Posts tagged "fish"

Neon Tetras 101

by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts): Feb 1st 2010 10:00AM Filed Under: Fish

Name: Neon Tetra

Personality: Neon Tetras are active schooling fish, and very peaceful. Neon tetras are social, doing best in schools of at least six of their own.

Care: This freshwater fish, which is possibly the most popular aquarium fish, requires at least a 10 gallon tank, fully cycled, with a water temperature of 69 to 79 degrees Fahrenheit and a pH around 7.0. They need open space for swimming, vegetation for hiding, and proper food like small flake foods and brine shrimp.

Common Health Issues: It's not unusual for a neon tetra to live 10 years with proper care, but they don't tolerate changes to their environment, so many live much shorter lives. Neon Tetra Disease, which is considered incurable, is the most common issue these fish face.

Training Tips: The best way to enjoy your neon tetras is to watch them swim back and forth, chasing one another. This isn't a fish you want to try to train.

Betta Fish 101

by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts): Jan 25th 2010 10:00AM Filed Under: Fish

betta fish Flickr/TheEye - LN

Name: Betta Fish (aka Siamese Fighting Fish)

Personality: As their alias suggests, Bettas don't always do well with other fish; there are certain fish with whom they cannot get along. Male bettas, in particular, can be quite territorial towards other male bettas and other fish, specifically fish with lots of blue and red, fish with long flowing fins, or fish with similar shapes.

Care: Aside from feeding your betta fish daily (or close to it, as they can go a day or two without food) and keeping their tank clean, there's not much involved in caring for them. While some people keep bettas in small vases, the best environment for this fish is a 10 gallon tank where the water stays between 78 and 80 degrees (never dropping below 74 degrees). Because they are a prey animal, it's important to provide plenty of hiding spots in their tank (ideally, real or artificial plants) to make them feel safe.

Common Health Issues: The biggest threats to a betta's health are things you can control: Tank size, water temperature, access to oxygen (surface area), improper heating and poor diet. They can live up to about five years, but the average is closer to three, in large part due to the reasons listed above.

Koi 101

by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts): Jan 22nd 2010 10:00AM Filed Under: Fish

koi fish Flickr/corrieb

Name: Koi

Personality: Koi are gentle, peaceful and mellow. Very large Koi can share a pond with much smaller Koi with no danger.

Care: Koi are hardy fish that can live 30-50 years (The record stands at 233 years!). The most important aspect of care is quality of water. If water quality is poor, the fish can die quickly. The water must be in a pond (300 gallons per mature fish, and at least three feet deep) that remains a proper temperature and has filtration to keep the water clean. Nutrition is also extremely important. Koi will eat just about anything, but a proper diet will help them stay healthy and grow more quickly.

Common Health Issues: Though generally healthy and long-lived, koi are prone to a number of diseases. Like goldfish, they can develop fin rot and Ich. Other health issues to watch for are anchor worm (parasitic bacterial infection), cotton wool disease (bacterial infection), dropsy (sign of another condition or bacterial infection), fish lice (parasite), gill maggots (parasite), Saprolegnia fungus (fungal infection) and skin and gill flukes (fish equivalent of fleas).

Training Tips: Many koi owners have success in training their koi to eat from their hands. Keep in mind, however, that once your koi learn to accept food from you without fear, they might come to the surface for other animals, including predators like herons.

Goldfish 101

by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts): Jan 14th 2010 10:00AM Filed Under: Fish

goldfish Flickr/protographer

Name: Goldfish

Personality: Goldfish are sociable and do well living with other fish. They will often swim to the surface to be fed.

Care: Goldfish are easier to care for than many other pets. However, they are sensitive and changes to their environment can cause stress, which often leads to bad health. Avoid touching your goldfish unless it's absolutely necessary, and feed your fish once a day in the water, not by hand (this can pass dangerous germs on to them). Make sure to only add tank decorations that are designed for aquariums.

Be cautious about what kinds of fish you put together. Even different types of goldfish can have different needs. And the size of the aquarium will depend on the size and number of goldfish you have. Because they can grow to be six inches long or more, you might need something considerably larger than the traditional fish bowl. In fact, many sources recommend only using a 10-20 gallon tank, as a bowl simply isn't large enough, nor is it filtered. With a filtered tank, you'll still need to clean the gravel about once every two weeks. Without a filtration system, you'll need to clean the tank at least once a week.

Common Health Issues: Goldfish are fairly hardy and can live for 10 years, though the average lifespan is closer to four years. Fin rot, which happens after bacteria attacks an injury, is fairly common. Ich (or white spot disease) shows itself as white spots on your fish's body. This is actually a parasite, and will spread quickly if not treated, often causing your fish to swim strangely, have difficulty breathing, and eventually die. Both these issues are far more common in stressed fish with weakened immune systems, making it all the more important that you pay close attention to their environment and water quality.

Animals in Every Color of the Rainbow

by Kirsten Taylor (Subscribe to Kirsten Taylor's posts): Sep 4th 2009 9:00AM Filed Under: Exotic Pets, Photo Galleries

Why choose just one color when I can have them all? Photo: Manjith_Kainickara/Flickr

Roses are red, violets are blue... and our furry, feathered, winged and scaled friends come in every possible color under the sun. From Red Rover to purple finches, the Animal Kingdom puts Crayola to shame with a stunning array of hues.

