| When buying fish always ensure the dorsal fin on it's back is erect. |
| Water cress in a pond takes out nitrates but don't be tempted to pick wild cress as
this could cause contamination. |
| Pieces of coal in the bottom of an aquarium makes an effective
change to normal gravel. |
| To avoid fish getting stuck in the corner when transporting in a plastic bag, twist
the corner of the bag and secure with a rubber band. This makes the corner a less
severe angle. |
| Cheap and easy way of testing rocks are safe for fish is to pour on
vinegar. If it fizzes the rock contains calcium and will kill the fish if put into a
fish tank. |
| As odd as it may seem, as a special treat you can feed salt water fish to fresh water
fish and vice versa. |
| If you have to take a fish out of water for any reason, lay it on a
nappy changer (or similar surface) and put a wet cloth over it head and tail - replace in
water as quickly as possible. |
| Biological filter material threaded on bale cord makes it easier to take out and
clean. |
| Use clean hair rollers as filters. |
| To avoid having to wait several weeks for a filter to mature, squeeze old filter
sponge into tank and the helpful bacteria will speed it up a bit. |
| Use a windscreen ice scraper to remove blanket weed from sides of a
pond. |
| To save tropical fish getting cold during a power cut, fill a polythene bag or drink
bottle with hot water and place in tank. |
| To clean gravel without having to remove it from tank, cut the
bottom off a plastic drink bottle, fit some plastic tubing securing into the neck end
sealing around the tube. Place wide end of bottle into gravel and suck end of tube
to form a siphon (make sure you remove tube quick enough to avoid getting liquid in mouth)
then place tube end in bucket. Move the bottle over the gravel and the dirt will go
down the tube into the bucket leaving the gravel behind (like a vacuum cleaner). |
| If you put rabbit/guinea pig droppings next to tank plants every 4/6 weeks it acts as
a fertilizer. |
|
