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Well, you have an aquarium and you purchased a couple of cichlids for your fish tank. Now, you are wondering what the next step is. If this is your first fish tank, you will need to learn how to care for the type of fish you have chosen as each type has different things they need. The things you need to watch include water temperature, location of aquarium, pH levels, type of filtration system, what type of lighting you need, and of course what type of food your fish will eat. Your cichlids are pretty easy to care for but you still have responsibilities if you want your fish to stay happy and healthy.

Water Temperature

The cichlid does wonderful when water temperatures are between 74 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit, but can tolerate temperatures as low as 68 degrees. Now, if you have babies known as fry you will need to keep the temperature at an 80 to 82 degree Fahrenheit range. The warmer temperature helps to raise the baby’s metabolism, which makes them eat more and grow faster. If you happen to have an aggressive cichlid on your hand, which is often the case, you can lower the water temperature and this will help with their aggressive nature but do not go below 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

Location of Aquarium

Never place any aquarium with any kind of fish close to a window or sunny area or even beside a computer, refrigerator, or other appliance that generates heat. This will cause the water temperature to fluctuate. The same goes with placing the tank in a drafty area, which will have the same result.

pH Levels

As with all fish tanks, the pH levels in the water need to be checked and kept at an optimal level. For cichlids, the pH levels should stay between 6 and 8. When changing water or cleaning the tank, be sure that the aquarium water does not change levels quickly. It would be best to have clean water ready that is at the proper pH level before cleaning the tank.

Filtration System

The best filtration system will be one that was designed for the size of your aquarium. In most cases, the smaller aquariums are great for the cichlids and sponge filters are perfect. Of course, you will want to read all the direction and ensure you purchase the proper system.

Lighting

The best lighting for an aquarium is fluorescent lighting as it creates an atmosphere more like the natural habitat of the cichlids, but use dim lights and never bright lights. Bright lights will agitate your fish.

Fish Food

Cichlids will eat any type of fish food without any problem. Just remember that you should only feed them what they can eat in about five to ten minutes and the rest of the food should be taken out of the tank.

Animals attract people by their strange, amazing, funny, sad, and interesting facts. The world of animals tends to magnetize a lot of interest, no matter what age you are. A strange fact about animal is that: animals see details that people do not see. Animals are totally detail-oriented creatures. This has to be noted as the most important thing to know about the way animals recognize the world.

Even the myths and mysteries of odd and small creatures make them captivating. This makes the learner to explore the recent findings, common misconceptions and amazing adoptions about them. Many living things are found in the world.Vertebrates (with a backbone) and invertebrates (without a backbone) are the two main classification of the animal kingdom. In the total species of the animal kingdom only 800,000 species are known to the world. When it comes to the animal kingdom people usually think about cat, dog, tiger, and etc. jellyfish or an earthworm are not considered as an animal. But they also belong to the kingdom of animals. The science of classifying organisms according to their characteristic is called taxonomy.

In order to easily study about the living things in the world they are classified according to its: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species.An animal is named by its genus name followed by its species name. Hence man is called Homo sapiens, meaning wise man.

Until today all the animals in the world are classified in to five kingdoms. Animalia made up of animals; Plantae made up of plants; Protista made up of protests (single celled organisms invisible to human eyes); Fungi made up of mushrooms, mold, yeast, lichen etc; and Monera made up of bacteria.
Phylum is the next classification and each kingdom has several phyla. In phylum animals are divided from the smaller ones to more familiar groups. Animals with back bone (fish, birds, mammals, reptiles) belong to the chordata phylum. Arthropoda (spiders and insects), Mollusca (snails and squid), Annelids (segmented worms) and Echinodermata (star fish and sea urchins) are some of the best known phyla.

The category that makes up the phylum is the class. Class breaks animals into more familiar groups. For example phylum chordata is divided into Aves, Reptiles, Amphibian, Mammalian and many more.

The next category in the animal kingdom is the order. One or more orders make up a single class. Rodentia, Primates, Chiroptera, Insectivora, Carnivora, Perissodactyla, Artidactyla, and Proboscidea are the orders of the mammalian class.

Following the order comes the Families the next category. Canidae, Felidae, Ursidae, Hyaenidae, Mustelidae and many more form the families for the carnivore order.

Genus is the next category. The felidae family can be broken down into acinonyx, panthera, neofelis and felis.
The last category is the species. The panthera can be broken into panthera leo (lion) and panthera tigris (tiger)

Animals ranging from few cell organisms to animals that weigh many tons are extinct in this world. Approximately 9 to 10 million species of animals live all over the world. This is only a rough estimation; the exact number is not known. Researches and invention in and around the forest areas and seas add a new species to the animal kingdom.

By far the insects are the most found species in the animal kingdom. They have mollusks and nematodes as their groups. They live along with us even in the winter months. Among all known animals in the world 85% belong to this class and are the largest animal phylum in the world.  

The most interesting animal in the world are the arthropods. Any animal that have more than four legs or jointed legs are arthropods. They can fly, creep and even crawl. From ants to bumble bees and crabs to crayfish and spiders to centipedes all belong to this category.

Two life animals are called amphibians. They are capable of living in land as well as in water. With gills and tails amphibians begin their life in water. Later they produce lungs and legs for their life on land. Amphibians are capable of maintaining the same temperature on land and in water. Hence they are the cold blooded animals. Research continues on the relationships of the major animal groups.

