How To Prevent Fish Disease

There are usually good reasons why fish turn out to be sick. The common reason is actually stress. 90% of aquarium fish ailments can be avoided by controlling this. Stress weakens fishes’ defense system, ultimately making them susceptible to disease.The fact is diseases and parasitic organisms are present in the majority of aquariums but healthy fish are usually resistant to them so they are in most cases not really an issue.You will find a number of factors why fish may be stressed out, most of these are environmental:

• Bad water quality meaning detectable levels of ammonia or nitrites, or high levels of nitrate
• The aquarium water temperature is fluctuating more than 2 deg F/day
• Aggressive freshwater aquarium fish that don’t get on in a community tank
• Too many fish in the tank (5 adult goldfish in a 10g tank)
• The tank is too small for the fish (12 inch fish in a 10g tank)
• The Aquarium ph level is wrong for the fish species
• The aquarium water ph is fluctuating more than 0.2 units a day
• Insufficient cover or hiding places present
• Water hardness not right for the type of fish
• Not enough oxygenation of the water
• Improper fish nutrition (wrong food, foods not varied)

How To Keep Your Tank Disease Free

You should always have aquarium water test strips on hand. I recommend these test strips because they accurately show you at a glance the condition of your tank water looking at the six most important water parameters: Chlorine, pH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Hardness, and Alkalinity.

As well as looking at all of the reasons above, often ailments are introduced to your home aquarium whenever you decide to buy fresh fish or plants from the store. So you ought to always be careful not to buy sick fish. In particular it is best to not even acquire fish from a tank in which any of them are displaying signs of disease or if there is any medication within the tank water (water coloured yellow, green or blue). It is also an excellent idea to know how long the store has had the fish. Newly arrived specimens may be carrying diseases where the warning signs haven’t appeared yet. It’s often better with fresh arrivals to wait some weeks before you buy. If you need to have a particular fish right now then you should use a quarantine tank when you get it home. Quarantining is simply a posh term for keeping fresh arrivals in a separate tank for a couple of weeks to verify they’re not infected before introducing them to your other fish.

So far as plants are concerned, they really should be disinfected ahead of adding them to your tank.

What Are The Signs Of Disease?

For anyone who is an enthusiastic aquarist then it goes without saying that you are going to be aware of typical appearance and behaviour of your little aquarium family. Not recognizing what’s normal suggests that you will not know what is sick!
.

The bad symptoms are:

• Clamped fins (fins tend to be closed together, the dorsel fin is down)
• Tail and Fin Rot
• Refusal of the fish to eat its usual diet for more than two days.
• Light places, spots on its body or lesions
• one or both eyes are bulging
• The fish is gasping at the top of the water
• The fish floats, sinks, whirls, or swims sideways
• The fish swims at a strange angle.
• The fish shimmies (moves from side to side without going forward)
• A usually lively fish is still
• A generally still fish is very active
• The fish abruptly becomes bloated (when it’s not due to eggs or young)
• The fish is rubbing itself against the pebbles and fish tank decorations

What You should Have In your Medicine Chest

• Water test strips for pH, hardness, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It is possible to obtain test strips that cover each of these items and a lot more with 1 dip
• Aquarium salt (This is not table salt since it has additives to stop it from blocking the salt cellar which might be damaging to you fish. Rock salt is fine
• Malachite green/formalin ich remedy
• Methylene blue
• Chlorine bleach for disinfection
• Possibly one antibiotic (Kaynamycin or Furanace)
• Antibiotic-containing food
• Permanganate
• Copper treatment for enteric parasites

And for fish large enough to grip:

• Q-tips
• Malachite green or mercurochrome

In my next article, if prevention has been unsuccessful and you have sickness in your tank, I will go through several of the most common maladies such as tail & fin rot, white spot, ick, pop eye and dropsy and what might be done about them.

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Buy the Tank

Before you do anything else you need to decide where in the house you want put your home freshwater aquarium. It must be out of direct sunlight and away from draughts and vibration. Once you know where it is going then you will have a good idea as to its possible size. Any tank less than 30 galls water capacity (36″ x 18″ x 12″) is too small as a beginner’s tank. This is because small home freshwater aquariums tend to be more unstable than larger ones and can go wrong very quickly.

