| Your new Tropical aquarium |
| Disclaimer: The information found on this website comes only from personal expieriences. Please read and use this information/advice and draw your own conclusions. The author accepts no responsibility for the welfare of YOUR pet! |
| Welcome to a truly fascinating hobby. Bringing home a new aquarium is always an excitng time and the temptation to fill it and stock it with all those beautiful fish can be overwhelming. This is where any reputable aquatic store will be talking you out of spending lots of money on livestock and recommending you start with 5 or 6 (for an averaged sized tropical aquarium) hardy small fish. Now this advice is not to be ignored, I can assure you that over the years many a child has left My store crying for the fish he CANT have YET! and although it would be easy to put little johnny out of his misery after all those little Fish are only cheap This is Not the approach of the responsible fishkeeper and be sure is the road to possible disaster! In a new aquarium It will take some weeks at least for the filter to become mature and established enough with beneficial bacteria to the point where a biological process will ensure the breakdown of toxic ammonia produced by the fish . Before this stage it is crucial that waste levels are kept to an absolute minimum to prevent toxic ammonia or Nitrites from reaching dangerous levels and causing stress, illhealth and possibly death .There are fortunatley a number of ways of preventing this and the first of which is to stock your tank gradually over a period of weeks and months. If you Havent purchased an aquarium test kit all ready now is the time to do so, thats before the fish get sick , this will enable you to monitor the Ammonia and Nitrite giving you a good indication of when and if you should be adding fish . After a week (this is just a personal recommendation) if the Ammonia and Nitrite levles show zero on the test kit you should consider making your first purchase of fish, remember 5 or 6 small fish, if you choose larger fish then 1 or 2 might be more appropriate (size of aquarium should also be taken into consideration) . Please, Please mention to the Aquarium staff that you have a new tank if he tries to sell you loads of fish go somwhere else! He should be able to offer you advice and recommend you some hardy fish . Neon Tetra, White Cloud Mountain minnow and glowlight tetras are all good starters. CONGRATULATIONS you have fish! Be sure to climatise them carefully to your aquarium floating the bag for 15 minutes before adding water gradually to the bag prior to their release. The weeks following your first introductions you should be monitoring water quality closley, feeding a minimum of food will ensure that no food goes to waste and is therefore not allowed to foul the water, Remove any uneaten food. A bacteria supplement can be used to help establish a bacteria colony in the filter this is usuallly a liquid that is added weekly. Should Ammonia or Nitrite begin to rise small partial water changes with dechlorinated water will help to dilute these toxins until the filter is established enough to maitain levels at zero. please scroll down |
| Over the next few weeks and months you may (according to your test results) continue to stock gradually adding 5 or 6 small fish at a time, remember to add 6 fish to a tank allready containing 6 fish is to suddenly ask twice as much of your filter. Adding the bacteria supplement each time new fish are added will reduce the possibility of water quality problems. As well as testing for Ammonia and nitrite , Nitrate levels will also have to be kept under control with regular partial water changes. Prolonged exposure to High Nitrate levels will effect the health of your fish as well as being a contributing factor to the growth of nuisance algae. All species have preferences to water CHEMISTRY as well as quality and this should be taken into consideration when selectiong your fish. Ph and hardness values should be measured especially now your aquarium is established and you may start consider stocking those species regarded as more delicate. I hope that this breif article will help you to a successfull start to your aquarium if you are considering a more specialist approach i.e Marine fish /Discus etc you will need to seek further advice. The basics are always the same and that is what ive tried to explain here. Buy a Book! do your research and you need never loose a fish . Happy Fishkeeping All the best Chris |
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