Saturday May 18, 2013

Memorial day is close at hand, and you may be planning to take a few extra days away. Great idea, but now you have the dilemma of how to feed your fish while you are gone. Sure, you can get a fish sitter but they might give your fish too much or too little food. Maybe you are even considering investing in one of those nifty, but pricey,
automatic feeders.
Before you dig into your wallet, consider this low tech, but highly effective way of ensuring your fish get the proper food portions. Grab an inexpensive Monday through Sunday pill dispenser, then for the next week when you feed your fish, drop the same amount of food in one day of the pill dispenser. At the end of the week it's loaded and ready to go for your fish sitter, with no guess work involved. Check all my favorite
fish feeding gadgets that make feeding fish a breeze.
More About Feeding
Choosing Fish Foods
Dietary Types
Flake Foods
Nutrition 101
Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Friday May 17, 2013

Sri Lanka is the home country of this very attractive member of the Barb family. Unfortunately, its beauty made it so popular that overfishing for the aquarium trade brought it close to extinction. Thanks to captive breeding programs, they are still readily available for sale in the aquarium trade. If you are looking for a peaceful fish to keep with other Barbs, the
Ruby Barb may be just what you are looking for.
Have you kept Black Ruby Barbs? If so, please
share your thoughts and experiences.
Other Barbs
Gold Barb
Rosy Barb
Tiger Barb
Photo © Derek Ramsey
Thursday May 16, 2013

Recently an advertisement on Facebook caught my eye. It was entitled "
Fishscape Fishbowl", and featured an unusually shaped
goldfish bowl. After surfing the web for more info, I discovered the product won a 2011 Design Excellence Award (IDEA). That means it's a good thing, right? I don't think so. It is clear this fishbowl is designed for humans, not fish. Sure, it's attractive, but what does it do for your fish, other than reduce the amount of swimming space and all important water volume. What are your thoughts about this type of product? Take the poll, and post your comments.
Related Reading
How to Clean Goldfish Bowls
Mini Aquariums
Unusual Aquariums
Wall Fish Bowl
Photo Courtesy of PriceGrabber
Wednesday May 15, 2013

Recently a reader wrote to me about her new dark blue Crowntail Betta, and how much she was enjoying him. Few fish are more popular than
Bettas, who come in a variety of stunning varieties and colors, as these Betta photo galleries can attest.
If you have Betta photos to share,
send them to me and I'll add them to one of the galleries for all to enjoy.
Betta Photo Galleries
Beautiful Bettas
Crowntail and Halfmoon Bettas
Female Bettas
Photo © Daniella Vereeken