You will find fish tanks made of either glass or the more expensive acrylic. Glass is not as strong as acrylic but acrylic is less scratch resistant than glass. Acrylic is also a better insulator than glass so running costs may be less. Glass tanks are normally fine but if there are children about you might prefer to consider acrylic.

Buy the other equipment

Your home freshwater aquarium will weigh a lot so you must make sure that the tank support is strong enough.

If you are going to have live plants you will require a substrate of some sort. Filtration is also very important. There are several kinds of filters ranging from under gravel through external filters to power filters. To complete the water treatment equipment you will need one or more heaters and thermostat and two or more aeration blocks with a pump.

If you are going to have live plants in your home freshwater aquarium then you will need a timer and high K value lighting. If you’re not clear what that means then you would b well advised to seek advice from your fish man.

You’ll also need a few bits and pieces like a gravel cleaner, small net and rubber glass scraper.

Set the tank up

Place your under gravel filter in the tank first if you are using one and then add the substrate or gravel then fill it with freshwater. Setup everything else such as rocks, plants, background paper on the back of the fish tank, filter system, heater, thermostat and aeration blocks. Plants are a subject in themselves so if you are a beginner be advised by your fish supplier on the best plants to get. Then leave your tank for about a week to allow the water chemistry to stabilise and give the important micro-organisms time to grow.

Before you add any fish to your home freshwater aquarium, it is a must that it has stabilised. It is the most common mistake made by beginners so be warned.

The pH level should settle to an acceptable level and the temperature should be normal for all the fish in the tank. When you stabilise the tank everything should be in place including rocks, ornaments and plants.

Buy the fish

Now that your home freshwater aquarium is stable and has been running for about a week, you can go back to the pet store and buy your fish. You need to make sure that the water conditions (temperature, pH, hardness) suit the fish that you buy. You should also make sure that the fish you select will happily live together in peace. Finally, you should not exceed 1 inch of fish for each gallon of water. Don’t forget that your fish are usually youngsters when you buy them and they will soon grow bigger so you should bear this in mind when aapplying the formula. The greater the number of fish in your tank means the more often you will have to clean it out.

Don’t just tip your newcomers straight into the tank. Float the plastic bag that they arrived in for about 20 minutes this equalises the temperature, then open the bag and mix a little tank water in it for another 20 minutes before finally allowing the new fish to swim out of the submerged bag. Don’t be worried when your new arrivals huddle together at the back of the tank for a day or two, this is perfectly normal.

It is true to say that fish are cannibals and if a fish is of a size that will fit into the mouth of another then it will be eaten. The consequence of this is that you should not add small or baby fish to an established aquarium, the larger fish are going to eat them.

Maintain it

Your home freshwater aquarium will need to be cleaned out regularly because unlike ponds and lakes it is not large enough to reach an equilibrium. This normally should be done every two weeks. Use a siphonic ‘hoover’ to clean the gravel and make sure you change at least one third of the water with treated freshwater. Treated freshwater means tap water that has a small amount of a chemical added to remove its chlorine.

So that’s it. If you do everything that I have described above then you should have an enjoyable introduction to your home freshwater aquarium.

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There used to be a very simple rule to follow concerning freshwater aquarium lighting requirements. It was “Use 3 to 4 watts per gallon”. However this only relates to incandescent bulbs and as we all know things have moved on in the freshwater aquarium lighting department!

In order to achieve precise control of freshwater aquarium lighting, light sources are contained in a lighting canopy that sits over the aquarium. It is best to control the freshwater aquarium lighting with a timer for more reliable on/off periods and generally speaking around 12 hours per day of lights on is best. For larger aquariums (more than 3 feet long) where several bulbs or tubes are in use on/off times can be staggered to simulate dawn and twilight.

Sorry, it gets a bit technical here! The amount of illumination that a light source produces is measured in Lux. one Lux is one lumen per square metre. A watt is a measure of how much energy is being consumed every second by the light source and has nothing to do with the amount of the illumination produced. The efficiency of a light source is measured in lumens per watt. So it is nonsense to specify numbers of watts to obtain a certain illumination when we may be comparing incandescent bulbs which are grossly inefficient with fluorescent tubes and even LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that are super efficient. This is clearly illustrated if you compare the heat produced by an incandescent bulb and that produced by an equivalent fluorescent tube. The heat represents wasted energy and it is obviously far greater in the bulb than the more efficient fluorescent tube.

