First Time Fish Owners Tips
Read these 5 First Time Fish Owners Tips tips to make your life smarter, better, faster and wiser. Each tip is approved by our Editors and created by expert writers so great we call them Gurus. LifeTips is the place to go when you need to know about Aquarium tips and hundreds of other topics.
Pick fish for your water
Pick fish for your water. Select fish who are native to waters having a similar chemical properties (pH and GH) to your local tap water. If you have hard water, choose hard water fish. If you have soft water, choose soft water fish. This is especially important if you water is outside the 6.5-7.5 pH range. Changing the natural hardness (or pH) of your tap water can be hard work and often takes the fun out of keeping aquariums. Moreover, bungled attempts at adjustment are common and often worse for fish than the original sub-optimal water conditions. A good way to learn which fish live happily in your local water is to check with a local fish store.
Biological Filtration - The Nitrogen Cycle
The nitrogen cycle describes how organic wastes break down in the aquarium. Fish wastes naturally decompose into ammonia, which is highly toxic for marine life. Nitrosomonas bacteria process the ammonia into nitrite, which is also toxic. Nitrobacter bacteria then break down the nitrite into nitrate, which is much less harmful. This is as far as the cycle goes in most tanks, though under the right conditions, the nitrate is further broken down to free nitrogen gas.
The Most Important Tip: Patience!
The one most important tip for any aquarist - is patience!
Buying a tank, setting it up and filling it with fish all in the same day, while possible, is a sure road to disaster. In fact, setting up and fully stocking your first tank will take close to two months!
Patience is the Key
Have patience.
Buying a tank, setting it up and filling it with fish all in the same day, while possible, is a sure road to disaster. In fact, setting up and fully stocking your first tank will take close to two months! Keep in mind that you need to control your urges.
The Aquarium Project - Time & Effort
A 10-20g tank, once it is set up, expect to spend about 30 minutes every other week doing partial water changes, cleaning the tank, etc. You will also spend a few minutes once or twice a day feeding your fish, turning the lights on and off, etc.
Be prepared to spend several hours researching the hobby before you make your first purchase. The more time you spend BEFORE you actually get the tank, the smoother things will go. Visiting fish-tips.com will help you along the way. You might also want to get some beginner books.
Most people who get frustrated with fish tanks made mistakes that could have been easily avoided. The way to avoid mistakes is to learn the basics, before you put fish in your tank. Remember: most aquarium problems are easy to prevent, but hard to deal with after the fact.
| Guru Spotlight |
| Carma Spence-Pothitt |
