Zdeněk Dočekal - Aquarium maintenance, exhibitions

Trends and how to start with aquariums

I'm sure almost everyone has been in the situation of wondering what the right size aquarium is. Is a hundred liters enough? Or rather something smaller? And what kind of fish? So in the next part of the interview I decided to ask for recommendations for beginners.

What would you recommend for beginners? I've heard that guppies, for example, are already quite susceptible to disease and that tetras are more suitable.
It's true that they are overbred. As breeders want better and better, they are overbred and more sensitive. The original form from nature fifty years ago was more resistant. So guppies are more for advanced aquarists today.
Common cichlids are suitable for beginner aquarists. They are hardy, or some common tetras. Nowadays, angelfish are also suitable for beginners, but they require a larger tank.
A 200-liter tank is ideal, not a 60-liter aquarium, for example. It's no fun keeping a 60-liter aquarium clean.
The more water, the different the self-cleaning capacity.
A small aquarium is demanding to maintain.

Mini aquariums are trendy now.
Well, okay, if you put micro fish in it. Endler guppies or shrimp, for example.
But if you put 10 angelfish and other fish in a 60-liter tank, then you have to put in a lot of food and then all that waste…
So you need at least 200 liters. Otherwise, they will be discouraged. The fish will die on them and they will give up on aquariums.
Once you overcome the first setbacks, then it's done and dusted.
Last week a friend came over with his son and the son immediately told me that he would like a shark. He sees a fish and searches for a shark on the internet... Starting with a saltwater aquarium and a shark are some ideas...

And have you never been tempted by saltwater?

No, that's something completely different.
My water is soft, so cichlids, tetras, rainbow fish.

Fish Diseases and Proven Remedies

When I first entered Zdeněk's fish farm, I was amazed by its cleanliness and professional equipment. But even in the cleanest farm, an uninvited guest may occasionally appear. In the next part of the interview, we will learn about the preparations that are good to have on hand in such a case and how to deal with a power outage.

What fish diseases do you encounter most often?
I use Micopur from Sera after spawning so that the eggs don't get moldy. I've also tried Esha 2000.

Since I go to nature to collect food, I sometimes bring back planarians. They can be eliminated with flubenol.

Planaria are sometimes worse. For that, there is Genchem No Planaria without chemicals, so that there is no copper in it. I use a little less than what is written there, and on the second or third day I change half of the water and it's fine.

For many years there were no remedies for this. They have only appeared in the last few years.

I have also found that where there are leeches, there are no planaria. Planaria also mainly consume food. When there are fry in the breeding box and they are hidden there, they normally eat the fry, so they decimate them completely. So Genchem No Planaria has proven itself to me.

What do you do when there is a sudden fish mortality?
It's good to know what's causing it. When I used to go to work, sometimes the pH would drop before I got home from work. I measure the pH twice a week and adjust it with bicarbonate. I don't change the water because of it, but I treat it.

So if something happens to me, it's this. Or when the acidic water disrupts the mucus on the fish, bacteria attack them, but that's secondary. Either they suffocate, or it's the pH. This disrupts the protective layer of the fish and I have a problem with bacteria. Otherwise, not really.

Do you have any measures in place in case of a power outage?
I have a battery and an inverter there that keeps the aquariums running for 5 to 6 hours. In case of a longer power outage, I have a gasoline generator available.

The problem here is that there is a high voltage power line from Žďár and then there is the forest. And it's not like it used to be. The forest is closer to the line and if the wind blows, a tree might fall on it at night and you wouldn't even know.

That happened to me once. It went out at night, in the morning I went straight to the fish shop, I don't know why anymore, it wasn't working. And then they turn it back on. If it's just for a short time, the fish will come to the surface, but the denitrifying bacteria will die and when they turn it back on, the filter will actually start poisoning the water.

If I go away for two days and the power goes out, it's really hard to start the generator. I have a friend here that I can call. I also had an SMS notification about the power outage.

In the meantime, they have changed the route - new poles and wires, so it's not such a big risk anymore.

So I've taken care of it.

And the temperature? When the boiler switches off, the temperature is not a problem at all for a day or two due to inertia. Especially the water in the aquarium. It has a lot of inertia.

I want to work until I die like Karel Gott. Sing till the end. As long as I can, as long as I can.

I eagerly awaited the moment when we would get to the awards from the competitions. After all, Zdeněk is known for his success in breeding angelfish, and his collection of awards is truly impressive! But first, I asked a few practical questions about treating diseases and maintaining aquariums.

How do you change the water in the aquariums? 
There's a drain in each aisle, so I use a "hose system" - I drain the water with one hose and fill it with another. Flow-through tanks can be used for tanks without plants.

