Get Rid Of Fleas In The Home

Aquarium keeping at home can be a wonderful hobby. A well maintained aquarium properly lit can look stunning with crystal clear water, colourful, healthy fish going about their business moving between thriving exotic plants. Aquariums are a common sight in doctors and dentists waiting rooms, this is because they are well known to provide stress relief and to have a calming effect on people.

On the other hand, if you don’t start out right then you could have the nightmare scenario of dead and dying fish, straggly plants, cloudy water and anything but a joy to behold. So make sure you follow the guidelines outlined below and this won’t happen to you.

So Called ‘Beginners Tanks’ Are Not For You

Small tanks, generally 12 to 18 inches across, are often sold as so called ‘beginners tanks’ presumably because they are easy to carry out of the shop! However it is true to say that a home aquarium which is well maintained is a delicately balanced ecological system and it can easily become unstable. Small aquariums are well known to be more dificult to maintain because they are not easy to achieve balance in and they go out of balasnce very rapidly. A tank size of around 36″ x 12″ x 18″ should be ideal for a beginner.

Do not buy your tank and your fish on the same day

This is the worst mistake that beginners make. Equilibrium needs to be established in your aquarium before adding any fish, this normally takes up a week to happen. You should set up your tank with everything in it except for the fish. You should leave it alone for a week. You must check the temperature, clarity and condition of the water using test strips for the duration of that week. Provided everything has stabilised then introduce a couple of cheap fish and keep an eye on them for a few days. Having checked that they appear to be fine you can then introduce more fish.

Choose Your Fish With Care

It is a mistake to assume that all varieties of fish will live in harmony together in your community tank. You should not just take a chance on this. Sad to say that generally speaking if a fish is small enough to enter the mouth of another fish then that is what will happen i.e. it’ll be eaten! Some species of fish have males that will fight to the death. Females of some varieties can be pestered to despair by the males so it can be good to have a ratio of females to males of certain species of around 2 or 3 to 1. Fish vary in their preferences some are surface swimmers while others prefer to stay near the bottom. Different fish require different conditions (temperature, water ph etc), although this is not normally a major issue it should be considered. Buy fish that are full of life, do not accept any fish that look sickly or have split fins. Finding a really helpful fish supplier who is willing to share his knowledge is probably the best way to go.

Do not overstock your tank

Various ‘rules of thumb’ exist for working out the capacity of your tank:

• 3 cm of adult fish length per 4 litres of water (i.e., a 6 cm-long fish would need about 8 litres of water).
• 1 cm of adult fish length per 30 square centimetres of surface area.
• 1 inch of adult fish length per gallon of water.
• 1 inch of adult fish length per 12 square inches of surface area.

Do not apply any of these rules too rigorously. The young fish that you buy now are going to be much bigger in just a few months and will need more room. It is very important to take this into account. Follow a trial and error approach over a period of time when deciding maximum fish capacity, add a few fish and monitor water quality.

Monitor the Water and Change it Regularly

It is important to monitor the water condition regularly as your aquarium can rapidly go out of balance and become poisonous to your fish. You may not have heard of aquarium ‘cycling’. This is what the transistion of fish waste to ammonia then nitrite by bacteria then nitrate by other bacteria is called. No outside intervention is necessary for ‘cycling’ in the larger natural environment of lakes and streams. In your aquarium however you need to help it along by changing at least 25% of the tank water every week. It is also important that you monitor nitrite and nitrate levels because high levels, particularly of nitrites will kill your fish.

So that’s it. By not falling into these traps you will make a good start with your aquarium and end up with a stunningly beautiful addition your home.

John Thomson is an aquarium expert. For more great freshwater aquarium information, visit http://www.freshwateraquariumsecretsonline.com.