| For many people, coral fish are the ultimate way to | | | | and they have to stake out territory and find mates. |
| brighten up an otherwise drab home. There is no | | | | There are various bacteria and other organisms, as |
| environment on earth as teaming with bright, colorful, | | | | well as tides to keep the water consistently clean. |
| exotic life as the coral reefs of the world, and so | | | | Deprived of even one of these many factors, coral |
| getting yourself coral fish helps you capture some of | | | | fish tend not to do nearly as well. And there is just |
| that beauty and bring it back alive on to dry land. | | | | simply no way for your average coral fish owner to |
| Think about your living room, glowing with living | | | | provide them with all of this. Add to this some other |
| flashes of oranges, reds and blues, ducking along | | | | problems too. For one thing, your house has things in |
| amongst patches of light and shadow, weaving too | | | | it that are not good for the fish. It is a funny thing |
| and fro, and chasing each other around the coral reef | | | | about contamination: no matter how carefully you |
| aquarium. This is what gets people so hooked on | | | | seek to avoid introducing it, it inevitably sneaks its |
| coral reef fish. Unfortunately, it is not the whole | | | | way in to the fishes environment. There are bacteria, |
| story. There is no pet that is more temperamental, | | | | molds, and mildews, even in the most meticulously |
| more expensive to purchase and maintain (or at least | | | | clean house, that will sooner or later, find their way |
| to maintain) and more likely to die well before its | | | | inside the coral fish tank, where they can grow on |
| time despite your best effort, than coral fish. The | | | | the sides. And once your coral fish catch one of |
| problem has many sources. One of them has to do | | | | these diseases, they will be dead before you have |
| with the nature of the coral fish environment. They | | | | even the slightest chance of figuring out what is |
| naturally live in a place teaming with life. There are | | | | going on with them. There are things that you can |
| certain predators which chase them, and certain | | | | do to try to protect your coral fish from dying in this |
| things that they instead feed on. There are other | | | | fashion, but all of them cost money, and none of |
| coral reef fish of the same species swimming around, | | | | them are really a hundred percent effective. |