Trouble Keeping Pets? Try Fishkeeping!

Have you always wanted a pet but never had the right conditions to keep them? Maybe you were a cat person stuck in a small flat in the middle of the city on the fourth floor,? Maybe your landlord wasn’t a fan of keeping pets around because of unknown reasons? Perhaps you’ve just not had the money to buy one at all, and a hamster just was not enough to satisfy your animal-caring needs. Well, the truth is, there will always be something stopping you from getting a dog, or a cat, or an alligator if that’s your thing. You just have to come to terms with the fact that optimal conditions are unlikely to ever come around.

However, in the meantime, you might want to interest yourself in a bit of fishkeeping. While not as easy to keep around like a hamster, they are arguably far more interesting and will not go around chewing your cables or shedding on your furniture. Let’s see some good ways to get started on fishkeeping.

The Classic Cold Water Aquarium

The goldfish in a goldfish bowl cliche is a bit more than overdone, it is absolutely burnt to a crisp. The truth is, that while goldfish are indeed somewhat resilient to their surroundings and their water quality, it still does impact them very negatively. Most people get a goldfish and rarely change its water, keep it in an undersized aquarium, very often resulting in its death after around two years. This is so common that people just assume goldfish only live that long, while in actuality, that could not be further from the truth. Goldfish, with the right conditions, can live to around 30 years rather easily, with the oldest captive recorded goldfish has lived to an age of 43.

This might come as a shock to a lot of people, understandably so, the media does an excellent job of setting bad stereotypes on fishkeeping. If you go and find some live fish for sale, keep in mind that they need the proper conditions if you are to keep them. Fish, like many other animals kept as pets, need an appropriate amount of space to live in.

If you are planning on keeping cold water fish, all you need is an appropriately sized aquarium, and filter. Your general fancy goldfish like Orandas or Ryukins, need around 30 liters for themselves. Yes, that’s per fish. They might be small when you buy them, but by the time they grow up a bit, they can grow to around the size of a football.

The Tropical Aquarium

If you do not have space for a slightly bigger fish tank to keep your goldfish happy, you should look into tropical species. Freshwater tropical fish that is, saltwater fishkeeping is a whole different can of worms you probably do not want to open just yet if you are new to fishkeeping. There are a lot of much smaller tropical species which look very appealing but have very different and interesting behaviors.

Small shoaling fish like the Neon Tetra have been fan favorites for decades, and a quick google search will reveal why. Much like a cold water aquarium, a basic tropical tank also needs a filter, but on top of that, it just needs a heater. Not much more to it. If you feel like looking at serene aquascapes with fish swimming around back and forth and you are ok with doing some weekly maintenance, then fish might just be the pets you have always wanted.