AquariumGear.ie

How To Make Your Pet Reptile Feel At Home

Keeping pets of any kind is a rewarding pastime. The diverse and colourful world of reptile keeping is no exception, arachnid fans also included!

These ancient creatures come in all shapes and sizes, one of the things that they all have in common is that they need a suitable shelter to hide in. This will help them to thrive and be fully happy in their vivarium, allowing them to retreat from hot UV lights or just to relax! Ironically, the more hiding and shelter opportunities they have the more you will see them, as they will have more confidence to explore their surroundings.

Shelter

Our two Redfoot Tortoises, Frank and Stein, are thriving! They have plenty of tropical style, free standing plants to hide behind and rearrange. This keeps things interesting for them, and they have plenty of cork bark pieces to hide under. These wood hides make ideal shelters as they are solid but lightweight. It is very rewarding to see them wake up in the morning and confidently peep out to see what is going on, and look for their breakfast!

Having a good set-up with plenty of hides (or caves) and plants is essential for a happy pet. Reptiles need plenty of comfortable and private hiding spots. This reduces stress and helps to keep them happy and healthy, which in turn encourages natural behaviour. It is good to ensure that there are multiple openings for your reptile to enter and exit their hide, and have free walking space all around if possible.

Happy reptiles in a happy home is what we are all striving for. This is a good thing to achieve in your vivarium.

One of the plants we use in our vivarium is the Jungle Amapallo Plant, our tortoise Frank likes to rest on it. Another plant we use is the free standing Gigas Plant which is very realistic with moss features on the base.

Acclimatizing New Fish to Your Aquarium

When you have brought your new fish home in their plastic bag, take care when introducing them to your aquarium. Here are some tips to help acclimatize the new fish to your aquarium, which will reduce stress and prevent shock to the fish:

1. Turn off the lights in the aquarium
Turning the lights off helps to lower the stress of the new fish, and reduces potential bullying in the tank.

2. Float the plastic bag in the aquarium
Float the bag in the aquarium water for approximately 10 minutes, so that the temperatures in the tank and the bag equalize.

3. Undo the plastic bag
Carefully untie the knot if possible (or carefully cut the bag just below the knot) and very gradually introduce the water from the tank into the plastic bag, over the course of about 10 minutes. This method allows the fish to adjust to the water chemistry of your aquarium, which may differ to the water in the bag.

4. Immerse the plastic bag
Once the 10 minutes has passed, slowly lower the bag until it is completely immersed, and allow the fish to swim out of their own accord.

5. Turn the lights on
After about 30 minutes the lights can be turned back on, and you may give the fish a little food.

Artificial Aquarium Plants

Artificial aquarium plants are a quick and easy way to add colour and interest to your aquarium, they also provide shelter for your fish which is very important.

Over time algae will grow on the plants, this is good as the fish can nibble on the algae from time to time, especially fish such as the Plecostomus Catfish. But you may want to remove the algae after a while, as it dulls the colourful plants and it can start to look unsightly.

Algae Removal
Algae is very stubborn to remove. I have tried scrubbing the plants, but this only removes some of the algae, and it is very time consuming if you have a lot of plants.

I have found using a small amount of bleach to be the most effective method. Do not use bleach in concentrations higher than ten percent!
Bleach is a safe way of cleaning your artificial plants, as long as it is used in the correct concentration and not mixed with any other chemicals.

When cleaning your plants make sure that your fish still have somewhere to hide, aquarium ornaments can also provide good shelter for your fish

Tips
To avoid causing harm to your fish, or yourself, follow these important rules when using bleach:

Only use bleach and plain water – do not mix with any other chemicals (that includes soap, aquarium chemicals or other cleaning products).
Do not use bleach in concentrations higher than ten percent.
Do not soak anything for longer than fifteen minutes.

Method
Prepare a 10% bleach solution by mixing nine parts water with one part bleach (9:1) in a clean container (for example: mix 9 cups of water with 1 cup of bleach in a bucket).
Submerge the plastic plants in the solution and soak for ten minutes. If your plants are brightly coloured only soak them for 5 minutes as bleach can affect the colours, or use less bleach.
You will need to scrub the plants with a clean toothbrush or algae pad. If the algae doesn’t come off easily, then soak the plants for another few minutes (but don’t exceed 15 minutes in total).

Rinsing
After soaking the plants, drain off the bleach solution, rinse the container thoroughly, make sure all the bleach solution has gone, and refill it with clean water. Place the plants in the clean water and allow them to soak for fifteen minutes. Rinse well again with clear water, a few more times to be on the safe side, and allow everything to air dry completely.

Thoroughly rinsing is a really important step to make sure that all residual bleach is removed.

The clean plants can now be returned to the aquarium, and you can get back to admiring the vibrant colours of your aquarium.