Aquarium Safety Hazards

Keep your finned friends safe and sound by following a few basic steps.

Aquariums may seem secure, but within those glass walls lie several safety hazards that can injure or even kill your cherished pets. Watch for these dangers.

Electrical Shock

Most aquarium equipment and accessories use electricity making electrocution a potential danger for both you and your fish. Broken light bulbs or frayed wires in aquarium covers can slip into tanks. Cracked glass and exposed filaments on heating units can also spell trouble.

Ground all electrical cords and make sure outlets include built-in circuit breakers. If possible, let cords hang loose so they drop below the outlets. This keeps water droplets from running directly into the wall socket.

Power Outages

Since aquariums depend on electrically driven pumps, filters and heaters for water-quality maintenance, these self-contained ecosystems can suffer during power outages. For such emergencies, keep a spare battery-operated oxygen pump on hand. And, if you own an expensive marine collection, consider buying a generator to make sure your exotic beauties survive the storm.

If the room temperature gets too high during summer outages, add cool water to stabilize the temperature and oxygen content, and remember to dechlorinate the water as needed. Frigid water temperatures in winter can be just as detrimental. Be sure to cover aquariums with heavy blankets to reduce heat loss and add warm dechlorinated water to stabilize the temperature.

Air Pollutants

Many airborne particles and chemicals easily dissolve in water. So avoid using household cleaners, insecticides or pesticides around your tank. Fish's gills are sensitive to chemical damage, which can cause suffocation and death.

Cover Up

Unfortunately, certain athletic and brave fish species may attempt to fly the coop. If you discover a motionless fish on the floor and he's not completely dried out, put him back in the tank. Many fish should survive their brief encounter with the outside world and will be just fine. You can prevent such unauthorized furloughs by keeping a tight-fitting cover on your aquarium at all times.

Always monitor survivors closely for signs of skin infections because their protective mucous layer may be damaged.  

Maintaining Your Aquarium

Make time to maintain a quality ecosystem for your pet.

Once you've stocked your aquarium with plants and fish, a pinch of food is all it takes to keep your pets happy and healthy, right? Wrong! An aquarium requires daily maintenance to ensure your fish's home remains inhabitable. Here's what to do:

Keep the Water Clean
Clean water is critical to your fish's long-term health. Remember to change 25 percent of the tank water every one to two weeks. This routine assists in maintaining proper pH levels, decreasing the number of disease-causing organisms trapped in the gravel bed, and removing waste by-products, such as ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates.

You can buy kits that test the pH levels, water hardness, and dissolved oxygen in your aquarium: These are relatively inexpensive and detect potential problems - so you can correct them before your fish suffer.

Monitor Water Temperature
Drastic water temperature changes can kill your fish or make them sick. Be sure your heater functions properly by checking the temperature daily. Toasty 75 to 80 degree temperatures suit most aquarium fish.

Don't Forget the Food
Feed your fish a nutritionally complete diet once or twice a day, but don't offer more than they can consume in five minutes. Excess food just adds to your filter's workload.

Care for Your Plants
If your aquarium includes live plants, remember to use fertilizer, remove dead leaves, and change the full-spectrum lights every six to 12 months. Plants not only provide security for shy fish, they also contribute to a healthy aquatic environment - they use ammonia and nitrate waste from fish to grow and, in turn, give off dissolved oxygen fish need to breathe.

Give Your Tank a Monthly Scrub
As tanks age, algae and debris accumulate on the sides of the tank, in tubing and filters, and on accessories. Keep your pet's home tidy with monthly cleanings. Chemical cleaners can kill fish and filter bacteria, so use lukewarm water - hot water can destroy biological activity.

Automated and manual siphoning devices clean the gravel bed and help with weekly partial water changes. Magnetic cleaning blades or scrub brushes with long handles help you stay dry while removing stubborn algae from the tank's sides.

Occasionally dismantle filters and lift tubes to remove clogged debris. Stiff brushes come in every length and diameter and make it easy to invade every nook and cranny.

Keeping up with these simple tasks is a small price to pay for the joy and company of your little swimmers.

