Water

Water is water—or is it? Water varies in a number of ways all around the world. Some of it is suitable for human use without treatment or change. Some waters have iron, or sodium, or lime in such quantities as to be unpleasant to drink, at least to the uninitiated.

Mineral compounds of calcium or magnesium are called "hardness" compounds, and waters throughout the United States and Canada range from completely soft (or without hardness) to extremely hard.

These hard and soft waters can also be slightly acid or alkaline. The degree of acidity or alkalinity (or pH, as it is called) is critical only to the advanced hobbyist and in spawning. So unless it is unusual, we advise the beginner not to concern himself with pH at this time. (More information will be found on pages 99-102.)

For fish, the kind and quality of water can be most important. It is their entire world! Plants also have a decided liking for water of a certain quality, and some of the fish use plants for at least part of their diet. So providing the proper water for both plants and fish becomes reasonably important.

It is true that many fish have a remarkable ability to adapt themselves to varied water conditions. Goldfish, frequently given as premiums, are taken home from the store in cartons and dumped into whatever kind and temperature of tap water is available. The fact that some of them live is remarkable. But this is not the way to treat valuable live creatures. Aside from the cruelty that you inflict on the helpless animals, remember that most tropical fish cost nearly as much as a trout you might buy for your dinner.

To keep tropical fish in health it is necessary to provide an environment reasonably close to their natural habitat. The commercial breeders and the expert hobbyists in your area are constantly experimenting with new varieties and they frequently succeed in developing new strains that can stand the local waters without modification, or with relatively easy correction. There are some fish, for example, such as "scats" and flounders which normally inhabit the brackish (salty) waters where rivers empty into the sea, that have the ability to live in either fresh or salt water, provided the change is made gradually. However, there are only a few varieties that will stand such a change naturally, and thousands of generations of adaptation are behind these successful samples.

In the Eastern and Northern parts of the United States the water from the lakes and streams is generally suitable for tropical fish. These waters are frequently quite soft; that is, they contain just a very small quantity of calcium or magnesium compounds. The lakes and streams may contain large quantities of decaying plant material that makes the water slightly acid, a desirable condition. Many of the egg-laying fishes from South America, Africa, and the Far East do very well in these Eastern waters, frequently spawning and displaying color intensity that surprises visitors from the West.

Some of our most popular livebearersy however, come from Mexico and Central American regions where rainfall is light, where there is almost no decaying material in the water because of sparse vegetation, and where the hardness may be rather high as many of the streams are fed by underground springs, which percolate slowly through calcium rock formations.

Water In Your Community Tank

The beginner in the hobby will probably want a few fish of several varieties in order to get life and color in his aquarium. The foregoing paragraphs should be sufficient to point out that you cannot put any and all fish in the same aquarium. To thrive and look well each variety of fish should be in water that is suitable. One can, however, combine a few fish of several varieties in the same aquarium if they are all hard-water or all soft-water fishes and can get along well together. For example, "platys", "swordtails", and "mollies" can be grouped together, and "tetras" or "characins" can also be grouped.

So the first requirement for a successful and thriving aquarium is Water. Check with your local dealer or with friends in the hobby, or call your water company for an analysis. You can have your water tested in a laboratory, or test it yourself with accurate hardness and pH testing kits now available (refer to page 124). One word of caution! Even though the water in your community may be generally satisfactory, you may be living in a new home using copper water piping. If so, try a few guppies in your aquarium for a week before exposing more expensive fishes. Copper is poisonous to most fish, and enough may be present in the water to harm them.

After testing, if you find that your water is too hard for the fish you want in your tank, it is possible for you to soften it with water softeners especially designed for aquariums (see page 125). This can be done after the water is in the tank.

The acidity or alkalinity of water can be corrected to the proper degree also. If water is either too acid or too alkaline, it should be corrected very slowly to avoid over-correcting. Ordinary bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) can be added— say one-half teaspoon at a time to ten gallons—recheck the pH after 24 hours, and add another one-half teaspoon if needed, continuing until the desired pH is reached. To correct high alkalinity, it is better to remove some of the water and replace it with water that is more nearly neutral. For spawning, if only a slight change is needed, peat moss can be put directly in the tank or a handful of peat moss can be boiled in an enamel pan. The infusion or "tea" resulting can be added progressively to get the desired pH.

Now that you have some knowledge of the water that is to go in your aquarium, it is time to fill it. First put a saucer on the sand in the aquarium, or cover the sand and rocks with a sheet of brown paper held down by pebbles.

If a tap is to be used, a piece of hose can be fitted on it and a slow stream of water brought to the aquarium and directed onto the saucer or paper. By this means the tanks can be filled without disturbing the sand and the water should be quite clear at the end of the operation. If a hose cannot be used, a pitcher can be used to pour in the water. When the tank is full, the saucer or paper can be gently removed. Do not worry if there should be a slight clouding or mistiness, as this will soon settle down.

The inside of the glass, and probably the surface of the rocks, will now be covered with millions of glittering little bubbles.

Next, put the heater, if any, in its place in the sand, taking the wire up one corner of the tank where it will show the least. Connect it to the thermostat, and the thermostat to the main supply, and switch on. As the temperature rises the bubbles of air will gradually go to the surface and disappear.

Should any of the sand have floated to the top, as it does occasionally, touch it with the finger and it will fall to the bottom.

Now, in case earlier statements did not make it clear, it should be reiterated that some of this water is to remain in the tank indefinitely. The water does not have to be changed every day or every month. There will be a slight loss due to evaporation, which will have to be made up every now and then by the addition of a little fresh water. This latter should be from the same source as the original filling. If your water is hard, it will become progressively harder with each evaporation replacement. To avoid this, and for other reasons to be explained later, it is wise to siphon off a third to a half of the water once each month, replacing it with fresh. This will keep the hardness under control if you do not use a softener.

One other point may perhaps best be mentioned here. When the tank is full it must on no account be moved, for this will strain the angle bars of the aquarium and start leaks. Should it be necessary to shift it for some unforeseen reason, take out the greater part of the water before doing so. This can be accomplished by the use of a siphon consisting of about 6 feet of rubber tubing with 1/2- or 3/4-inch bore. Coil the tubing and submerge all of it in the water so that it fills up or fill it under a tap, then leave one end in the aquarium and put the other in a bucket set at a lower level. The water will then start flowing down the tube into the bucket. When the bucket is full, take the upper end from the tank. Another way to start the siphon is to put the upper end of the empty tube in the tank and suck at the lower end, bringing the mouth away as soon as the water is felt to move down the tube. This is a common method but is not recommended as there are thousands of minute forms of animal life in the water which you wouldn't want to have in your mouth.

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