Starting a tropical aquarium

We cover a wide range of areas for all fish keepers. Discover amazing facts on your favourite fish, learn how to setup a new reef or tropical aquarium and a whole host of useful articles to keep your aquarium looking its best.

Starting a tropical aquarium

We cover a wide range of areas for all fish keepers. Discover amazing facts on your favourite fish, learn how to setup a new reef or tropical aquarium and a whole host of useful articles to keep your aquarium looking its best.

Aquarium Guide >> Tropical

The Fish Guide - Tropical Fish Tank

Starting a tropical aquarium is a lot easier than you might think. Tropical fish aquariums do not take much maintenance and if setup correctly from the start can be relatively quick and inexpensive.

The good thing about starting up a tropical freshwater tank is that it’s the best system for a beginner, because it’s relatively cheap and the fish are quite hardy. Saltwater fish are very expensive, and you will need a lot of knowledge, also setting up a marine or reef aquarium can become very costly.

Most good local fish shops now have a wide range of aquariums that come as a complete kit, this will most likely include, fish tank, aquarium hood, stand, heater, pump, lighting, gravel and even a start pack of food and water treatments.

Tropical fish tanks can be a bright and cheerful addition to any room. Believe it or not the larger the tank they easier it is. The more water you have, the easier it is to maintain “balance” in your environment. Fish produce waste which turns to nitrite and then to nitrate. The larger water volume you aquarium has the less PPM (parts per million) these harmful bi-products will reach. This in turn means less water changes.

Not all fish play well together. Different fish have different personalities. Community Fish are good tank mates, while Aggressive Fish need special mates or none at all. Tank size is also important as well as filtration when deciding the fish you intent to keep in your aquarium. Remember fish will grow and some will quickly out grow your tank size. Speak with your local fish shop about the type of fish you intend to keep before deciding on your new aquarium.

Once you have you tank home and setup you can begin filling with water. Just because you now have water doesn’t mean you can rush out and get your fish. Your new tank needs to stabilise first. This is called cycling. With tropical tanks this only needs a few days as opposed to marine tanks which can take a month or two.

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