Freshwater Aquarium Fish

Freshwater Aquarium Fish

For many individuals, especially fish lovers, spend quality time on taking extra care for their freshwater aquarium fish. Freshwater aquarium fish are creatures that expend their lives or in partition on living in fresh water habitats such as lakes and rivers. They adapt to water conditions, which have a saline content of less than 0.05%. Marine water conditions, on the other hand, dissent from fresh water characteristics in terms of salt confinement. Obviously, sea water has more salinity compared to freshwater. Many factors may affect to the survival of fish in freshwater. They must have a balanced concentration of ions in order to adapt to the nature of fresh water.

On the same ground, freshwater aquarium fish differ from salt water marine fish in many aspects. Physiologically speaking, freshwater aquarium fish possess gills which can diffuse water while they can also reserve the salts in their body fluids. These two processes are manifested simultaneously. The scales of the fish also play a vital role in their survival. The scales are responsible for the diffusion of water through the fish skin. Possession of fewer scales can cause the fish to die because of too many water diffused in their bodies. One unique characteristic of freshwater aquarium fish is that they have large kidneys which function with the amount of water which passes through them.

Different species of freshwater aquarium fish are known to be 41% dominant. This is brought about to the fast speciation of these different species, which are known to be able of living in freshwater such as in lakes and ponds. However, many species of fish reproduce in freshwater but not all of them spend their lives on it. Some species are to spend their adult lives in marine or seawater. These are called migrating fish or anadromous fish. Some of these fish include the salmon and trout. On the other way around, some fish reproduce in saltwater but spend their lives on freshwater. This may include the eel. Species which migrate from salt water to fresh water and from fresh water to salt water must have the physiological adaptation capability in order to coincide with the salt concentration of the water. When in salt water, the fish must be able to adapt to low concentrations of salt and lower than that of the environment. These types of fish are known to have a high tolerance on different environmental conditions, specifically on the saline concentration of their water habitats.

Freshwater aquarium fish are capable of living in different conditions of their habitat. They can live not only in an aquarium, but they can also adapt to the salt concentration of tap water combined with various solutions to mimic the condition from their original habitat.  They are considered to be flexible for they can live both and almost in all water conditions. That is why collecting freshwater aquarium fish is considered to be one of the most favored hobbies for it is enjoyable and rewarding at the same time. Just staring at the colors and beauty of these fishes gives the hobbyist a feeling of calmness and relaxation!