These fuval filters have two water outlets to spread the water surface agitation creating a higher level of water oxygenation.  It also comes with pull out baskets to change out substrates.  Fluval filters and systems are definitely on the list of must haves for most serious aquarium owners.  You can find all the different type of fluval filters online and purchase fluval filters easily and safely through the Amazon store.  Some of the fluval filters are shown below that are available through Amazon.  Just click on the pictures to get the prices and see more aquarium accessories.

There are also special aquarium pedestal stands available so you can put your nano cube aquarium on top of and place it in a spot that takes up less space than a bulky stand that is more of a general purpose aquarium stand.
You can get a complete aquarium set up including pumps, heaters, thermometers, filters, and just about any other thing you can think of that is involved in fish keeping from Amazon. Pay them a visit just by clicking on the picture to the left to learn more.

A good size recommendation would be a 15 to 20 gallon fish tank.  A popular choice among tropical fish hobbyists is the Sera aquarium shown here that you can buy from Amazon.

As you learn the intricacies of keeping tropical fish this size aquarium can then be used as a temporary aquarium for checking out any fish or plants for diseases or other problems such as snails, before introducing your newly purchased fish, plants or other items into the main aquarium. 

The Sera aquarium is proven to be solidly built and last a very long time.  They are often used in aquarium stores to show off the available fish or other aquatic life for sale.  The Sera aquarium company has been around since the 1970’s when it first started making fish food of high quality.   Today Sera has everything a tropical fish hobbyist needs. 

If I was starting out in this hobby I would strongly recommend purchasing a Sera aquarium and the other associated hardware necessary to set up a starter aquarium.

Besides its beauty the guppy has other great attributes.  Hardly any other tropical fish species combines so many great points in such degree.  It is a live bearer, extremely fertile and dependable breeder.  It is a very active fish keeping the gaze of many a viewer transfixed on the guppies aquarium.  It thrives in close confinement, can stand fairly foul water, and handles a larger range of temperature than other tropical fish.  It pretty much eats any kind of food, does not fight, is not timid, and matures rapidly.  It is subject to very few diseases, making it great for a novice to learn aquarium principles. Add to the fact that you can pick these fish up for a very reasonable price anyone can afford, even kids, makes it the ideal choice for a beginning aquarist.   

The female of this fish species is larger than the male as usual with a live bearer, and if pregnant will show a darkened area near the anal fin (circled below in red).  The bulging line of the belly indicates that delivery is near, especially when the sharp fullness extends to the forward part of the body just behind the head of the fish. 

The tail fins of Guppies often appear to be oddly shaped or sometimes partially clipped.  This is usually due to the opaque color markings being placed on fins, which are so transparent that it is almost impossible to see them.  When selecting a guppy or two when starting an aquarium, don’t worry about the tail, it is probably all there you just can’t see it. 

A great starter tank would be a 10 gallon aquarium filled with a mating pair of guppies.  In a while the aquarium will be teaming with more of them especially if you choose a pregnant guppy right from the aquarium store.

There are some algaecides available on the market, usually in some liquid or tablet form. While they may rid you of algae in the short term, they could end up doing more damage to your aquarium. This is because all the algae that get killed by the algaecide will end up floating in the water decaying and releasing ammonia, phosphates, and other harmful chemicals. This sudden change could adversely affect the long term habitability of your aquarium’s water, eventually forcing you to start over with fresh water.  If you only have a slight problem on a glass wall surface then an algae eating fish from the shark family can take care of that problem.

algae eating shark

 The best way to manage fish tank algae growth is through thorough and regular aquarium maintenance.

aquatic plants

 However, certain species of fish, such as cichlids, may end up devouring the entire plant. Plastic plants may be substituted if this is the case. Real aquatic plants, however, have the additional benefit of serving as a natural way to regulate the environment and habitability of fish tank aquariums. They help reduce ammonia levels, extract dissolved toxins from the water, and keep the water oxygenated. However, dead and decaying plant debris does contribute to the pollution of the tank as well, but overall the benefits outweigh the costs.  Before anyone seriously considers adding a plant to their aquariums, there are certain factors that they must keep in mind.

            First of all, the plants have to be able to survive in the same natural habitat as the resident fish. Some cursory research should reveal whether or not this is so by finding out what the species of fish you are keeping prefers.  Secondly, the presence of plants will influence what kind of filtration system should be installed and what type of substrate should be used. For example, it would be unwise to use and under gravel filtration system, as the substrate would not provide a stable medium for the plant to grow on, and the required substrate would effectively choke off the filtration system.

