If this disease is not detected soon after it is caught the fish can lose one or both of its eyes and its eye sight. Any impact the eye might be subjected to generally as a result of fighting, can cause this. If its one eye chances are it’s injury, if its both then it is possibly a bacterial infection. Bad water quality is a common reason enough to be the cause. High nitrAtes/nitrItes, ammonia, metal or plastic poisoning can be the reason too. Unsuitable salinity can also be the cause.

Bacterial infections, injury and water quality are the most common problems. Vitamin A deficiency, tumors and gas embolism are less common reasons. Pop eye can also be caused by gas bubble disease as a result of oxygen super saturation (excess levels) of the water with the gas, nitrogen. Super saturation occurs whenever the pressure of a gas in the water is higher than the pressure of the same gas in the surrounding atmosphere, whereby the difference in gas pressures causes the gas to get pulled too quickly out of the fish’s bloodstream, leaving behind gas bubbles. The other symptoms of this are the appearance of bubbles under the fish’s skin. It’s caused by excess oxygen in the water, particularly from filters that blow air directly from outside to inside the tank, and from pressurized tap water that did not get mixed.

Treatment
The affected fish should be immediately taken out to be separately treated. It is difficult to specify a specific treatment unless the main cause is definitely known. Large daily water changes should help, if not Epsom salts has been used with good results to draw the fluid out. One tablespoon per 5 gallons of water for at least three days, longer if necessary. Epsom salts isn’t really salt (sodium chloride) it is Magnesium Sulfate. If water quality is the problem, a 50 percent water change must be made as soon as possible.

If a new item was added to the aquarium recently, it should be double checked that it is not poisoning the water or letting off chemicals. The quality of the water conditioner that is used should be checked that it has a good opinion by other aquarists. If the water readings are wrong (high nitrAtes etc), a 50 percent water change is recommended again and 15-20 percent water changes 3-5 times per week, until the water readings are correct. Overstocking is a common problem for high water readings. Another common reason would be decaying dead fish and fish food. The tank should be thoroughly searched for any dead fish and precautions must be taken NOT TO OVER FEED, and if the tank is overstocked, steps should be taken in finding some of your fish another good home. If a bacterial infection is the cause we would recommend ‘Maracyn’, ‘Maracyn II’, ‘eSHa 2000′ and ‘Anti-internal bacteria’ for treatment.

Source : fishlore

However, many do start with just a small fish tank, so we want to give you a list of items to use with your small aquarium so that you can increase your chances for success in tropical fishkeeping.

Below is a typical start-up kit for a small 2 gallon mini-bow aquarium. It comes with a lighted hood, a small packet of sample fish food, an undergravel filter and a small air pump. You will need to get some other items as well for your aquarium. As mentioned previously, a small tank can be more work than a large tank because you really have to stay on top of those water changes to prevent the small aquarium from becoming too polluted. Here is a list of the bare minimum things to have for any small aquarium:

• A couple of replacement media cartridges and small filter.
• Substrate ( gravel)
• Small aquarium vacuum
• Fish Food
• Small fish net
• Aquarium water test kit (Get a test kit that tests the ph, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels)
• 5 gallon bucket
• Small aquarium air pump (used in conjunction with the filter)

STEP 1: Realize the responsibility involved.
Learning how to set up a fish tank is not all that difficult, but there are some steps you should follow. First, you must realize a few things about an aquarium setup. A tropical fish tank is just like having a dog or a cat when it comes to the amount of effort on your part. In order to have a successful freshwater tropical fish tank you will have to work at it. Once a week, or at most once every two weeks, you will need to perform some kind of maintenance on the tank. Most of the time you will be performing water changes. You will also have to feed your fish at least once a day. Setting up and running a fish tank does cost money. There are recurring expenses such as replacing filter media, buying food, etc. Check out the Freshwater vs. Saltwater Aquarium page to get an idea of the setup costs involved. If you are up to the challenge, please proceed!

STEP 2: Decide on an aquarium size.
It’s a good idea to have in mind what kind of fish you want to keep before you purchase an aquarium. Some fish only grow to be an inch or two, whereas other types of tropical fish can grow 12 or 13 inches or more in length! Knowing what kind of fish you want will help you decide the size of the tank they will need. If this is your first time with an aquarium, it may be a good idea to start with a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium setup for now and stock it with some smaller and hardier species.