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Scavengers: Natural Aquarium Cleaners

You've been careful to keep your fish tank clean and feed your finny friends small amounts of food on a regular basis, but all of a sudden you realize there's algae growth in your tank. Algae thrive on the food your fish inevitably miss, and because no filtration system exists that can collect all the particles of food and waste in the tank. What's a pet owner to do?

One solution is to introduce scavengers to help clean up your tank, but introducing scavengers has to be undertaken carefully or you may end up with a solution that's worse than the original problem.

An Algae Primer

Most people think of algae as a plant, but it actually shares characteristics with bacteria as well as plants. Like bacteria, algae reproduce by cell division or the production of spores. Algae act like plants in contributing to the nitrogen cycle through the use of photosynthesis, which changes carbon dioxide into oxygen and causes fluctuations in the organisms' pH and oxygen levels.

There are over 25,000 known species of fresh and saltwater algae and probably a lot more waiting to be discovered. Algae can be single-celled organisms invisible to the naked eye or can form multi-celled colonies that can grow up to 164 feet long and resemble seaweed. All forms of algae are an important part of the aquatic food chain. There are five basic groups of algae, some harmless and others capable of introducing highly poisonous toxins into your aquarium:

• Green Algae inhabit marine and fresh water environments and can be single-celled or filamentous weed and seaweed. In an aquarium, algae can cause green water, which can only be countered by making a major water change.
• Yellow-Green Algae and diatoms live primarily in freshwater, but have been found in saltwater, damp water and tree trunks. This group creates fine hair growths over your rocks, decorations and plants.
• Blue-Green Algae are found almost anywhere including on land, in the water and even in the air. This group is the most primitive and dangerous type of algae because it is the most closely related to bacteria. Some species are capable of introducing highly poisonous toxins into your water. Blue-green algae aren't always blue-green; sometimes they're blackish, greenish, brownish or reddish.
• Red Algae are an attractive marine group that range from small single-celled organisms to large branching seaweed.
• Brown Algae are another mostly marine group that's more common in cooler water and includes large seaweed-like kelps and wracks.

It's important to make sure your aquarium doesn't have too much of the wrong type of algae, but it's also to important to maintain balance because some types of algae can add valuable micronutrients to your fish's diet. One easy way to maintain this balance is to introduce algae feeders into your fish tank.

Scavengers

There are a wide variety of freshwater and saltwater scavengers available, including fish, snails and shrimp, to help rid your tank of excess algae. It's important to choose carefully though because some of these scavengers are more trouble than they are worth.

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Freshwater Scavengers and Algae-Eating Fish

Chinese Algae Eaters are well adapted for scraping algae from flat surfaces because they are sucker-mouthed bottom feeders.

Flying Fox or Trunk Barb eat all kinds of plants, algae, prepared and live foods, but they shouldn't be kept with others of the same species.

Loaches are traditionally recommended as scavengers, but not all species are suitable for this role and some have to be fed just like other fish. Effective scavengers include coolie loaches, dojo loaches, dwarf loaches and sucker loaches. One caveat about sucker loaches is that when mature they can nip other fish and may latch onto flat-bodied tank mates in the absence of algae.

Siamese Algae Eaters enjoy red algae as juveniles, but older fish prefer flaked food. This fish is commonly available in Europe and from a growing band of US outlets.

Plecostomus Catfish are more commonly known as Plecos and are included in the 70 species of sucker-mouthed catfish. Plecos are probably the most popular of the catfish species. These fish are such dedicated algae eaters that you'll have to supplement their diet with vegetable flakes.

Freshwater Shrimp

Bumble Bee Shrimp are not very keen on algae, but will clean up food particles from the bottom of your tank, which can help control the growth of algae. These shrimp will also have to be fed.

Ghost Shrimp are algae eaters and scavengers, but they also have a reputation for eating small fish and for stealing commercial fish food from your other fish.

Mountain or Rock Shrimp are true scavengers, but they grow to almost 5 inches long and may make a meal of smaller fish.

