#fish keeping

Finished my portrait of Omicron! It’s really hard to get accurate photos of the painting, since I have indoor lighting and some of the paints are reflective. He initially flared at it the first second he saw it; now he can’t stop studying it. I think it looks like uncanny valley to him and bewilders him a little. 

If you want a portrait like this for your fish, let me know! Contact me here on tumblr, at deviantart, or e-mail at inthe13thhour(at)yahoo(dot)com. Pricing will depend on how complex the fish is (more intricate patterns take longer), but I’m thinking in the $25-$45 range (cost of materials included; shipping depends on your location but should be less than $5 in the US). The canvas is about 2.25in x 2.25in and comes with a matching display easel. Alternatively, you can request a same-size colored pencil illustration, in case you would rather have something flat that you can frame.

I also take commissions for lots of other things, like pets, people, web graphics (banners, backgrounds, sidebar images, signatures for your blog or site), tattoos…. the list goes on and on!

doodlehorseafternoon:

As someone with fancy goldfish and in a program aimed at animal welfare and education (veterinary school), I feel the need to add a short blurb about basic fish care:

Fish require, at minimum, 1 gallon of water per inch of fish living in the tank. More than one gallon of water per inch of fish is better, but as a hard rule 1 gallon works. If you have one six inch fish, you need at least six gallons of water. If you have five one inch fish, you need at least five gallons of water. If you have, as is my case, one eight inch fish, and two two inch fish, you need at least 12 gallons of water (mine live in a twenty gallon). 

A lot of this has to do with keeping water quality high and offering the fish appropriate space to swim and be a fish. If you have multiple fish, it allows them to avoid or interact with their tank mates. Filtration can go a long ways to improving water cleanliness, but stocking too many fish in one tank means filtration alone won’t cut it with the amount of waste produced.

Too small of tank size for the number of fish in the tank (even if it’s a solitary betta fish in a half gallon) is highly stressful for the fish for a number of reasons. Stress decreases immune system, a depressed immune system leads to illness, and you can guess where that leads to from there. Obviously some fish will be more sensitive, some less, but this is something important to remember when deciding on tank size and the number of fish to fill it with.

This is especially true for small fish tanks as is mentioned in the post above. Living in a tank too small for them is an awful way to spend a life. Can you imagine living in a 12x12 room your whole life? It might look cute from the outside, but it’s unfathomable from the inside. Betta fish aren’t actually lazy slugs floating at the top of the tank all day- the ones living in tiny, tiny environments are just absolutely depressed.

I am by no means a fish expert, but I feel like this is one of the most important things to know if you’re thinking about getting a fish. Do your research and help put an end to fish bowls. Knowledge seeking is your greatest tool in learning to take care of a pet.

Okay, mini essay done. Happy fishkeeping from me and my tiny school of goldies!

I don’t really have the time to go into depth here but the inch per gallon rule is outdated and inaccurate. And @doodlehorseafternoon,pleasedo some research on the minimum tank size of the fish you are keeping. There is no 8 inch fish that can be ethically kept in a 20 gallon tank. A 20 gallon tank would be at most 3 times the length of your fish. The width would be 1.5 times the length of an 8 inch fish. That fish barely has room to move! Not even considering it’s level of activity and waste production (which are different in every fish, one of the reasons why the inch per gallon rule makes no sense).