The Last Kid on the Block—
Growing pains?
March 2nd, 2011
By Andrea Knudsen
The cloudiness of our fish tank, however slight, was a little alarming. We have every intention of providing our tropical fish a clean and comfortable habitat.
I must confess that I’ve been feeling like an expert pet owner: we’ve kept our fish alive for six weeks (apparently I’m easily impressed). I’m happy to report we still have two platys and four neon tetras, all of which seem active and, dare I say, happy.
The blessing and curse of pet fish is, they are low-maintenance. My son and I change 15-20% of the water in the tank every week, and we all take turns feeding the fish every evening. The status quo makes it easy to feel confident!
Until, that is, the water in our tank began looking cloudy two days ago, as if tiny particles were floating throughout the aquarium. Eh, nothing a water change can’t fix, I thought. But vacuuming/siphoning the gravel in the process of changing the water may have made matters worse.
I thought we’d mastered this pet thing! I panicked a little, expecting the worst. But according to the Internet, cloudy water is a common symptom, the causes of which range from continued nitrogen cycling to overfeeding.
In our case, overfeeding seems like the most likely cause: while we know one flake per fish is a good ratio, we were coming to the end of the introductory packet of fish food that came with our tank, and had been using piles of the tiny crumbs at the bottom of said packet. We were trying not to waste, you know? What I suspect, though, is that many of the tiny flakes intended as fish food landed among the substrate and became food for hungry-turned-happy bacteria. A case of our eyes being bigger than our fish’s stomachs.
The solution, I hope, is switching to a fresh container of whole fish food flakes, and monitoring that each fish is able to eat its fill without leaving leftovers at the bottom of the tank. General consensus among the fish-loving online community is that fish should eat what they need within two minutes. Unfortunately tonight I think we still overshot our goal, uneaten flakes littering the gravel once again. Hopefully we’ll do better tomorrow.
I am proud of my problem-solving skills… assuming I solve the problem. Time will tell. We had intended to add more fish to the tank, but now we’ll wait until the water returns to crystal clear before messing with the bio load. Our 10-gallon tank should support four additional fish (for a total of 10), and my son has his eye on two more neon tetras and two fancy guppies. Hopefully they’ll join our little community before long!
“The Last Kid on the Block” is a continuing series following the Knudsen family’s progress selecting and caring for their first pets. Andrea Knudsen lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
The Last Kid on the Block—
A Unique Brand of Appreciation
February 16th, 2011
By Andrea Knudsen
It's not really pet "ownership," but rather pet partnership.
My grandma keeps the remains of her departed beloved pet, Cassie, on her mantel. I admit I find it a little… unusual. But I’ve never been in her shoes, and I’m certain she’s not the only one. Pets are members of our families—sometimes preferred to their human counterparts—and mourned as such.
Animals offer such unique gifts, tireless companionship and unconditional love among them. And yet we sometimes try to limit them to human attributes. We name them, talk to them and have even been known to dress them.
Our pets are fish, so I haven’t had the pleasure of choosing their outfits. But we named them, and I know I, for one, talk to them. My family and I invent thoughts within their little fishy brains, and conversations about their fishy days. We take into consideration what we would want, were the tables turned.
There’s a balance between their dependence on us for food, shelter (and clothing?) and our respect that they were capable of doing just fine in their natural habitat. We don’t just love them, we appreciate them in a way only a pet owner can.
* * *
We have had our aquarium for about two months, and our fish are doing (dare I say it?) swimmingly. Of course we fondly remember the three fish we initially lost during the cycling of our tank. Indy the platy, our lone survivor, is going to be a papa soon. His lady, Rose, is bursting at the gills—which means we’re going to have to learn about platy fry soon. We also plan to add to our four neon tetras, since they like company. You can’t tell me fish are boring!
“The Last Kid on the Block” is a continuing series following the Knudsen family’s progress selecting and caring for their first pets. Andrea Knudsen lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
The Last Kid on the Block—
Expecting the Unexpected with a New Pet
February 2nd, 2011
By Andrea Knudsen
A friend and I once discussed when you’re ready to have kids, and came to the conclusion that you’re never really ready.
The love of a new pet can be worth the changes and unexpected challenges.
I’ve decided becoming a pet owner is much the same: if you’re waiting to be ready, adopting a pet may never happen. You certainly can prepare yourself, but reading about a dog or a pig or a fish is not the same as bringing one into your home.
In our family’s experience, I thought we were prepared. I researched. I talked to pet store staff. I bought the gear. When our fish came home, we followed the directions. We took special care. But still, three of our four fish died.
Happily, most friends’ experiences have been less… extreme. Still, much like bringing home a (human) baby, bringing home a puppy (for whatever reason, among my friends it’s usually a puppy) inevitably leads to something unexpected. You know puppies like to chew, but you don’t anticipate your puppy chewing on your son’s new snow boots. You know they jump, but you don’t realize your puppy will jump high enough to reach the loaf of bread on the counter.
It’s a process, much of which is dependent on change, be it putting your boots in the closet or working weekly aquarium water changes into your schedule. It’s a trade-off—and one most people I know would say it’s worth the effort.
