditioning fluid, to neutralize chlorine and its
by-products in the water;
Safe sea salt, of the kind sold for marine fish and
crustaceans;
Safe sand, enough to be a few inches (15cm minimum) deep in
the tank;
Water dishes, sea sponges, shallow food dishes, and a
slotted scoop to remove uneaten food from the sand;
Quarantine tank, which is basically the full set-up in
miniature, for safe moulting;
Hidey-huts for the crabs to relax in, during the day;
Extra shells of the correct sizes and shapes, at least
three per crab;
Thermometers for the sand and hygrometers for the main tank
and the quarantine tank;
Branches and rocks to climb on;
Moss and extra sea sponges for soaking, to help keep the
humidity above 75%; and
Heater for one end of the tank: most hermit crab species
like a temperature of 75-80F/24-27C on the warm end of the tank.
EXERCISE
These cute little crustaceans will keep themselves fit, presuming
their tank is big enough. They love to climb, and crawl, and pull. If you are
very careful, you can “walk” them across your hands held low over a soft
surface. As the crab moves across one hand, bring the other one around in
front. To do this, your hands need to be positioned side to side, and not
fingertip-to-fingertip. Otherwise, the surface will be too narrow and the tiny
crab will become frightened.
FEEDING
Hermit crabs are beachcombing scavengers. As omnivores,
they require both meat and plant-matter in their diets. Unfortunately, the
commercial crab foods do not make a good diet for hermit crabs. They tend to
contain preservatives, but some are safe enough: read the ingredient list. The
real problem is that commercial foods are boring. Crabs don’t like to smell the
same meal twice in a row. They will be happiest if every meal is a little
different: some fish and a touch of apple today, perhaps some chicken and
seaweed tomorrow. (Thacker, 1998).
Wash all fruits and vegetables before feeding them to your
crabs, and use de-chlorinated water to do it. Always do everything you can to
keep your crabs away from chlorine. Meat can be raw or cooked, or even
freeze-dried, but avoid preservatives (including salt).
That’s not to say that everything always needs to be fresh.
Stock up on an assortment of jars of baby foods. Keep some freeze-dried
daphnia, bloodworms, tubifex, and shrimp on hand from the aquarium section of
the pet store. Offer a few pieces of low-salt cat food.
Crabs need calcium. The simplest way to provide it is to
drop a couple of cuttlebones onto the floor of the tank. Cuttlebone is sold in
the pet-bird section of the pet store.
Unlike many animals, hermit crabs need two kinds of water
bowls: one with freshwater and one with salt water. The salt water cannot be
made with table salt, because of the iodine in it. Both bowls need to be big
enough for the crabs to submerge themselves, and easy to crawl out of so the
crabs don’t drown. A piece of sea sponge in each bowl makes a convenient safety
raft.
GROOMING
The hermit crab tank needs to contain a conditioned
freshwater bowl and a conditioned saltwater bowl. The precise details of these
will vary with the particular species you keep.
Along with the water that the crabs will use for “grooming”
themselves, these creatures must be provided with an assortment of appropriate
shells. The shapes will vary, again according to species, but whatever the
species you should provide at least three shells per crab in your tank. The
shell sizes should be slightly smaller than, equal to, and slightly larger than
the crab’s current shell. Please, please, please stay away from painted shells.
The “non-toxic” paints are meant to be non-toxic to your children: they are
generally not safe for your hermit crabs.
HOME ENVIRONMENT
Hermit crabs are primarily nocturnal. They enjoy exploring
their home, re-arranging things, and seeing how many of them can sit on a perch
before it falls over. You’ll hear them clacking away with their claws through
the wee hours. If you do most of your sleeping at night, you probably don’t
want to put the crab tanks in the bedroom.
Also, keep in mind that hermit crabs are invertebrates who
are subject to the same kinds of poisons that are used to kill insects and
spiders. If people in your neighborhood spray their lawns, or if someone in
your house tends to go after spiders with a can of “bug-spray”, hermit crabs
are not for you.
TRAINING
There is no training required for hermit crabs. While you
will need to rescue them from time to time, especially during moults, and
you’ll need to provide appropriate shells for them to choose from, they will
act according to their natures.
WHERE TO NEXT?
Are these little guys right for you? They are adorable, no
question, but they are very difficult for beginners to keep healthy and happy.
In many ways, parrots and the licensed exotics are easier to maintain. Perhaps
consider a dog instead? Or a pony?
If you have decided that hermit crabs are the right pet for
your family, the next step is to do some reading. This care-sheet has only
introduced you to the barest skim off the top of the information you need.
Investigate the details of putting together a proper enclosure, and the details
of shell replacement, and the details of temperature and humidity. Next, put
together the main tank and a quarantine tank, and monitor the humidity and
temperature for a week or two. Once that is stable, seek out several healthy
crabs and a nice assortment of high-quality shells for them.
Fife, Scotland - A team of vets from Inglis Veterinary Hospital, performed an extremely tricky operation - removing the eye of “Star” a pet goldfish. They also removed a lump off his aquarium partner “Nemo”, his best friend and bowl buddy.
The difficult surgery involved an exotic consultant surgeon, a vet keeping the goldfish under anaesthetic and a nurse monitoring their heart rates. The two operations cost the owner nearly $750, but she believes they were absolutely worth it. Star came into the Gordon family after a being won at the local fair for pocket change.
Star, was won at a fairground stall 12 years ago, had to get a blind, cancerous eye removed.
The operation was carried out on the six-inch fish at Inglis’ 24-hour hospital by exotic animals expert Brigitte Lord.
