the uh i'm unable to kind of do anything at the public aquarium anymore uh for the next couple
of weeks at least kind of like at a standstill we all knew this was coming but uh in the meantime
i've i had been neglecting my own aquariums but they definitely haven't been getting the cleaning
uh that i typically do just feeding and doing my water changes for like the past month or two
but being so busy i haven't been able to do much of anything with my personal hobby at
all just kind of like focused on launching that get that new public aquarium and i mean i haven't
been able to even go to a local fish store in like over a month maybe it's been like three
months or longer shower scrubber on a handle i can easily replace these when they become too degraded
but this is fine on acrylic doesn't scratch it or anything it does it is a little bit rough
so uh it will take this algae off quite easily i'm just gonna feed these guys
a variety of pellets floating and sinking so i went to my local fish store the other day
and uh for nothing more than personal reasons i just hadn't gotten to go for a while and
it's one of my favorite things to do of course as a hobbyist we love to go to the pet store
we love to just go see what they got and see what's new and see what we might be able to
get and you know i started kind of thinking to myself while there like out of all the
videos i've ever made and all of you know the the shopping and getting new fish et cetera et cetera
i've never really covered and this is very weird i've never actually covered how to buy aquarium
fish and what i mean by that is simple every day and i mean absolutely every day i get messages
from viewers asking me questions like i got a 30 gallon aquarium what should i stock it with or
what do you suggest i do with this or how many fish can i get or et cetera et cetera et cetera
and i'm going to give you guys a game plan because like i said i've been i'm asked this every day
for years upon years so today i'm gonna make this video for a very simple reason every time i'm
asked that i'm just gonna simply send them this video if you were looking for uh to get into the
aquarium hobby buy aquarium fish you don't even know where to start here is the game plan just
simply go to your local fish store find them find all of them and go look around with absolutely no
intentions on buying everything trust me the fish aren't going anywhere they're going to get more
they're going to get more of everything this initial visit when you go is to simply go and see
what you're interested in and see what you like and here's what i suggest you do go to the fish
that you like take a quick picture of it and in that note i'm going to add a picture of the fish
right below it i'm going to add its common name whatever's on the label it's price and how many
they had in this tank roughly because all of this information is going to come in handy later i also
like to go ahead and take a general look at their dry goods do they have what size aquariums do
they have what type of equipment do they have all taking visual notes or you put in your phone and
kind of figure things out that way you also you know and this is just buying the fish if you don't
already have an aquarium i mean you can pick and choose what you want from this video and of course
read the comment section below because other people well you guys are going to share uh how
you decide on how you're buying fish and that sort of thing i know most of you probably impulse buy
or see something and be like ooh i need it kind of like what i do mind you i did get something
at the store but i think uh we'll talk about that in a future video then i ask simple questions to
like the local fish store manager or an employee and it's very simple when did you guys get these
uh and if they say just recently are they under quarantine that's kind of what you're getting at
are these guys safe to kind of add to an established aquarium immediately because i do know
most people don't have quarantine tanks but there are some ways that you can have a lot of luck uh
by circumventing that by simply making sure these guys were quarantined and there's no signs of
disease or parasites or anything like that on the fish now we go home we have all the information
we need we know what we like we've got a picture of them we've got their price we've got how many
they have and we know the history of that fish how long have they had it has it been quarantined how
long have it been in the store etc and that's when you start your research you get on youtube and you
don't just watch one channel you watch a multitude of channels or you go on facebook and you join a
ton of groups and you ask all your questions there people are always excited and willing to help
now a huge problem with social media is a lot of people will just look for the answer that
they want to hear so my my suggestion would be it doesn't matter if you heard it one place ask
everywhere can i add this fish what size tank does this need are they going to get along et
cetera et cetera et cetera research research research all spending most of your time just
looking into these fish and being suggested but the reason why we went to the fish store in the
first place is because of a very certain thing if you were to ask me what can i put in my 50 gallon
aquarium what do you suggest i'm going to suggest fish that i like that i know are available to me
i don't know if they're available to you and i don't even know if you're going to like them
and that's why i say go to your fish store for two reasons one you'll find everything you like
and it's going to actually be available to purchase instead of chasing some random fish
that joey recommended or stephen or brian or whoever or samantha or whoever you asked on
the internet make sure it's actually available to you in your location now the key to one day having
your entire house filled with aquariums and this is the truth you kind of have to get everybody in
your house involved like do you like this fish or that fish and i'm kind of present them with
fish that you're probably going to get anyways but what i like to do is say do you like this oh
we'll get it because you like it then they kind of feel like it's their fish they're invested in the
aquarium they actually like it if they'll become more accepting of it et cetera et cetera et cetera
that's a little pro tip for you now i meant to actually film all this at the local fish store
use their fish as examples of what to look for to fish when you're actually ready to purchase one
what are we looking for in the fish's body their activity etc but we could just do it with my