Yamato Shrimp eat soft algae, but because they're not capable of feeding from the side of your tank, they prefer soft-leafed plants and fish food. These shrimp are also sensitive to shipping and are currently available only in the coastal US.

Freshwater Snails

It's not a good idea to deliberately introduce snails into your tank because they'll make a meal of your plants before they even notice your algae. However, you'll probably end up with them anyway because snail eggs sometimes come attached to purchased plants. If you need to get rid of small snails, clown and skunk loaches are among the more efficient snail-eating fish. Some larger snails such as the golf-ball-sized apple snail may be an attractive addition to your aquarium, but you'll need to think of them as a two inch fish for stock calculations. Apple snails have also been known to snack on sleeping fish.

Saltwater Fish

Butterfly fish do eat algae, but they also require a mixed diet so they cannot be relied upon to clean your tank.

Surgeons and Tangs both thrive on algae colonies, but if no algae are available you'll need to feed them blanched vegetables to supplement their diet.

Wrasse and Hogfish in their juvenile stage will act as cleaner fish by picking parasites from their neighbors' scales.

Batfish have been known to scavenge around piers and other structures for their food, but they're not the best choice for a home aquarium because they can grow to twenty inches in length.

Blenny of several species, particularly the bicolor blenny, browse the bottom for algae.

Goby are bottom-dwelling carnivores who often live in harmony with shrimp. Gobies cannot however compete with most fish for food and must be kept in a mature reef system.

Crabs

Hermit Crabs are confirmed algae eaters who'll also clean up waste food. Be careful to pick a species that only grows to one inch or less, like the left-handed hermit or the blue-legged hermit, because some of the larger species will kill fish and snails. It's also important to provide your hermits with larger shells to move into when they outgrow their original homes.

Emerald Green Crabs live among rocks and enjoy dining on algae. They're also very small, less than one inch at maturity, and are considered safe to keep with other fish.

Sally Lightfoot Crabs eat bubble and hair algae. They're also very shy and may hide in your tank until they get used to their new environment.

Arrow Crabs are excellent scavengers, but they've been known to pull feather duster worms out of their tubes with their long claws. They may also eat other invertebrates.

Saltwater Shrimp

Coral Banded or Boxer Shrimp are notorious scavengers, but they've also been known to eat very small fish and attack other shrimp species. It's a good idea to keep only one unless you're planning to breed them.

Red or Fire Shrimp are good scavengers who'll eat almost anything that's offered. They are also used occasionally for parasite control because they eat the protozoan that's responsible for Ich.

Pacific Clown Shrimp live with clown fish within the tentacles of anemones and will clean up scraps of food from your tank.

Saltwater Snails

Turbo Snails grow less than one inch long, and they will browse the surface of your glass in search of algae. They work wonders cleaning your aquarium glass, but they're not very good at cleaning rough surfaces. There are many different species of turbo from which to choose.

Pipipi Snails are smaller than turbos, usually only growing to half an inch, and they get along with hermit crabs. These pint-sized snails will reside on the glass of your tank and keep it free of algae.
Other Saltwater Scavengers

Sea Urchins live principally on algae and some species, such as the pink pincushion urchin, make much better aquarium inhabitants than others. If you're thinking about adding a sea urchin to your aquarium, do your research carefully because some species have venomous spines and can inflict a nasty sting. Another thing to consider is that sea urchins are a favorite meal of the triggerfish.

Starfishes and Brittle Stars can be good choices for your aquarium because they're alga eaters who also browse the bottom looking for scraps of missed food. It's important to research your choice carefully, though, because some species have been known to eat sleeping fish or attack other invertebrates.

If your tank is looking a little dingy and you don't want to add chemicals, you might want to consider adding some scavengers to help clean up the algae and to add a little color to your underwater world.

Sense, Intelligence And Communication

Your fish goes about his daily life with two primary concerns -- eating and avoiding being eaten. Propelled by these basic survival instincts, your fish employs all of his senses towards self-preservation and the propagation of the species.

At the same time, your fish is a living creature who can sense hunger, pain and threat, becoming aggressive when hungry and fighting for territory when challenged. Like any other pet, your fish can communicate with you if you know how to interpret his signals. To get a better grasp of the language your fish uses to communicate with you, it's important to understand how your fish functions and how he interacts with the environment.

