Fish Rescue and Rehoming

ByNickBennettwhohelpsruna small Fish Rescue & Rehoming charity near Chesham in Buckinghamshire

With more than 3 million households in the UK having a pond or aquarium, fish might be considered the 3rd most popular pet in the UK after cats and dogs. But when you think about the vast numbers of fishes, they blow every other pet out of the water

(so to speak). No one really knows how many fishes are kept as pets in the UK, some experts suggest up to 140 million, but the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre sees between 30 and 35 million arriving each year and I think the true numbers could be much, much higher.

I imagine if you’re rehoming (or buying) a cat or a dog, you’ve probably done your research, maybe bought a bed, a couple of bowls, perhaps a toy or 2, but it’s feasible you could buy the essentials the same day your pet arrives. With fish-keeping, things take a little longer.

I'm certainly no scientist and I won’t bore you with facts and figures but fishes, for the most part, rely on bacterial colonies that live in filters as their life support. Fish food (and subsequently fish poop) introduces ammonia into the water and this can be deadly to fish. Thankfully. there’s a naturally existing bacteria which will break down the ammonia and turn it into Nitrite. Hooray you all cheer, but hang on, Nitrite can also be deadly to fish. So along comes a second type of bacteria that tackles the Nitrite and produces a much less harmful Nitrate. Nitrate still needs to be monitored and controlled, but it’s about as good as it gets for our little swimming friends. Building these colonies of bacteria takes pretty much just one thing – time. Far too often people rush into buying fish before their tanks and their water is ready – with fatal consequences.

Things have improved massively inrecentyears withpetshops trying to educate even the most excitable of Saturday afternoon shoppers, but there‘s still room for improvement.

I know it’s boring looking into an empty tank for weeks while you wait for what’s called the ‘cycling‘ process, but do it once, and do it right. These days you can buy chemicals off the shelf that speed-up (or even do away with) the cycling process, but I’m perhaps a littleold-fashionedand prefertoletMother Nature set herself up properly and in her own time.

Everyoneknowsaboutdoghomes,cat rescues, donkey sanctuaries and so on, but what about unwanted and neglected fishes? Well, it may come as a surprise to many of you, but Fish Rescue centres are out there. I know because I help run one of them. While many exist in the form of a spare tank in an aquarist’s bedroom, others may be a garden shed or outbuilding. As for us? Well, we recently moved into a new 800 square foot space in a unit on a local farm. I don’t think we’d get many donkeys in here, but in terms of tank space, the place is huge, and we currently have less than a third of the whole building, so we are future-proofed if we ever need to grow further. We have cold water systems for pond fish and an array of tropical systems for the various (and very different) water conditions you find around the planet.

Whether it’s the cost of running a pond or aquarium, or a ’tank buster’ that has outgrown its home, or maybe an elderly fish-keeper who no longer has the time to dedicate to their hobby. Or perhaps an exploding population due to unexpected breeding, aggression, sickness, the list goes on. Whatever the reason, each fish we receive is quarantined and then found a permanent home among our ‘army’ of volunteers. I guess like cats and dogs, some are more difficult to rehome than others, but we have a good group of people, many

specialising in a particular species, or fishes from a certain part of the world, and most of the time the average stay here is under 2 weeks.

Like just about all rescue centres, we welcome donations towards our running costs, but with our fishy friends, there are so many other ways people can help. An old aquarium gathering dust in your loft or garage can mean an extra tank available for our‘guests’,orevenan emergency ‘hospital‘ tank for a poorly fish. Old filters, pumps, heaters and so on can be re-used or become donors of vital spare parts and we even have a lady that brings us broken plant pots! These can be used to make little caves and hiding places for fish to explore while they’re here. We also sometimes need new members for our rehoming team, so if you can help in any way at all, please visit www.fishrescue.net

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