Fish Tank Beginnings – Where do I start?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Fish Tanks

If you are thinking about adding a Fish Tank to your home here is some information that might be useful  to you.

Where do I start?

• What size tank you would like to have
• Where in your house that fish tank might fit and look good
• How many fish you want to have in your fish tank

There are many different styles and sizes of fish tanks to choose from. Some common aquarium fish tank sizes are 10 gallon, 20 gallon, 30, 55, 100 gallon and so on. Let’s assume that you will choose a 10 gallon aquarium for your first choice. Whichever size aquarium you choose depends on the room in your house, your budget and how many fish you would like in the fish tank. The more room you give the fish the better they will grow and be happy. A good rule to follow when wondering how many fish to add to your tank is one fish to every gallon of water. So a 10 gallon aquarium should support 10 fish.

You will also need a stand or hard surface to support your aquarium…

One gallon of water roughly weighs just over 8 pounds.  With that being said, for a 10 gallon aquarium, you will need a stand or a hard surface that can hold over 80 pounds of water.

Let’s get to the specifics …

Fish Tank Stands

There are a few types of stands to choose from. Most stands are sold in a pet shop which most fish owner will purchase from, but other alternatives are also online and if you are crafty enough you could even build your own. There are wooden stands, but the most common types are iron which are cheaper.

Cover for your tank

I would recommend the covers with built in lights, available for whichever size tank you purchase. These covers are a good thing to have to protect fish from other animals in the house like curious cats or simply from anything that could possibly fall into the fish tank. The built in lights are also great for getting a better look at your fish.

Rocks

Next you will need to pick out a type of rock or stone to add to the bottom of your aquarium. There are so many varieties of rocks to choose from and many different colors to. You can usually find these at the pet store.

Decorations

You will eventually want to add some decorations to your tank. These decorations add personality and a place for your fish to hide and rest in. Some decorations include pirate ships, driftwood, little ceramics with sayings on them and wood with holes in them. Anything that a fish can swim into and hide will make happy healthy fish in your fish tank. Another great thing to add is plants. There are fake plants which are most common and you can choose many at your local pet store. They are easy to maintain you just put them in the fish tank and you’re done. There are many sizes and colors to choose from. Now there are also real plants that can live under water in your aquarium. These can be very beautiful but can cause a little trouble due to certain fish that like to eat them. Be creative and don’t be afraid to ask the pet store about their thoughts.

Bubblers or Air Stones

Air stones or bubblers are great because they provide extra aeration and oxygen for the fish. Many of the fish love to swim through them. You might notice how certain fish are more active when these are added to the tank.

Pump

A pump is a must have when setting up your own aquarium. They are easy to install and maintain. When purchasing a pump for your aquarium all you need to do is make sure the pump is big enough to clean your size tank. The fish tank sizes are written on the box you buy it in so it should say for example, that ‘this pump is for 10-20 gallon fish tank’. It’s as easy as that. All you have to do is decide the type you want and that is entirely up to you. They work in different ways but all do the same thing which is help clean your tank.

Filters

Filters are also a must have. A filter is something you buy for your pump. It filters out bad bacteria and waste. You should replace these every month.

Test kits

Another thing almost every aquarium owner should have is an ammonia and a ph test kit. Ammonia is something that builds up in your tank from the fish’s own waste and can also be caused from not cleaning out the tank, which I will discuss shortly. Ph test kits are to test the ph of the water in your aquarium. Certain types of fish can with-stand different Ph levels, but a general rule to follow is around 7.0 and your ph test kit will have these number levels and also show you how to change it.

When all specifics are decided you need to …

Establish your fish tank

After you have decided which tank you would like and have all your decorations and accessories, you will need to establish the tank. Your fish will die if you add water to your tank then put the fish in immediately after. This may not happen immediately but most likely you will see them die off one by one after a week or two. The reason why is when you fill your tank up with water, then add tons of fish to it right after, the fish go to the toilet in the tank creating a buildup of a very high percent of bad bacteria and ammonia. The fish inevitably die from their own waste. There is a very easy way to avoid this and it’s called establishing your tank. First step in doing this is to rinse your rocks from the bottom of your tank in a strainer. You want to do this to rinse of any dust particles. Add the rocks to the bottom of your tank. You will need to rinse the pump and filter and all decorations and plants as well. Add any decorations and plants. Fill the tank up with water, then set up your pump and add your filter to the pump. Read any directions if you need additional help with this part. Plug in the pump and any bubble stone.

You are not ready to add any fish at this point. The tank will need to sit the way it is without any fish for about a week, sometimes even two weeks. This way your tank is creating bacteria that will be able to fight off the bad bacteria from your fish waste. After it has been a week or two you should be able to start adding fish to your tank. I recommend adding fish in groups of two-four to start, then introducing new fish the next week. To find out which fish to choose and their temperaments, your local pet shop provider should be able to help you with this information.

Clean your Fish Tank

Cleaning your fish tank should be done every month if you want to avoid sick fish, bad ph and ammonia levels or possibly even death. To do this, a very helpful tool is a gravel vacuum. These are usually around 20 dollars and will make your tank sparkle if used correctly. This gravel vacuum looks like a plastic tube with a smaller plastic hose on the end (kind of like a plastic tube you would use to scifen gasoline with). Keep in mind that a good amount of water to be taken out of the tank while removing the waste with the gravel vacuum is approximately 20 percent. After this is done, fill the fish tank back up with fresh water.

Feed your fish

Once your fish are swimming around happily, obviously your fish are going to want to eat and there are different foods for different types of fish. Talk to your pet shop about what food is best for the fish that you have.

That’s a wrap!

Good luck and happy fish shopping!

Ever wondered why people blog? Well i use to until i discovered the secret…

Now i blog daily about the things i love AND i get paid to do it. Click on the picture below to learn how!