Keeping Tropical Fish - A New Adventure?

Did you know that the keeping of fish dates back to antiquity? It may be true but only recently has the activity become popular among all age groups.

Have you joined the multitudes who have recently contributed to the popularity of keeping tropical fish? It really has become popular as many homes now have at least a small aquarium among its furnishings. They may consist of a few goldfish in a small coldwater aquarium or they may consist of several colorful fish swimming about.

Your aquarium is most likely one of three different types: coldwater, warm water (heated) or marine. If you are keeping tropical fish, you almost certainly have a heated aquarium. Remember, tropical fish come from the tropics where it's warm. The Amazon, Africa and the south of Asia are where most tropical fish originated.

Most pet and fish stores have all in one packages that include everything you need to get started: aquarium, stand, lights, heater, filter and gravel and other decorative additions. If you're just starting out, this is a good way to go since you will save money over buying all the components individually.

Be sure to ask the store personnel for advice on which fish are the hardiest and easiest fish to keep. These may include tetras, danios, barbs, Livebearers and Cordyoras. Also, don't add too many fish at a time as the aquarium needs time to mature and get "broken in". Adding too many at once will not allow the tank to develop the bacteria needed to break down the fish's waste.

Finally, a good idea is to visit your library or go on the internet to learn about keeping fish successfully. There are hundreds of books and sites which can offer a wealth of tropical fish keeping information. A good tank, kept properly can give you and your family hours of enjoyment and relaxation..

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Eileen Church has had tropical fish ever since she was a little girl. She operates www.tropicalfishfacts.com which is a great resource about tropical fish. Be sure to visit www.tropicalfishfacts.com

Where to Buy Fish Tank Supplies

One of the biggest questions that people who are new to fish tanks have is, "Where can I buy fish tank supplies?� This is often an easy question to answer. There are three places that you can look for fish tank supplies: your local pet store, a pet superstore, or an online store. Try all three sources until you find exactly what you want.

Your local pet store should have a good selection of fish tank supplies. They may not have all of the specialized goods that you are looking for, but for basic supplies such as gravel, you should be set. These local pet stores are also a good place to go if you are in need of advice on which fish tank supplies to buy. Store employees at these smaller shops often love to converse with their customers. Use this to gain all the knowledge you need to find supplies or care for your fish and fish tank.

A pet superstore is the place to go if you are in need of a wide variety of fish tank supplies. These bigger stores offer many of the supplies that you would never be able to find at a local store. Whereas the local stores have the basic necessities, the bigger stores will have everything that the advanced aquarium keeper may want to buy. They also offer a wider variety of the basic supplies. For example, a small local pet store may only offer a couple colors of gravel, whereas a large superstore will have all of the colors that a manufacturer offers. The pet superstore, found in many modest to large cities are hard to beat when looking for supplies for your fish tank.

If the pet store route does not work, you can always turn to an online pet store. These stores offer up all of your needs at the same place. If you are looking to get everything you need at one place, you may want to check online. Online, you can try Ebay or do a search on google to find supplies. Individual online pet store can also be found with a search on google.

Fish tank supplies can be found in abundance at all three of the outlets listed above. Check all of them out before making a final purchase. You may be surprised at what you will find. Styles, types and prices will vary greatly.

Keith Londrie II is a well known author. For more information on Fish Aquariums, please visit http://www.fish-tanks-information.info/ for a wealth of information. You may also want to visit keith's own web site at http://keithlondrie.com/

Maroon Clownfish

The gold-striped maroon clownfish, or premnas biaculeatus, is one of the most common varieties seen in saltwater home aquariums. It's also one of the largest, growing to as much as six inches in length. While young, the fish are the same maroon/red in the body, but their three vertical body stripes start out white, and gradually take on a yellow hue, turning gold around the time of maturity at one year of age. Like other clownfish, they have a sexual dominance pattern, where they all start out as males, but in a pair of maroon clownfish, the more aggressive fish will develop into a female of larger size. In groups, there will be one large, dominant female, one smaller breeding male, and the rest will remain males that are even smaller, and not sexually active. These are among the easiest of clownfish to breed, and are quite hardy, making them suitable for the new aquarium enthusiast. However, they are also the most aggressive of clownfish, and if you have other varieties in the tank, you can have territorial disputes. They enjoy an aquarium kept at 72-78F, a pH of 8.1-8.4 and a diet of meaty foods.

