Pet Care Leaflet

Pet Care Leaflet

Our Responsibility to You:

 At Pond Life Aquatics, we pride ourselves on only selling healthy fish and will give you the information you need to care for them. We will never knowingly sell you poorly fish and cannot accept responsibility for the fish once they have left our care. Staff have the right to refuse a sale if they are concerned or are not satisfied to the best of their knowledge that the prospective owner is able to meet that animal’s welfare needs.

Your Responsibility:

Your legal obligations outlined in the Animal Welfare Act (2006) are summarised below. Owners have a duty of care to their animals and must ensure they meet their needs by: 1. Providing a suitable environment and place to live. 2. Providing a suitable diet. 3. Allowing their pet to exhibit normal behaviour. 4. Housing them with, or apart from, other animals depending on their requirements. 5. Protecting them from pain, injury, suffering and disease.

For fish this means you will need to:

1. Get a suitably sized tank with adequate filtration, lighting, aeration and water parameters for the species being kept. This may mean upgrading the tank and/or filtration as the fish grows.

2. Feed the correct amount of tasty and nutritious food.

3. Provide suitable decor and space for the fish to eat, swim freely, shoal and hide.

4. Keep the correct number of fish in the tank so that shoaling fish feel safe, and solitary fish don't have to fight for space. At Pond Life Aquatics we recommend keeping more individuals of the same species than a few fish from a lot of different species. Not only does this look better, but it will mean your fish are happier, healthier and more likely to reach their natural lifespan.

5. Keep up with regular maintenance to keep your fish healthy. Note: Failure to meet these obligations can result in prosecution and/or disqualification from keeping animals in the future.

Pond Life Aquatics Guidelines:

Please note that these are guidelines and may need to be adjusted based on your set up, maintenance schedule and any existing fish. Aquariums: There are many “rules” floating around on the internet regarding how many cm/inches of fish you can have in a tank of so many litres or gallons of water. In reality, while these are okay to use as guidelines, they are often inaccurate for shoaling fish or large fish whose needs might vary based on the tank dimensions. It is therefore very important to research which fish you want and how much space you will need to keep an appropriate number of each species. It is also important to make sure that only compatible species are kept together. We have listed a few requirements for popular pond and aquarium fish below.

More detailed information regarding water parameters, flow rate and compatibility are widely available: Water quality parameter Measurement standard

COLD WATER SPECIES Free Ammonia max 0.02mg/l Nitrite max 0.2mg/l Dissolved Oxygen min 6mg/l Nitrate max 50mg/l above ambient tap water

TROPICAL FRESHWATER SPECIES Free Ammonia max 0.02mg/l Nitrite max 0.2mg/l Dissolved Oxygen min 6mg/l Nitrate max 50mg/l above ambient tap water

Pond and Tank Maintenance ● 20% water changes should be performed regularly, ideally every 1-2 weeks. ● Filters should be cleaned as often as necessary to maintain the water quality ● Water parameters should be tested regularly. ● Additional aeration should be supplied when the weather is particularly warm or if a treatment has potential to lower the water's oxygen content. Adding more fish ● Ensure adding more fish won’t lead to the tank becoming overstocked which can negatively affect the fishes welfare ● It's recommended to acclimate them slowly to prevent stress and shock. ● Quarantine new fish if possible to reduce the risk of disease being transferred.

Compatibility Chart