She said: “This is a highly specialist field, using anaesthetic on a goldfish carries a very high risk, and I'm delighted for the owner that everything went well and the owners are happy.”
“The financial value of a goldfish may be quite small but I think the fact that someone should have paid that much for an operation reflects the true value of the bond between pets and humans.”
During the operations, the vets used Doppler ultrasound equipment to listen through earphones to pulse sounds in order to evaluate Star's blood flow. To keep the fish asleep throughout the procedure it was syringed with oxygenated water with anaesthetic in it.
After the operation, Star was delicately held in a bucket of oxygenated water and, with its mouth kept open, was gently moved (mimicking the swimming action and allowing water to flow over the gills) for around eight minutes before it effectively came back to life. Nemo had more straightforward surgery to remove a lump on him too.
Star and Nemo are kept in Janie Gordon's home in Dollar, but are owned by her 21-year-old daughter Abby, a student in Glasgow.
“I know it seems like a lot of money to spend on an operation for a goldfish but what was the alternative? I think we've a social responsibility to look after our pets and I know my daughter would have been distraught if anything had happened to the goldfish.” said Janie.
Janie didn’t want Star to be lonely so had bought another fish in a pet shop after her daughter won him by throwing a ping-pong ball into a goldfish bowl. Both Star and his lifelong companion, Nemo, are now over their buddy surgery and happily reunited - holding pride of place in a tank in Janie's kitchen.
“Star is fine,” said Janie. “He’s swimming about happily and the vets have shown me how to give antibiotics too”.
“I probably couldn't have chosen a better vets. I'm not sure anyone else would have attempted it.” said Janie.
With the availability of mini-aquarium packages it's become appealing to go small. However, for beginners, choosing a small aquarium is courting failure. Why? Because when the water volume is small, key water parameters change very quickly, leaving no room for error. Starting Too Small Even experienced aquarists are challenged by a small aquarium. Newcomers to the hobby, stay away from tanks under 20 gallons until they've gotten some experience under their belt. Remember, the bigger the tank, the less impact a mistake will have on the fish. Adding Fish Too Soon
New aquarium owners are eager to add fish, often the same day they set up the tank. Some are lucky but many will quickly lose some, or all, of their fish. What went wrong? The water in a new tank hasn't stabilized yet. Gases are dissolved in the water, as well as minerals, heavy metals, and chemicals added by local water treatment facilities. Without going into lengthy detail about water chemistry, suffice it to say that dissolved constituents in the water can harm the fish. Aquarium water should be treated to neutralize harmful materials, and allowed to stand for a day or so to allow dissolved gases to escape and the pH to stabilize. Only then is it safe to introduce fish to the aquarium. Adding Too Many Fish at Once The fish owner isn't eager to fill the tank with fish? Unfortunately adding too many fish all at once is another common new owner mistake. Until the bacterial colonies have fully established, the aquarium cannot safely support a full load of fish. Only add a couple of small hardy fish initially. Wait until both the ammonia and nitrite levels have risen, and then fallen to zero, before adding more fish. Overstocking
Even getting through the initial startup, it's very common for new owners to overstock the aquarium. Although an experienced person may successfully keep a school of twenty small fish in a ten gallon aquarium, it would be disastrous for a beginner to attempt it. Debate exists over the inch per gallon rule, but it provides a good basic yardstick from which to start. I recommend taking eighty percent of the net gallons of water in the tank as the maximum number of inches of fish to keep in the tank. The net gallons of water is the amount of water actually placed in the aquarium after the gravel and decorations a in it. For example, lets say an aquarium holds 16 gallons of water after the decorations and gravel have been added. Multiplying a 16 times 80% yields a result of 12.8 - or about 13 inches of fish as a maximum number. It is always wise to go under the maximum to rather than all over. Keeping Incompatible Fish New aquarium owners often choose fish that look appealing to them, without knowing the environmental needs of the fish. Some fish may fight with one another, or require widely different water conditions. Either way, they should not be kept together. Always research each species before choosing tank mates. Select peaceful fish that thrive in similar water conditions. Overfeeding The number one mistake made by fish owners is overfeeding their fish. Fish are opportunistic and will seek food at all times. Just because they appear hungry, doesn't mean they need to be fed all the time. Feed them no more than is completely consumed in five minutes. During startup feed fish no more than once per day, and during critical times when ammonia or nitrite levels are high, withhold feeding for a day or two to reduce the wastes being produced. Fish can easily go several days without food, and not suffer ill effects. Insufficient Filtration An aquarium filter should filter all the water in the tank through it at least three times per hour. If it doesn't, it is too small. If in doubt about filter size, move to the next size up. You can't over-filter, but you can definitely under-filter, and the results can be harmful to your fish. Not Testing the Water New owners aren't magically given full knowledge of the nitrogen cycle, and the need to monitor the water chemistry in their aquarium. As a result they often are unaware of the need to test their water, and fail to take steps to deal with harmful toxins. When the tank is first set up, it should be allowed to run for a day or two. Before adding the fish the pH, hardness, ammonia, and nitrite levels should be tested for a baseline record. During the startup cycle it is important to test the ammonia and nitrites often (see Nitrogen Cycle for details). Once the tank is well established, test the water monthly to be aware of unseen problems that may be brewing. If fish suddenly die, test the water to see if anything has changed. Not Changing the Water On other area that new owners aren't always educated about is aquarium maintenance, which includes changing part of the water on a regular basis. Wastes build up in the tank that can only be removed by vacuuming the gravel and removing some of water and replacing it with fresh water. Although your fish may not die if you fail to maintenance and regular water changes, they will be stressed by substandard water conditions. As a result they will be more susceptible to disease and often will have a shorter lifespan than they should have.
