What to Look out for when buying Saltwater Fish

August 21, 2008 · Filed Under Buying Saltwater Fish 

Before buying marine fish will need to look at two areas:

  1. Appearance and
  2. Behaviour

We now look more closely at the appearance of the marine fish, area to look at include eyes,mouth,fins,skin,sclaes and abdomen.

  1. Eyes

    2. The eys should awways be bright and clear and normally set in the head, Bacterial infections will knowly show up as grey cloudy film or light misty appearance over the eye. Fish with sunken eyes, that look to small for the socket is not a good sign and normally show signs of posioning.
  2. Mouth

    3. There should be no evidence of injury around the mouth, an injury around this area has the potential for the saltwater fish to not eat and may cause fungus or bacterial infections.

  3. Fins

    4. The fins should have good shape with no rough or jagged edges. Signs of poor fins is fayed o ratted which can be a tell tale sign of ammonia burn from collecting and poor water quality or just fighting with other fishes, again this can lead to bacterial infection of other fish diseases.

  4. Skin & Scales

    5. The skin and scales should be smooth and well colored. Indistinct, discolored blotches on the upper sides are usually a sign of an internal disease, especially if associated with rapid breathing. Uplifted, raised or missing scales are also a bad sign.

  5. Abdomen (Stomach)

    6. The abdomen or stomach should be well rounded and contex in a healthy looking fish, when a fish starts to loose body mass the abdomen will become concave (sunken in) Fedding becomes an important part of the well being of any fish and if eating well should allow to get over fish stress and othe minor issues.

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    2 Responses to “What to Look out for when buying Saltwater Fish”

    1. Keeping Your Aquarium Fish Healthy | Saltwater Aquarium Guide on August 26th, 2008 9:27 am

      [...] marine fish for color, eyes,skin and fins as well there breathing much as you would when you are buying marine fish. Spotting something now could mean you have increased the chances of living due to early [...]

    2. Saltwater Quarantine Tank | Saltwater Aquarium Guide on September 17th, 2008 1:18 pm

      [...] properly can be successful in avoiding spread of disease that are often introduced when adding a newly purchased marine fish. Most fish die within two weeks of purchase and this can be caused by marine fish stress or poor [...]

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