When you go to pick your pet fish or fishes, you need to know what to look for in a healthy fish. A healthy fish should swim readily around its aquarium unless it is a bottom-dwelling catfish, of course. The fish shouldn't be having difficulty swimming, if it does it may be suffering from swim-bladder disorder. A fishes eyes should not bulge unless it is a feature of that species. Swollen underparts may be a sign of dropsy, make sure they aren't swollen. Scales should be clean and colorful with no signs of damage. If damage is seen, don't buy that fish as it could be infected from its damaged scales. A fish tail should be reasonably round or square-ish in shape, this indicates it is in good health. Damaged fins could be a sign of an infected fish. Be careful when buying, look closely at every detail on the fish to make sure it is a healthy one. A fishes color shouldn't be dull if it is a colorful fish, if its color is dull and it is a colorful fish, it may be suffering from a poor food diet. Always check your fish everyday to check for signs of illnesses. Always check with your local fish pet store about a return policy for a sick or injured fish that you may accidentally purchase, if you do purchase one. Every pet store should have some sort of return policy for sick or injured fish. If they don't, I don't recommend buying from this store only because they know they are selling you a sick fish and refuse to do something about it. You should also check if they are male or a female. This can be difficult to detect in certain types of fish but for the live bearing fish this is quite easy. First look at the anal fin, this under the tail fin. On a male, this fin will be pointed like an arrow or spear head. A female will have a fan like anal fin. Below is a picture that shows a male and female platy fish. This is only an example. If you want to know how to determine the sex of your fish. I recommend going to a fish forum and asking them. They will be able to help.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
