A Guide To Keeping Tropical Fish
Setting up the Aquarium from new.
Firstly, choose a suitable site for the aquarium. A dark corner out of direct sunlight is best. Ensure that the surface on which the tank is to be placed is strong enough to hold the weight of water and contents. If in doubt buy a suitable aquarium stand or cabinet to match your aquarium.
If your aquarium is a Juwel, Fluval, Cayman or Maribello brand they have a built in base and don't require polystyrene to stand upon. Most other brands with a glass base need to stand on polystyrene to stop potential cracking of the base glass.
Connecting Electrical Equipment.
All electrical equipment such as pumps, heater-stats and lights need to be correctly wired up before putting any water in the tank. All electrical equipment now comes with a suitable UK plug. However, if you don't want to use 3 or 4 separate plugs you can purchase a cable tidy which has switches for your pump and lights and places to wire in other items such as heater-stats. The cable tidy can then be wired to one three pin plug which should contain a 3 or 5 amp fuse.
Filling the Aquarium
Once you have rinsed out the new aquarium to remove dust and fingerprints you are ready to place your gravel and ornaments/plants into the tank.
If you are using an under-gravel filter the filter plate must be placed in the tank first before the gravel. If you are using aquarium picture backing, stick this on before going any further.
Wash all gravel thoroughly. If possible use Ultrastone plastic coated gravel which needs only 1 rinse before using. Wash any rocks, ornaments and plastic plants before placing on top of the gravel.
Once everything is in place to your satisfaction, start adding some warm water by the bucket full, adding a good water conditioner, such as Hagen Aqua Plus, each time.
Once the tank is full switch on and test the pump and lights work. The heater-stat will have a small orange or red light on it which comes on only when it is heating the tank water. Check this also, and the water temperature using a thermometer.
Your tank should settle at a working temperature of 24 degrees Centigrade (75 Fahrenheit). It may take some hours to reach this temperature in the winter. In summer it may exceed this temperature if you house is very hot. This should not present a problem for most tropical fish.
Adding your first fish
Once you are happy that all of your aquarium equipment is running correctly and that the temperature of the tank is steady and within the limits for the fish you wish to keep, then you are ready to buy our first fish.
Remember – Every one inch of tropical fish require 12 square inches of surface area in a basic aquarium. More expensive or advanced aquariums like Juwel and Hagen have bigger filters and can carry more fish eventually. However, as a rule of thumb stick to starting with 1/3rd of the tank capacity i.e. a 30"x15"x12" aquarium can take an initial stock 10" of tropical fish.
Once you have added your fish add also a bacterial filter supplement such as Cycle to help mature your filter more quickly.
When floating your fish in the bag you should always turn off the aquarium lights and then leave the lights turned off for a minimum of 2 hours. Many fish are unduly stressed by bright light, barbs in particular.
After care and regular maintenance.
Weeks 1-3
It can take 6 to 8 weeks to establish enough bacteria in the filter to eliminate the fish waste. Therefore, in this period, water tests and partial water changes are vital.
Ideally, you should test the tank water for ammonia in the first three weeks and change about 3rd or even half of the water in a small tank each week until the filter has matured.
A tetra test kit is vital in this period as the test will show you how much water to change. The more toxic the tank water is the more you should change, up to half twice a week.
Continue to add Cycle bacteria additive once a week for the first three months to mature the filter more quickly.
Weeks 4-6
Keep testing the tank water at least once a week and do partial water changes at least once a fortnight depending on conditions.
Only when the ammonia and the nitrite levels are zero can you add your second batch of fish. This may be many weeks after the first batch. Please be patient and don’t be too surprised if you get the odd mortality as the tank conditions change in this maturing period.
Week 6 & thereafter.
Once you have stopped adding fish to your aquarium and the nitrite level stays at zero you can reduce water changes to 25% each 2 to 4 weeks.
Always add Aqua Plus water conditioner to any new water before you add it to the tank.
Filter and gravel cleaning.
The best investment any fish keeper can make is to purchase an Algarde Gravel cleaning siphon. They will siphon water from the tank and remove dirt and debris concurrently.
If you have a sponge type of filter (Fluval, Eheim, Rena XP etc) you should always squeeze the sponge out in old tank water you've just removed from the tank and clean the filter impeller. Do this at least once a month or more regularly if you have a high stocking density of fish.
Remember to always switch off all electrical equipment before undertaking any work on your aquarium.
