(no subject)

[transformergeek.livejournal.com]

During this time of year, in a city with so many colleges, it's not unusual to see houses with a bunch of old household items and busted up furniture outside waiting to be taken away by trash collectors.

I often enjoy briefly going through these piles to see if there are any goodies. (Last year I found a size 14 pair of rollerblades!) I noticed that my neighbors were throwing away a mini-fridge, an old sofa, a book shelf, and a fish tank.

That would be cool and all, if it weren't for the fact that the fish tank still had fish living in it.

I checked the house, and nobody was living there. I left it for a few hours, to see if, perhaps, someone was coming to pick it up. No go. Plus, we live in a neighborhood with plenty of outdoor cats, and the tank had no cover.

So, I took in the fish, but I realized that I don't have any fish food, and that all of the pet stores are closed. I don't know how long they've been out there, and I'm pretty sure that I'd be damn hungry if I were in their position. So, two questions:

What common, household foods can I put in the tank? I have bits of bread, and all sorts of spices, and even some cheese... but I don't know what fish eat!

Secondly, the water level is getting pretty low... is there something that I can do about that? Will tap water kill the fish? Is it ok if I use my Britta?

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, they're not anything special. Just your garden variety cheap pet fish. And one cool black sucker fish.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Comments

[zmgmeister.livejournal.com]

I don't know much about tropical fish ( which might be more delicate ) but I used to keep goldfish so I'll share a few things.

- Goldfish will eat almost anything as long as its near bite-size. This includes pieces of chicken, turkey, shrimp, bread, carrots, potatoes. Though mine didn't care for lettuce. No spices, no cheese.

- Fish are cold-blooded animals. Unless very young, they don't need to eat regular meals, goldfish don't even need to eat every day. Excess food is more likely to cause problems.

- Not good to leave a tank of fish outside, temperature swings happen much faster in a little tank than in the pond. Again, they are cold-blooded animals.

- You can add a chemical to the water to take the chlorine out, though there really isnt much chlorine in the municipal water here. You usually you just change 1/3 of the water in the tank by vacuuming the bottom with a siphon, then top up the tank from the tap, matching the tap water to the tank temperature. A kitchen sink hose is nice cause it aerates the water, just doint point directly at fish. Some ppl like to put the tap water in spring water jugs for a few days to let the chlorine evaporate out.

- Watch out for leaks. Fish tanks usually aren't moved with the water and fish in them, except for small fishbowls.