Eyesight And Color Vision

Optimized to see at short distances, fish eyes have evolved to adapt to the environment in which they live: nocturnal fish have large eyes; muddy river dwellers have small eyes; and some cave fish are totally blind. In a brightly-lit habitat, your aquarium fish will have average-sized eyes.

Tests using colored cards, stimulants and the fish's heartbeat have confirmed that all fish recognize color to some extent. As well, many strikingly colored fish species use their pigmentation to either ward off predators -- Lionfish, for example -- or to attract mates. Male Guppies, for instance, are markedly more colorful than females while some Blennies and the Thicklipped Gourami change color at spawning time.

Your fish cannot adjust quickly to varying light conditions, however, with some species needing up to an hour to adapt to new light levels. If you turn your aquarium's overhead light off or on, you should wait a few minutes until your fish have adjusted to the new lighting conditions before you feed them.

Good Vibrations

Sound travels nearly five times faster in water, and your fish is well equipped to detect it. Even without a middle and outer ear like other animals, fish can "hear" sound through the vibrations in the water. Your fish has a lateral line running along the sides of his body, porous and filled with water, that picks up disturbances in the water. For example, if there's a feeding frenzy going on somewhere in the tank, your fish will "hear" it through the water and rush to join the action.

Aside from the lateral line, your fish has an inner ear called an otiolith which functions very much like the human ear drum. And like the human inner ear, his "ears" help him maintain orientation and balance through cilia that send messages to the brain.

Because the tank walls and the water will reflect the sound waves, normal noise from your fish aquarium's surroundings, such as conversation in the room, is not loud enough to be picked up by your fish. However, if you tap the tank, stand or table holding the tank or if you scrape the lid against the sides, you will send very loud noises into the water, noises that could cause shock and a great deal of stress to your fish.

Sense Of Touch

Surprisingly, fish have a highly developed sense of touch. Angelfish and Gourami use their pelvic fins not only as warning devices when coming out of a hiding place but also to grope and feel for food. Some varieties, like the Blue Gourami, have long whisker-like protrusions close to their pectoral fins which they use to both assert dominance during a territorial dispute and to help feel their way around. Catfish use their barbels to feel, dig through mud and gravel and taste food.

Taste Buds?

Yes, fish do have taste buds, even if they don't have tongues. Depending on the species of fish, these taste buds can be situated anywhere on the body. Catfish have taste buds on their barbels -- to detect the strongest taste of food. They circle until their barbels pick up the "scent" and then zero in on their prey.

Some fish have taste buds on the skin used to send the food message to the brain where it is interpreted and the fish swerves towards the food. In species such as Goldfish where the taste buds are in the mouth, sensing is via the vagal lobe, the most highly developed part of the brain in fish. When your fish "tastes" something that is inedible, he'll immediately expel it.

Fish Can Smell, Too?

In fish, "smelling" is linked to tasting, and it is often difficult to distinguish between the two. A fish's scent and sense of smell, in effect, serve as a means of communication within groups of fishes. Certain "odors" are emitted by fish into the water to denote their rank and position within the group, and males are aroused by the scent that a female fish will give off to indicate that she is ready to mate.

Communicating With You

Most of the time, your fish's behavior can alert you to a problem in your aquarium. For example, aggressive behavior or attacking plants by a normally peaceful fish may be a sign of hunger or of stress. Some fish become territorial as they reach adulthood, requiring you to make the appropriate changes in your aquarium.

Some of the larger aquarium species like Oscars, Pacus, Triggerfish and Groupers can be hand tamed, and may even recognize you when you enter the room. And the most evident manner by which fish communicate is when the hungry ones learn to follow you, or your hand, as you approach the tank to feed them.

Intelligence in your fish and the extent of his ability to communicate with you is a reaction to the stimulants within his limited environment. Therefore, if you wish to maintain a healthy and happy aquarium, watch your fish's natural behavior and interpret it on his level. It's as simple as that.

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