            While aquarium plants, take most of their food from the water and substrate in the tank, they do have their own set of unique nutrition requirements that must be provided in order for them to grow properly. This requires occasionally adding trace elements such as iron, copper, and zinc. Thankfully, this plant food should be readily available at your nearest pet or fish store. Healthy, well fed plants will become more effective in clearing the water of ammonia, phosphates, and other toxic contaminants.

            Everyone knows that plants need both light and carbon dioxide (CO₂) in order to develop properly.  Plants in fish tank aquariums need about 3-5 Watts of lighting power for every 4.5 liters of water. Aquatic plants need to be exposed to such lighting for at least 12 hours a day, though tropical plants may end up needing less. Some research will be required to figure out the best lighting conditions for you’re the specific plant you choose. Providing sufficient amounts of carbon dioxide will require purchasing a bottle of CO₂ and a regulator. Anywhere between 5-12 mg/Liter of CO₂ should be fine. Raising the levels beyond this range could result in liver damage for your fish.

            Because of their impact on the environment, it is strongly advised to add the plants before the fish in order to see beforehand their impact on the habitability of the water. It will also help jumpstart the nitrogen cycle within the tank, speeding up the growth of essential nitrogen fixing bacteria. For this reason, it is recommended that aquatic plants be included in the “breaking in” period of the tank, when it is run without fish for 48 hours to allow the environment to stabilize.

            If the required additional care, cost, and maintenance of real aquatic plants should sound too daunting or tedious, aquarists can always turn to plastic aquarium plants to provide the same aesthetic value. While they may not have most of the habitability and biological filtering advantages of natural plants, they still provide additional surface area for good bacteria to live on, and are virtually maintenance and hassle free.

     Ichthyophthirius (Ick) is the most common disease to be concerned about for a novice fish keeper. 

Ick on fins of fish

Ick for short is actually a parasitic protozoan that causes the trouble.  Sometimes it’s called the pepper and salt disease because the advanced stages with small white spots all over the fins and body resemble seasoning.  The parasite starts out with a few spots but will rapidly take over the whole body unless medication added to the water is introduced as soon as possible.  If not dealt with the spots will multiply and a fungus follows, with death soon after that.

Ick is nearly always caused by chill.  Chill works doubly against a fish.  The fish’s resistance is weakened, while the vitality of the parasite is increased in cooler water.

Sudden temperature changes are dangerous for an aquarium even in the warmer tank ranges of 78 degrees going down to 72 degrees.  The organism causing the trouble is one of the lower life forms being a single cell covered with swimming hairs.  It borrows its way below the outer skin of the fish with the irritation causing a tiny pimple.  The parasite eats the tissues and fluids of the fish where it borrows.  Fish can be seen attempting to scratch themselves against rocks and other items in the tank.  In a few days it will grow to full size of one millimetre and let go of the fish dropping to the bottom of the tank.  It forms a cyst and breaks up into anywhere from 500 to over 2000 young.  Many of the young will succeed in finding another host and the process repeats.  There are a few things you can do to get rid of Ick.  For a mild case raise the temperature of the water to 83 degrees and keep it there for two weeks. Vacuum the bottom of your tank and side walls 3 or 4 times daily.  Pay special attention to vacuuming the side walls of acrylic aquariums as Ick seems to be able to stick there more easily than glass surfaces.  Keep a close eye out for more ick.  If you don’t see any more then you’ve managed to get rid of it.  For more developed cases you will need to get medication from the local aquatic store and introduce it to the water.  Follow the instructions carefully.  You will need to remove the active charcoal in your filtering system for a time.  Remove any plants and aquarium ornaments to a holding tank before adding medication or they may become stained.  Rinse the plants and decor off first with water around 100 degrees and then in room temperature water of 70 degrees to shock the Ick and kill them.

Medication such as malachite green or victoria green is proven medications.  You will need to make a large water changes near 80 % before adding medication.  Let your tank sit for 48 hours each time you add medication and then change out the water and repeat 3 times in total.

After 6 days you should be in the clear.  You will have to keep an eye on your tank to get it back to a balanced state again over time just as you would in an original set up of a fishtank aquarium.

What you are essentially doing is allowing time for ammonia and NO2 nitrates to run their course and get them down to trace levels.  You need to be exchanging old water for new fresh treated water (just tap water with conditioner) in the range of approximately 15% every couple of days.  After a week or so your ammonia levels will most likely be high so don’t worry.  Just keep changing out water and it should dissipate in a few more weeks.  Meanwhile the fish are doing their thing eating and excreting.  After approx. eight weeks you should have N03 bacteria (good thing) and trace amounts of ammonia and NO2 bacteria (bad stuff).  Once you’ve achieved this you can add more fish and go through the same process if you want.  Simply put exchange water when you add more fish and go through the cycle process.  When you are just maintaining the fish you have you only need to top up the evaporated water.