The quality of freshwater aquarium lighting is also very important. A full spectrum light source is extremely beneficial to the health of both fish and plants.

A large number of possibilities now exist for freshwater aquarium lighting sources. It is rare to find incandescent bulb lighting for an aquarium now and no one would even consider it for a new installation. A few of the options are listed below.

T-12. This is a the standard pin, one and a half inch wide tube. It typically produces 40 lumens per watt. They are the least expensive option.

T-8. This is a standard pin one inch diameter tube and is the size most often come across in aquarium lighting.

T-5. Generally around 13 mm in diameter, this is a mini pin bulb which generally uses even less watts per lumen than many T-8 bulbs. A common lumens per watt output for T-5 lamps is around 65. The T5 has become very popular among plant keeping freshwater aquarists. They are compact, come in many varieties and high lumen per watt outputs.

T-2. These bulbs are the latest fluorescent technology yet (LED are advancing even more). They measure only 7 mm and allow for several bulbs in a small space. A 13 watt 20 inch T-2 Bulb produces 73 lumens per watt in a very small space with high quality illumination.

VHO Power Compact. This stands for “Very High Output”. They come in T-5 through T-12 standard fluorescent tubes and in the newer power compact.

PC (or CFL). This stands for “Power Compact” or “Compact Fluorescent Lamp (light)”. These bulbs come in straight pin arrangements, square pin arrangements, and the self ballasted standard incandescent fixture “screw in” type. These bulbs are similar to T-5s and have about the same lumen per watt output (generally around 60 lumens per watt).

SHO Power Compact Lights. This newer ‘Power Compact’ is perfect for planted aquariums. In fact probably the best apart from some LEDs. The SHO Light is presently sold in a self ballasted PC bulbs/light. The 105 Watt SHO Daylight bulb puts out 6300 lumens and is comparable to a 525 watt Standard bulb. This comes to 60 lumens per watt. However this is a deceptive guide, because you can fit many more of these bulbs in a given space and also use better reflectors.

LED (light-emitting diode). This aquarium light type uses semiconductor technology as its light source. These lights do not have heat problems, often last 50,000 hours, produce little useless yellow/green spectrum light (in aquarium adjusted configurations), and are very compact.

So there you have it. I have presented the pros and cons of freshwater aquarium lighting sources. The choice is yours but you can now make an informed choice.

Freshwater Aquarium pH

The pH scale is a measure of the degree to which the water in freshwater aquariums is acidic, alkaline, or neutral. The scale ranges from 0 to 14 with 0 being the most acidic, 7 being neutral, and 14 being the most alkaline. Most fish thrive in a pH range of 6.4 to 7.8. However, there are exceptions. The freshwater aquarium ph scale is logarithmic which means in simple terms that a very small change in value is a very large change in acidity or alkalinity. It is much more important that the pH of your fish tank remains constant. While a fish may prefer a pH of 7.2 it will most likely be perfectly happy with a pH of 6.7. However the same fish will become extremely stressed if you have a pH swing of 0.3 over the course of a day.

The best way to deal with freshwater aquarium ph is to acclimatize your fish to live in the ph that you provide and try to avoid sudden changes in it, i.e. keep it constant as far as possible. By constant, I mean no more than a 0.2 change in the pH during a 24 hour period.

As a side note, there are some freshwater species that require a particular pH when they breed. If you plan to breed a certain species, research the range of freshwater aquarium pH it finds acceptable to breed in. Some species are very forgiving, while others have a very tight range. This may be one of the only reasons you need to go for a specific freshwater aquarium pH.

Please read this article on Aquarium Test Kits for information on pH testers.

Factors Affecting ph

There are two main factors:

• Biological filtration As you already know, filtration is essential in a well stocked aquarium. Biological filtration removes the ammonia in your tank. It also tends to release carbon dioxide into the aquarium water and thereby reducing the tank pH.
• Carbonate hardness or kH is a measurement of the carbonate hardness of your water. A high kH (i.e. the harder your water) the better is the ability of your aquarium to neutralise added acids without significantly changing the ph. It is called your water’s ‘buffering’ capacity. Generally speaking, kH should be above 4.5.