STEP 3: Decide on the aquarium’s location.
Place your aquarium in an area where the light and temperature of the tank won’t be affected by external sources such as windows and heater vents. Sunlight that enters the room through an unshaded window could affect the temperature of your tank. This could also lead to green algae problems for your tank down the road. You will want to place your aquarium on a stand that will be able to hold its total weight. You also want to be sure that the floor is able to support the total weight of the aquarium and stand. A good rule of thumb for determining the total weight of a full aquarium is 10 pounds per gallon of water. For example, a 55-gallon tank will weigh approximately 550 pounds when filled with water!

STEP 4: Buy your aquarium and equipment.
Now is a good time to decide on the type of aquarium filter you will want to use. You will also need to purchase a heater capable of heating the tank size you have. Buy the gravel, plants, a power strip and other decorations. A good rule of thumb for the amount of gravel that you will need is 1 to 1.5 pounds of gravel per gallon of water.

STEP 5: Set up your aquarium and stand.
Wash out your tank with water only! Do not use soap or detergents. Soap residue left behind will be harmful for your tropical fish. If you are going to use an under gravel filter (not recommended) now would be the time to set it up as well.

STEP 6: Wash Gravel, plants and decorations.
Be sure to wash the gravel thoroughly before adding it to your tank. An easy way to do this is to put some of the rocks in a pasta strainer and wash them out in your bath tub. Then place the clean gravel in a clean 5-gallon bucket for transport to the aquarium. After adding the gravel you can place your plants and decorations.

STEP 7: Add water to the aquarium.
To avoid messing up your gravel and plants, you can place a plate or saucer in the middle of your aquarium and direct the water flow onto the plate. Use room temperature water when filling. To remove the chlorine and chloramine, use something like Tetra AquaSafe for Aquariums. Don’t completely fill up the aquarium until you are sure of the layout of your decorations. Otherwise, when you place your arm in to move stuff around water is going to spill over. Doh!

STEP 8: Set up equipment.
Install your heater but don’t plug it in until the thermostat in the heater has adjusted to the water temperature. This usually takes about 15 minutes or so. Hook up your filter and any other equipment you have, then top off the aquarium water to just under the hood lip. Place your hood and tank light on the aquarium and then check your power cords to be sure that they are free of water. I would also recommend using a drip loop on all of the power cords to be extra cautious. For more information on safety, read this great article on aquarium electrical safety. Plug all of the equipment into a power strip and then “turn on” the aquarium.

STEP 9. Wait, wait, wait and then wait some more.
I know, you want to add some fish. But, in order to do this right you must wait until your aquarium has cycled before adding any fish. There are ways of speeding up this process. Check out the nitrogen cycle page to learn more about starting the nitrogen cycle and how to speed it up. If you must use fish to cycle, try to get a hardier species like the zebra danio or cherry barb. You may notice your fish tank cycle kicking in gear if you start to get some white cloudy aquarium water after a few days.

STEP 10. Add tropical fish.
Only add one or two fish at a time. Adding a couple fish at a time gives your filtration system the time needed to take on the increased biological load that the new fish introduce. When you bring the fish home let the bag float in the tank for about 15 minutes so that the fish can become acclimated to the temperature and pH of the aquarium water. After 5 minutes of floating the bag you should add some of the aquarium water to the bag so that the fish can become acclimated to the pH level in the aquarium. This will help reduce the amount of stress imposed on the fish. Stressed fish often leads to dead or diseased fish! Don’t feed your fish on the first day. They probably wouldn’t eat any food on the first day anyway. Let them get acquainted with their new home.

If you’re interested in some good and hardy first fish, please read the Good First Tropical Fish article.

STEP 11. Get ready for regular maintenance.
Be prepared to spend some time once every week or two to clean your tank. Performing regular water changes will reduce the nitrate levels and keep your tropical fish happy and healthy.

As you can see, the steps for how to set up a fish tank are not that complex and hopefully you now have your aquarium setup and running! Have fun, take care of and enjoy your fish!

The reason to use a breeding trap is to avoid the female eating the babies (fry) when they are first born. But if the trap is not in a separate tank the other fish may eat them anyway. So, what I do is to float plastic plants on the surface where the fry can hide. When they are first born they drop a little and then go to the top to try to find somewhere to hide – the plastic plants provide the place to hide.

Source: breeding-guppies

Female Guppy abdomens have a dark spot, called the gravid spot, at the rear of the female’s abdomen. The color is caused by the baby guppies (actually their eyes) showing through their mother’s skin. The darker the spot the closer the babies are to birth.

Source: breeding-guppies

Right I’m not going to waffle on with all the scientific jargon that some sites do because you really don’t need it with guppies because they really are so easy to breed but here are the things that you should know.

You tanks water temperature should be between 23-28°C
(74-82°F) and the water quality isn’t to important to be honest as guppies are quite a hardy little fish overall.

