aquarium water

[Bubo]

i am not quite sure where this should go. kadabra has a bath, and a drinking place and uses neither of them!! whilst kadabra was sitting in the living room with me he flew onto my small fish bowl and he drank from it :shock: this may sound a silly question but can he get anything from drinking fish water?

bubo

[Woody1966]

Do you treat the water with anything? If not then I don't see why it should do any harm, after all he'd probably drink a lot worse if he was in the wild....

[Bubo]

no there is absolutely nothing added to the water. it is only a tiny bowl with two tiny fish and a plant for the fishes. at first i thought he was just sitting on the bowl to watch the fishes as he normally does then i noticed him drinking. he may well have been doing it before i noticed this time. thanks again for your reply though.
bubo

[HawkMan69UK]

prehaps he thinks he is a fishing owl :lol:my female harris last year in the middle of a hunting day out decided to take a bath and i drink from silage water which comes off the manure piles ended the day early but no side afects bubo i wouldent worry too much :lol:

[Bubo]

he is never in that room on his own just incase i may just be over reacting but he always has his head in the bowl. He loves anything that glitters or shimmery (the water) plus there is a fascinating fish swimming around. I was wondering if that was characteristic of the barn owl and is why so many are found drowned in the cattle water troughs. thanks again

[TimberDog]

Beware of the fact that produce waste as all living things do and this in turn carry Bacteria and also produces nitrates!!

[Saker-Clive]

Is the bowl filtered; as TD said, nitrates but there are nitrates in tap water!!!
It's been nearly 10 years since I knew all about how many nitrates were in our tap water but as long as you change the water regularly and don't over feed the fish, the odd drink shouldn't cause any worry.

[Jeff Tanner]

nitrates are not a problem, after all, fish can still live quite happily in filthy water.
nitrates are only an enemy if you keep marine fish, because algae thrive on it, and make it look unsightly, lets say, its there ambrosia, but the flipside of the coin is if you keep tropical fish and have "real" plants growning in your tank, then nitrates are a plus as they help your plants grow, i wouldnt worry about your bird drinking the water,

[Bubo]

hello everyone,

my birdie is still alive and has no worries. thanks for the replies, it is just incredible sometimes the things he gets up to :roll:
bubo

[KevGem1]

hi bubo in the past i have kept tropical discus fish and i use to have a big koi pond and had to purdge the pond on a regular basis , and do regular water changes for the koi/tropical you wouldnt believe the amount of s**t that comes from the bottom of a pond and under the gravel.for any pond/tank to operate properly there has got to be alsorts of good/bad bacteries going on to create there own little enviroments. sorry for being a bit long winded just trying to explain the reason why i would be very careful letting your pride and joy drink out of something thats a cocktail of bacteries. hope this is of some help KEV. :wink:

[Gaz]

Nitrate isnt the problem as its present in all your water,its nitrite & ammonia that causes probs in fish tanks,the nicrobarcter in the water wouldnt do the bird any harm,wouldnt want it meself though,the main worry would be why the things flying round a house in the first place

[Hawkmaster]

Damn! Gaz good post!

[TimberDog]

Yep bang on ammonia is the bady!!

Yep and good point bit worrying i would wnat to drink from a tank from which fish tend to release body waste yum!!

[Bubo]

hi gaz, kadabra was hatched very late in the year (october) and the weather was still freezing here going from +1 to -6 as he was still young i didnt want to keep him out in the aviary with temperatures like that so i brought him in. that is why he was flying around the house at that time!!
bubs

[Gaz]

Ah i see,that explains it then :?: :!: ..would be stupid to put it in a box or tether it then :!: ..tut,tut,what a numpty i must be :shock:

[Bubo]

me tether my owl :shock: gaz what are you saying ... yeah you must be a numpty :lol: :lol:

[Hawkmaster]

Lets nip this in the bud thanks!

[Coedhirion]

aaaw Gaz,
Kadabra's an owl. Must admit to not having read posts about the bird, but I assume an imprint. Don't be too hard on her!! :lol: :lol: