How to Care for your Small Aquarium

-for tropical or cold water fish-


Before adding fish to your aquarium, please take the time to learn a little about your water quality. Wehave prepared a basic aquarium starter guide to assist you through the set up and maintenance process.

GETTING STARTED.
Q. “WHAT DO I ADD TO THE TAP WATER TO MAKE IT SAFE FOR MY NEW FISH?”.

Chlorine Neutraliser

This neutralizes the chlorine and chioramine (FLOURIDE) in our tap water. It also adds alovera which helps to protect the delicate slime coating that fish naturally use to protect themselves. If chlorine neutralizer is not used, the chlorine can burn away the protective slime coating and attack delicate gill structures, resulting in a decrease in immunity and respiratory function. There are several brands of neutraliser, please ask one of our staff to show you the range.

Conditioning (Hardness’) Salts

add minerals and electrolytes to tap water. Melbourne water is very low in minerals, this makes it nice to drink, but not too healthy for some breeds of fish. Please ask if the fish that you are keeping will need to have conditioning salts added to the aquarium. Always remember to dissolve the salts in a little warm water, before adding to your aquarium. The salt level can be tested using a general hardness (GH) test kit.

Live Bacteria

This is the most important thing to add to your tank as it naturally breaks down harmful ammonia. Ammonia is introduced to your aquarium via fish and food waste. Ammonia is toxic to fish. Once added, colonies of good bacteria will develop in the filter sponges,gravel and filter media. This bacteria will begin the process of breaking down the ammonia into a more harmless form of waste called Nitrate. Nitrate is not toxic in small levels and can be easily removed with your weekly water changes. Once you have opened the bottle, keep it refrigerated. There are two main brands of bacteria, Cycle and Stress-zyme.

HOW DO I SET UP MY NEW AQUARIUM?

FIRSTLY WASH EVERYTHING!
Anything that is added to your aquarium should be washed prior. Gravel especially will be dusty, even in sealed bags. Any ornaments that have been sitting on shop shelves, driftwood, rocks, even plants should be rinsed thoroughly before going into to your new tank. Make sure your tank is sitting on foam to protect the base, make sure that the stand or table that the tank is sitting on is level. Place your washed gravel in the base of the tank and slowly fill with water. Add chlorine neutralizer as per instructions on the label.
Add conditioning salts as per instructions on the label and remember to dissolve them first in a little warm water.

Turn on your filtration, heater, lighting etc and place your thermometer at the opposite end to the heater if the tank is tropical. Leave for one hour to make sure that all chlorine (fluoride) is dissipated than add your bacteria as per directions on the label. