Fish Summary: Goldfish Is The Perfect Starter Pet

A fish has long been seen as the perfect “starter pet”. Parents who are skeptical of their children’s ability to care for a larger animal will often present their offspring with a goldfish before introducing a dog or a cat to the household. While it is true that goldfish do not require quite as much attention as their four-legged counterparts, marine pets are not as easy to raise as everybody seems to think. If a fish is to thrive and survive in your care, you must make sure the water in your aquarium is the right temperature, is free of chlorine, and has a low pH level. Failure to adequately prepare the water for your fish will ultimately lead to their death, likely after several weeks of illness and lethargy. Experienced aquarists may be
Some experienced aquarists are quick to sing their praises, insisting that they offer everything a novice aquarist needs to get their tank up and running in as timely a manner as possible. Others claim that master kit manufacturers are more concerned with the quantity of their products than the quality, meaning instead of one really good water testing device you get a bunch of subpar ones. These master kit detractors also point out that the liquid treatments included in such collections tend to deplete unevenly, meaning you’ll almost certainly run out of one product sooner than the others. I myself am pretty fond of master kits and highly recommend them to novice aquarists, providing, of course, that they come from a recognized manufacturer. If you purchase a master test kit from an unknown brand with little or no available history, you are putting your fish in serious danger.

If you have neither the need nor desire to purchase a master test kit for your saltwater aquarium, most pieces of test equipment can be purchased individually. Just about everything commonly included in a master test kit can be found on its own, so you won’t have to worry about dropping cash on a bunch of tools you don’t want every time you need to measure your water’s pH, nitrate, or ammonia
If you want to run your saltwater aquarium based on what experienced aquarists say, you should be trying for a salinity level of as close to 3.5% as possible. Even veterans will struggle getting accurate salinity measurements with no equipment to keep them on the right track, which is why I suggest you purchase the Instant Ocean SeaTest Hydrometer. This hydrometer will measure your tank’s salt levels, as well as its specific gravity and can be purchased for well under