A fresh water aquarium can be described as a tank filled with fresh water – the tank is usually with glass borders on all sides – inside which aquatic plants and animals adapted to freshwater habitats are kept for decorative purposes, these are placed in home and public institutions.
An aquarium can be a really beautiful ornament in our house. Also with so many available tank sizes, equipment, and fish species, we can really enjoy an aquarium by our own standards. It is very important too that the fish also enjoy in its enclosure.
Before we can really our aquarium, we have to take some steps to make it functional so as to make our intended fish happy.
First of all the tank size depends how much free space we have in the tank and the kind of fish we plan to keep in them. For freshwater aquariums, the basic ‘rule of thumb’ for fish capacity is one inch of adult freshwater fish per gallon of water or per 24 square inches of the tank’s surface area.
An aquarium should constantly have a hood in other to stabilize the temperature and to prevent the occupant fish from jumping out. Lighting is also important because it serves two important functions; it illuminates the aquarium so the fish can be easily viewed when it’s dark or at night and also offers proper light energy for photosynthetic reaction in plants, algae and certain invertebrates in the tank.
A typical tropical aquarium must have a heater present and temperature should never drop below 74º F. Also, when buying a baby fish for your tank, ask around about the species and how its sizes as an adult, this is one of the principal mistake people make when buying a small fish and then as it turns out in a couple of weeks have grown into an adult and much more bigger than when procured, which then makes it too big for its tank.
The use of tap water (which has been treated with chlorine for human use), is deadly to our pets. By using a dechlorinator the chlorine present in the water can be removed.
It is important that you wait about a week after the fish tank have been prepared before introducing your first fish, only after then, introduce about three fishes and wait about 7 days before anymore additions. After about a month, the favorable bacteria have been established and the cycle of putting in place a new aquarium is complete!
The most common fish species that we can see in almost every pet shop are: Calico Fantail Goldfish,
Chinese algae eater, Danio zebra, Fantail goldfish, Neon tetra fish, Painted glass fish, Plecostomus, Red-Eyed Tetra and Serpae Tetra.
Some species of fish are more aggressive in nature while some are more easygoing. The most aggressive species are: Devils, African Cichlids, South American Cichlids and Oscars.
Community fish will tolerate and be peaceful with members of their own species and other species of similar size examples are: Tetras, Mollies, Platies and Goldfish.