How to get a Breeding Pair of Discus fish

Most discus keepers will one day want to breed there fish. Some will just want one pair and some will want there very own fish house stocked full of discus fish. Everyone starts with just one pair, I know I did. I soon wanted more and then more. As you go along you keep adding to your collection. The good thing about breeding discus is that you can cover all of your expenses by selling your young one. Now I know some of you are just getting into discus fish and might like to know how is the best way to go about breeding discus and getting a pair. There are three options available if you want to acquire a pair of discus, here there are: 1, firstly, the most common way to do it is to buy six to eight young discus at around 3in and grow them up. By doing this you should be able to get one or two pairs of discus. 2, secondly you can buy a proven pair of discus from an importer. This is risky as you need proof and they will be very expensive. 3, the last way to get a breeding pair of discus is to buy two or three young adult discus at around 5in size. At this size there may be some signs of what sex the fish is and if you get three your chances of getting a pair can be good. Now there are positives and negatives about all of these methods. Not one method is better than the next but it depends on the individual. For a beginner I would recommend starting which young less expensive fish as then you have room for mistakes. If you require your pair fast for whatever reason the way to go is to get a proven pair from a trusted dealer. You are paying extra for convenience here of not having to pair the fish up yourself. The method I like is to select young fish and grow them on as this enables me to select only the best discus for breeding and gives me more control. However I have in the past purchased adults of a new strain to give me a head start over other breeders.

How To Properly Introduce New Fish Into Your Aquarium

There are two areas of introducing new fish into an aquarium that you must be aware of:

1. Fish Quarantine

Fish quarantine is one big, singular factor that must be observed strictly before you can be sure that your new fish is of good health and not an apostle of doom for the other inmates. Most new fishkeepers donÂ’t take consider this very important factor.

For the benefit of intending aquarists, quarantine in the fish world refers to the physical and chemical treatment of new fishes (either imported or caught from the wild) to rid them of disease and restlessness before introduction into a new environment,

A small quarantine tank (30x20x25cm) is advisable for any serious aquarist. The alternative is to be sure that your pet shop has a functional quarantine section to cater for bacterial, fungal and viral diseases.

This is a sure guarantee against fish deaths. The unfortunate thing with most shops in the country is the lack of space and inadequate expertise to build and administer the prophylaxis procedure on new fish, as the procedure is sure to last at least nigh days! To the average aqua-investor, this is an unnecessary tie down of capital and you know what that means.

Admittedly, the expense incurred on quarantine by way of chemical purchase e.g. copper sulphate, wescodyne, malachite green, teremycin etc) is high. This is more or less reflected on the final sales price of the fish, which is slightly higher in our shop. But, this would pay you off in the long run, as it is unlikely that you will complain of fish deaths any longer.

I am quite sure, some fish farmers reading this column would be more concerned about the application of this procedure to solve their farm problems especially those with hatcheries or those who stock with post fry and fingerlings.

2. Feeding New Fish

When you just introduce a new fish to aquarium tank itÂ’s necessary to feed the fish. Though this will not be instant because no matter how carefully you add the fish to your aquarium tank they will look very unhappy for a while.

Thus itÂ’s necessary that you turn the flights out, and leave them overnight to get used to their new home first before thinking of feeding them. Then feed fish with aquarium fish food with fish flakes the next day, this will make the fish feel at home.

If you already have an established tank, it is advisable to quarantine new fish before adding them to an existing populated, and the cheapest way to do this is to purchase a plastic tank which will need no gravel or plants.

This can be used solely for quarantine and as a hospital tank.

Leave the fish in this tank for about three days during which any disease harbored by the fish would be evident for which it can be treated using available chemicals from your dealer. The fish can then be introduced into the tank in the same way as before.

When you add new fish to an established community, there will probably be a certain amount of harassment of the new arrivals by the original fish. Try to divert their attention by giving them a good feed when the fish are introduced.

