And finally...

At the end, keeping fish in an aquarium is neither about Feng Shui nor Vaastu. It is about learning to take care of bowlful of surprises. If you are lucky the fish will breed and multiply and if you don't take care of your fish well enough, they will die. Between the two extremes you learn a lot.

If you need emergency care for your pets, the best and fastest source of information is the Internet. Not just the clutch of sites that peddle everything from gravel to invertebrates to discus, but the hobby groups. Some of them are so active that even before you post your problem the solution will be there. Even the topics list that is a part of the fish hobbyist groups is a great help. Read them through and you will get all your doubts clarified in no time. Of course, it is tricky territory, the moment you have a doubt, there will be a thousand recipes and there will be a fight.

There is one aspect that ties aquarium hobby with another hobby: photography. Photographing your fish and showing it to the world is the best way to show that you have arrived.

~S.N.

Hey fishy fishy...

Gizmos, technology and chemistry can get pretty addictive if you are an aquarist. It is easy to graduate from watching the thermometer and adjusting the timer switch to reading chemistry notes learning about alkalinity and acidity and watching strips of paper turn violet or blue. Once this stage is reached it is very difficult to back off and take the same personal interest as the pioneering aquarists. Which is the better bet for your fish as well as you?

Of course technology helps. Or how else do you maintain the right temperature in the aquarium if you cannot have that strip of thermostat and thermometer combination? But beyond this reliance it can be a dicey business as the love affair becomes a mechanical affair.

Instead of "hey! fishy, fishy" the routine can change to "what's the ph (the hydrogen ions in water which show acidity or alkalinity) today? Oh my God!" this is quite a change.

How to keep it simple? Observe the aquarium everyday, see the changes in the water colour, health of fishes, plants.

Talk to the fish (sound travels better in water than in air) and see your fish get interested in you. Snap your fingers before you feed them and the next time you snap your fingers they will come swimming to you.

But then how do you keep track of the changes in the aquarium? Keep it simple, if you know your fishes are not dying, plants are not withering and the water is clear then all is right with your aquaworld.

~S.N.

Holidaying?

You can take your dog with you on your vacation but what do you do with your fish?

How do you take care of your fish? Who will feed them, clean the tank, switch on the light and switch it off? Depends on how long you are planning to be away. If your holiday is only for a few days stretching to a week, then don't worry about feeding the fish.

The fish will be fine, may be a little hungry, may be a little leaner, maybe they will turn vegetarian and eat more greens. Just ensure that you feed them well just before you slam the door shut. A longer vacation is a different kettle of fish altogether. Make small portions of the food and persuade one of your neighbours to feed the fish every alternate day.

If you have a single tubelight you can leave it switched on if your aquarium has plants.

~S.N.

Dealing with moody fish...

'Modern Love: What Shamu Taught Me About a Happy Marriage' is Amy Sutherland's story about an exotic animal trainer who uses the tricks used to train her pets on her husband with often funny but heart warming results.

Aquarists often have to deal with similar situations where their new acquisition turns out to be a monster that devours all the plants or worse still chases, nips fins, and leaves the older pets swimming for cover and shelter.

Occasionally, an older pet becomes roguish and you have to take a crucial decision. Should you...

Mind games

But before you have to take a heartbreaking decision, you can try and use a little psychology to take care of your loved ones. Some fish are gregarious by nature and lead a social life, but some others like the fabled Siamese fighter will always be aggressive.

Then there are others like the Discus, Oscar, Scat that will be fine in a same species tank but become aggressive when introduced into a community tank.

How do you deal with this situation?

A few aquarists after getting the fish in the plastic pouch consider equalising the temperature as the main thing. It is, but more than that, you have to make the introduction as monotonous as possible. For that, you have to resort to a simple trick of feeding the fish.

Do that, and the distraction is sufficient for acclimatisation of the new members of the community.

But what is the lesson from the exotic animal trainer? When the fish behaves roguishly, create a glass partition.

Then you can start the training, if the fish is good feed it a little, if it behaves badly, ignore it. Stick to this behaviour control and the results should be good, unless you have a fish-eating monster like Arrowana.

And if everything else fails, it is better to return the rogue to the pet shop than to confine him in a small aquarium.

~S.N.