Helpful Tips About Keeping Fish
Sunday, March 15th, 2009Keeping fish is a popular hobby for a number of reasons, because fish are fun pets to keep and also exciting to learn about. There are numerous considerations that need to be made when it comes to setting upup your own fish keeping hobby, including selecting the tank aquarium, selecting the environment, choosing your fish and setting up the right accessories.
The initial step to setting up your aquarium is to decide what size aquarium you want to begin with. There a quite a few tank aquariums to choose from but even as a beginner, larger is usually better. So while you may be able to begin with a 10 gallon aquarium, the smallest that is recommended is closer to 25 or 30 gallons.
Where are you going to put your aquarium? Ensure that you have adequatespace on a surface, or that you are prepared to buy an appropriate stand. If placing your aquarium on another piece of furniture, keep in mind that a single gallon of water weighs 8 lbs.
Most tank aquariums will already come with a basic light and a hood that will work on a general purpose basis unless you plan to grow a few aquatic plants. If your hood and light are not already running on a timer, it would be advantageous to purchase one when you buy your aquarium. Depending on the species of fish you keep, your aquarium lights should only operate for between 8 and 10 hours a day for the best results.
Your aquarium will also require a filter and a heater. There are a number of choices to consider, and the choices that you make for these pieces of equipment should hinge on what type of environment you are looking to create. Each filter type, for example, has pros and cons associated with it.
Bio-Wheel filters are popular for small and medium sized aquariums. What you should think about when buying an aquarium filter is the gallons per hour flow that the filter has. Your GPH rating should be 2 times the size of the aquarium that you are purchasing for the best results.
Heaters are important if you need to keep the water above 78 degrees, which is essential for tropical species of fish.
Another important consideration to make is the substrate that you will use for your aquarium. If you are looking to create a tropical fish aquarium, then sand or gravel is usually ideal. Some species of fish tend to prefer one or the other, so make sure that the fish you are going to buy will work well with the substrate that you want to use.
Aquarium d?cor is completely up to you. Ask someone at your local pet store before you add anything that you did not purchase from the store. The d?cor you buy at a pet store is designed to be safe for your aquarium, but bringing home random shells, driftwood or other d?cor may cause problems with your aquarium.
Setting up your aquarium is the next step before you buy your fish. Set your tank up exactly how you like it, fill it with water, and apply the necessary water conditioners and treatments. Your aquarium should be allowed to run just as it is for at least 24 hours before you buy your fish, though longer is always preferred.
The last step is to add your fish. Choose community fish and always ask a professional before you mix different species, because even some community fish are aggressive towards other species. Generally you should stick to 1 inch of fish per gallon of water, based on the full grown length of each fish. Start with a small number of fish when your aquarium is still cycling to make sure that everything is working right before you add too many new bodies to your tank. After about a month you can begin to add more fish in, when you know that the water has properly cycled.
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