Adjusting ph

Frequent water changes are the best way to keep the pH up to an appropriate level. As stated above you should acclimatise your fish to live in the ph that you provide but if it is necessary to change the ph for any reason then here’s how. How to Lower your freshwater aquarium pH

• Filtering water over peat
• Add bogwood to the tank
• Inject carbon dioxide CO2
• Use a commercial acid buffer
• Water changes with softened water or RO/DI (Reverse Osmosis/De-Ionized) water

How to Raise your freshwater aqaurium pH This should not be done lightly since as you raise the pH, you are making the ammonia in the tank more toxic to your fish.

• Aerate the water, to drive off excess carbon dioxide (CO2)
• Filter over coral or limestone
• Add rocks containing limestone to the tank or add crushed coral as a substrate
• Use a commercial alkaline buffer

Conclusion

It is much more important to have a stable pH than to have a specific value for your freshwater aquarium pH. To this end you should ensure that the kH of the aquarium water is somewhere around 5-6 dH which means that the water has adequate buffering capacity. Adjusting the freshwater aquarium pH can be dangerous to the fish as swings of just 0.3 in a day can be deadly. Therefore, unless you have a specific reason for doing so, it is better to acclimate the fish to your tap water’s pH than to adjust your pH to fit the so called preference of your fish.

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The lakes and oceans of the world are large enough to be balanced ecologically. Fish waste is all consumed biologically; there is no build up of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates making the water toxic. Fish populations adjust according to conditions they have no need for a freshwater aquarium filter.

A freshwater aquarium on the other hand is miles away from being a natural environment. Without a freshwater aquarium filter a tank with even a moderate population of fish will quickly become foul and kill all of the inhabitants. Even with an adequate freshwater aquarium filter, the water in an aquarium needs to be changed regularly because fish in the numbers that aquarists like to fill their tanks with produce far more waste than the resident bacteria can possibly cope with.

How does a Freshwater Aquarium Filter Work

Ok, so you must have a freshwater aquarium filter. You have a choice but any freshwater aquarium filter you are considering for your tank should perform in three ways – mechanical, chemical, and biological.

• Mechanical filtration uses foam or filter fibre to remove large particles, like uneaten food and fish excrement. Mechanical filters are graded from coarse to fine, with fine filters trapping the smallest particles.
• Chemical filtration includes activated carbon and various ion exchange resins. Activated carbon traps dissolved organic compounds that are not removed by any other means (except water changes). Ion exchange resins are specific for one type of ion. Generally speaking most freshwater aquarists will have little need for ion exchange resins except perhaps for copper.
• Biological filtration uses colonies of helpful bacteria to break down the waste products produced by fish and overfeeding. Fish waste and food ultimately break down to ammonia (NH3), which is extremely toxic to fish even at low concentrations (~5-10ppm). Some bacteria are able to metabolise ammonia into nitrite (NO2-) – also very toxic, another type of bacteria is able to convert nitrite into nitrate (NO3-), which is much less dangerous. While fish can endure some level of ammonia and nitrite, it is not conducive to the long-term health of the fish. Even in non-lethal doses, these pollutants are still a source of stress, and in an aquarium any source of stress weakens the fish and makes them vulnerable to bacterial and fungal infections. This is why an aquarium must be fully cycled before adding fish. The shock of moving into a new home is stress enough without having that home toxic as well!

What freshwater aquarium Filters are Available?

• Undergravel (UGF) filters
  

  Under Gravel Filter

  consist of a grid of plastic pipes with small holes every half inch or so. This grid sits under the gravel or substrate of the aquarium, creating a space of water beneath the gravel. The pipes are all connected to up to four ‘air lifts’ which slowly pull detritus and debris down through the substrate. The idea is that bacteria can break it down there. The advantages of UGFs are that they are very cheap and easy to setup and run, and the aeration helps keep dissolved oxygen high. One disadvantage is that they normally do not do chemical filtration. As well as this the small holes in the filter get blocked and waste tends to accumulate because it is not all broken down. It is therefore necessary two or three times a year to clean the filter. This involves scooping out all of the substrate to get at the filter. For this reason alone, undergravel filters are becoming less common.
• Canister filters are a much better choice.
  

