Hi, I'm rather new to the Hobby,
My Fish raising adventure started a bit less than a month ago. while at a pet store in City mall, I felt the urge to get a gold fish and put it in a bowl, I had no clue at the time of how bad an idea that was, not the fish, the bowl.
I picked a picture perfect common goldfish about 6cm long, and got it a plastic bowl, some food, and off we went. within a couple of hours of getting home, I noticed the water going yellow, I decided to change the water immediately and realized something is wrong as it happened again shortly after, so I started Googling about goldfish care, I read quite a bit, and the first thing I did, is go out and buy a 2 gallon aquarium and a power filter pump as well as some white gravel (from the pet store in Charcutier Aoun Zouk/Jeita branch). At that moment i had not read enough about the NITROGEN CYCLE (a very important part of raising fish), and the need to cycle an aquarium prior to introducing fish.
So I set up the aquarium, some fake palm trees from some of my unusable daughter's toy sets, put in the filter, added the filtered tap water, and then the fish aka Bubbles.
The fish seemed happy, but two days later the water started getting yellow, so I started changing the water at a rate of about 60% ever 3 days, and then about 50% every 4, i felt that something was not right still, and I got an air pump and air stone (from a fish shop in Jeser el Wati) to make sure the water remains oxygenated, despite the fact that the water pump mentions that it oxygenates, i thought it wasn't enough (it was a cheap pump).
Since then, my new hobby has been keeping me busy in the evenings, water changes, vacuuming the bottom of the tank, cleaning the filter, and trying to make my fish as comfortable as possible in the rather limited space he is in. watching it swim around is a great way to unwind as well.
I have been surfing the internet for information, and came across the www.myaquariumclub.com forum, the best most helpful source of information from worldwide aquarium hobby professionals and amateurs alike. I will post more links of sources when i find them...
The thing is that I'm caring for Bubbles on a budget, It was high expenses that drove me out of my life long hobby that i love, and i dont intend to go very far financially with this one, although you can easily get carried away.
In that context I created this blog, mainly for Lebanese beginner and experienced fish keepers that are willing to share their hobby and experience, as well as possibly trade or sell used equipment and advice on how to best keep their fish.
My personal information as of yet is very limited to what i have been reading online, but learning new things (things you hated in high school) is one of the funnest things about this hobby, I always wanted to see chemistry in action and setting up a tank is as much about chemistry as having a pet...don't be turned off it's very easy.
I'm planning on up-sizing the aquarium perhaps to triple it's size within 3 to 4 month, I'm on a specific budget here, i would love to get a 30 gallon tank later on and put a couple of fish in it. The norms for a fish like the one in the picture is a 20 gallon tank minimum, that's close to 75 liters of water.
In any-case, I'm hoping i can keep this blog as updated as possible, and feel free to leave comments below if you have any advice or questions. Again, I'm far from being a pro, if you have questions, i will seek answers and give you links to solve your issues.
Happy Fish Keeping....
