Hi I would like some advice please. I would like to buy Garra rufa fish for myself as I have a skin condition on my hand. I have pets for life but have never kept fish. Would they be easy to keep? Thanks for reading. J

ok, i would say to look elsewhere tbh. despite what is depicted by fish spas that use these fish (which are despised by most fishkeepers), they arnt actually easy fish to keep.

They grow to about 6" long, and are a generally sociable fish, benefitting from being in a group of their own kind. in terms of space and stocking, in a 60L tank (general 2ftish), you could probably fit 2 or 3 in, no more. plus, they come from fast flowing rivers in the wild, so have a rather high oxygen demand, and like a fast water flow in the tank, both of which can be expensive to reproduce. Fish spas generally massivly overstock their tanks to quite distressing levels, and its not a good idea to do this yourself at home.

another issue is that in the wild, they naturally graze on algae and detritus, and their bodies are geared towards this diet. they only feed on dead skin when no other food source is available. therefore, to get them to do this, you would effectivly need to starve them. as well as this, the skin they would then be feeding on contains little nutriment (it is made mostly of empty keratin), and a prolonged diet of this will lead to malnutrition and death in the fish.

Also, there is a massive debate raging atm as to whether the Gaara rufa fish are as effective as all the advertising makes out. they certainly eat the skin, and make it feel nice, but the medical benefits are constantly being called into question. one example is that they are often touted as releasing an enzyme in their saliva that is benefitial to human skin.... yet the fish dont actually produce saliva... work that one out! XD

due to the massive overstocking, failure to provide the fast water/oxygen they need, and the lack of a proper diet, Gaara rufa fish spas generally have a very high mortality rate, you just dont see it because the corpses are removed every day before opening, and usually during the day when noticed. in a home aquarium, you would probably be repeatedly adding more fish just to replace the ones that die. an expensive buisness, and not really that nice for the fish :P

as i say, i wouldnt have thought it a feasable idea at home, and even if you do it, it would probably be met with scorn by most fishkeepers, most of who are tirelessly campaigning to get such fish spas banned (as they already are in quite a few states in the USA)

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Hi fishyfins first of all, sorry for not replying sooner. Thank you very much for your honest opinion on keeping Garra rufa fish. This was the information I needed and now agree they are not good fish to keep. Everything you told me about them, I did not know. Thank you very much for your wise words of wisdom. I'll just have to keep using cream.
Thanks again and merry Christmas.
J