  Canister Filter

  These units consist of a canister and pump with a siphon tube to pull water out of the tank and a return tube to pump the water back in. The typical canister normally contains some type of coarse mechanical media, like ceramic “donuts” or very coarse fibre, some chemical media like filter carbon, some porous glass or stone for biological filtration, and finally some very fine filter fibre. So a canister filter actually does all three types of filtration. Most canister filters are very thorough and do a great job keeping aquarium water clean. The downside to these filters is that they tend to be expensive, use expensive media, and if not maintained well they can become nutrient traps. This means that all of the fouled filter media actually begins adding nitrogenous waste back into the water instead of removing it. Algae blooms and poor water quality are the result! Also, since canisters are completely closed, they do not oxygenate the water so it becomes necessary to add an airstone or perhaps a small water pump to aggitate the water surface. Overall though, when properly maintained, a good canister filter is hard to beat.!

If you live in the USA then the Fluval 05 range is hard to beat, see my article about them here. If you live in the UK then the All Pond Solutions 1400EF is an excellent choice, see my article about it here.

• Power filters
  

  Power Filter

  hang on the outside of the tank and use a pump to pull water up into the filter. The water then passes through mechanical, chemical, and biological media in various configurations, then spills back into the aquarium. These filters are rapidly gaining popularity with aquarists because they are efficient, slightly less expensive than canisters, and a dream to maintain. Since they are exposed to the air they help oxygenate the water. The oxygen-rich water helps support huge populations of nitrifying bacteria making power filters some of the most efficient biological filters. The biowheel version is particularly good.
• wet/dry or trickle filter. These are only mentioned for completeness. They are essentially used for very large tanks. They are expensive and if they go wrong can empty your tank!

So there you have it. You can now make an informed choice when considering your freshwater aquarium filter. You have basically three choices of freshwater aquarium filter and you definitely need one of them.

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So you’ve setup your tank, the filter is working and you’ve checked the water ph. Now you need to set your freshwater aquarium temperature with the heater thermostat. What temperature should that be? The answer is that most tropical aquariums do best between 73 and 82 degrees Fahrenheit (23 to 28 Celsius). What you actually set the temperature at will depend upon whether you live in a warm or cool climate. The reason is that you want to avoid water temperature fluctuations as much as possible. Thus if you live in a cool climate you should set the thermostat at about 75 degrees Fahrenheit whereas in a warm climate you might want to set it at about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. This means that the impact of the ambient freshwater aquarium temperature changes will be less dramatic on the tank water temperature.

You should bear in mind that the warmer the water the less oxygen it can hold and therefore higher levels of aeration should be employed. It is also worth mentioning that an acrylic tank is a much better insulator than a glass tank and a reasonable tight fitting lid will also help.

To a large extent the actual freshwater aquarium temperature that you set is not too important, it is sudden changes in water temperature that will kill fish. Sudden changes in less than 24 hours are very stressful to the fish and if it does not kill them it is likely to put them in a poor state of health and make them susceptible to disease. Sudden freshwater aquarium temperature changes usually bring on the ‘shakes’ or ‘shimmies’, ‘Ichthyophthirius’ (ick), fungus or a general decline downhill.

The required heater size (in watts) will depend upon how many gallons of water that needs to be heated and the temperature difference between the room and the water. As a general rule you need 2 watts for raising each gallon of water 5 degrees above surrounding temperature. Large tanks with high required temperature differentials may need two heaters. If so, these should be placed at each end of the aquarium.

You should not have a larger wattage heater than as calculated above. There are two reasons for this; firstly, you do not want the effect of the heater as it cycles with the thermostat to cause a rapid rise in temperature of the water and secondly, if the thermostat should fail you do not want the fish to fry.

What kinds of heaters are there?

There are three kinds of heater, all work well.

• Immersible heaters are the most common mainly because they are easily found and inexpensive. They hang onto the back or side of the aquarium, dangling into the water. A temperature control knob is kept above the water. Their downside is that they can be considered an eyesore and a lot of people prefer the heater to be hidden.
• Submersible heaters as the name implies can be completely submerged in the aquarium. The good thing about these is that they can be hidden behind rocks and plants. These types of heaters are more reliable and can easily maintain a more consistent temperature in your tank. They’re easy to use, slim–so that you don’t notice them as much, and relatively inexpensive although they generally cost more than the immersible variety.
• Filter heaters are a really nice option to consider to maintain an even fresshwater aquarium temperature. They heat the water as it moves through a filter. They are more expensive than other heaters, but they are filter units as well. The big plus of this type of heater is that it is outside your aquarium, so it doesn’t take up space inside and you don’t see it at all!

