White Spot

It’s all very well to hear people talking about the beauties of an aquarium, how to maintain adequate pH, keeping nitrate and phosphate levels adequately balanced, and so on there seems to be plenty of technical detail available!

But what about the actual fish? How do you choose which ones you want? How do you know whether they’ll be too big for the tank when they grow up, or whether they’ll be compatible with your other fish? How do you find out how to stock your tank?

Here is a quick rundown of the things you’ll need to bear in mind when choosing fish for your tank, as well as a brief look at a couple of the more common types of tropical fish. Hopefully it’ll give you a good idea of where to get started!

White spot is usually introduced to a tank along with new, infected fish or plants. It can also break out seemingly without warning in an undisturbed tank. When this happens, it means that the organism has been present for some time, but has been dormant (hibernating), and that some new stimulus – stress, or a change in water temperature – has caused it to awaken and become active.

After approximately one week of parasitism, the now-mature organism (mature Ich cells are called trophozoites) detaches from the fish and settles on a new surface: usually, a plant or ornament.

It will then form a capsule around itself (called a cyst) and will remain dormant – at least, outwardly – for about a week. During this period of time, the cell within the capsule is furiously dividing: by the time that those seven days are up, that one cell has become approximately 1,000 new single-celled organisms.

If the problem remains ongoing, you can use algae-eaters. These are bottom-dwelling fish – such as the American-flag fish and the Siamese algae eater – which feed on algae, and are commonly stocked by pet stores and fish traders. They’ll make quick work of your brown algae problem!

Compatibility. Contrary to popular belief, fish do actually have personalities – and some of them can get pretty aggressive. Many tropical fish have well-deserved reputations as bullies: they can nip the fins of other, more peace-loving fish, they can ‘barge’ smaller fish, and they can get into fights (which are frequently pretty vicious). To eliminate the likelihood of your fish getting into scraps, you should aim to buy fish that have mutually compatible