Your first tank arrives home, possibly with a bag of fish, possibly not. Possibly with a kit-type collection of assorted lights, heaters, and filters, possibly not. What are you going to do with it all? This article is intended to provide you with instructions for setting up your first tank. I assume you want your new tank to be something to admire, and that the typical "starter kit" aquarium complete with bubbling plastic skeleton is not going to cut it. Instead, this approach will give you a showpiece aquarium; one that will be an attractive feature in a semi-formal living...

Fish may be put into your aquarium as soon as the water clears from setting up the aquarium and you are sure that all the equipment is working properly. As stated above, the fish will start that 'good bacteria' in the aquarium that is vital. Too many fish in your aquarium now, may result in losses. More fish may be added in a few weeks. Under NO CIRCUMSTANCES should you add any more fish until then and even then, add them a couple (if small schooling fish, add four or five) at a time over a period of a month...

Freshwater tropical fish, as their name suggests, originate in freshwater rivers and lakes in the warmer parts of the world, particularly in South America and Central Africa. There are literally tens of thousands of species of freshwater tropical fish, with new ones being discovered almost every day. With such a vast variety of fish, each living in its own particular environment, it's easy to see why fish keepers are never lost for new areas to study and new challenges to enjoy.

It's an all too common occurrence, a new aquarist gets this brilliant idea to rush out and buy a new aquarium, set it up, and go straight to adding fish. This new aquarist has a beautiful new aquarium for about a week and then it happens, the aquarium begins to cycle and the fish begin to die. Before long this aquarist is discouraged and has given up, packed up the aquarium, and now it's sitting in a closet waiting on warmer weather so it can be sold in garage sale. Sadly, all of this could have been avoided if they...

You have bought yourself a new aquarium, filled it up with water, then added a few fish, and naturally you feed them. The fish digest the food and excrete waste into the water… In nature fishes live in vast water bodies or in flowing rivers that refresh their water continuously removing waste. But in the stagnant and limited quantity of water in your aquarium the nitrogenous waste products break down into ammonia. Within a day the ammonia reaches poisonous levels in the aquarium. Your see your fish scratching themselves.. within a few days the fish look sick.. by a week...

The types of bacteria that go through this Nitrogen Cycle are known as Aerobic Bacteria. Simply put, this means that they use Oxygen in their daily lives to do all the wonderful things they do. Without Oxygen, they cannot live. (Sound familiar?). They grow on surfaces in the aquarium. On the walls, gravel, decor, filter materials etc. The best way to get these Aerobic bacteria to grow is to give them plenty of oxygen by having well aerated water AND to give them plenty of places to grow. For many years, it was thought that Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter were the...

How Long Do You Wait Before Adding Fish? Opinions vary so much on this subject that it is hard to give a reasonable answer. The Americans for instance have what is known as "cycling", which is the period of time a tank has to remain empty of fish until the good bacteria have established themselves and are controlling the conditions of the water in the tank. Most aquarists in the States recommend a six week waiting period using what they call "A Fishless Cycle". In order for the good bacteria to build up (starting the nitrogen cycle), they need a...

I run a small basic website, and receive a great deal of mail each month from people with fish problems, and many are at the stage of packing the whole thing in due to their constant fish losses, or because everything they do just seems to add more problems to their ones they already have. Often the information they give is scant, to say the least, with few details of what they have 'actually' done over the previous period since having problems. No matter how big or small the problem is, I try to answer in the best way I...

They decided many years ago that four inches by four inches of surface area per inch of fish was the correct formula in a tank without aeration, and this still stands today, even with all the technology that is available. A four inch by four inch square of surface area per inch of fish is the minimum requirement, so if your fish is say four inches long, it would require a surface area of 16 square inches multiplied by four giving you 64 square inches of surface area to be on the safe side. So by the above guideline you...

Opinions vary so much on this subject that it is hard to give a reasonable answer. The Americans for instance have what is known as "cycling", which is the period of time a tank has to remain empty of fish until the good bacteria have established themselves and are controlling the conditions of the water in the tank. Most aquarists in the States recommend a six week waiting period using what they call a "fishless cycle." In order for the good bacteria to build up (starting the nitrogen cycle), a source of ammonia is needed for them to feed...