One final word, make sure you have a good thermometer in your tank. Initially you should check that it is calibrated correctly. After that you should check the reading every day on a regular basis. The best time is to glance at it as you feed your fish. That way you will be aware of any freshwater aquarium temperature problems before they have a chance of affecting the long term health of your fish.

So there you are. Depending on where you live your freshwater aquarium temperature should be set appropriately and should be tightly controlled by a combination of heaters and a thermostat. The actual freshwater aquarium temperature is not so important as keeping it stable.

Bear in mind that the temperature of your aquarium is just one of the things that you need to consider when setting up your aquarium. Good filtration, water chemistry and regular maintenance are all essential if you want to keep your fish healthy.

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Basic Care

Freshwater aquarium plants serve a number of functions. Well planted they are a stunning sight and provide a refuge for fish. In addition they oxygenate the water and help to maintain balanced water chemistry. They also act as an extra place for colonisation by bacteria and possibly even help to seed new tanks with the beneficial bacteria required to break down waste products.


To successfully grow freshwater aquarium plants you need a balance between lighting and nutrient levels. Normal aquarium hoods often only have a single tube and this may not be enough for most plants. If the light is increased, however, you may need to use a fertilizer or nutrient supplement and possibly CO2 addition to keep plant growth vigorous and avoid excessive algae.


You should not leave lighting on for longer than 12 hours a day in the mistaken belief that it will promote plant growth. It is more likely to favour algal growth. Consider adding algae eating fish if appropriate, Otocinclus species are well suited to smaller planted tanks, as they will not eat leaves.


When you plant your new tank you should add all the plants at the same time. This way they become established before algae has a chance to use the excess light and nutrients which were available before the freshwater aquarium plants were established. Include some quick growing plants in the initial stages. Floating plants are useful if you wish to shade part of the aquarium which will be left unplanted (or contain low-light plants), catfish and some others will appreciate an area away from the glare of the main lights.

Basic Plant Care Tips

• Remove any decaying or yellowed leaves before planting. Decaying leaves are a drain on your freshwater aquarium plants nutrient supply.
• Remove any dying roots, as these will rot in the substrate. They will appear limp and brown. Healthy roots are normally pale and more rigid.
• Stem plants should have their bottom few leaves removed since they will receive little light and a new cutting will not have enough root system to support a full complement of leaves.
• Tubers should be planted at an angle in the substrate, with the growing tip exposed.
• Some plants need to be attached to rocks or bogwood to thrive, rather than planting in the substrate, these include Java Fern and Java Moss.
• Cuttings can be made from stem plants once they reach the surface. These can be replanted in the substrate and will soon grow a new root system.
• Many plants reproduce using runners. The new plants can be separated from the parent plant once they have established themselves, when they reach about one-third of the size of the original plant.

Light Requirements of Freshwater Aquarium Plants

Insufficient light is one of the main reasons why plants fail to do well in an aquarium. Different plants will require different amounts of light to thrive. The list below categorises some of the more commonly available plants in general groups based on their light requirements.

Low-moderate

These plants should grow ok with standard aquarium lighting, i.e. one fluorescent tube, although growth is improved in most case with more light.

• Anubias species
• Cryptocoryne species (most)
• Echinodorous species – Amazon swords (some)
• Microsorium pteropus (Java Fern)
• Vesicularia dubyana (Java Moss)

Bright

These plants will require additional lighting to thrive, i.e. at least one additional fluorescent tube, or T5 lighting.

• Aponogeton species
• Ceratopteris thalictroides (Indian fern)
• Crinum species
• Egeria densa (Waterweed)
• Hygrophila difformis (Water wisteria)
• Hygrophila polysperma (Giant/green/Indian Hygrophila)
• Lilaeopsis species
• Limnophila species
• Ludwigia species
• Myriophyllum species
• Nesaea species
• Nymphaea stellata (Water lily)
• Pogostemon species
• Rotala species
• Sagittaria species
• Vallisneria species

Very Bright

These plants will require strong lighting, i.e. at least 1-2 additional fluorescent tubes, preferably high light tubes with reflectors (particularly important for deeper tanks). The bright lighting required is much easier to achieve with high-intensity T5 tubes, rather than standard (T8) tubes.

