Nutrition, Diet and Avoiding Stress
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 Here are some commonly-overlooked factors that stress fish:
Vary the Diet of Your Fish!
We cannot emphasize enough how important this is. The diet of fish is a factor that is usually ignored by most aquarium owners. Fish cannot survive on any one type of food any more than humans can. In the wild, most of the fish we keep in aquariums are pelagic (mid-column) feeders, or benthic (bottom) feeders, that eat a wide variety of foods. Fish in the wild eat many times a
day, while fish in the aquarium eat twice a day. Because of this difference in feeding habits, it is important to give fish a variety of dry and frozen fish foods.
There are many types of food available, ranging from flake and freeze-dried foods, to specially prepared frozen foods. It is tempting to feed a prepared flake food at every feeding because it is convenient. Although fish can survive for a long time on one type of food; this type of diet will eventually lead to vitamin, protein or mineral deficiencies. Many saltwater angelfish, parrotfish, boxfish and butterflyfish as well as freshwater silver
dollars and African cichlids require a lot of greens in their diet. Feeding well-washed Romaine lettuce one or two times a week can satisfy this requirement. We have special lettuce clips that can allow you to do this conveniently.
Signs of nutritional deficiencies in fish range from physical deformities, a lowered resistance to disease, lateral line erosion, loss of scales, and listlessness to physical blindness. When these problems show up in an aquarium, there is a high probability that a poor diet is to blame. Please! Vary the diet of your fish. If you only feed flake food, your fish will develop horrible, irreversible malformations and they will only live a short
while!
Provide Proper Lighting
Most fish also require at least six hours of the correct spectrum of light a day to manufacture certain vitamins and to process components of their diet. Aquarium light bulbs are special bulbs that simulate the spectrum of the sun. After a year of use, the bulbs no longer produce the correct spectrum and should be replaced.
Avoid Major Temperature Changes
You should try to avoid drastic fluctuations in temperature in the room where the aquarium is kept. Because fish are poikilothermic (cold-blooded) animals, they are sensitive to rapid changes in the temperature of their environment. If the tank gets too cold, the fish become stressed and are susceptible to parasite infestations. If the aquarium gets too warm, the
dissolved oxygen level of the water drops rapidly and the fish can literally suffocate. If you don’t have air conditioning in your home or office, keep the population of fish lower, and use air bubbles to improve gas exchange at the water’s surface. Never unplug your aquarium heater if the tank gets too warm. The heater is automatic, and will shut off at the right temperature. Check the aquarium thermometer every time you feed your fish! The aquarium heater is the one piece of aquarium
equipment that is most susceptible to failure.
Use an Ultraviolet Sterilizer
Harmful parasites and bacteria are always present in even the healthiest of aquariums. Some undesired microscopic life lives dormant in every aquarium. Other parasitic organisms are constantly attacking your fish, but are repelled by the fish’s immune system. When a fish is stressed, it’s immune system does not function properly, and the fish can quickly get sick. Using an
ultraviolet sterilizer can greatly-reduce the population of free-floating pathogens in aquariums. UV sterilizers do not come with a pump. To use an ultraviolet sterilizer, you will need either an external canister filter, or at least a pump that mounts inside the aquarium. You can also use the return pump from your wet-dry or Berlin filter system. Read this article for information on how to select a UV sterilizer.
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