We’ve since turned a corner with a fully-cycled tank, and our six fish seem to be thriving. But just as being a parent brings new, unexpected challenges, I anticipate the same with our pets.
“The Last Kid on the Block” is a continuing series following the Knudsen family’s progress selecting and caring for their first pets. Andrea Knudsen lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
The Last Kid on the Block—
Cautiously Optimistic
January 19th, 2011
By Andrea Knudsen
With the initial nitrogen cycle of our aquarium behind us, we added four new neon tetras, as well as a platy friend for Indy.
It’s been six weeks since we embarked on the journey of pet ownership. I admit it hasn’t exactly followed the itinerary I’d planned (you know, the buy-fish-and-live-happily-ever-after plan), but somehow we’ve ended up in a good place. Ah, if only I could guarantee this was the final destination!
Only one of our four fish—Indy—survived our aquarium’s first nitrogen cycle, and he continues to thrive. We’d been testing the ammonia level in the tank, and since it had remained low enough we decided to visit the pet shop again.
The shop’s test of our water sample confirmed that ammonia is all but gone, and a member of the staff advised us that we were ready to add fish. Quite honestly, I was thinking that one new fish would be plenty, but when the salesperson suggested three or four, my family and I got carried away. My son picked out a female sunset platy (for Indy) and three teeny neon tetras. Four tetras swam into the net, and suddenly we had five new fish.
I’m caught between the excitement of building our aquarium again and the fear that maybe this isn’t wise… I’ve managed to justify it because the tank has cycled and the tetras truly are teeny, thus I’m hoping they won’t create much of an additional biological load.
Indy, for one, seems to be liking his new lady friend, whose name is either Lillia II or Rose, depending on my daughter’s mood. I think he’s smitten, but I’m not so sure she’s interested.
The neon tetras are too small for us to tell apart, so they’ve been named Michigan, Fishigan, Wishigan and Tishigan. I know tetras are happiest in larger numbers, and I hope adding a few at a time isn’t too stressful on the little guys (or girls—I’ve only had an anatomy lesson with respect to platys).
With all of this excitement also came the necessity of our first weekly 25% water change. Our new gravel vacuum worked so well, I wasn’t able to clean all of the gravel before it had siphoned out enough water, but the water looks crystal clear. We also realized, rather sheepishly, that the tank’s filter is much quieter if we slightly increase the water level. (Yes, it took us six weeks.)
It’s truly a pleasure to have several fish in the aquarium again, and we’re all enjoying watching as they adapt to their new home. I’m hopeful, despite my misgivings, that our pets will continue to thrive. We’ll see where this journey takes us.
“The Last Kid on the Block” is a continuing series following the Knudsen family’s progress selecting and caring for their first pets. Andrea Knudsen lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
The Last Kid on the Block—
Becoming a Pet Lover
January 5th, 2011
By Andrea Knudsen
Indy, a platy, has proven a hardy tropical fish for our first aquarium. Isn't he cute?
You may know—or maybe you are—one of those people who waxes poetic about his or her pet. The pet that is the cuddliest, cutesiest, best friend ever.
Well, that pet has nothing on our fish, Indy.
Understand that Indy is the last remaining survivor in an aquarium that was briefly home to four tropical fish. The initial cycling of our tank has been rough, to say the least. We lost our two zebra danio glo fish days after adopting them, then watched our female platy succumb to toxic ammonia levels.
But Indy has persevered, and we love him for it. As a parent, I love him for surviving and sparing my kids—especially my son, who requested a fish—another loss. And while I know he’s a $2 (if that) fish, as a new pet owner I think I get the pet-person bond.
I’ve been watching Indy closely—after all, I don’t have many other opportunities to interact with him. I began by watching him for the signs of failing health we recognized in the two of our three fish who didn’t make it: no interest in food, erratic swimming, no strength to swim through the mild current from our filter.
Indy has been a champ with a strong appetite. He’s also much more lively than I initially recognized. Either our water quality has drastically improved, or he’s actually enjoying being the king of his aquatic castle. I appreciate his little personality!
At this point, there isn’t a lot we can do to expedite the nitrogen cycle. We’re not completely convinced that additives to colonize “good” bacteria quickly will benefit the long-term stability of the tank. We’re not confident that a massive water change would be good for Indy, either. So we’re letting nature take its course.
We did invest in a water testing kit, and have been monitoring the levels of ammonia. In the past few days, ammonia has decreased but it’s still present.
Next Wednesday marks four weeks since we introduced fish to our aquarium. With Indy doing so swimmingly (I couldn’t resist the pun!), we’re hopeful we’ll be able to introduce a friend soon. But I think it’s safe to say that our interest in cultivating a tank of tropical friends has taken a backseat to whatever is best for Indy.
Honestly, I would cuddle him if I could!
“The Last Kid on the Block” is a continuing series following the Knudsen family’s progress selecting and caring for their first pets. Andrea Knudsen lives in suburban Chicago with her husband and two children.
