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AQUARIUM
(A guide to fresh water Aquarium keeping
- Gordon Rodricks)
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a)
The first preference as far as food is concerned is Tubifex worms and Daphnia, available
at all aquarium fish shops. Tubifex can be bought for the entire week & stored in a shallow
tray under a slow dripping tap. Daphnia may also be stored in a shallow tray but, needs
continuos strong aeration and must be finished within maximum 2 days otherwise they will
all die. A small portion of Tubifex say two level teaspoons for the size of this aquarium
can be put into a small mud bowl in the center of the aquarium every morning. b) The second preference is dried or desiccated Tubifex worms which come in sealed packets, in small cubes. One or two cubes may be pressed against the wall of the tank about 4 inches from the top and the fish will learn to feed from this. Feed three times a day. c) The third preference is prepared food. Fish should be fed at least twice a day but preferably 3 times a day- if prepared or dry food is used. d) You may also buy powdered fish food from the shops but usually this goes stale very fast, so I avoid this and I prepare my own food. This is my recipe: i) Boil water in a small vessel. ii) In a separate container, beat one egg. iii) Pour the egg into the boiling water and stir for 3-4 minutes. iv) Strain the boiled & coagulated egg in a muslin cloth. Squeeze out all the water. v) Mix one capsule of B Complex into the egg. vi) Mix 1/4 teaspoon of grated cheese into the above. vii) Mix half a chicken liver lightly boiled into this. viii) Pack this mixture tightly into very small steel or plastic containers with tight covers, say 5 containers. ix) Store all the containers in the freezer. x) Each time of feeding take out one of these containers and scrape off some of the food with a sharp spoon, drop it into the tank and watch them feed. The moment the food falls to the bottom of the tank, stop feeding otherwise the water will get cloudy and will also smell due to uneaten food, thus resulting in the death of the fish. If the water gets cloudy and smelly keep the aerator on continuously & do not feed the fish for a couple of days. Under such circumstances nothing will happen to the fish if they are not fed for two days. xi) As far as possible keep to live food or dry Tubifex worms. Use prepared food only as a standby or when the former two are not readily available. xii) After a couple of weeks you will automatically get to know how much your fish eat & how much to feed. |
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