What IS important in fish-keeping/health?

Kev posted a comment elsewhere tonight that got me to thinking,again,about just exactly what really is important to the health and well-being of our fish.
As he said,conductivity wasn't around(at least not to the average keeper)until relatively recently,so naturally we didnt worry about it,and our fish were happy,healthy,and prolific.Then it all of a sudden becomes 'important',and you must have a respectable conductivity,or your fish won't be happy.
Are all these things really that important,or are they just 'trends',or even myhts developed by manufacturers of aquatic equipment?
What are folks thoughts on this?

Hi,
the most important thing about fish health?
Without going into extreme levels,I think it is STABILITY!
All fish have some sort of tolerance and if you keep your level of pH and nitrate stable and average then your fish are more likely to live a long healthy life.
Saying this I can already hear some say this specie has a defined biotope and of course it is for the best to keep this specie in as close conditions as that of it's own biotope!!And I agree!
That's my two cents...
Dimitri

John that sounded a bit like how i started out, 4 years ago. not all my fault but wit the information i got off fish store worker, well thinking back i should have asked did he actually work there as he knew jack about fish

Good filtration and active water changes, simple as.........Well for freshwater anyways, marine needs a bit more work.

Pretty intense subject matter M8, and one I think many will shy away from. I echo John's contribution and speaking as an aquarist from the dark ages as it were, we never even conformed to cycling a tank (the nitrogen cycle). Just leave the bloomin thing for a week then add fish was the norm. Even the dedicated aquarist shop proprietors never pushed such data upon you. Nowadays fishkeepers get so bogged down with the terms: ‘general hardness’, ‘total hardness’, ‘temporary hardness’, permanent hardness’, ‘carbonate hardness’ and ‘total dissolved solids amongst other things. Whilst all the terminology and tests are relevant in today's modern hobby I personally feel that so long as your basic tests are within bounds and obviously your tank is cycled properly then your good to go. The only thing left to do whilst introducing fish to this aquarium is acclimatisation. Which doesn't just mean floating a bag in a tank for half an hour then release.
Intentions of breeding a particular species brings on a whole different aspect, where batteries of tests and measurements and adjustments need to be made to induce viable spawning and subsequent fertilisation.
Water has to be manipulated in such a way as to getting the fish to court and produce eggs and also be in such a state the the males milt will be able to survive through that medium to fertilise the egg/s. Again acclimatisation to such conditions must be done slowly.
The aquarium hobby today is a pretty daunting place for the novice fishkeeper with all the major players wanting you to use their products, and information overload is the order of the day. I sure as hell wouldn't like to be on the outside looking in for the first time in this modern era.
Make of this as you will:laugh:
BTW I still use the Fahrenheit scale
ATB
C

Have to agree with stability within confortable paramenters and more fresh water than we can to add without messing up the parameters, if the water was always the same from the tap and in the tank, I'd refill the 450 for my plecos every day. Fresh fresh fresh water, lots and lots of oxygen for the lads too.



Mark

Research...


Jay

This is a great topic to discuss. I have been in and out of fish keeping since i was in my early teens.
I always read the books, worked my way up from the least difficult to keep upwards.
Water changes happened in the early days when the water got dirty and the algae was cleaned off the glass every other week. But as we grow older and with more money in the pocket all the new equipment can be bought to test the parameters and keep our little chaps happy or so we think.

My gf Andrea, which some of u have met is fairly new to the fish keeping game but has really great ideas and problems that we dont even take into account.

Like the quality of water years ago was better, not as many chemicals being used
The fish that are tank bred that we buy have been so interbred , like our guppy and many other livebearers that most of us started out with are now so fragile.

Some of the places that we get fish from, the water is not really that good, wholesalers etc, but its what the fish get used too, we change the water to what we expect they should live in and they die, always good to research where the fish are coming from.
All the different hardnesses etc and other parameter that we never knew about and they never bothered us before, imagine what tests they will have in 45 years for keeping a goldfish in a bowl..
In my humble opinion, its all about keeping ur fish happy healthy and full.
Making sure ur water is changed regularly, a spot of hoovering and watching the fish in ur tanks for at least an hour every single day.

Dont breed fish if u have no market, sorry mates to take them, like convicts a fish i loved to keep and breed but no one wants them.
I love breeding fish as this shows that they are in an ideal enviroment and are really happy, Well i hope it does.


IN conclusion dont overcomplicate things and do the basics right first time all the time.
Thats why i dont keep Marines, lovely fish but too much work..
Only our opinion


Regards
Denis