by Laura

Created on: April 17, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

Fish unlike many other pets are not particularly high maintenance. You do not have to stay with them during the day or take them out for walks! They are really not very expensive to keep. Making sure that my tank is healthy probably costs me around 10.00 a month.

Cleaning out the tank can be a bit of a chore, I used to do this regularly changing about 25% of the water once a week. However my collection of fish got bigger and I needed to get a bigger tank and it was just taking to much time to do it by hand, so I then bought a filter for my tank and it has cut out a lot of work. Now and again I do still take out a bit of water but the filter basically does it itself now. Fish food costs about 5.00 and will last you for about three weeks.

Fish also like food such as peas, spinach, cucumber and potatoes so they could be given as an added extra but it is not a necessity.

I don't particularly think that fish are high maintenance, of course you could make it that way by buying lots of different tank ornaments etc. But once you have there food and just drop a couple of pinch fulls in twice a day that is all they need. They may also need things like the bottled liquid to take out chlorine and ammonia as this could be deadly to some of the fish.

Fish are sometimes prone to getting swim bladder disease, this is common and it is air in the bladder, this is why they can be seen floating upside down as they cannot control their own body weight. All that needs to be done is to take the sick fish out of the tank and move it to its own. Add some salt in there and do not feed him. Most of the common fish diseases are very easy to handle, for example the fin rot disease, some simple medicine will sort that out straight away.

I personally think that there is no other animal or living thing that needs less time or care than fish. Fish just need the basics food, and a clean home. Then you are ready to sit and watch your beautiful fish!

Fish also are a beautiful and calming thing to look at, they do suffer from illness just as any other pet may suffer too. They are not expensive and only take up about 5 minutes of your day.

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