First Coast Pet

Posts Tagged ‘fish tank’

A freshwater tropical fish tank can be a beautiful addition to your home that can be both attractive to look at and beneficial. It will be a source of enjoyment to visitors to your home and your family and everyone will be enthralled and entertained. For novices setting up a tropical fish tank aquarium for the first time here are some guidelines to assist you to make the most of your new fish tank and to keep it in good condition and looking beautiful.

Explore the species of fish you will be putting into your fish tank before you go to the pet shop. Make sure you understand how big the fish will grow and the number that can be easily accommodated in your tank when they are mature. A too crowded tank will not be a healthy tank! Next find out the types of fish that can be housed together. A tank that houses different fish species that can live in peace together is known as a community tank. A number of fish, for example tiger barbs, may well be fine when they are very young but grow up into violent bullies. There are lots of fish that can be put in a community tank including Neon Tetra, Rainbowfish, Hatchetfish, Molly, Harlequin Rasbora, Leopard Catfish, Opaline Gourami, Platy, Head Tail Light Tetra, Guppy, Pearl Gourami, Penguin Fish, Horseface Loach, Lyretail and loads more.

Now that your aquarium is filled with fish here are a few tips to make it easier to maintain it:

* Never overfeed – Rotting food left in the aquarium will emit noxious chemicals and harm your fish. Only add as much food as your fish are able to completely eat in approximately three minutes, two times a day. Fish are meant to be hungry nearly all of the time and if they don’t come to the top of the fish tank as you start to add the food you are feeding them too much!

* Two times a month partly replace the water. Wipe the glass often with an algae scraper and every month or so take out the rocks and ornaments to clean off algae. Don’t exchange all of the water or wash out the filter, ornaments, rocks, plants etc at the same time. This will get rid of all the valuable microorganisms that you worked so hard to encourage when you set up the tank and stress the fish as the levels of ammonia escalate.

* As the water level decreases, top up with water that is chlorine free. If you do not want to use chemicals to de chlorinate the water, set aside a covered bucket of tap water for two days to permit the chlorine to disperse

* For newly purchased fish or fish that appear sick you should set up a small quarantine fish tank. Place any newly purchased fish into the quarantine tank for around a week to prevent the introduction of any diseases into your main fish tank.

* Continue to test the water for ammonia, nitrite and pH levels four or five times a week to catch anything going wrong before suffering is caused to the fish. If the levels of ammonia or nitrites start to rise a partial water change often corrects things without resorting to any harsh chemicals.

Lastly enjoy your new pets and consider joining a local tropical fish association. Chatting with other tropical fish enthusiasts is a good way to discover more about your hobby.