Setting Up a Freshwater Fish Aquarium

By Lisa Mautag

Owning freshwater fish can be a fun and exciting endeavor. However, in order to buy freshwater fish, you will need an adequate freshwater fish aquarium. Not just any aquarium will do either. The aquarium should be a good living environment for your freshwater fish.

You need to do some research before you buy a freshwater fish aquarium. For example, you need to know the right size aquarium, what to put in your aquarium, and how to clean your aquarium.

The first step in buying a freshwater fish aquarium is to figure out the right size of the aquarium. Not only do you need to consider how much swimming area your freshwater fish will need, but you also have to consider how much space in your house is available for installing an aquarium. Do not just estimate the amount of space you need. Get a ruler and measure the exact space needed.

Do some research and pick out some items you want to put in your freshwater fish aquarium to make it look fancy. You can put things like a toy castle or some plants. These should help make your aquarium look good.

Research into the type of fish you want to put in your freshwater fish aquarium. You have to be very careful and not put predator and prey fish in the same tank. It would be a great waste of money if your fish ate all the other fish.

You need to know how to clean your freshwater fish aquarium. For example, algae will grow in your aquarium so you will need to clean it. You can put fish in the aquarium that specifically eat algae. You will also need to put in a filter.

Another method for cleaning the freshwater fish aquarium is to put plants in there. Plants are beneficial in that they get rid of nitrates in the water.

There are many things to consider when buying a freshwater fish aquarium. Do your homework before plunking down money for an expensive aquarium.

About the Author:

Lisa Mautag owns a pet supply store and has been in business for over a decade. For further info on freshwater fish aquariums please visit her site.

Falling In Love With Betta Fish

By Mick Turret

For many people, Betta fish will be their first step to possessing a tropical fish because they are gorgeous and above all, incredibly simple to look after. The Siamese Fighting Fish, as that's what Betta Splendens are also called, are perfect for beginners because they are simple to take care of and most especially, they don't need a lot of space. This means that you can buy a small bowl for them in the beginning and perhaps later head out into something larger.

To keep your betta healthy, you will need to maintain the temperature in the fish tank at around 80 degrees Fahrenheit. You will also need to give the betta specific fish food. This comes in either flake or small pellets, which depends on the variety you get. Both the pellet and the flakes are absolutely acceptable for the betta and some solid foods even have extra additives that serve to keep the betta healthy or improve the coloring.

The water however, does need to be replaced more or less once every week. For a one to two gallon aquarium, this should not take long and is not a challenging chore, even though a filter can really extend the time between the required exchanges.

It is commonly believed that it is a bad idea for betta fish to be kept with other fish or aquatic creatures, but this just isn't true. However, some attention should be payed to the type of fish you choose to join your betta in its aquarium. Of course, putting a female betta in the fish tank with the male isn't likely to create an issue. Other secure species include smaller fish that do not have large or colorful tails.

It is important to remember however that putting a male and a female in the same tank will result in a multitude of additional bettas. It is the truth though, that you can't sustain two male bettas in the same tank - even setting them in fish tanks close to one another results in shows of aggression.

More or less any ornament can be included in the fish tank but bear in mind that you might have to supply small stones to keep things like plants in position on the floor of your fish tank. The goal is to provide the fish with an environment to play, swim through and hide in if necessary.

Betta fish are perfect for anyone who is hoping to begin in tropical fish maintaining as they are simple to look after and do not call for a lot of care. Nor do they call for a big amount of room and can manage without a lot of items that other varieties of tropical fish can't do without. When thinking of a betta or creating a habitat, consider having additional kinds of smaller fish that that don't have display signals such as flashy tails.

About the Author:

Would you like to know more about tropical fish? If the answer is 'yes', be sure to read Mick's guide to choosing a betta fish bowl and breeding betta fish.