Looking for a new aquarium? Are you new to this hobby? Don’t know where to start and what to buy? Then this article is for you. Hope this will be useful.
Am Sundar from FilialAquatics, all information shared below is from my personal experience and things may vary from person to person.
KNOW YOUR FISH
If you’re a beginner in this hobby, then I would suggest you to first go through what types of fish suit you, because knowing fish will help you to decide what size of aquarium will suit the fish you have selected also not all fish can be kept together, it’s because the fish in the aquarium hobby are from different part of the world and different fish have a different personality. Do your research before you buy fish from your local pet store, this saves a lot of your time and money.
Always identify your fish with a scientific name, because if you know the meaning of fish and why the fish is named after it? Knowing the scientific name will help you to identify whether a fish is a natural breed fish and cross breed.
For Example: – Benthochromis Tricoti, In Greek the word benthos means depth of the sea, and Chromis =a fish. The name clearly refers to the fish that live in deep water. They are found in Lake Tanganyika and live at depths of up to 100 m. So the fish should be kept in a tank that’s deep and large, Tricoti is the name of the Species.
Aquatic fish can be classified into two
a. Community fish – Fish that dwell together without any aggression
b. Territorial fish – Fish that live in the territory, For example, Cichlid
M.Festivus A beautiful South American Cichlid from River Amazon
SIZE OF THE AQUARIUM
If you’re a Beginner, believe it or not, bigger is always better. Large aquariums are always easy to maintain and more water means a large area for fish to swim and it maintains the tank environment.
I would recommend to start with 3×1.5×1.5 ft or larger. You can also keep certain fish in tank sizes not less than 5 liters for example: – Betta.
Water
Water, living home for fish, good thing or bad thing both happen in an aquarium based on the water quality maintained. Different fish have different water parameters. Before buying a fish always check what is basic parameters needed for the fish.
Two things are more important
For a tropical Aquarium pH is a scale of acidity and TDS ppm (Parts per million) – total dissolved solids, and represents the total concentration of dissolved substances in water. The ideal pH for almost all tropical aquarium fish is between 4.5-8 and TDS 30-170. pH and TDS will differ from species to species
For example: – Fish from Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika need a pH of 7-9 and a TDS of 120-170. Fish from Amazon need a pH of 4.5-7 and TDS of 30-80, in some cases even more.
To be Continued…
If you’re looking for help you can write to us at filialaquatics@gmail.com
If you’re looking for any aquarium-related accessories you can visit our website https://filialaquatics.in/