fish unfortunately there's nobody sick here so we'll just have to uh imagine a few things so
when i look at some fish i look for a number of things depending on the species of course
uh so for example when it comes to these guys here when it comes to an oscar i'm looking for
at their finish i'm looking for tears and reps but most importantly i'm looking for
any sort of evidence of parasites that might be on them i'm looking for cloudy eyes i'm looking for
their gill plates uh is their gill plates curled or are they red or how do they actually look are
they in great shape are they active will they eat i know that like there's so many things to
look for but i'd rather purchase a healthy fish and bring it home and have more success with it
instead of you know getting something that you didn't know was a problem
and you take it home and it's sick one of the the things that you can't notice
and maybe we'll look at these guys because uh these guys are all technically wild caught one of
the things you won't notice in a fish is if they have internal parasites but there are a few you
know tells that you might be able to figure out if they have an internal parasite and if they don't
maybe it's too risky maybe you just avoid that fish because they are showing signs of sickness
so a few things that i look for is i look at their foreheads right above their eyes
is it pinched uh that's a sign of malnutrition the they're emaciated there's something probably
within them that is you know taking up all their nutrients and or they're just not eating anymore
um a sunken belly uh can sometimes be a tell uh and then of course if you see any fish in
there that has like stringy white feces or any sort of issues like that and i tic i tend to
personally avoid the entire aquarium now mind you all of these guys are not wanting to come
home with you they're not saying hey i wanna they wanna eat so this is a good sign then we
gotta look at other fish like is it hiding these guys just darted away depending on the species
darting away and hiding can potentially be normal mind you i forgot the lights on out here again
for like a day and i had an algae bloom doesn't take much
but basically overall i'm looking for a well-shaped body great form to it healthy finish
they're eating they're responsive brightly colored i'm not trying to buy a fish that's uh you know on
its deathbed especially for new hobbyists i mean for somebody a little bit more experienced that
might be a little bit more acceptable to do look at the size of this guy in the back look at that
he's getting huge she doesn't look big in video but absolutely getting monstrous
yes i just wanted to quickly do this video because you know if i got this guy when i did get him he
was only you know four inches long now he's almost two feet the rays are you know basically not even
uh half grown these guys get absolutely monstrous but you might see me keeping one of these and then
you see a small one at the store maybe you didn't do enough research and then you're stuck with
a fish that's going to need a massive aquarium that's going to live for the next 20 years that's
going to have a food bill equivalent to a small child or a dog really uh so you kind of want to be
careful there and and the most important thing is simply do your research it is absolutely beautiful
out today well it was the sun was welcome to nova scotia pawn's looking good but uh having a bit
of an algae issue and don't really see it i'm probably gonna have to build a canopy over this
nothing too crazy but anyways um yeah the best thing you could do if you're looking to get a new
fish or you have an aquarium or you're interested in doing it simply go to your local fish store get
inspired see what they have build a relationship there local fish stores are the lifeblood of the
hobby second to like aquarium clubs and whatnot and then you know social media and those types of
groups and whatnot can help guide you away guide you around but you know go to your local fish
store see what they actually have see what's in stock and see what's actually available
in your area you're going to find out pricing and you know what's in your budget what's not i wish i
could take every one of you guys one at a time to the pet store that wants to get into fish because
i absolutely love looking i don't care if i see it 20 times i just want to go look at all the fish
and see what they have and see what i might possibly get i'm allowed to talk out here too
crows yeah pond's doing well i mean uh it's getting a little bit warmer my son was kind of
swimming in it last night but as you can see you can kind of see the water going down um it doesn't
smell so and and i've done all my tests the the ph and um the uh well i guess it's not that bad
it's just a bit of a bit of an algae bloom and what i'm thinking about doing is putting the dye
back in there by fritz they have this blue pawn dye and it like literally eliminated all algae
the fish were out way more offered them security and but a lot of people are like oh the blue dye
doesn't look natural but it there's just so many more benefits that outweighed the natural look
it's weird that i never made this video before and to be honest with you i should probably do
something a little bit more in depth in uh you know actually hand selecting fish and whatnot
and what to look for and if that's something you guys want to see let me know in the comment
section below but what i really want to know is if i were to say i've got a 50 gallon tank or a
20 gallon tank or a 10 gallon tank what is your response do you recommend a certain type of fish
or a certain environment or do you ask further questions like uh well what are you interested
in or what do you think you want or what do you uh what what are your plans or you know do you ask
them type of questions or you just say go to your local fish store and see what you can actually
get i think that might be the best advice for somebody that's i don't know let me know in the
comment section below and if you're new to the hobby read the comments because a lot of the
times that's the second half of the video anyways i gotta completely renovate the entire gallery
all of these aquariums uh are being moved 375's being moved everything over there is being moved
uh to you know and there's only seven tanks along these walls
and we're going to change it to 16 tanks
yeah so stay tuned to that i got a couple of weeks to get it done and
get a lot of work done here so if you want to see what's coming next make sure
you subscribe if you're not already i'll see you guys in the next video