Freshwater

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Part II: Fish and How to Care for Them
Don’t buy the first fish off the boat
Avoid buying any new arrivals your dealer recently received. If the fish are
still in a packing crate, that should give you a clue. You should see a large
number of bags containing fish floating in the aquariums on the days the
store receives new shipments. Most dealers receive new fish on one or two
specific days each week. Ask your dealer which days these are. A good dealer
doesn’t allow customers to purchase fish until she’s had sufficient time to
quarantine them. This quarantine period reduces the fish’s stress from shipping
and allows the shop’s personnel to treat any disease that shows up in
the first few days after arrival.
If you happen to see some fish that really catch your eye while they are still
in the bags, ask the dealer to hold them for you until a reasonable quarantine
period has expired. Most dealers willingly agree to do that. Helpful merchants
who take the time to grant such simple requests to provide customer satisfaction
are definitely worth patronizing in the future. Stop for a moment and
ask yourself one simple question: If I owned this fish shop, would I do this for
my customer? If the answer is yes, then you should expect your dealer to do
the same thing.
Don’t be Doctor Doolittle
Never allow anyone, including your dealer, to talk you into buying a sick or
ailing fish in the honorable but mistaken belief that you can quickly nurse it
back to vibrant health. This is one of the biggest mistakes a beginning hobbyist
can make. We have purchased fish that we wanted to save from destruction,
but were not novices at the time. We saved these fish with round-theclock
care, but a lot of experience is usually required to get the job done.
(The ones we did save, however, quickly became our favorite pets.)
Playing Florence Nightingale for aquatic pets only works when you have the
proper knowledge and equipment to pull it off. Diseased fish can cause water
problems and infect your other fish as well. Don’t buy any fish from tanks
that the dealer is currently medicating, because diseases can spread to your
other fish.
If you notice dead fish floating in a healthy-looking tank, avoid buying any of
the livestock from that same aquarium. Do not purchase a fish with an unusually
humped back (unless normal for the species) — as this generally indicates
old age. A good dealer never allows a customer to purchase old, dying,
or diseased fish, but instead tells you that certain fish are being medicated
and are not for sale until the condition clears up.