Are you interested in starting your own aquarium for tropical fish? Observing a colorful aquarium of fish is both interesting and relaxing. Doctor's offices are well known for featuring aquariums to provide a means of distraction for waiting patients and to reduce stress. Perhaps you've been admiring some extraordinary aquariums yourself and imagined how restful it would be to watch the swaying plants, gentle dancing of the fish and glistening reflections of the water. Before you invest a large amount of money, here's what you should know so you can enjoy your fish for a long time. Creating The Proper Environment While tropical fish are captivating and restful to watch, you may find your first attempts at keeping fish to be fraught with complications. Cleaning the tanks, proper feeding and selection of tank mates can all be causes of frustration that may lead to ill or dying fish and feelings of guilt or anxiety. Choosing the right aquarium and companions for your fish is crucial in creating a stable environment. Some fish are naturally aggressive and will bite or even eat their tank companions. Ask about your selection at the store or research your chosen fish to determine what size of tank it needs and what types of fish it can live with. Don't give in to the temptation to overstock your aquarium. Some fish may live peaceably with others only when they have room to move and claim territory. Too many fish will also create extra waste which will lead to a polluted environment causing disease and death. Learning about the proper environments for tropical fish is the first step in creating a long lasting aquarium. Feeding Your Fish The simplest way to keep fish healthy is by providing a clean environment for them. Uneaten food particles and fish waste create a toxic environment that can cause disease and death. Overfeeding of fish is a common problem. Uneaten food and waste products will cause ammonia to build up in the water. Using foods that float near the surface allows you to observe the feeding habits of your fish. Feeding them only what they can eat in several minutes (before food begins to sink) is optimal. Several small meals will lead to less contamination of the water. Overfeeding will cause excess waste products which will contaminate the water leading to more frequent cleaning of the tank or illness to your fish. Tank Water Water from your tap can contain chemicals like chlorine which can harm your fish. When starting a tank it is recommended by some fish specialists to use bottled water only. You can also purchase water cleansing products to detoxify your tap water when cleaning the tank and replacing tank water. A properly established tank will develop an eco-system that will naturally breakdown toxins and permit healthy bacteria to develop. It is important to keep this system alive by not removing all of the tank water during cleanings. Your fish will do well with only 20-30% of the water being removed and exchanged every week. While the green algae that grows on the tank may not harm your fish you may wish to remove it during cleanings or take steps to reduce build up such as keeping your tank away from too much sunlight, which encourages growth, and adding algae eating creatures to your aquarium. Start Small New fish owners may consider starting with only one fish, such as a betta, which does well by itself in a simple one gallon bowl, without the costly setup of a heated aquarium. Learning how to care for a relatively hardy, but beautiful, tropical fish like this will allow you to learn about the care and needs of fish before investing a lot of time and money. A simple setup like this is ideal for children, the elderly, or those who simply want to enjoy the natural beauty without the effort. Whatever you decide, learning to care for your fish will give you healthier pets that are a joy to behold!
Aquarium keeping in the Western World is a fairly recent hobby. The keeping of fish in small indoor tanks was seriously undertaken only in the middle of the last century, when both in Britain and on the Continent of Europe a considerable interest in the subject developed. It is not surprising that the hobby as practiced then was short lived, as the principles governing successful aquarium maintenance were little understood and their practice confined to few.
At the beginning of the present century aquarists both in the United States and in the Old World began to keep tropical fishes, and it was perhaps the essential artificiality of so doing that started a new wave of more successful fish culture. The older aquarists were obsessed with copying nature in their tanks - or rather with the attempt to do so - whereas the keepers of warm-water fishes had to experiment with their charges and create suitable environments for them.
Often they started only with the knowledge (or assumption) that the fish must be kept warm, and this in itself raised problems of quite new types, including the death of favorite weeds and water snails at higher temperatures and the more rapid fouling of water with excess food.
The Rectangular Tank
The old-fashioned fish bowl is entirely unsuited to its purpose. It has been almost completely replaced for serious fish-keeping by the rectangular glass tank, either made wholly of glass or with a metal frame and glass sides and a bottom of glass, slate, or other rigid material.
Except when used for spawning, for exhibition purposes, or as a hospital tank for the treatment of disease, the tank contains growing, rooted plants; these are set in a sand or gravel layer 1 or 2 inches thick. There may be decorative rocks, but the chief decoration is usually the plants themselves, which contribute more to the attractive appearance of a well set-up tank than do the fishes.
Such a tank is usually between 5 and 25 gallons in capacity; a 15- gallon tank measures 24 X 12 X 12 inches and is a favorite size. Smaller tanks than these cannot house many fish or allow proper development of the plants.
Larger tanks are very attractive and give scope for beautiful planting arrangements and for fine growth of the fishes, but they are expensive and not likely to become generally popular. Most fanciers therefore prefer a range of medium tanks rather than one or two very large ones, but it must be emphasized that fine fishes can be grown in large tanks.
In general, tropical fishes can be housed in smaller tanks than cold- water fishes. This is because they are usually smaller and are also better able to withstand a relative deficiency of oxygen in the water. Size for size, most tropical fishes can be crowded a good deal more than the common goldfish and very much more than fancy varieties of goldfish. A 15-gallon tank might comfortably contain a dozen 3-inch rosy barbs, four or five 3-inch common goldfish at the most, and not more than a pair of Orandas of the same size.
The Balanced Aquarium
Animals (including fishes) consume solid food and excrete solid feces. They breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide, and thus in total they tend to deplete their environment of oxygen and to foul it with carbon dioxide and excrement.
Plants also breathe oxygen, but in sufficiently bright light they manufacture sugars, etc., from carbon dioxide taken from their surroundings, whether air or water, and they release oxygen. This is done in the green leaf. They also absorb dissolved salts and use these together with carbon dioxide in building up complex organic compounds. Very few higher plants can utilize solid or very complex substances, and before animal excrement (usually known as "mulm" in the fish tank) is available to them it must be broken down by fungi or bacteria and made soluble.
Thus plants, in adequate light, tend to restore oxygen to the environment and to remove the waste products of animals. In poor light or in darkness they deplete the water or air of oxygen just as animals do. It is only in the daytime, or under bright artificial light, that they perform the complementary function to animals.
From these facts grew the concept of a balanced aquarium, with the waste products of the fishes absorbed by the plants, and the oxygen necessary for the fishes provided by the action of the plants in light. A well-planted tank with adequate illumination will usually stay clear and sweet for months or years with little attention.
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