Is Tap Water Okay For My Fish?
Fish are probably the easiest pets to take care of. You have to purchase a tank or bowl, add some water, some fish, and some fish food. Sounds pretty easy doesn’t it? While it can be simple to take care of fish, there are some things that can make it a bit more complicated. You have to be sure that all the fish that you place in the tank are able to get along with each other. You also have to feed your little friends that right food and perhaps most importantly, the climate of the water has to be perfect. Water for your fish tanks can come from several sources, including ordinary tap water.
Now, there are those people out in the world that feel tap water is horrendous and they certainly won’t drink it, let alone put fish inside it. I mean, it’s full of all kinds of chemicals and things that are harmful to me, right? They’d be harmful to the fish, too – right? Umm.. that would be “no” and “no”.
Let’s take a look at the basics of how that water should be in a Freshwater Tropical Fish Community tank. The temperature of the water should range from 72-82ºF with a pH ranging from 6.5-7.5. The nitrates should be <50 ppm and the ammonia and nitrates are best at zero. The water’s hardness should be 4-12GH. Each of these parameters should be balanced with one another. If you use tap water you might have to add some conditioner to it in order to reach this goal. If your tap water comes from a well it might already be balanced so you should always check these levels before adding any fish to the tank.
Many pet supply and fish supply stores stock these conditioners regularly. The fastest acting ones are the brands you can put into the water as you load it into the tank. This is perfectly safe for the fish. It will not cause them any illness, mental or physical. It will not damage their bodies in any fashion. Make sure whatever you choose contains a dechlorinator or a chlorine remover as it’s the chlorine from the tap that can cause the hugest amount of problems. Copper, phosphates and pesticides are sometimes found in tap water as well. You need to counter this is some type of balancing agent, usually found in tablet form, at the store. Any of these items, when reading too high in the water, can cause stress and other related ailments to the fish. Almost always, you needn’t worry about any of these issues as most tap water is pretty well balanced and perfect for the fishies.
Other alternatives for water in the tank include rainwater, distilled water or reverse osmosis (RO) water. The problem with collecting rainwater is the pollutants and miscellaneous debris that could be in with the water, especially in areas that have acid rain. This sounds like a good idea, but it is not. With distilled or RO water it is almost pure water with no additives. This is good for humans, but bad for fish. With either of these latter choices you would need to oxygenate and remineralize the water so that the proper chemical/organic balance can be maintained.
Make sure you feed your fish, give them a comfy home, and use well balanced water. When you do this, you shouldn’t run into any issues with your fish in regards to your health.
About the author:
April Levine is an aquarist with years of experience in keeping tropical fish. She maintains many fish tanks full of the rarest tropical fish in the world.