I spent my teenage years hanging around Wisma Atria (big shopping centre in Singapore) with my ‘slew’ of boyfriends 🤣. Readers in my age group will remember that incredible huge fish tank that Wisma Atria had in their basement. That was a focal meeting point for boyfriends to meet their girlfriends, and girlfriends to meet their boyfriends. LOL! Now that I’ve kept fish for many years, I want to tell you that the pretty landscape of rocks, plants, streams of air-bubbles and what-nots, is not for ordinary people. We don’t have time to go measure ammonia and PH and water temperature, neither do we have time to put medication for the fish when they fall sick (P.S. : of course we need to put medicine for the fish when they fall sick, we can’t just let them die!). What we ask for in good Feng Shui, is that the fishes are happy and thriving. That is enough for ordinary people, at least for a start! So my advice to aquarium wannababes, is not to be too ambitious and want a mermaid, a pagoda, gravel, decorative stones and plants in your tank! The reason is because the more stuff you put into your tank, the more places there are for ‘bacteria’ (e.g. from decomposing fish poop) to collect and grow. I know that fish tank experts say that when the aquarium is stable, then the whole tank environment is like a small ecosystem, and everything (the good bugs and the bad bugs) will balance themselves out. This is true, but I have only done it successfully for 1 of my fish tanks, and that was many years ago. What I find is that it is better for you to stablilise the water and the fish first, before you slowly introduce all these decorations.
However, if you insist on creating a showroom for your fish right from the start, then I have to teach you what I know. You see, same as for everything else, you bring the decoration item home, and with the exception of plants, you give the decoration items a quick rinse under the tap, and you soak the decorative item in water in your dedicated water pail for at least 3 days. This applies for gravel and little stones too! After 3 days of soaking, you tip the water out, and then you can transfer these items into your tank, ideally before you introduce any fish inside. If there are already fishes inside, please put only 1 decorative item at a time. I mean like 1 decorative item this week, then you wait. Then you put another decorative item in the following week. Don’t dump a whole truckload of decorative stuff inside because it will just mess the water PH level crazy!
As for plants, just give it a quick rinse under the tap, and you can put it into the tank. I cannot stress to you how important it is to put 1 plant at a time, let your fish get used to it, before you go and buy another plant to put in. Don’t overdo plants, you are not creating a 🌿🌿🌿terrarium garden! 🌿🌿🌿😘
记得青少年时期，我和我的男朋友‘们’经常在Wisma Atria （新加坡乌节路的大型购物中心）周围闲逛。和我同样年龄的读者们， 你们会记得Wisma Atria地下室那个令人难以置信的巨大鱼缸。我记得那是新加坡第一间在购物中心里摆设巨大鱼缸的购物中心！ 这个巨大鱼缸是那时期男朋友和女朋友赴约的热门聚会点。💕💕 我现在已经养了好几年的鱼，听我说： 岩石，植物，气泡组成的美丽鱼缸风景不适合我们普通人。我们没有时间去测量氨和PH和水温！ 当鱼生病时，我们也没有时间给鱼服药（P.S.: 当然我们需要在鱼生病时给药，我们不能让它们应为被忽略而死亡！）。我们普通人养鱼，只是为了让家里有‘流动的‘水’。 我觉得鱼只要在我们家快乐就🆗了， 忘了美人鱼，宝塔，碎石，装饰石块和植物吧！记得， 如果你把很多装饰品放进你的鱼缸，生长“细菌”（例如： 从分解鱼粪便）收集的地方就越多。我知道鱼缸专家说，当鱼缸稳定时，整个鱼缸环境就像一个小型生态系统，一切（好细菌和坏细菌）都会平衡自己。这是真的，但我只成功过一次。。。而且那是多年前的事了。我建议先让水和鱼稳定下来， 再考虑要不要慢慢放鱼缸装饰品。
如果你没有耐心， 一定要马上开始布置你的鱼缸， 让我教你我所知道的。和其他的一切一样，你把装饰品 （除了植物例外） 买回家，先用水龙头水快速冲洗装饰物品，然后将装饰物品浸泡在‘鱼水桶’中的水至少三天。砾石和小石头也一样处理！浸泡三天后，将水倒掉，你就可以把装饰物品放入鱼缸里。 最理想的情况是： 如果鱼缸里没有鱼最好。 如果鱼缸里已经有养鱼，请慢慢介绍装饰物品， 一次只放一件装饰物品， 然后过了一个星期再多放另一件装饰物品。千万不要将一卡罗的装饰物品倒进鱼缸里，因为水的PH水平会被搞乱！鱼会死！ 😱
至于植物，只需把植物在水龙头下快速冲洗，就可以放入鱼缸。我还是建议一次放一棵植物就好，让鱼习惯它，然后一个星期后再去购买另一棵植物放入。不要放过度的植物，你不是在创造一个🍀☘🌿玻璃容器花园！🌱🌿🍀
