If you’re looking into getting some fish, you’re in good company. Fish are the most popular pet in America by a landslide, with 139.3 million people doting on them in their aquariums.
There are a few things you’re going to want to do to ensure that your fish have a long and happy life. Read on to learn how to care for fish and make sure that you’re the best fish parent you can be.
Feed Them Enough
How much to feed your fish depends on what kind of fish you have, but there are some general rules you should follow. Most fish should be fed once per day in the morning, but this feeding should be shifted to the evening if you have a nocturnal species of fish. If you prefer, you can give them two smaller feedings: one in the morning and one at night.
If you don’t know how much to feed your fish, give them less than you might be tempted to. This may sound counterintuitive, but overfeeding leads to stress and disease. You don’t want to give your fish more than they can eat in five minutes or else they’ll become sick.
Keep the Tank Clean
Having the right tank is crucial to the life of a fish. A general rule you’re going to want to follow is there should be one gallon of water per inch of fish.
While it might be tempting to just throw them in a bowl, nothing will kill them faster. Water that’s unfiltered and dirty causes disease, and not having enough room to swim makes fish sad.
Having the right tank alone won’t help your fish though. It has to be clean too.
The aquarium should be scrubbed out once a week, as well as any rocks and trinkets that your fish might like to hide in. Cleaning gravel is also essential to disease prevention, and there are aquarium gravel cleaners that will do the trick easily!
Show Them Some Love
Finally, as with any pet, make sure to show your fish some love! Add rocks and adornments to their aquarium that they can hide in when they want a little privacy. Give them some treats once in a while.
Make sure that your fish aren’t just healthy, but that they’re happy and content, too!
More on How to Care for Fish
Caring for any animal is a big commitment, and fish are no exception. While you think that they’re low-maintenance pets, there are still steps you need to take to keep them alive and thriving.
Now that you know how to care for fish properly so they can have a happy and healthy life, check out the ‘pets’ tab on our home page. Here, you’ll get more pointers on how to care for your aquatic friends and any other pets you may want to love.
In the immortal words of a great fish, just keep swimming!
Some of my favorite memories when I was growing up was when we enjoyed our aquarium in my family’s living room. It was a large, rectangular model. We had several varieties of fish that were very colorful. My personal favorite was our catfish. He ate like crazy!