There are several hobbies one can have that turn in to real passion some day. One among them is maintaining an aquarium. This hobby though is a serious one as there is no room for mistakes else you shall land up harming or killing a living creature.
The first and foremost thing you must understand before deciding to take care of an aquarium and its fishes is that prior to purchasing the fishes you must prepare the fish tank and make it apt for the fish to live in. This process needs lot of patience and knowledge else you might land up killing those beautiful creatures.
For preparing the fish tank you must first add the gravel and all other additives in the tank. Make sure that all these decorations are rinsed well so that the water is free of all harmful bacteria. The process of preparing the tank can take anywhere between 24 hours and 4 weeks.
Make sure that you do not use any soap while washing these substrates. Next, fill in the tank with dechlorinated water. Attach the filters & lighting. Now, allow the tank to cycle until at least once the water becomes clouded. Then allow the cloud to settle down. Make use of that test kit to check for the optimal temperature of water and for the sufficient P.H.
Also, be sure that you do not add any new fish to the tank until and unless the water in there is crystal clear.
Actually, when the aquarium is fully functional, some bacteria support the breakdown of ammonia in to nitrates. These bacteria are generated from the existing fish hence they are not there in a non-active fish tank. So, the crux of this explanation is that without any existing fish, there would be no good bacteria in the tank water.
This is called as the nitrogen cycle. You must know that the nitrogen cycle would not initiate until & unless you add fish to the tank. Hence, running the empty tank for quite a lot of days would not do any help.
The nitrogen cycle that takes place in the fish tank clears away the toxic chemicals being generated in there in to beneficial ones. This cycle generates foam that makes the water cloudy for sometime. This is a natural process and you do not have to worry if this happens, rather it proves that the tank is healthy enough for the fish.
Here are some simple points to understand what nitrogen exactly is:
1. Like all living beings the fishes eat food & generate waste or excreta.
2. This waste combines with the excess food that settles down at the base of the tank and the plant debris forming ammonia in your aquarium.
3. Ammonia is quite toxic and hence pretty harmful for the fishes, therefore we need to imply a mechanism to break it down.
4. This mechanism is the nitrifying of bacteria.
5. These bacteria turn the ammonia in the aquarium in to nitrites that are rather tolerable to the fishes.
6. Next, the varied nitrifying bacteria would convert the nitrites in to nitrates that are further less toxic for the fish & other aquarium life.
7. These nitrates are collected & minimized by filters. They would eventually accumulate in your tank.
Know your fish
Here are some types of fish that we recommend you to place in your aquarium:
1. Hardy fishes like barb, danios, gouramis, and other live bearers are known for their ability to withstand quite high nitrite levels & ammonia that are generated in a new aquarium.
2. Check that the ideal way is to introduce only one fish at a time, and gradually increase the number of fishes in the tank. You could also consider starting with 4 different types of hardy fishes, one of each type.
3. The right way to add a fish in the tank is that you must afloat the fish in a bag in to the aquarium for around 15 minutes prior to leaving them in the tank. This would help your fish get acclimated to the temperature of the water in its new home.
4. Make sure that you do not add the water of the fish bag in to the aquarium as this water might be contaminated, or would at times affect the temperature of the aquarium and the P.H. level of the water in there.
5. Before giving the first ever feed to the fish, give it at least two hours to get acquainted with its new house.
6. While purchasing the first fish of yours, be sure to purchase some food for it. Remember that you should feed only small amounts of the food initially.
7. The food that remains settles down at the bottom and rots down finally. This rotten food becomes debris and develops severely toxic chemicals that can kill your fish that is ammonia. So, try to maintain the least amount of remaining food. This thing must be taken are of in the newly set up aquariums especially those that lack the nitrifying bacteria.
8. The trick to do it simply is to watch your fish while feeding them. Only put in the amount of food it consumes in the first 2-3 minutes, that to only twice a day. In case of food, also make sure to read through the label of the fish that you always get on the purchase of the fish.
9. During the first month, make sure to test the level of P. H. in the water everyday.
10. In case the tank is getting cloudy; it is time to add some clarifiers in the water.
11. Monitor your fish well enough for any signs of ailment or stress.
12. The usual behavior study of the fish in the aquarium explains that the healthy fish would swim regularly and the lethargic ones would usually hover around the surface of its aquarium.
13. Hence, water in the tank must be changed regularly, especially when it is new. For the new fish tank you must consider changing around 10% of its total water every few days. This must be done for at least the first few weeks or so.