• Bacopa species
• Cabomba species
• Rotala macrandra
• Many low-growing carpeting plants, such as Glossostigma and Hemianthus, also require very bright lighting to thrive.

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Buying Your Fish

Now you’ve got your aquarium setup it’s time to think about buying some freshwater aquarium fish.   So what are you looking for?   Do you want a community tank with lots of different brightly coloured specimens or are you looking for just one species to show it off to best effect.  

Whatever you are looking for check the requirements and compatibility of the aquarium fish you intend to buy in advance, and ask the staff at the aquarium store questions where necessary. Make sure that your tank is ‘cycling’, in other words that the water conditions have stabilised, otherwise your new fish will suffer the serious effects of “New Tank Syndrome”.

Your best bet is to go to your ‘fish man’ and browse the fish they have.   Identify the ones you like and find out what their needs are and whether they will coexist with other fish.   Talk to the resident experts and make some notes that you can refer to later at home and then cross reference the information.

There are many different questions to ask including:

• Does this aquarium freshwater fish like open areas or plenty of plants?
• Does this aquarium freshwater fish prefer alkaline or acid water?
• Does this aquarium freshwater fish get along with others?
• Does this aquarium freshwater fish feed at the top or bottom of the tank?
• Does this freshwater aquarium fish need a lot of space?
• What temperature most suits this freshwater aquarium fish?

Consider The Food That Your Fish Will Eat

When buying several different species of fish for your community tank it is very important that you think about their feeding requirements. Fish eat at different levels – some are bottom feeders while others eat at the surface. Putting these together is normally fine provided the surface feeders aren’t too greedy. If they are, they might eat all of the food pellets before they ever reach the bottom. The rule here is to select fish that will not steal from each other so that they all get enough to eat. They will all live happily together and happy fish will generally live to a ripe old age.

All Fish Are Cannibals

Generally speaking fish will eat each other if it is physically possible. You won’t want to come back from holiday to find one overweight cichlid with a satisfied grin on its face alone in what was your community tank. If the mouth of one fish is large enough to accomodate another fish then there is a risk that it will. So choose fish that are roughly the same size.

Aggression Issues

Aggression problems include fish biting other smaller fish who cannot defend themselves. Fish with long flowing fins are often also targets. If you match aggression levels then peace should reign. Serious fights are usually avoided because bullies normally know when to back off.

Male fish of the same species are often territorial and aggressive towards each other so avoid pairing more than one male in the tank. Some male fish, particularly the live bearers, need to a harem of females because they would drive a single female mad with their persistent attention.

The Worst Thing You Can Do

The absolute worst thing that you can do is to just stock your tank with exotic looking fish and hope for the best. This is sadly something that many owners do.   You’re almost surely going to end up in disaster, so don’t just be hopeful – do your research, and you’ll end up with a great set of fish for a long, long time.

Adding Fish to your Tank

When you are finally ready to buy, study the fish at the fish store carefully, make sure they look healthy and that their fins and gills are not damaged. Never buy fish from a tank where any are dead or dying.

Your fish supplier should give you your fish in oxygenated plastic bags for transport home.   Follow the following procedure when you add the fish to your tank:

• Allow the bag to float unopened in the tank for at least 15 minutes to equalise temperature
• Open the bag and add a little of the aquarium water.   Leave the bag floating for another 15 minutes
• Finally, immerse the bag in the tank and tip out the fish so that they have a quiet arrival
• Don’t worry that the new arrivals hide for the first day this is quite normal

During the first 6 weeks you should feed lightly, this will help to minimise pollution during the unstable period as the tank ‘matures’. Overfeeding is one of the most common mistakes made by beginners to the hobby. Add food in small amounts and watch while the fish eat it. Then add a little more and so on, stopping as soon as the fish lose interest or have consumed a reasonable amount.

Buying your Freshwater Aquarium Tank and Equipment

The first golden rule is never buy the tank and fish on the same day. It may be tempting to arrive home with everything you need including the fish but some patience and restraint is called for initially!

If you have enough space and your budget allows it, go for a larger tank. Small tanks are often sold as “ideal for the beginner” but this is not really true. Larger tanks are more stable in terms of their water chemistry, temperature, etc. Conditions will change more gradually in a larger volume of water, so things are much less likely to go suddenly wrong. I would recommend a tank of between 5 and 10 gallons capacity as a good size tank to begin with.

