Have an aquarium at home
A home aquarium with a few ornamental fishes can be put up at a cost of Rs.100 or even less. The small aquarium box costs Rs.60 and stones, feed, anti-fungus medicine and net together cost Rs.20. A pair of gold fish and a pair of black molly can be acquired for Rs.10, says D. Venkata Raju.
Those ornamental fishes - Red Cap, Angels and Goldfish - are popular among aquarium buffs. -- Photos: C.V. Subramanyam
A neatly maintained aquarium will certainly add to the aesthetic appearance of well-furnished drawing rooms at homes, in hotel lobbies, restaurants and other public places. The bright colours and exotic appearance of fishes appeal to people of all ages. Children are fascinated by the cute creatures in an aquarium. Of late, the demand for aquarium fishes is growing, as more and more people are taking a fancy for the coloured fish.
The fish-keeping hobby is believed to have started in China 1,000 years ago and spread to England in course of time. Rapid technological advances and the advent of air transport popularised the hobby.
Aquarium fish keeping began in 1805. The first public display aquarium opened at Robert's Park in England in 1853. However, the market for ornamental fish in the world for public aquaria is less than one per cent and 99 per cent of the market is still confined to domestic aquaria.
The world's best aquarium is in San Francisco. The aquaria are placed in 10 levels one above the other. The best one in India is the Taraporevala Aquarium in Mumbai.
"I had a fascination for ornamental fishes right from my childhood. My father was a veterinary doctor and he also used to keep a small aquarium. I am keeping an aquarium for the past 30 years," says B. Varaprasad, an employee of the Dock Labour Board, whose house is located behind the Mangamma Hospital near the King George Hospital.
The large aquarium, which fits exactly over a showcase, is a special attraction in his drawing room. He has different varieties of angels, miniature sharks, platys and gold fish. "The fish swimming in the aquarium sometimes give company to our guests for a while, when they have to wait for me in the drawing room. I have developed attachment to my pets and feel sad when the fish die in large numbers during outbreak of diseases," he says.
"I feed them daily in the mornings and evenings. They come and take a quick bite as soon as the feed is dropped into the water. If they do not come to eat and appear to be sluggish, there is something wrong with them. I keep tetracycline powder during such times. We change the water every month and clean the glass surface once a week. Some species have lived up to four years in my aquarium"
Round aquarium.
Besides the large aquarium in the first floor, there is another one on the ground floor, where smaller species are kept. He also maintains a ground tank for keeping gold fishes, which voraciously feed on plants in the aquarium and dirty it. The breeders are also separated as the larger species feed on the fry (young ones).
"The demand for ornamental fishes has been growing over the years. However, the business is far from satisfactory due to the high mortality of fish in transit," says D. Venkata Raju, who runs the Balaji Aquarium at RTC Complex for the last eight years.
"We get 80 per cent of the supplies from Howrah and the remaining from Chennai. The dealers in Howrah and Chennai import the feed from Japan and Singapore and we in turn get it from them. Dry items like feed, toys, aerators, motors for supply of oxygen and anti-fungus medicines are procured from Chennai."
The shop procures most of the varieties including some of the costly ones like discus, which costs Rs.1,000 a pair, red parrot (Rs.900 a pair), elephant nose and feather ( Rs.600 a pair), orinda gold (a variety of gold fish), dolphin gold (black gold which has a dolphin shape), tiger shark, golden koicarp, kissing gourami, white tail angel, fighters which kill other fishes and sucker cats, which suck the algae that develops on the glass surface of the aquarium.
T.V. Rama Rao, an animal lover says: "One should add rock salt, when putting new fish into an aquarium. Otherwise, the sudden change of environment would result in a shock to the fish. Two `fighters' should never be kept in the same aquarium as they would fight and destroy all other species. Water plants should be grown to release oxygen in the water in addition to artificial devices like aerators."
"Almost all the ornamental fishes, a majority of which are fresh water varieties, can be cultured. The fresh water ones are cultured in south India and exported mainly to Singapore and Hong Kong," says J.V.H. Dixitulu, editor of `Fishing Chimes'.
The north-eastern States, especially Meghalaya, Manipur and Assam, are the emerging markets for fresh water ornamental fishes. They abound in hill stream fishes with dazzling colours. The marine ornamental fish are mostly found in the waters around Lakshadweep Islands.
Hobbyists mostly keep fresh water fishes or marine varieties, which can acclimatise to fresh water. The zebra fishes are one such fresh water species which can also survive in sea water, he says.
The Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) is giving subsidies to prospective entrepreneurs who wish to set up ornamental fish breeding farms. "There is immense potential for export of aquarium fishes from north-eastern States. In view of this, we have opened an office in Guwahati," says Nero Shahin of MPEDA.
A beautiful aquarium greets the visitors to Green Park. The long aquarium, which snugly fits in one corner of the lobby, is a special attraction for children. "The aquarium is a good selling point for us as the guests come to the hotel to see the fishes. They also take photographs with the aquarium in the background," says the hotel's general manager Madhu Nair.
Varaprasad feeding the fish.
The aquarium is maintained by the house-keeping and engineering department of the hotel and it goes to their credit that not even a single fish has died during the last four years. No wonder some of the guests, who have been transferred to other places, gift their aquarium fishes to the hotel in view of "our record in proper care of fishes".
"The water in the aquarium is changed once a week. Feeding is done only at night to avoid distraction to guests," he says.
Watching the fishes moving in an aquarium can bring down blood pressure, and it can have a soothing effect on heart patients. Certain types of mental illnesses can also be treated by keeping aquaria with ornamental fishes in the patient's house, according to psychiatrists. The minimum attention and space required compared to other pet animals is the reason for the growing interest in this hobby.
"Though one cannot communicate with fishes, he/she can forget their problems for a while, watching them. At Sringeri Mutt and Matysagundam in Visakhpatnam district, the fishes are accustomed to humans," says Lt. Col. Rama Rao.
In the fast moving day-to-day life in cities where people hardly get time to communicate with each other, that is reason enough to keep an aquarium.
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