The Breeders Box
Keep It Natural
By Jim Gourlie
In my fish room I have always tried, as much as it is possible, to keep things natural. What do I mean by that? I try to use water treatments, medicines and foods that are as natural as possible. Now before you go any further, I have not gone off the deep end. Contrary to this line of thought, I do not walk through my fish room with earth tone sandals on nor do I burn lavender incense in the presence of my fish. I’m not talking about being all out environmentally concerned about my fish. But I am talking about a commonsense approach in the care of our fish. With all the current news about drugs that had been FDA approved and now are being pulled from the market because of various side effects concerns, maybe it just might pay to take a look at some natural ways to take care of our fish.
Lets start with what we feed. What could be more natural than live foods? Live Baby Brine Shrimp is probably the premier natural food. What could be better than food direct from a live source? We are now able to buy Frozen Adult Brine Shrimp that are soaked in vitamins. The theory here is the Brine Shrimp pick up the vitamins either through osmosis or absorption. Soaking your baby brine shrimp in a vitamin mix like Boyd”s Vitachem for 15 minutes can not hurt your fish either. I know various breeders that add vitamins to their hatch mix about 3 or 4 hours before hatch. Make sure, if possible, the vitamins you use are of the natural variety and not synthetic. We know vitamins and minerals are good for humans, why not guppies too. Another way to use natural products is to examine your dry food. If the first two to four ingredients listed on the food package are proteins such as fish meats, shrimp, krill, egg and other meats, you are probably assured your fish are getting a good amount of the protein they would get in natural surroundings. Again vitamins added to the food along with some vegetables such as spirulina and other algae are helpful in creating a natural diet.
What about water conditioning? Do you use Dechlorinations that are also chemicals used in photo developing or can you let your water age for a couple of days to let some of the chlorine and other gases escape before use? Am I advocating no water conditioning at all. No, far from it. But use quality products like Amquel and Novaqua to remove toxins in the water. Less is usually best when adding chemicals to your water.
I know some breeders add Garlic to either their Brine Shrimp Harvest or directly into their tanks. They use it as a preventative or as a help to other medications in treating disease. Garlic is full of various substances that can be beneficial to your fish. It contains a natural antibiotic called allycin which studies show will combat bacteria. Some viruses are not enamored with it either. It also contains many vitamins including a good amount of vitamin C. Now don’t go out and start throwing in onions, carrots, celery and make your tank a virtual stew. Just use these types of natural additives and remedies as the first line of defense against disease. Speaking of disease, why not first treat your fish with a natural medication, if conditions warrant, before reaching for the hard stuff. Many new natural remedies are now reaching the shelf for the breeders use. Two that come to mind are Melafix and Primafix. Both are made from natural components found in nature instead of the Laboratory. Melafix has antifungle properties and many bacteria are not able to thrive in its presence either. Primafix is an antibacterial and has the bonus of being able to be used for external as well as internal bacterial infections. I have had success with both products. Do I still use the harsher products like formaldehyde, dyes and other lab created antibiotics? Yes. But as pathogens grow more immune to the use of these products, it couldn’t hurt to try the natural route in disease treatment, water conditioning and feeding of your fish.
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Smá grein á ensku um ræktun guppy
Áhugaverð grein
Varla hægt að segja annað en að greinin er mjög áhugaverð. Hvet sem flesta til þess að lesa hana. Hvítlaukurinn gæti alveg virkað. Hefurðu prófað þetta sjálfur mr. Pr...
Nei hef ekki prófað þetta en ætla sannarlega að gera það.
Ég er "member" í IFGA international fancy guppy association og hef þar aðgang að helling af greinum sem varða guppy...hef hugsað mér að fara dálítið í copy/paste og setja hérna inn fyrir þá sem hafa áhuga á því....oft ansi góðar greinar þarna
Ég er "member" í IFGA international fancy guppy association og hef þar aðgang að helling af greinum sem varða guppy...hef hugsað mér að fara dálítið í copy/paste og setja hérna inn fyrir þá sem hafa áhuga á því....oft ansi góðar greinar þarna
Annað sniðugt í þessari grein er að setja vítamín út í artemíuna, ég hef lesið um marga sem setja vítamín í fóðrið. Það er einfalt að mylja niður vítamín töflur og setja í sulluð eða í fóðurmix og einnig er hægt að kaupa fjölvítamín vökvaformi sem er ætlað fyrir fugla eða önnur dýr og setja nokkra dropa í mixið.
) og spirulina sem ég muldi niður.