Learn About Aquariums

Any new aquarium tank should first be given a thorough test to ensure that it is watertight. If after 12 hours there are no leaks, it may be emptied and placed in its final position. Now all is ready to set up the aquarium, for this work we shall require various items such as sand, rocks etc. These will be death with in order. For making a bottom soil, you need, first of all some sand, the most suitable is called 1/16th grade and it is about the size of the average pin-head:

The gravel to be used must also be graded; that is, the gram must be of uniform size. Sand and gravel’s sold in aquarium supply stores are always graded, but if you buy elsewhere they may nor be. Gravel grains 2-5mm work best.

If you use nothing, but sand, it must be well washed-in buckets, under running water until no more dirt or foam comes to the surface - and spared out on the bottom of the tank in a layer running from 3- 6cm thick sloping upwards from front to back. If you decide to mix the sand with gravel to make at least a layer 6cm deep on top of the subgravel filter since less than this amount reduces the filtering capacity of the tank.

Your tank is the basic element, and is of the most important in building an aquarium. The size of the tank depends on the number and size of fish you plan to have in it. That is why proper planning is quite essential when you want to set up aquarium.

But then it is important to make it as big as you can afford. By all means avoid a globe tank as much as possible. Rectangle shape is always good because of various reasons you will discover later.

Option 1: You can buy ready made glass tanks already sealed professionally set up aquarium tank at any aquarium store.

Option 2: Buy ready-made plastic models through distributors or mould-extrusion manufacturers and put your aquarium tank together yourself. Below are the tools you need and the steps you need to take to set up completely new aquarium tank:

Tools:

- Sheet of glass (4mm to 12mm) - Silicone sealant (clear and transparent) - Silicone gun or (syringe) - Dulling stove - Tape rule - Sheet of paper, ruler, pencil and eraser - napkin (x2) - newspaper - hand glove (rubber type) - methylated spirit - blade - knife - toilet soap and soap case - masking tape - flat bench (made with plywood) - 1/4 flash - water and siphon hose - buckets (x2) - polythese sheet about the size of the table

Other than that, I’ll give you my 12 essential aquarium tips below is a great start on your way to having a beautiful aquarium full of happy and health fish that you can be proud of:

1. Location of the tank in a spot which is draft free and has a moderate amount of light for 8 to 10 hours. This will ensure the safety of the tank and the inhabitants.

2. Location of the aquarium tank where water spillage a day will do no damage, at a height convenient for working, and in a place where it will not have to be moved.

3. Proper sand gravel (not too large, not too fine).

4. Conditioned water - free of chlorine, dirt, excess hardness, excess acidity, or excess alkalinity. Hard, acidic, dirty water is not suitable for an aquarium. It will make life uncomfortable for fish and leads to constant fish death.

5. Availability of plants properly place is highly essential.

6. Proper, even temperature for the fish species.

7. Decoration and furnishing if you desire them.

8. Aeration to supply additional oxygen.

9. Filtration to remove excesses waste products.

10. Fish which will live peacefully together.

11. Food to keep them health.

12. Kits and utensils to make maintenance easy.

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://fishtanks.aquariumspot.com

About the Author

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://fishtanks.aquariumspot.com

Written By: Nathan Miller

Keeping tropical fish and aquariums has become a growing and fascinating hobby in every country of the world. More and more people in today’s world of fashion are looking for ways to better create beauty with different hobbies. Aquariums are therefore becoming a growing habit and some beginners make the mistake of jumping into this ‘habit’ without any knowledge of the fundamentals of fish keeping.

Like any new venture, if you want your fish keeping efforts to thrive and bring you fulfilment, it is very important that you take the time to learn the basics of aquarium maintenance and fish keeping before jumping into that venture. You will find some of the basic information about aquarium maintenance and other tips in this article.

To start with, most beginners believe that it is better and easier to start with a small aquarium than a larger size aquarium. Interestingly, the opposite is the case here. In most cases, those medium sized or large size aquariums are better and easier to maintain for several reasons.

Your small aquarium contains a limited amount of water, unlike the fish’s natural habitat. It should be realized that the closer your aquarium is to the natural habitat of the fish you want to keep, the better their chances of survival and thus your success. For instance, any form of pollution, say the death of a fish, is likely to cause more damage faster in a small aquarium, than in a large aquarium with a greater volume of water. The volume of water which a medium sized or large aquarium can contain is a major advantage and it will work for your good, minimizing the effects of some sorts of mistakes you are bound to make, as a beginner and creating a better environment for your fish.

Another mistake beginners to aquariums and fish keeping make is the speed with which they fill their aquariums with water and introduce the fish into the water, after all, they’ve been told the water and aquarium can contain that amount of fish. But you should realize herethat what you are creating in your aquarium is a similitude of the aquatic ecosystem i.e the natural habitat of the fish you are going to keep. It is a nice idea to ask yourself, therefore, if the fish you are introducing into your aquarium live alone in their natural habitat? The obvious answer is NO! These fish live amidst many bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms, not to mention the plant life and other water creatures.