What do you recommend as a quarantine for newly acquired fish? 
I put them separately. I don't add anything and wait. I try not to weaken them. At most, I might add Esha. It's broad-spectrum.
Is it true that all wild-caught fish are sick? I think it's more likely they get sick in the warehouses at the place of origin and also here. The fish can arrive here healthy and then get sick here. I had a friend who treated them before transporting them to Europe. He was able to identify the problem immediately and also had effective medications.

Often the symptoms can be the same, but the disease is different. When you have a more expensive fish and are dealing with a disease... There are many vets, but few good ones. I had a very skilled one here. They sell all kinds of medicines in the shops. But for example, fin rot. You'd think it's bacteria, but he did an autopsy and found capillaries in the intestines. The fish weakens, and then there are bacteria on it, but the origin is the capillaries. But if you treat fin rot, the fish won't be cured... I had a vet around the corner, and now I've been praying for two years that nothing will happen.

Do you have a favorite Czech fish? 
I don't eat fish. I prefer pork. As kids, we used to catch fish with our hands and such.

I always thought it was important to provide the fish with a nice environment and a good life, but I've had people scold me for advising someone that they would be able to breed that species. 
There are people like that, but they're not in my circle of friends. They don't want to organize and tend to keep their distance.

We can all improve. That's a terrible attitude. As the saying goes, "Give, and it will be given to you." If you send out bad energy, bad energy will come back to you. If you send out good energy... It's like giving a ride to a hitchhiker. He'll never return the favor, but someone else will... Suddenly you come and you're surprised that it is so. Everyone has their own thing. I have no right to judge.

I invite 50 people here who don't argue with each other. It's also the case that if you invite people who are angry with each other, it poisons the atmosphere. So there are people I don't invite because of that, even though they are my friends.

As for aquariums, the hobby should connect people. Some bring superiority and such into it, but that's more for companies where there's a hierarchy, but what here...

How you treat people is how you treat animals. Fish are silent, but when people take their anger out on animals, that's bad.

I like that you have plants with your fish. 
They color up better, and the stress is minimized. It's laborious, but it can't be helped. I'm old school. There are fish shops where there are none.

I've also heard that children aren't very interested in aquariums. That schools don't really want to support aquarium clubs. 
I have a friend who ran an aquarium club in Pardubice for a long time. After the revolution and before. It ended with a lack of interest from parents. Yet there was money. Fewer and fewer people came. Parents preferred other clubs.

Especially for children who live in cities, in apartment buildings, an aquarium, especially in winter, is good. There's the greenery and life. Especially today, they help to draw children away from mobile phones.

There was an aquarium club in Hlinsko, and there was one in every smaller town. Today, of all the clubs, only Pilsen, České Budějovice, Brno, Žďár, and Rychnov remain.

The people from Pilsen organized exhibitions and competitions. I even won there once with a betta. The year before, someone had won there and was bragging. So I ordered 20 selections from Thailand. I chose 4 according to my taste and entered them in the competition. And one won, and the others "cheating, Dočekal doesn't breed bettas." So I told them: "Guys, that's how you all do it 90% of the time, so I held up a mirror to you." That was such a funny story.

Livebearers, those were different competitions, but with bettas it was like that.

I also wanted to ask about the angelfish shows. 
Those were competitive shows. There was an entry fee. I paid 300 per fish. If I won the category, I got 3,000 crowns. The overall winner then got 10,000 crowns.

What's your best placing and with which fish? (We went over to several shelves that were bending under the weight of vases with diplomas. There are perhaps more than twenty with placings often in first place for Pterophyllum scalare or Pterophyllum leopoldi in various categories.) And this is the most valuable - Absolute winner of the competition from 2008. (Zdeněk beams and enthusiastically poses for the camera.)

Weren't you tempted to breed bettas? 
I used to have them too. Back when I lived in Ždírec. Angelfish, those were my offspring, but that one year he provoked me. Bettas are beautiful. Beautiful ones come from Asia. Few people here are able to produce such ones. 

Would you be tempted to go somewhere if you didn't have these breeds here? 
When I was young, yes, we went to Rügen and Stralsund. Then we used to go camping in Seč. That was great. We went there, I went to feed in the morning and in the meantime my wife made breakfast. The children could eat whatever they wanted, unlike in Yugoslavia, where we had to save money. I had such holidays during socialism, when the children were small. Then I started with aquaristics. I used to be attracted to the tropics, but today I'm not so attracted anymore. 

Are you planning anything new? 
At my age, I enjoy every day. I want to work until death like Karel Gott. Sing until the end. As long as it goes, as long as possible.

You can read the first part of the interview about Zdeněk Dočekal's aquarist beginnings here.
You can find the second part of the interview about keeping aquarium fish here.
You can find the third part of the interview about keeping aquarium fish here.