Garra Rufa Europe

Setting up a simple system to house your Garra Rufa fish is easy if you know the very basic of aquarium management. Most people are concerned about how to care for the fish but even before that, caring for the water quality that your fish live in is the first step. This is of utmost importance if you want to have a successful fish spa, whether a small personal home fish spa or a full-blown commercial one. The Garra Rufa fish thrives in clean warm waters that is about the temperature of a human body’s. At about 36 degrees Celcius (96 F) and a near neutral PH of 7.3, this water parameter is extremely conducive for the fish to work its wonders. The warm water will also soften the skin of the person for the fishes to nibble on. This temperature will create a warm and relaxing feeling on top of the tingling massage from the fish. To warm the water, just buy a thermostat controlled water heater from any aquarium pet shop and set the temperature. There are also bigger commercial water heaters for larger pools but if your commercial spa is set up with many smaller tanks, a few heaters from the pet store should suffice. The biggest problem in water management is the existence of the highly toxic ammonia and its compounds. Ammonia is produced from excretion from the fish and the decomposition of leftover food, etc. The “friendly” bacteria: Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas are the main guardian against these toxic and will neutralize it. These bacteria loves culturing beds such as gravels, sand or even filtration materials. If you have lots of gravel in your tank, these bacteria will naturally colonize it and make it its home. The more number of fish stock is in a tank, the more bacteria should be maintained to prevent ammonia and nitrate build up. You can even set up a separate biological filtration system to house loads of friendly bacteria. The internet is choke full of resources on setting up an aquarium filtration system and you just have to do a search for it. Click on the link for more info on the Nitrogen Cycle and How Ammonia Can Kill Your Fish. Most tap water in many countries goes through proper conditioning and should be almost neutral pH in nature. The Garra Rufa fish is a very “hardy” fish and can endure high acidity/alkalinity difference. If the water PH is too high or too low, just pay a visit to your pet store and buy the necessary pH adjusters. Sodium bicarbonate is used to increase the pH and Hydrochloric acid to decrease it. You will also have to buy a pH tester to test the water’s pH. The most dangerous component from tap water that can kill your fishes is chlorine. A chlorine test kit and anti-chlorine solution is imperative to treat the water before you set up the tanks. Do not directly fill the tap water into the tank but treat it first for chlorine. If you fill the tanks with chlorinated tap water, all the “friendly” bacteria that exists in the filter will be wiped out. This will totally disrupt the Nitrogen cycle of your tank system and you will have to start all over again. Do pay attention to your fishes’ condition. If you see that your fishes are inactive and lethargic, it is oftentimes caused by the toxic ammonia in the tank. This means that your fish is sickened by the poison. They will not be nibbling on anything or will not even eat. You will have to immediately check for ammonia using a test kit. If ammonia is present, just changing the water will do the job and within half an hour, your fishes will be back to their old selves. If there is no ammonia present in the water and your fish is still sickly, then they might have some disease and should be treated accordingly. If you manage your garra rufa tanks properly, get rid of Chlorine, ammonia and leftover food, your fishes will always be healthy and actively nibbling on dead skins. If you run a commercial spa, your customers will be amazed at how active and voracious your fishes are at doing their job. If the water management of the tank is bad, your fish will not even want to nibble and this is turn your customers off. We had heard of beauty parlours for dogs and cats, and pet psychiatrists, and horse whisperers and even soothing music for house plants, but how does one treat a koi carp in a spa? Wouldn’t sirovasthi make it feel like a canned sardine? And how would one administer Swedish massage to a goldfish without making its gills give up the gasp? Then, in the hi-tech luxury of Kuala Lumpur International Airport, our informant patiently calmed our wild imaginings. “No,” she said, “it is not a spa for fish. It is a spa with fish: very special fish that give you an underwater pedicure.”....... Read the rest of the story here.