Therefore, it is advisable to allow your water to grow some of these beneficial co-habitants of water life before you start introducing your fish into the water. There are several bacteria that are beneficial to fish and other aquatic life. Your fish produce a lot of fish waste especially fish poop. This waste pollutes the water and makes it unhealthy for your fish. The chief constituent of fish waste is ammonia, which is also excreted through fish gills. But if you allow the normal ecosystem to build up in your aquarium, you will have fewer problems with this waste. Bacteria exists in water that can convert the ammonia from fish waste into a less harmful compound called nitrite. Nitrite isn’t completely harmless, but there is another group of bacteria that can convert nitrite too, to nitrate, which is far less harmful compared with ammonia and nitrite.

As a beginner, you must also learn to change the water in your aquarium regularly. On average, changing 25% of the water weekly is regarded as normal. But if you are just starting your aquarium or the quality of water is not satisfactory, a more frequent but smaller water changing procedure could be followed.

About the author:

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Aquariums

Written By: Michael Russell

Aquarium tank fish death is one of the common challenges faced by aquarists. There are number of factors that could be responsible for the deaths experienced. These are outlined briefly below:

- The aquarist selection of fish.
- The removal and packing of the fish from the pet shop
- Transport time and period and the handling of the fish in transit
- Quarantine procedure.
- Adjustment and adaptation into the new community or environment by the new fish.

When buying fish from the pet shop always spend some time at the place to inquire about the life history and habits of the new purchase. You can then make a selection from collection of the same species. Never buy the last specimen in reserve at any shop because if it had been a good specimen, you would not have met it there in the first instance.

Always form the habit of making your fish purchase during the cool periods of the day, preferably before 12 noon or after 4.30pm.

These are the only periods I can guarantee for fish comfort. This restriction is borne out of my observation that most pet shops and aquarists alike do not seem to care about insulation of the fish against temperature fluctuations after gassing them in a polythene.

When making your fish selection from the pet shop be sure the attendant has the expertise to pick fish out from a selection. This you can know through the swiftness with which your choice fish is removed out of the selection.

Reject a fish that has been chased around, gasping for breath… It is week already! Chances are that it gives up with the further stress that accompanies the transportation of the fish.

Make sure that your new purchase is quarantined. That’s a single factor that affects fish survival as pets.

Another thing to watch out for in a newly installed tank is the quantity of food: very little of this should be given during the fist three weeks. Mind you! I am not suggesting that you should not give them food at all, because without food, no bacterial flora forms. The food supply to the bacteria should be increased only very gradually.

Fish keepers with old functional aquariums should avoid general cleaning that is washing of sand/gravel, scrubbing of tank wall and complete water changes so as not to disturb the bacterial flora.

When you have to service, it should just be the removal of the mulm and dead leaves sufficient to ensure adequate flow through the filter and no more. The bad habit of replacing the entire filter material or the soiled part with fresh materials is detrimental to fish life. Most bacterial live in the sludge at the bottom of the tank, so don’t throw them away.

Many pet shops that operate a house-to-house maintenance routine on aquariums are used to the habit of complete overhaul which invariably lead to fish death. I have met many people who have said, “I used to service my tank myself. On close scrutiny I discovered that he indulge in the unforgivable habit of washing the aquarium with detergents!

In real life situation, no one can attest to having experienced a complete overhaul of a river bed. The only thing that happens during heavy rains or flood is the partial/complete change of the water body. The bed, sand and gravel components get cleaned but not overhauled.

This is nature’s method of ’servicing’ the fish’s natural environment. So why don’t we all adopt nature’s method. Professional aquatic pet dealers service aquariums in the same way, and to the committed aquarist, I will advice you to do this yourself!

About the author:
For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://aquariumfish.aquariumspot.com

Written By: John Morris

It is a well known fact that feeding live food to your fishes will help them to grow better, show better coloration, and improve vigor. Fish love a variety of foods, and live foods are more closely related to what they feed on in their natural habitat. Although raising live foods can take up a small amount of space, and a bit of your time, the results in seeing your fish thrive are well worth it! Vinegar eels are basically fry food, and very easy to grow. They are not really eels, but are classified as a minute nematode worm (Turbatrix aceti. and feed on vinegar or acidic, fermenting vegetable matter. These tiny roundworms are bilaterally symmetrical, approximately .08 in. (2 mm) long, and lives for around 10 months with a minimum effort of care.

To cultivate, fill a gallon jar with a quart of undistilled apple cider vinegar, a quart and a half of aged cool tap water, and an apple cut into 6 sections. If your water is typically hard, increase the apple cider vinegar to a 60% ratio. Introduce your vinegar eel culture to the container, and cover with a piece of cloth, held in place by a rubber band to keep flies out of the culture.

