Whenever you visit someone, who keeps an aquarium…

As a hobbyist, I have many a times come across people who though were happy and excited to see my work, did not know the right way to express and appreciate it. Simply because they didn’t understand the nature of fishes and ethics of fishkeeping. So, anyone who keeps or does not keep fishes, regardless of how much he knows about them should atleast know the following ; because these are AQUARIUM ETHICS.

1. Tapping-

# Whenever you see an aquarium, do not tap the glass or its hood. Tapping produces sudden vibrations inside the water which is very irritating for the fishes. Think of it like somebody just screamed a "BOO"  in your ear.

# Tapping the glass causes the fish to stress. they lose their color. Varieties that have a characteristic jumping trait can even jump out or maybe hurt themselves by hitting the lid.

# We hobbyists keep our tank and the glass very clean. Tapping or touching leaves your finger print there. So avoid it.

# A friend of mine was once visited by a lady who in her excitement tapped the glass so much that the Angels who had recently laid eggs stressed out and ate up all their eggs :(

2. Out of 10 8 people ask me these questions. So try to know these things beforehand. This is because some of these are general knowledge and some of them are lame.

Q. Do fishes sleep?

A. Yes they do.

Q eyes open or closed?

A.They don't have eyelids. And if you're not satisfied with this answer, click here

Q. what is its price?

A. If costly, don’t make remarks about spending so much money on a fish. Remember, they are hobbyists, and it’s their money. They know what to do with it.

Some people even comment about eating the fish which is in the tank. That is something you should never even think about, let alone say.

Q. These kind die very soon. My friend/relative had these.

A. My friend, they don’t. If they do, it’s because your friend/relative was not keeping them right.

Q. They bite/ Do they have teeth ?

A. Haven’t you seen piranha 3D :P. Yes some of them have. Not all of them.

3. Keep children away from tanks. They may tap, throw in stuff or put their hand inside. Throwing stuff in is dangerous for the fish as the object may hurt it. The chemicals from the object thrown or the child's own dirty hands can affect the fishes and plants inside. Besides, high tech tanks have a lot of equipments for monitoring the CO2 levels, filtering, lighting etc. Your child can temper with these. And since some of them are electric, your child may get a shock.

4. Never put dirty hands in the tank. After a whole days work, you don’t even remember where your hands have been. Chemicals like soap, oil or sanitizer can disturb the water parameters and harm the fishes and plants.

5. The next biggest curiosity in people is about the fishes' feeding habits. They tend to feed the fish just to see it eat or because they think it would be hungry. Never do this. Every fish keeper takes good care of his fish and feeds them regularly. Moreover, fishes do not need a lot of food. Moreover, fishes do not need a lot of food. If you overfeed them. it could make the fish sick. Also the leftover food makes the tank water dirty.

6. Just as a flash fired right in front of your eyes irritates you, it is same for the fish too. When taking pictures with the flash, try to keep it an angle or overhead. This way you don’t stress the fish.

Every pet lover, hobbyist loves his tanks, his fishes. They do crazy things for them. They don’t mind making beef heart recipes, going to jungle to get driftwoods, dealing with some ugly looking worms. They take out time from their very busy schedules for this, even if they can’t take out time for their girlfriends. This is why there are not many of us. So important thing to remember is respect what we do.