You won't find a pot of gold at the end of this rainbow -- but you will get a rewarding glimpse at nature's impressive palette. Read on to see the dazzling effect of nature at work.

Fish Coughs Up a Gold Watch

by Michelle Toglia (Subscribe to Michelle Toglia's posts): Jun 15th 2009 12:00PM Filed Under: Pets News, Fish

"I hope tomorrow's lunch will be lighter." Photo: Sheadon Ringor/The Garden Island

Missing a gold watch? We know a fish who can help.

Last week, two men at Port Allen beach found a watch in the mouth of a 10-inch reef fish on the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.

Curt Carish and his friend noticed that the nenue fish was swimming extremely close to the shore during their picnic on the beach.

When they poked the fish with a bamboo stick, they saw its unusually large stomach sticking out. They then put the fish into a cooler where it coughed up a gold watch.

Amazingly, the ticking gold watch kept the correct time. We certainly know the jewelry wasn't artiFISHial.

Source

Aquarist

by Helena Sung (Subscribe to Helena Sung's posts): May 27th 2009 12:00PM Filed Under: Exotic Pets, Fish, I Work With Animals!

Nate Jaros, Senior Aquarist at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, feeds cownose stingrays above a 350,000-gallon tropical reef tank. Visit the aquarium for Shark Summer and you'll get to feed the rays too! Photo: Aquarium of the Pacific

What animal lover hasn't daydreamed about ditching their desk job and applying for a job at the zoo? Or at a doggy daycare? Or tracking gorillas in Africa? We sure have, but since most of us may never actually get to work with the animals we love, we thought we'd introduce you to a few people who do.

Name: Nate Jaros
Age: 31
Job: Senior Aquarist, Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California

What does an aquarist do?
An aquarist is someone who takes care of aquariums, essentially. We're responsible for animal care and feeding -- kind of like an underwater zookeeper for marine organisms. We take care of sharks, rays, invertebrates, fish and corals. The list goes on and on.

What are invertebrates?
Animals without spines: crustaceans, lobster, shrimp, cephalopods, octopus, corals, sea jellies. It's any animal that lives underwater that's not a fish.

Coral is an animal?
A lot of people are surprised about that. But, yeah, they're a very basic animal.

How long have you been working as an aquarist?
Almost 8 years.

What kind of schooling do you need to become an aquarist?
A bachelor's degree in one of the life sciences -- preferably marine biology. Biology and some environmental studies are often accepted, plus experience working with animals or aquariums.

Where did you go to college?
I went to Creighton University near where I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska.

Isn't Nebraska landlocked?
Yeah. [Laughing.] I studied biology; they didn't offer marine biology. And I worked at a local zoo in Omaha that has a very large aquarium with over a million gallons of water.

How did you get interested in being an aquarist?
I've always been interested in marine life ever since I was a kid. My brother and I kept a lot of aquariums over the years. It's just what I enjoyed doing. When I found out that you could do it for a career, I was pretty ecstatic.

Do you have a favorite animal or fish?
As a kid, I was fascinated by sharks. Seeing movies like "Jaws" that portray them in a negative fashion made me even more curious. The more I learned, the more I found out that's a myth. They're not dangerous animals -- they are animals that we can learn a lot from and we need to protect.

What's the weirdest fish you've seen?
You should see the bow mouth guitarfish. It looks like a dinosaur that's still alive. It has spikes that come out of the top of its head. It's beautiful -- we have one on display. Right now, it's six feet long, but they can grow to eight feet and reach 300-something pounds.

Source

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Camouflage Animals

Madagascar Day Gecko
The green Madagascar Day Gecko lives in the dry regions of forests in Madagascar and neighboring islands. They usually grow to be between four to six inches long. Their tail makes up almost half of their length.

Getty Images

Camouflage Animals

Argentine Horned Frog Reptiles
The Argentine Horned Frog, also known as the Horned Frog or Pacman Frog, originated in South America. The green and black amphibian, which can grow up to six inches long, is a popular pets and can live for as long as 10 years.

Camouflage Animals

Walkingstick
The Walkingstick takes its camouflage abilities to the next level by creating the appearance of a stick or twig to hide from predators. While they normally stand still, these insects are able to walk around as though they were a twig caught in the wind. They can be found in tropical forests or woodlands all across the world.

Camouflage Animals

Dwarf Puff Adder
Found in Nambia, the venomous Dwarf Puff Adder hides from the hot desert sun by burying itself in the sand, where only its eyes show.

Camouflage Animals

Stonefish
Often resembling a rock, the brown colored Stonefish camouflages itself perfectly in the ocean. With 13 venomous dorsal spines on its back, the Stonefish can cause tissue damage and respiratory distress, which can lead to cardiovascular shock if left untreated.

Camouflage Animals

Chameleons
Chameleons, the quintessential color-changers, can transform their skin color when their mood, temperature or the amount of light around them is altered. Their hue, which can vary from yellow and pink to brown and black, is also altered when they communicate.

Camouflage Animals

Green Anole
Often confused with chameleons, Green Anoles turn brown when they're stressed or sick. Found in the trees and shrubs of the Southeastern United States, these lizards are popular pets.

Camouflage Animals

The Eastern Wood Frog
The Eastern Wood Frog tricks competitors by changing colors to match its surroundings. Found in North American woodlands, the frog also has a dark black patch from its eye to the base of its front limb that can change colors.

Camouflage Animals