Wet Pets
Salt Water Fish
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Wet Pets
Salt Water Fish
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| Back in 2004 Steve Hand brought a salty dream
into reality. He began offering salt water fish to the public in
Norman, Oklahoma, at 804 North Porter. Steve specializes in marine fish and
coral reefs. He offers bargain prices on salt water fish for the
aquariums he sells or sets up. Relying almost entirely on word-of-mouth advertising, his
business more than doubled in two years. Some of that expansion is due to arcane knowledge, of course. Then there's the factor of simply having salt water fish -- a fascinating subject, but most of Steve's success comes from business skills. Another company started not far away with the same product about the same time and abruptly went out of business. Steve had picked a better location, put up better displays, offered more services, and hired dedicated help. Salt water fish are usually more colorful than fresh water fish to start with. On top of that there are the colorful living rocks that are available to go into the salt water aquarium but can't live in fresh water. On the average a pound of living rocks must be added to a gallon of salt water to keep your fish happy. That gives a far greater range of color, size and texture to choose from as a living environment is created. |
| There are
innumerable ways to set up salt water aquarium. One thing Steve
likes to do, especially in the store, is to keep a second tank beneath the
display tank with the fish in it. Inside the second tank (down under
and well out of sight, sound and smell, is all the necessary stuff -- like
the filters and protein skimmer -- that would detract from the beauty people
see in the display cases. Much of the beauty of a reef tank is the coral and other living organisms in the tank. The colorful fish add a splash of color, like adding a pinch of salt to a pot of soup. That's a pinch, not a pound. Keep the number of fishes down. When you start deciding what size tank you want to begin with you'll want to take into consideration the weight of the total unit -- with the water. You'll also need to plan the type and placement of your light source. Especially if you are starting with new rock you'll want to watch for ammonia or nitrite spikes in a new salt water tank. If you can get matured rock from someone else's aquarium you'll have less trouble. You'll be trying to establish a pH level between 8.0 and 8.2 while keeping the water temperature between 75 and 78 degrees F. A steady draft can be good for your tank, once you have compensated for it, but if you have the tank right under the ceiling vent you'll need to take more precautions and more accurate measurements too. In a salt water tank your carbonate hardness should be between 8.0 and 10.0dkh. If you have access to a good hydrometer you'll be looking for a specific gravity setting at 1.023. Plan on doing a 10% water change every two weeks too. Does this begin to sound expensive, as well as daunting? Your basic small unit investment will start at $775, and that's before you add your choice of fish and other beauty enhancers. Ideally you should expect to spend right at $1,500 for a guest-pleasing unit.
Some of the smaller fish are half one color and half another, making them particularly attractive. Others have bands of glorious color around them Butterfly Koi are available, along with other popular breeds. Virtually any fish you can name can be ordered for rapid delivery. Steve offers installation services to those who need it and that takes up a good part of his time these days. A full range of helpful books guides is available to lead the novice through the setup process and beyond.
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Save More Money
on ANY type of Insurance
| Other products
can handily enhance the beauty of the aquarium. The helpful staff at
Wet Pets are only too happy to tell you how to use them effectively and
efficiently.
Then there are a few items
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For more information on this fascinating subject, contact
the end
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Lin Stone wrote this story for free.
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