Archive for the ‘Freshwater Aquariums’ Category
Monday, November 19th, 2007 |
Setting up your first tropical freshwater aquarium can be very overwhelming. But I assure you that it is really pretty simple. Follow this guide and your freshwater aquarium will be ready in no time.
First we’ll need to find a place to put our aquarium. Try to prevent placing the tank in direct sunlight because doing so will promote rapid algae growth, and possible overheating. Alternatively you don’t want to place your tank in a place that gets a lot of cold drafts, such as near a window or infront of an air conditioning vent.
Before you do anything you’re going to need to wash everything you plan on putting in your aquarium with hot water. As stated in the Aquarium Cleaning Guide, you’re going to want to use sponges/brushes that contain absolutely no chemicals.
The Usual Suspects.
Note: Don’t turn on any of these devices for long amounts of time until water has been added to the tank.
I’m going to assume since this is your first aquarium you got a filter like the one pictured below. First rinse out the filter sponge and media place the setup media filter into the filter. Remember: that all filters are different so refer to the instructions provided with the filter to insure that
you’re using your filter correctly.
Its recommended that you always use a heater to keep the water around 74, however many will tell you different. But when dealing with tropical fish, you’re definitely making a smart decision for your fish, by choosing to use a heater.
If your tank is 10 gallons or larger I also recommend that you get an air pump. You simply connect tubing between your pump and some kind of air stone. And wire the air stone end into the tank.
Now before you put your gravel in make sure to put your aquarium on its stand or wherever you plan on putting it because the tank is now going to get increasingly heavier. Also before you put the gravel in be sure to wash that off as well, especially when working with colored rocks, because they carry a lot of paint residues. Once you have completed the above go ahead and add the gravel. One pound of gravel per gallon of water is the rule of thumb here, and you’ll need 0.5-1.0 inch thick layer of gravel.
Once you’ve placed your plants, decorations, etc. you can now add the water, trying to keep the temperature right around 74. Now is a good time to add your water conditioners (de-chlorinator, stress coat, etc.) to remove any toxins.
Now go ahead and plug in the filter, heater, air pump, and light.
Let everything run for 1-3+ days before adding your first few hardy fish. Places like PetsMart will test your water for free, try to do this before adding fish to make sure your water is safe. Ask your local fish shop, what their more hardy tropical fish are.
Posted in Aquarium Care, Freshwater Aquariums, Tropical Fish | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 16th, 2007 |
The Beautiful Frontosa
1. Disease: Most aquatic diseases are easy to spot. And if you can’t see the disease than one of the other 3 signs, will give it away. Some things to look for are spots or growths on their body or fins, irritated eyes, or loss of scales.
2. Irregular Eating: This sign usually takes a little longer for people to notice since we usually don’t watch our fish eat each and every time. But if your fish isn’t eating, it may be sick.
3. Trouble Swimming: You’d be surprised how easy it is for fish to get internal infections. These usually mess with your fishes buoyancy and will cause your fish to swim sideways, in the wrong direction, or even upside down.
4. Loss of Scales: As mentioned in point 1. This can either be cause by disease or your fish may be getting bullied by another fish.
Posted in Aquarium Care, Freshwater Aquariums | No Comments »
Friday, November 16th, 2007 |
There is an insanely large amount of tropical fish to choose from when browsing at the pet store, so how do you know which fish to choose?
Well your first choice should be to go with a community tank or a species tank.
A community tank consists of many different kinds of fish all living harmoniously. While a species tank will limit you to a few species of fish that get a long together (at least to some degree). If you have a small tank I strongly suggest you stick with the community fish, as they tend to be smaller and require less space.
Again refer to my other article about how much space fish need.
Keep in mind that it will be helpful to have some sort of algae eater or plecostomus in your tank that will help keep things clean.
Posted in Freshwater Aquariums, Tropical Fish | No Comments »
Friday, November 16th, 2007 |
Changing your aquarium water is something to do on a weekly basis. Wait wait wait don’t go running for the bucket and hose! Changing the water in your aquarium incorrectly can do some serious damage to your aquarium. Let me run you through the proper way of replacing aquarium water.
Ideally you should change up to %25 of the water weekly.
Why only 25%?
Well because your fish have grown used to their current water. That perfect mix of chemicals, that specific temperature, even that perfect amount of waste. Changing too much water will throw your fish out of whack causing them to stress out. And we definitely don’t want that! Be sure to add the appropriate water conditioners when adding the new water!
Hey while the water is low, now is a good time to clean the sides of the aquarium, change the filter media and pads.
Cleaning the sides:
I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to use proper cleaning supplies. Using 99% of household sponges or cleaning supplies WILL KILL YOUR FISH. Instead take the trip to the pet store or aquarium to get proper cleaning supplies such as sponges or scrapers.
For those that don’t like to get wet, you can buy these nifty magnetic sponges that will let you clean the inside walls of the tank without even touching the water. Keep in mind that these don’t work quite as well as the standard aquarium sponge.
The Gravel:
This step tends to be most people’s least favorite aquarium maintenance. There are basic gravel vacuum systems that work well for tanks smaller than 10 gallons and no more in my opinion. These require buckets, human started suction and usually end in a huge mess all over your floor. These are very messy!
If you’re serious about your aquarium I HIGHLY recommend you get a self-starting gravel vacuum system, you’ll save your self a lot of time and trouble.
What you do with these gravel vacuums is you push the open end under the gravel and the suction will pull the waste right out of the gravel without sucking up much gravel.
Final Points:
Its very important that you keep your aquarium clean. Once things start going downhill its usually very hard to make things better again, don’t be lazy and let your tank get dirty.
Keep the fish in the tank through the cleaning process. You’ll put more stress on your fish if you remove them than you would if you just left them in the tank.
Posted in Aquarium Care, Freshwater Aquariums | 1 Comment »
Friday, November 16th, 2007 |
So you want to get your first fish, but can’t decide what fish you want? Well since this is your first aquarium the choice is easy. The best kind of
fish for you are freshwater fish. Simply because they are by far the easiest fish to take care of.
Yeah, yeah, I know. The saltwater/marine fish you saw the other day were a lot more vibrant than those boring freshwater fish. I’d love to take care of saltwater fish too, but they are leaps and bounds more difficult to take care of. Heck I’ve had freshwater fish for 5+ years and have even worked in the fish section at a pet store and I still don’t feel confident that I can care for them properly.
There are 2 major groups of freshwater fish. Goldfish and Tropical.
Both types of fish tend to be very non-aggressive and for the most part can go with any other fish that fall into their category of goldfish or tropical, but saltwater fish are often times very aggressive and need much larger tanks.
While both fresh and saltwater fish can be very healthy and resilient if taken care of properly, you’re going to have to worry about a lot less disease and chemical imbalances when working with freshwater fish.
Ah I almost forgot to mention that saltwater fish are EXTREMELY expensive compared to most freshwater fish. God forbid you lose a fish or two, you’ll still be content that you only paid $1.99 for your guppy 
Posted in Aquarium Care, Freshwater Aquariums | No Comments »
