Are you interested in introducing an aquarium to your home, but are unsure if you have the time, patience, and experience to keep fish in an aquarium? Never fear! There are many ways you can ensure your new aquarium will enhance your home, reduce your stress and also ensure your fish are well maintained, happy and healthy.
Here are some basic tips to help you keep fish successfully, with minimal expense and experience.
1. Proper Equipment
The first step to ensuring your aquarium stays well maintained is to ensure you purchase the correct one.
An aquarium is not just a tank of water that you throw fish into, it is an ecosystem within your home, and therefore requires the right equipment.
Ensuring you have the right aquarium, the best aquarium stand, and appropriate cleaning equipment is a must. While the initial purchase may be daunting, you can find some great and affordable options to make your aquarium dreams come true.
2. Clean Water is Key
Ensuring your water is always clean and well-circulated is the number one priority you need to keep in mind when embarking on your fish keeping journey.
While some species of fish are hardier than others, water quality is incredibly important for all fish.
Having the correct ph balance, and fresh and clean water is an absolute priority when deciding to keep fish. If you aren’t prepared to clean the tank, don’t keep fish.
You need to clean the rocks, the walls, measure water ph, and ensure the environment you are providing for the fish is what they need to survive, or they will surely struggle, and so will you.
3. Water Circulation and Filtration Systems
Having a filtration and circulation system is a great way to keep your water clean and aerated in between full cleans of your tank. Your fish need water with good concentrations of oxygen, without this they can suffocate in the water.
Stagnant water in aquariums is a big NO-NO. Ensuring your circulation and filtration system is top-notch is one of the keys to ensuring your fish keeping is successful.
Don’t allow stagnant water to take the life out of your aquarium, and make routine cleaning easier by ensuring your circulation and filtration system is appropriate and functioning.
4. Aquarium Size
Ensuring your aquarium is the appropriate size for the fish you intend to keep is a great way to avoid fish dying off and keeping them healthy, happy, and growing.
If you have a very small aquarium, but an abundance of fish, this can lead to cannibalistic activity in fish that may not otherwise fight and consume each other.
If you want to keep larger species, you need a larger tank. Just as you would not want to live with 5 other people in a single room, fish don’t want to either.
By planning and designing your aquarium ahead of time, you can avoid having your fish fighting and vying for space. Aquarium size needs to be appropriate to allow the fish room to move, grow and live.
Fish are living creatures and require their own space the same as any human does. Do not overcrowd your aquarium, make sure you buy the appropriately sized aquarium for your desired species of fish and avoid unnecessary losses to your fish collection.
5. Routine Feeding Schedule
When considering your fish keeping plans, make sure you will be able to provide them food and nutrients routinely.
Fish will learn what time of day is meal time and will start to expect their meals at specific times.
If you can’t stick to a schedule and are providing food at random times, this can lead to infighting and competition for food, especially if you are not sufficiently feeding them. It is also important to ensure the quantity of food is sufficient. Don’t feed them less than they need, but also ensure you aren’t overfeeding.
Overfeeding can lead to your aquarium becoming dirtier faster and will increase your frustrations with your tank.
A great way to avoid issues with feeding is to install an automatic fish feeding system. With these systems, you can ensure your fish are being appropriately fed at the correct times. This will reduce your stress and the stress of your fish, and help enhance the quality and health of your fish collection.
While there is much more involved in fish keeping, these simple and easy steps will ensure you have the appropriate knowledge foundation to keep your aquarium flourishing and ensure your collection of fish remains healthy. While it is not easy to keep fish, it is also not overly hard, if you start with a solid foundation of knowledge. With this foundation, anyone can ensure success in their fish keeping plans.