When guppies breed the male will approach the female from below and extend his gonopodium, the female guppy can store sperm for up to 3 months within her from one mate, meaning that she could have 3 births for just one mating session which is pretty cool if i say so myself but is good to know if you are select breeding you should isolate her with no mates for at least 3 spawns to allow all the sperm to be used before introducing your chosen male.

The gestation period for the female guppy is usually 28 days but can range from 21 to 40 all depending on the female and the amount of fry she is carrying. The female guppy can give birth to between
20-200 guppy fry per spawn again this depends on the age and size of the female.

Whilst the female guppy’s is pregnant she will develop a large round belly and will also have a dark patch on her belly which is the fry which we call the gravid spot.

Try to not cause her any stress when she is close to giving birth as this could cause her to give birth prematurely which would more than likely kill the babies and another thing that could happen is she could absorb the fry and not give birth at all.

Within the tank that the guppy fry are to be born in regardless of it being a breeding tank or a community tank there should be plenty of cover for the fry to take shelter in once being born to escape being eaten by the tank mates or even the female herself! The perfect plant to use is java moss as this is quite thick and dense making it hard for bigger fish to enter providing a safe shelter for the guppy fry to grow.

Within hours of the fry being born they will be eating anything they can, you can feed the guppy fry freshly hatched brine shrimp and liquid or powered fry food. Make sure not to over feed them as the uneaten food will pollute the tank and will kill your guppy fry.

Source: breeding-guppies

Breeding guppies in the community tanks can be great fun and very exciting as you just never know the colouration you will be from the mixed breeding which is great fun because you do get some really nice colours and combinations. The down side to breeding guppies in a community tank is that you don’t have control over the breeding colouration mixing, you don’t have as much control over the conditions as you would have in there own breeding tank because of other fish may require specific conditions and the greatest down side it the tank mates just love to feast on the guppy fry and it can be hard to catch the guppy fry in such a large tank and yes I know that you can place the female into ones of those breeding traps but unless you know that they are going to drop within a day or two I wouldn’t advise them as they can really stress the female guppy out which is in turn bad for the guppy fry.

Source: breeding-guppies

Breeding guppies in their own tank is a very nice way to go about breeding them, you have a lot more control over the conditions that they are bred in. You can also control the parents, selecting the colouration of male or female of your choice of which you couldn’t do in a community tank. There is also the upside of having no other tank mates that could eat the fry and once the fry are born the parents can be moved to another tank and there you can raise your fry. The down side to having a separate breeding tank is one it will take up more space and two is more equipment layout costs.

Source: breeding-guppies

Ingredients
Fish meal, dried yeast, ground brown rice, wheat gluten, feeding oat meal, fish oil, soybean oil, potato protein, algae meal, sorbitol, lecithin, monobasic calcium phosphate, yeast extract, ascorbic acid, inositol, niacin, riboflavin-5-phosphate, a-tocopherol-acetate, D-calcium pantothenate, L-ascoryl-2-polyphosphate, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin A palmitate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex, biotin, vitamin B12, cholecalciferol, manganese zinc sulfate monohydrate, ferrous sulfate, monohydrate, cobalt acetate, color includes: beta-carotene, annatto extract, blue 2 lake, canthaxanthin, red 3, yellow 5 lake, yellow 6, ethoxyquin.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude protein (min) 46%
Crude fat (min) 11%
Crude fiber (max) 3%
Moisture (max) 8%
Phosphorus (min) 1%
Ascorbic acid (min) 170 mg/kg

Mimic natural feeding patterns with Instant Ocean’s gel blocks. Rich in omega fats, vitamins and minerals, your marine omnivores and herbivores can graze the block during the entire day. Great for tangs, angels and more. Each block supplies 3 single servings.

Instructions
Remove grazing block from foil container, place food on top of aquarium decorations for natural feeding.
Feed several times per week as a supplement, only as much as your fish will consume within several minutes.

Ingredients
Brine Shrimp, Krill, Cyclops, Agar-Agar, Xanthan Gum, Yeast Extract, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Inositol, Niacin, D-Calcium Pantothenate, A-Tocopherol-Acetate (source of Vitamin E), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin A Palmitate (source of Vitamin A), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Cholecalciferol (source of Vitamin D3), Biotin, Calcium Propionate, Potassium Sorbate and Citric Acid as Preservative.

Guaranteed Analysis:
Crude protein (min) 4%
Crude fat (min) 0.5%
Crude fiber (max) 1%
Moisture (max) 90%
Phosphorous (min) 0.05%