The media will need to be replenished about once a month, due to some evaporation and loss from harvesting the eels.

Culturing the eels is very low maintenance, as they have no temperature requirements and a long life span. One consideration is odor, for the apple cider vinegar will smell a bit like a winery, and some may find it objectionable!

Be patient with the culture, as it may take up to a month for the culture to be strong enough to see the eels in large numbers. When you are able to see them in quantity, it is time to harvest and feed to your fishes.

Harvesting vinegar eels is perhaps the most challenging part of the whole process. The easiest way to accomplish this is to draw the eel laden fluid up with a small baster, such as is used for basting chicken or turkey. Transfer this liquid into a funnel lined with a coffee filter placed over the opening of the culture jar to return the excess fluid to the container. When you feel that you have harvested enough for a feeding, gently rinse the coffee filter under a stream of cold fresh water for several minutes. Swish the inverted filter in your tank, and feed the fishes. If feeding several tanks, swish the filter in a beaker of water, and feed the eels using an eyedropper.

Vinegar eels will stay near the surface of the water, so aren’t good food for bottom feeders. Surface feeders such as rainbowfish will benefit greatly from feeding vinegar eels, but a lot of cichlid fry are bottom feeders. This is why a variety of live foods is important to feeding fry.

If you do not feed vinegar eels on a regular basis, don’t worry. The culture will keep indefinitely for a year with little care needed. A couple of times per year, thin out the culture by using a coffee filter and funnel, remove about half the media, and replace with fresh media in the proper ratio. You can then gift a fellow aquarist with the culture to begin a vinegar eel colony of their own.

About the Author

Alden Smith is a published author who has been marketing on the internet for over 7 years. His website, http://www.kingdiscus.com, is a resource for articles, software and information on the tropical fish hobby. Visit his website for more information on live foods, tracking software, and articles on the tropical fish hobby, especially if interested in raising discus fish. Weekly articles are posted, along with updates for Fish Minder software.

Written By: Alden Smith

Lungfish can survive in poorly aerated waters since they have lungs which make its possible for them to obtain oxygen directly from the air. The lungs are related to those in primitive amphibian animals. Today, there are six known Lungfish species in world, but they used to be much more common. Lungfish have been around since the Lower Devonian era and during earlier stages of the planets history there existed much more than six lungfish species. Those species that have survived have changed little since the Lower Devonian age. The Australian lungfish have for instance looked pretty much the same during the last 100 million years.

Today, you will find wild Lungfish in Africa, South America and Australia. The African and South American Lungfish species all belong to the family Lepidosirenidae, while the Australian Lungfish has its own family - the Ceratodidae. As mentioned earlier, all Lungfish species are capable of breathing oxygen from the air. Other shared features are their large, elongated and snakelike bodies. They are also predators and will eat pretty much anything that they manage to catch. Fish is their staple food, but they will happily also gulp down crustaceans, larger insects and other aquatic creatures. They are very robust and can survive in waters shunned by most other fish species. If you want to keep Lungfish in your aquarium you should however avoid the highest pH-values. Before you buy a Lungfish for your aquarium should consider their size. The largest Lungfish is one of the African lungfish species, a fish which can reach a maximal size of 2 metres / 6 feet which makes it unsuitable for hobbyist aquariums. Even the smaller Lungfish species grow very large and should only be housed in huge tanks.

In Africa, you will find four different Lungfish species. Protopterus annectens is the most popular species among aquarists. The three other ones are Protopterus aethiopicus, Protopterus amphibious and Protopterus dolloi. You should never get an African lungfish unless your aquarium is very large, since they grow rapidly. As long as you can provide them with enough space, they are however though fishes that will tolerate a wide range of water conditions. They will eat all sorts of food. Even though they are predatory fish, it is not very hard to make them accept dry and frozen foods. When kept on a diet of prepared food they will still appreciate occasional live treats. This means that your African lungfish should ideally be housed alone since it will happily devour any tank mates. If the other fish is too large to swallow, the African lungfish will simply bite chunks out of it until it is fully consumed.

On the South American continent you will only find one Lungfish, Lepidosiren paradoxa. This Lungfish can also be kept in aquariums and its requirements are very similar to the African lungfish species. Just like its African cousins, it must be given plenty of room. Lepidosiren paradoxa can reach a maximal size of 1.2 meters / 4 feet.

The Australian Lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, can also be kept in aquariums but you should be aware of the fact that they are CITES listed. You are only allowed to by Australian Lungfish from licensed breeders and if you live anywhere outside Australia it can be hard to get exportation and importation licenses. The Australian Lungfish is also known as Queensland Lungfish.

About the author:

Read more about different species of lungfish like the South american lungfish or ask questions about lungfish in our predatory fish forum .

Written By: William Berg