So now you’ve purchased some tropical fish. You’ve made sure you have selected healthy fish and you have done your homework to make sure the fish that you have will go together.

Your fish should have been packed in a plastic bag with oxygen and then put into a dark bag or polystyrene box to keep the heat in.

You should try and buy fish no longer than a couple of hours away. Fish can last over 24 hours if packed right but the longer you keep them in transit the more stress they go through. You should try and keep stress to a minimum to make sure the fish remain healthy.

Once you get them home you should float the bags in the water and then open the bags up. This will help equalize the temperature between the water in the tank and the water in the bag. You should also keep adding little bits of tank water to the bag. Add just a little and then leave for five minutes before adding more. This will help acclimatize the fish to the water chemistry of the tank and even the ph and water hardness out.

After doing this for about 20 to 30 minutes you should then gently release the fish to the tank and let them swim out of the bag on there own. Then you should leave them with the aquarium light on overnight. This will reduce stress because the fish can see where they are swimming and there surroundings and they will also see that there are no predators around.

You should not feed them for around 24 hours to let them settle in and then over the next few days only feed sparingly. It will take them a couple of days to get used to the tank and feeding.

It is a good technique to add the smallest and weakest fish to the tank first. This will prevent bullying in the aquarium between the fish. Please follow these keeps to keep the stress of your new tropical fish to a minimum. This will help the fish settle in faster and in the end cause you less stress.

Alligators are the most life-threatening of the exotic pets. They’re like crocodilian, which comes from the family line of Alligatoridae. The name was derived from a Spanish word Anglicization, which was used by a Spanish people who were settled in Florida, U.S.A. Alligators are found by and large in America and China.

There are two types of alligators, Alligator Mississippians or the American alligator and Alligator Sine sis or the Chinese Alligator. The American alligator weights around eight hundred pounds and is thirteen feet long. The record for the longest alligator is of nineteen feet two inches, from Louisiana. Comparatively, the Chinese alligators are smaller in length and measure out not more than seven feet long. Alligators exist for more than fifty yrs. The most aged existing alligator is of seventy years, at the Belgrade Zoo, Serbia.

There are many characteristics of alligators that differentiate alligators from crocodiles but both of them belong to different taxonomical categories. Alligators have a wider muzzle and their eyeballs are sited nearer the upside. When light is blinked over their eyes, larger alligators have a red glow and smaller alligators have a green glow. This can be a very useful tip for those who are looking for alligators in dark. Even in daylight, we can observe that alligators have brown eyes and crocodiles have green eyes.

When the alligators close their jaws, only the upper teeth are able to be seen while in crocodiles, the upper and the lower teeth are visible when they close their jaws. The shape of an alligator’s mouth is like a”U” and the crocodile’s is like a”V”. Although the skin of both the animals is a darker, almost black, the color depends on their environment. The Chinese alligators have a light pattern skin, alligators which live in algae growing water are greenish black and in high tannic acid water which is released from hanging trees have a darker skin.

As the presence of the gastroliths (stomach stones) in the stomach of alligators they can eat anything. Young alligators depend upon crustaceans, fishes, snails, and insects for their food. As they grow into larger size even they need larger feed. Bigger alligators prey turtles, bigger fishes, birds, and, other reptiles and mammals. They even eat up deer, razorbacks, small alligators and even carcass of animals when they are very hungry. They have also been reported for few attacks on humans, but the number is on arising. People set out overconfident about this reality and enter alligator habitats without more caution, resulting in provoking their aggression. But alligators don’t right away attack humans, like crocodiles.

Today Alligators have turned very protected and regulated animals. Special processing is to be experienced to get the detention of an alligator. Normally baby alligators could be bought from Florida. Owners are given a special license and must be well aware of their duties. They’re against the law of many another states to take out an alligator from its natural habitat. Alligator pets should be provided with wide and wet habitat, same as the subtropical, to live in.

Many people would not consider a fish to be a “real” pet, but keeping tropical fish is a pleasurable hobby for families around the world. It’s also great for the person who is allergic to fur but stills wants some kind of company at home. If you are a complete beginner then beginning with a goldfish would be your best start, but if you want a little more of a challenge then tropical fish are the way to go.

Most people choose salt water fish because there are more choices and typically more brightly coloured fish then among freshwater fish, and it’s much simpler than having a reef aquarium. There is also an aesthetic appeal of keeping a tropical fish tank in your home because you get to design and decorate your tank. Tropical fish don’t tie you down to a lot of expenses after you set up the aquarium and buy the fish; it should cost you around $25 a year to feed a fish. But what most people appreciate most is that you don’t have to walk them, wash them, groom them, play catch with them or take them in for check-ups.

But that doesn’t mean that you can just put your fish in a tank and walk away. Tropical fish do require more care than a plant; you must know how to change the water, clean the tank, and what to feed them. A little research will help you keep your aquarium free from algae blooms and snail infestations. An absolute necessity for tropical fish is a tank heater, and you may also find a tank thermometer to be very helpful. The most commonly used heater for aquariums is a submersible heater, which you should position where it will circulate the most water, so it can spread out the heat. The thermometer should also be a submersed one because they are usually more accurate and if you are keeping tropical fish the temperature of the tank water is of the utmost importance.

As with any new hobby or endeavour, it is important to learn about the needs of the different species of tropical fish before you invite them to share your home. But with a little advance planning and preparation, you will soon come to see that keeping fish as pets can be pleasing and quite fun to do!