With a properly set up aquarium you will keep maintenance to a minimum.  Your aquarium will be a closed environment that is balanced.  It is not hard to achieve if you follow the principles explained on another page in this website.  Having said this, you are on a learning curve if you are a novice, and will run into some maintenance issues and fish problems no doubt.  Aquarium maintenance is a very important part of keeping your fish healthy as well as the general look of the aquarium.  You don’t want to have it overrun with algae or have a bunch of dead plants rotting in the water.  It all impacts on the look so a good maintenance plan is the key, and much of the information given here should become habit.

Feeding being one of the core principles should be done based on water temperature.

The morning is preferred if possible. 

Aquarium lighting should be turned on in the morning and shut off after the desired amount has been given to the plants if you have some.

Monitoring the water temperature is of course always important along with Aeration and the filtering system.  Make sure what ever filter system you purchase you read over the manufacturer’s instructions carefully and maintain your system following their guidelines.

When you see a growth of fish tank algae starting up you can do three possible things.  Cut back on the amount of light per day, or use a scraper or sponge and clean it off.  Vacuum up the debris that settles on the bottom of the aquarium so it doesn’t fester.  You could also purchase algae eating fish from the shark family.  These are not sharks as you know of the flesh eating type that will bite you.  These fish eat fish tank algae off the side of the glass by sucking onto the glass.  I call them nature’s algae vacuum. 

Test the water with your testing kit periodically and this will confirm to you that your aquarium is in a balanced state and you will sleep better at night. 

If you have a fish tank aquarium set up and would like to show it off, send me some pictures and a write up.  I’d be glad to put it on this website.  …. Thomas

Like land animal’s fish also need oxygen.  They of course get along on much less than a regular warm blooded land animal, by absorbing dissolved oxygen from water as it passes through their gills which are equivalent to lungs for us.  As fish use up the oxygen in the water they live in, the water absorbs more oxygen from mainly its air to water surface area.  Cooler water absorbs more oxygen than warmer water.  The larger the air surface the faster the water can replenish oxygen.  The water surface area at the top of an aquarium is the main way that oxygen enters the water in it.  This is an important factor to keep in mind as any aquarium can only sustain a certain number of fish because of its surface capacity.  Depth of water or cubic capacity does not factor into how many fish can reasonably be held in an aquarium.  Two other ways oxygen can be absorbed into aquarium water are through live plants under the influence of favorable lighting, and artificial aeration.

The wisest principle is to only keep the number of fish in a fishtank that the air surface per fish ratio is relied on as the factor that limits the number, rather than adding in the other two ways to improve oxygen absorption.  Allow 3 square inches per fish to accommodate a fish the size of a full grown guppy.   Larger fish such as full grown sword tails should have 8 square inches per grown adult fish.  Larger fish such as barbs or Cichlids require 54 square inches of surface area.  With aeration you can have more fish but you run the risk of overcrowding if the air pump fails.

fish tank surface area vs depth

Aeration is a standard practice for most fishtank aquariums where a small electric pump pressurizes air causing it to flow through a tube running to release head creating bubbles that rise to the surface.  It is mistakenly thought that these bubbles absorb into the water.  Rather the bubbles disturb the air surface at the top of the aquarium and actually make it a larger area as well as circulating the oxygen through out the water improving the absorption rate and keeping the oxygen level higher than it otherwise would be.  Aeration should always be left running at night in aquariums because plants give off carbon dioxide and make no oxygen at that time.   A stream of air running through the aquarium effectively doubles the fish capacity of an aquarium.

The only disadvantage if any to aeration is that if it is used continuously, the fish will become dependent on it. If a power failure occurs or for some other reason the pump is shut off the fish go through a withdrawal phase that causes stress to them.   A small stream of fine air bubbles seems to perform better than larger bubbles.

Along with aeration I will mention that plants help in oxygenating the water when they are put under the correct lighting.  Not only do they oxygenate the water but they also absorb carbon dioxide which the fish give off in breathing.  To top it off they also absorb accumulations of fish waste and anything else settling into the gravel at the bottom of your aquarium.  They do this through their root system.  Other obvious benefits of having real plants in the aquarium are the look they create and places for fish to hide.  Plants create a small eco system between themselves and the fish to the advantage of both.

The amount of light an aquarium requires is dependent on if you plan on using real plants.  If you have no intention of utilizing real plants then the problem of lighting is simplified along with the location of your aquarium.  All you need is a place where the temperature isn’t changing a lot and where there is enough light for the fish to see their way about the aquarium.   Do not add real plants to an aquarium later on if you change your mind unless you add artificial lighting or change the location.  Remember plants will give off unwanted gases in dark areas.

