The Purpose of our Fish Bowl Blog
The purpose of this blog is to share experiments with commonly used fish bowls to help educate those wishing to have a small desktop size aquarium with little maintenance and relatively healthy fish.Common Fish Used in a Fish Bowl
The two most common fish used to occupy a fish bowl in the United States are Goldfish and Bettas. Both of these species of fish have some difficulties living in a fish bowl. This is one of the reasons many consider the use of a fish bowl to house fish to be inhumane.
Goldfish
Goldfish are by far one of the worst species of fish to consider using in a fish bowl. Their large size and rapid growth rate cause them to expel far to much waste to be able to keep them healthy.
Many believe that keeping goldfish in such confined quarters helps to control their size by stunting their growth. While the size of the tank may have some influence on their size it is far more likely that the majority of the lack of growth is caused by poor water conditions.
What Causes Poor Water Conditions for Goldfish?
Due to their relatively large size, fast growth rate and insatiable appetite, goldfish produce a lot of waste. This waste causes the water to become toxic with high percentages of ammonia and nitrites.
Another common issue with goldfish that are kept in fish bowls is overfeeding. Goldfish always appear to be hungry. You should never feed your goldfish more than he will eat in a 2 - 3 minute period. This prevents food from being left over in the bowl or tank.
Food that is left in the bottom of the tank will quickly cause unhealthy bacteria to overwhelm the tank causing the water to become cloudy and reducing the oxygen level in the tank or bowl to a level that is unhealthy or fatal to the goldfish.
Helping to Maintain Good Water Conditions
One of the best ways to maintain good water conditions in an aquarium or bowl is to understand the nitrogen cycle and applying that understanding to the tank. This is what is known as cycling the tank.
The nitrogen cycle is a process by which bacteria break down toxic ammonia produced by the fish into nitrites. These nitrites are also toxic to fish but fortunately other forms of bacteria break down the nitrites into nitrates which are much less toxic to fish.
Nitrates while not nearly as toxic as ammonia or nitrites can still be harmful to your fish in high concentrations. The amount of nitrates in the tank can be controlled by doing partial water changes every week or two depending on the size, type and number of fish in your tank or bowl.
In order to maintain a healthy nitrogen cycle in your tank it is necessary to introduce beneficial bacteria into the tank.
There are two basic methods to cycle your tank. The most common way is to start with one small fish and wait 4-6 weeks before adding more fish. While this method is effective it is also very stressful on the fish that is being used often resulting in the death of the fish. If the fish does not die it can leave the fish in a weakened state making it susceptible to disease or illness.
The other method of cycling a tank is using a fishless method. This method uses common household ammonia (pure) to feed the beneficial bacteria needed for a healthy tank. The fishless method of cycling a tank is usually much faster taking only 2-3 weeks to cycle. Using the fishless method you should use approximately 4-5 drops of ammonia for every 10 gallons of water every day until the tank is stabilized.
Whichever method you choose to use you should test the ammonia levels in the water before adding fish.
While it is likely that the beneficial bacteria you need to cycle your tank are in the water already you can accelerate the process by adding the bacteria yourself. This can be done by adding gravel from another already cycled tank, squeezing the water out of a filter from another tank or adding a used filter to the tank for a day or so. There are also commercial additives that you can use however many hobbyists believe that they are not as effective as the other methods.
The nitrogen cycle is a process by which bacteria break down toxic ammonia produced by the fish into nitrites. These nitrites are also toxic to fish but fortunately other forms of bacteria break down the nitrites into nitrates which are much less toxic to fish.
Nitrates while not nearly as toxic as ammonia or nitrites can still be harmful to your fish in high concentrations. The amount of nitrates in the tank can be controlled by doing partial water changes every week or two depending on the size, type and number of fish in your tank or bowl.
In order to maintain a healthy nitrogen cycle in your tank it is necessary to introduce beneficial bacteria into the tank.
There are two basic methods to cycle your tank. The most common way is to start with one small fish and wait 4-6 weeks before adding more fish. While this method is effective it is also very stressful on the fish that is being used often resulting in the death of the fish. If the fish does not die it can leave the fish in a weakened state making it susceptible to disease or illness.
The other method of cycling a tank is using a fishless method. This method uses common household ammonia (pure) to feed the beneficial bacteria needed for a healthy tank. The fishless method of cycling a tank is usually much faster taking only 2-3 weeks to cycle. Using the fishless method you should use approximately 4-5 drops of ammonia for every 10 gallons of water every day until the tank is stabilized.
Whichever method you choose to use you should test the ammonia levels in the water before adding fish.
While it is likely that the beneficial bacteria you need to cycle your tank are in the water already you can accelerate the process by adding the bacteria yourself. This can be done by adding gravel from another already cycled tank, squeezing the water out of a filter from another tank or adding a used filter to the tank for a day or so. There are also commercial additives that you can use however many hobbyists believe that they are not as effective as the other methods.
Common Mistake for Fish Bowl Owners
One of the most common mistakes that fishbowl owners have is to take the fish out of the bowl, dump out the water and completely and clean everything in the bowl. This kills the beneficial bacteria in the bowl or tank. Soon after the fish is added back to the bowl or tank the water becomes cloudy and requires the process to be done again to prevent the fish from dying.This constant changing of the water causes dramatic changes in water quality making your fish unhealthy and susceptible to diseases like Ick.
Betta Fish: Another Common Fish Bowl Pet
Bettas are also commonly kept in fish bowls. While Bettas can appear to be doing fairly well in a fish bowl it is not really an ideal environment for them.
Bettas have what is known as a Labyrinth Chamber which helps them to be able to gulp air from the surface of the water. This gives the Betta the ability to be able to live in very small spaces for short periods of time with little adverse health conditions.
For optimum heath the Betta should be kept in a fairly large tank at least 10 gallon in size to give them enough room to make them feel comfortable and develop a territory.
One of the other reasons that Bettas should be kept in a larger tanks is because they need their water to be fairly warm all the time. Having a fish bowl with no heater in it may meet the Betta's heating requirements during the day time or in summer months however in the winter or at night the temperatures may drop to a point that they are detrimental or fatal to the Betta.
This blog will focus on fish that should do better in small fish bowls without heaters. We will be sharing our real time experiences trying to keep fish bowl fish healthy and happy.
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