I can recommend the Fluval Edge Aquarium which comes with all the pumps and filters and other equipment necessary to keep the tank clean and running well and its all hidden away including the power leads. Alternatively the very sophisticated 9 gallon clear biUbe Pure Aquarium with halogen light looks amazing. Both of these are designed to be easily maintained. See my article on the Biorb and Biube aquarium range for more information.

Go here to see a large selection of aquariums and fish bowls from Amazon.

You need to choose the right equipment for your freshwater aquarium tank. Read my articles about freshwater aquarium set up and aquarium maintenance which will help to give you a good start.

It is helpful to have some advance knowledge of what is required, basically this means a filter, heater, a lid with lighting, substrate (gravel or sand), backing material and other décor such as rocks, wood and real or plastic plants.   Once set up, you will need additional accessories such as a water conditioner, net, test kits, etc.

Positioning the aquarium tank

The freshwater aquarium tank should be placed on a sturdy piece of furniture, preferably designed for an aquarium tank. Large volumes of water are very heavy. Water weighs 1kg (2.2 pounds) per litre. A tank measuring 36x12x18″ and holding approx. 110 litres would therefore weigh 110kg (242lbs) plus the weight of the tank itself, lid and decor.

Avoid placing the tank where it will receive direct sunlight, this will almost certainly encourage excessive algae growth.
Avoid placing the tank where it will be difficult to maintain the correct stable temperature, e.g. near radiators or draughts from windows and doors.

Try to avoid locations where your freshwater aquarium tank will be disturbed excessively by passers-by, opening doors, etc.

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The Importance of Water Changes in any freshwater aquarium maintenance regime

In any tropical aquarium it is essential to change the tank water regularly to avoid a build up of toxic ammonia and nitrite as well as nitrates. 25% of the tank water should be replaced every two weeks. The table below illustrates the ‘cycling’ that goes on in the tank

When the tank is new and there are insufficient bacteria, ammonia from decomposing organic matter is toxic to fish and can build up to dangerous levels very quickly. Eventually the bacteria increase sufficiently to convert the ammonia to nitrite which is only slightly less toxic than ammonia. This too will then rise to high levels until a second kind of bacteria increases and converts the nitrite to much less toxic nitrate. The process can take several weeks and in the small world of the aquarium the ‘cycle’ never completes and the nitrate has to be removed from the aquarium by water changes. Preferably this should be done from the bottom of the aquarium by vacuuming and partial water changes as mentioned above.

The process of converting ammonia to nitrite and then nitrite into nitrates is by biological filtration. Because this takes time to be set up, it is important to know that in a new tropical tank you should add only a few hardy fish and only lightly feed them to minimize wastes. You should also test the water regularly and perform water changes as necessary.

Algae Control

Algae is not necessarily bad but it can look unsightly and will detract from the appearance of the tank. Algae growth depends upon the amount of light falling on the tank and the nutrients available for its growth. So, to minimise algae growth you should:

• Avoid direct sunlight falling on the tank
• Leave the lighting on for no more than 10 – 12 hours a day
• Minimise nutrient levels with frequent water changes
• Consider adding algae eating fish like catfish and mollies

Freshwater Aquarium Maintenance and Cloudy Water

Cloudy water has four main causes:

• New Substrate debris – wash it first
• Bacterial bloom – Usually appears as a greyish haze and is due to an explosive growth of bacteria in a new tank. This will usually disappear after a few weeks but it will go more quickly with partial water changes and by avoiding any overfeeding.
• Chemical imbalance – Appears as a greyish-white haze and is usually caused by minerals in hard water. It is best to take a sample of water to your fish supplier for analysis.
• Green water – This is not normally harmful to fish but can be controlled in the same way as for algae growth.

Snails

These are usually accidentally introduced into aquariums when new plants are added. Large colonies of snails will produce a lot of waste which will quickly cause the water quality to deteriorate. The best way to deal with them is to prevent them in the first place.

Freshwater aquarium maintenance is easy provided you follow these simple steps. It is not enough to provide filters driven by powerheads and water pumps because these will only at best remove ammonia and nitrite. The only way to remove nitrates is by partial water changes. Knowing this you will avoid the biggest beginners mistake.