fish – Pawjourr | Blog contributors

Previously, I wrote a couple of articles that talk about my experience with pet fish, along with some tips and tricks on how to care for them. However, I recently noticed that more and more people are shifting towards “aquascaping”, which is a new hobby that surged in popularity during Circuit Breaker.

For those of you who don’t know what it is, “aquascaping” is when you arrange aquatic plants, rocks, stones and other types of accessories within an aquarium. Basically it’s the equivalent of gardening, but this time it’s done underwater. The best part of this is that it’s completely up to you regarding whether you want to actually have aquatic pets in the tank or not!

While it seems “mundane” or troublesome, there’s actually a lot to learn when it comes to aquascaping, which I’ll be discussing below:

What are the types of aquascaping?

Jungle Aquascaping
Dutch Aquascaping
Iwagumi Aquascaping
Biotope Aquascaping
Walstad Aquascaping
Paludariums

While there are quite a few types of aquascaping techniques and methods, I won’t be going through them all as there’s too much volume of content to provide. However, I’ve attached a hyperlink to each example for you to read more about them.

Each type of technique brings about a whole different style, layout, and even sense of appreciation by those that engage in aquascaping. What’s more, there’s actually quite a few health benefits that come with it.

Stress Reducer

One slightly more “obvious” benefit is that aquascaping helps reduce stress levels. Just watching the fish swim about, and observing the underwater plants swaying has had a positive effect on those who suffer from high stress levels.

If your job is giving you excessive stress or pressure, then this hobby is definitely for you.

Lowers High Blood Pressure

A slightly less known benefit of aquascaping is that it reduces high blood pressure. In a study conducted, those who participated in aquascaping actually had a reduction in their blood pressure levels. This was noted especially for people who had aquatic animals in their tank, compared to those that didn’t.

However, if aquascaping is out of your budget (which I’ll be discussing later on), you can actually experience similar results by simply watching videos of fish swimming, or aquatic plants swaying. Regardless of whether you own a tank or not, it does seem to have some really good health benefits.

Reduction of Pain

This last benefit is actually quite an unknown one. An academic report actually found that dentists with an aquarium in their waiting room resulted in decreased pain felt during the appointment, and also the amount of medicine required afterwards.

Not only that, it also leads to a lower level of stress (as previously mentioned).

Overall, there seems to be quite a few benefits to aquascaping, especially for those with high stress levels or blood pressure.

How Much does Aquascaping Cost?

To be very honest, I’m no expert at aquascaping. However, the cost of aquascaping really does depend on what you’d like to put inside the tank. Some basic essentials are lighting, water filters, carbon dioxide, liquid fertilisers, substrate, and hardscape materials. These items vary in prices depending on how extensive you’d like your aquarium to be.

However, if you’re looking to go the distance and also purchase aquatic animals, expect the prices to be beyond $100. Not only do you have to purchase these animals, but you’d probably also need to purchase a tank with a motor, fish food, anti-chlorine and other accessories to ensure your pets are well taken care of.

However again, I’m not an aquascaping expert. This article is merely here to provide you with some benefits of delving into this hobby, and some of the things you may want to consider before taking the plunge (pun intended).

If you’re interested in actually going into the hobby, do click here, and here to learn a little bit more about what you may need, and how to go about purchasing it.

Conclusion

While aquascaping doesn’t seem to be the cheapest hobby out there, there seems to be quite a few health benefits to it. If you’re looking for a somewhat low maintenance hobby (in comparison to others), this might be the one for you.

However, if you’re looking to find ways to reduce your stress levels on a budget, it may be easier to watch some videos of aquariums/aquascaping as they have similar positive impacts on your health.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the article! Do let me know if you have any other aquatic topics you’d like me to delve into 🙂

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Photo Credit: https://aquariumbreeder.com/aquascaping-for-beginners-introduction/

Reference: https://www.emotionalpetsupport.com/2019/11/the-world-of-aquascaping-and-its-benefits/

Previously, I wrote about the things you should note if you’d like to get a pet (i.e., dogs, cats), and what it’s like to work in a pet environment. To summarise my previous article; you should definitely consider getting a pet if you’re able to look after it (cleaning up its poop, pee, feeding it etc). If you’re unable to, then my recommendation is working in a pet-friendly environment, as it gives you the ability to see what it’s like to own a pet, without actually owning it.

I also mentioned that I don’t own any pets. Unfortunately, I might have unintentionally misled you. After writing and publishing my article, I remembered that my father actually owns fishes. Due to the fact that they reside in my house, it gives me partial ownership over them as well.

Therefore, I thought it’d be worthwhile to share my experience when owning pet fish, and what are some do’s and don’ts when ensuring their well-being.

DO’s
Purchase Anti-Chlorine for the Tank
This is a CRUCIAL point to note when keeping fish at home. The chlorine in the water will make your fish sick, and will eventually end up killing it if you don’t add it in. You can purchase one from the aqua-shop that you buy your fish & tank from, and it’s not every expensive!

Usually what I do is add just a few drops right after I finish cleaning the tank. DO NOT add more than that because too much can make your fish sick!

Have Enough Space for your Fish
One of the most common misconceptions is that you can pack quite a few fish in one tank. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case. For example, goldfish can grow up to 14 inches in the wild, and their size depends very much on the space around them. As such, it’s important to note the type of fish you

Fish can also get claustrophobic if they don’t have enough space, so it’s important to note that you need to give them enough room to move.

Provide Companionship
When kept in captivity, it’s good to provide your fish with some company, because they can actually get stressed from being alone (which could eventually lead to death).

For those of you who DO have standalone fish, some common signs if your fish is stressed include:
1. Fishes coming up to the surface to gasp for air (could also be due to poor oxygen quality)
2. Fishes not eating their food

Keep some of the Previous Water when Cleaning the Tank
If there is a large change in water quality/quantity, fishes can get stressed/sick and die. It’s important to reuse some of the previous tank water when cleaning the tank, to prevent too radical a change in the tank.

DON’TS
Overfeed your Fish
Similar to land-based pets, if you overfeed your aquatic buddy, they’ll of course create more poop. As a result, the amount of ammonia and nitrate in the tank will significantly increase, polluting the tank and affecting the fishes health.

Of course, a solution to this is increasing the frequency of cleaning the tank, but not everyone may have the ability to do this. My recommendation is feeding them once in the morning, and once at night. However, some breeds of fish require more food than others, so do a quick check online to ensure you’re feeding them enough, too.

FORGET TO CLEAN YOUR TANK
The more you forget, the dirtier the tanks going to be and your fish are going to S U F F E R. Please don’t forget!

CONCLUSION
Contrary to what many people believe, fish need quite a bit of care in order to be at their best. While they don’t require as much love and affection as dogs or cats, they do need attention at least once a day, and shouldn’t be neglected for long periods of time.

Additionally, if you’re already the owner of some wonderful fish, you may consider taking it a step further and try aquascaping! I’ll be discussing this in further detail in the coming weeks as well.

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Feel free to comment below about other topics you’d like me to discuss!