Freshwater Aquarium

If you have you decided to purchase a new aquarium, make sure to do a little research into what is necessary in maintaining a clean and healthy fish tank.

It is important to learn and understand the basics of keeping fish before buying your first aquarium. You can get very useful aquarium tips and advice from the actual aquarium sellers, who are normally very experience and well informed, or you may have a neighbour or friend who has maintained an aquarium for years. These aquarium tips can help you keep your aquarium clean and healthy.

Here are six aquarium tips that every beginner must learn and understand before buying their fish tank:

1. It is extremely advisable that you do not go for a very small aquarium. It is always recommended to have a large fish tank, which can hold a minimum of at least 20-25 gallons of water. This ensures enough breathing space for the fish.

2. Having a large tank also has other benefits too. The most noticeable is that it allows for a more uniform temperature gradient. This not only leads to better water chemistry, but also encourages growth of beneficial bacteria and algae.

3. Typically you will need one gallon of water to keep 1 inch of fish. Make sure that your keep this ratio in mind before deciding to add more fish to your aquarium.

4. You should allow any bacteria to grow in the fist tanks, in particular along the sides of the filter, sponges and the sides of the fish tank. The bacteria will keep the water pure and healthy. Do not the wash the filters under running tap water. You will only be making the mistake of throwing away useful bacteria. Instead, make sure that you wash the filters within the fish tank itself.

5. Your must take the time to clean/change the tank water at regular intervals. This will help to remove any solid waste that will accumulate, and also greatly improve the appearance of your tank.

6. Finally, you must be careful when it comes to feeding your fish. Try to let the supply of feed reach bare minimum before you replenish it. It will only lead to wastage if the fish feed is continuously overstocked.

By following these few aquarium tips you will help to keep your fish healthy. You will learn more once you start to maintain your own aquarium.

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One of the biggest question asked of the discus breeder is “how do I determine the sex of my fish?” There are very few easy identifiable identifiers in this process. Here, we will discuss the methods used by some of the top breeders.

In juvenile fish, determining sex is almost impossible. It is only when they begin to pair off that an opportunity arises to help in the determination of sex. Juvenile fish, both male and female, have a rounded dorsal fin, and it is not until they begin to mature that a difference can be detected. As it is never wise to excessively handle the fish, close observation is in order to aid the breeder.

In Allnut Enterprises’ King Discus Hatchery, for example, it is an easy process to determine who is who, as we have observed these fish for a while, and can determine the sex of the pairs we own. This would be true in any hatchery. But to the uninitiated or casual observer, this would not be easy to do.

Some of the identifiers: The male will have thicker lips to aid him in his fight to protect the female, and will be more aggressive. He will be larger than the female, his forehead is thicker, and we have observed that if the discus are a bit shy, the male will have a tendency to stay between the female and the observer.

The dorsal fin of the male will be pointed, and the female’s dorsal fin will be rounded. Note that in juvenile discus, this is not apparent.

The breeding tube of the female, between the anus and anal fin, is broader and rounder than the male, and will have a blunt tip. The male, in turn, has a smaller, sharper breeding tube. Be aware that this is only evident during spawning, and should be closely observed.

It has been said that the male discus fish will tend to have a less intense color and more pattern while the female tends to be more colorful but with lesser pattern. I disagree, because too many variables are in place here, such as the health of the discus, the water parameters, and feeding pattern.

In an interesting article by Jeff Richard, he discusses an article from Diskus Brief, a German publication, which reports a very successful way of determine sex of a discus by using simple geometry. Jeff reports, and I quote: “Picture a discus facing to your left … you would be looking at its side. Find the Dorsal (Top) and Anal (bottom) fins and look where the fins slope down toward the Caudal (tail) fin … make sure you’re looking at the fins after they have curved back toward the tail. The Dorsal and Anal Fins become (almost) straight after the fins curve down (or up) toward the Caudal Fin … extend an imaginary line along this straight section of the 2 fins back toward the tail which just touches the Dorsal & Anal Fins past the Caudal Fin. These two imaginary lines should intersect behind the fish. The key to sexing the fish is where the lines cross the Caudal fin. If they pass through the Caudal Fin, the fish is most likely a FEMALE. If they miss or just touch the Caudal Fin, then most likely it is a MALE.” Thanks, Jeff!

Sexing Discus is difficult at best. The easiest way to do so is to raise a group of at least six to eight discus, and allow them to pair off when ready. It is a beautiful sight to see this happen, and makes the hobby well worthwhile.

Alden Smith is a published author, and has been marketing on the internet for 7 years. His website, King Discus, is an active gathering place for discus breeders and lovers of discus fish.

His wife Betsy is the administrator of All The Best Recipes a site rich in online recipes and cookbooks.

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I have already talked about selecting great fish and how to transport them home and settle them in to there new surroundings. Today I’m going to tell you about the correct way to feed your aquarium fish because it is one of the most important factors of keeping tropical fish.

Overfeeding aquarium fish is the most common cause of death in tropical fish. I know this may be difficult to believe that something so easy could cause more problems and deaths of your aquarium fish than disease but overfeeding causes problems with water quality which is where problems seem to start. It is often not seen as important and therefore, notice is not taken.

You need to make sure you don’t give your aquarium fish too much food. Just a sprinkle should do however you do need to make sure you don’t underfeed them and cause stunted growth. Here are a few tips on how you should feed your new tropical fish.

1, Try to feed often but sparingly. This will decrease the uneaten food that will turn into ammonia that could be harmful to your aquarium and even kill your fish.

2, Observe your fish at feeding times and look out for how much they can eat within three to five minutes. You should then feed no more than that. This again will create less waste food.

3, Try feeding other foods that don’t pollute the aquarium water as much. Only feed meaty foods twice or three times a week as these tend to create the most ammonia.

4, Look into buying a more powerful filter or even a second filter. If you overfeed then, the extra waste won’t cause a strain on your existing filter. You could also do more water changes to keep ammonia levels down.

5, Buy some catfish or pleco’s. These bottom feeders eat the waste food that is missed by the other fish and will decrease the end waste. Pleco’s also eat algae and keep the tank glass cleaner.

Please look into using a few of these techniques above to try and avoid overfeeding and water quality problems caused by food. If you do use them then I’m sure you will see an improvement in your results and less fish deaths if you’re having problems with ammonia and nitrate levels in your tank water caused by overfeeding.

Rob owns a few blogs on tropical fish and freshwater fish and aquarium fish.

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