For most plants you should strive to keep a medium amount of light.  Near a window where diffused light is available should be kept to approximately 2 hours of direct sun light.  Make sure you have a method of controlling the amount of sunlight through a system of blinds or curtains.   The biggest problem that occurs with too much light is the over growth of algae, creating green water and or green moss on the plants and rocks as well as the glass.   The idea is to stimulate the plants into the oxygenation action, yet not create the unwanted algae.  Artificial fish tank light has the great advantage of total control.

For artificial light to stimulate plants it must be very close and overhead.  Usually they are housed in the canopy or hood of the aquarium.  A rough estimate of the amount of light needed on a daily basis is a 10 gal. tank 40 watts for 8 hrs.  or 75 watts for 4 hours.

For 15 – 25 gal tanks 60 watts for 7 hrs.  For larger tanks 75 watts for 9 hrs. Reduce these times if you have some diffused sunlight.  Make sure you get bulbs that are clear and give off the correct wave length for stimulating plants.  Plants are stimulated by the red end of the spectrum.  Depending on your location the only other factor that you should take into consideration with artificial light is the heating effect.  On hot summer days the lights can heat the water above the desired temperature.  Raising the lighting further away may be necessary to stop the temperature rise.

Temperature is the last of the principles we will discuss.  Tropical fish by and large can live in water temperature between 70 – 80 degrees.  Some species prefer the lower end and some the higher end, but most can tolerate a swing of 5 degrees over a period of several hours.  Don’t get too bogged down with trying to keep your aquarium with in a two degree range.  Mother Nature doesn’t do it so why should you.  We can boil all this temperature information down to a few simple rules.  Keep your aquarium in and around 72 -76 degrees.  For short stretches the temperature can go down to 67 degrees and up to 85 with out problems.  It is of course preferred to keep the temperature in the 70’s.  If you suffer a power failure and the temperature has dropped below 67 you can still overcome this difficulty by slowly raising the temperature to 80 and keep it there for 30 hours to allow the fish to recuperate.  Do not for any reason remove a fish from one aquarium to another with a net, even if the aquariums both seem to be the same temperature.  Thermometers have been known to be off by up to 4 degrees.  This can cause stress on fish and create the shakes or worst yet ick.  Either way you most likely have a dead fish on your hands.  Always take some water from one aquarium, put it in a plastic bag and float the fish on top of the new aquarium it will enter for at least a half hour so the water in the bag equalizes to the new aquarium.

Feeding of fish is the fourth principle and probably the one single principle that people err on.   Fish are sensitive to temperature and eat more if they are near the top end of their living temperature range.  At 68 degrees the water is cold and they will not likely feed.

When the water is in the low 70’s range they will feed decently, and in the high 70’s range they will feed ravenously.  Water higher than 80 will not create any increased feeding due to the water aeration starting to drop.  Remember colder water absorbs oxygen easier than warmer water.  Digestion and appetite are linked together, both needing oxygen and a good temperature for the fish to thrive in.

Monitor your water temperature and feed as follows;

Once a day for water in the high 60’s – low 70’s, and twice a day for temperatures in the 73 to 80 range.

If you are feeding dry flake food it is best to introduce small amounts over a 10 or 20 minute period.  This way you will watch the food disappear and know the fish have fed well.  Remove an excess food if the fish stop feeding and never give any more than a small pinch at a time.   It is best to feed in the morning if possible particularly if you have plants because the oxygen level will rise in the tank and aids in digestion.

If you are going to be away for a few days and not able to feed the fish it is not a great worry to just leave them unfed.  They will not starve.  I recommend turning your heater down to 70 degrees just to help curb their appetite.  If you are going on a longer trip or holiday you will need to bring in a substitute feeder.  Make sure you train them in how to feed and removing the excess food.  A great idea I use is to put the correct amount of dry flake food in a small packet envelope for each feed and instruct the feeder to only use one per day.

There are alternatives to using dry flake food.  You can feed fish live food as well but be careful how many mosquito larvae or Daphnia you introduce as you don’t want leftovers of live food hanging around.  Mosquito larvae do turn into full mosquitoes in short order and then they are in your house.

Freeze dried brine shrimp or tubiflex worms and daphnia, as well as many others are readily available from your local aquarium store.

Remember proper feeding is a core principle of creating a self sustaining clean environment, so take care to do this right and you will achieve a balanced in your fish tank aquariums.

I’ll go into types of food and feeding much more in depth later on.