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For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out tropicalfish.aquariumspot.com

Home Aquarium

Home aquariums are becoming more and more popular, it is a hobby that many people are flocking too and fish shops are on the rise. Fish are generally easy to keep although do they need quite a bit of attention. Puppies and kittens were the typical pet but now fish are becoming more and more frequent in house holds. In recent years fish shops have noticed a great increase in the rise if people wanting to purchase aquariums and fish, the boom has been great for local shops as the fish industry hasn't been such a great industry before now. When collecting fish for a home aquarium it is always great to seek some advice from your local pet shop. They are the experts and what they say should be given great consideration. They explain to you the process in which bacteria builds up. They let you know all the essentials in setting a great home aquarium and they know the best fish that is suited to your needs. They let you know all about the responsibilities that are involved when deciding to set up a home aquarium. Fish shops are brilliant for purchasing the equipment that you need, it is cheaper than anywhere else, except the internet of course. Most fish experts will advise you to purchase a ready made aquarium that comes with the tank, stand, heater, filter and lighting equipment. Home aquariums can be as small and simple as you like or they can be huge and intensive set ups that requires hours each week of maintenance. A home aquarium can be a great experience for all the family and it is something that they can all join in, although keep the children away from the poisonous fish, and the fish waste! Which ever aquarium set up that you choose you should always make sure that you take great effort in keeping the fish. After all it would not be nice to wake up one morning and find that all your fish are dead, now would it?!

Aquarium Filter System Tips

Fish excrete waste constantly just like any other living things as they swim around the water. This waste is a potential poison to fish thus it's highly essential to find a way to remove this toxin from the aquarium tank.

The process of removing this excess food, decaying matters, dangerous chemicals, fish waste products and free floating particles from aquarium water is called filtration. And the tools use is called filter.

Filters for aquariums come in all sorts of shapes, types and sizes, but they perform the same basic function, and that is to circulate the water through some form of straining or cleansing medium at such a rate that the water is kept clean physically and biologically.

Filters are categorized as 'inside', 'outside' and sub gravel; based on the location around the aquarium, but the location is not as important as the way in which it operates.

The three major categories are mechanical, biological and chemical.

Mechanical filters remove unwanted materials from the water by straining and /or the use of absorbent materials. It helps maintaining water clarity doing so.

Biological Filtration: - Unlike mechanical filtration process biological filtration involves bacteria and other microorganisms converting your fish's waste into less toxic substances through a process call cycling. Biological filter will convert your fish's toxic waste ammonia into Nitrite, and from nitrite to nitrate, which is relatively harmless. This cycling reduces the required maintenance in your aquarium. Chemical filtration as the name implies can remove toxins and other chemically induced material from your aquarium system with the use of activated carbon. It's necessary to change activated carbon should be changed often to have a save community.

How Poisonous Substances Your Aquarium Can Cause Fish Death

Aquarium water becomes dangerous to fish when it’s over-saturated, as a result of nitrogen cycle in the water. In this short article, we shall look at the causes and the simple way out to limit continuous death of aquarium fish.

As we are all aware, atmospheric air is made up of about 23 per cent oxygen and 76 per cent Nitrogen together with host of other gases in very minute quantities. It follows that when we put on the airflow system of our aquarium, the air pumped in contains a little oxygen and a lot of nitrogen.

This atmospheric nitrogen can lethal to fish when the water is over-saturated (over 100 per cent) saturation with this gas.

Research has shown that nitrogen embolism otherwise known as NITROGEN GAS BUBBLE DISEASE can occur with 103-118 per cent nitrogen saturation and cause a lot of fish casualties.

This condition can affect an aquarium fish when one is replacing the old aquarium water with slightly warm fresh water. The infection is characterized by the presence of small bubbles of nitrogen beneath the skin in the fins, tail or mouth, behind the eyes, and in the blood vessels.

One can prevent the disease by aerating the water to be introduced for a while in order to clear the excess nitrogen. Affected fish would be placed in a small bucket of water into, which has been passed an airstone device to properly aerate the water. The fishes are bound to recover spontaneously if the aquarist takes an immediate remedial action.

For more great aquarium related articles and resources check out http://aquariumfilters.aquariumspot.com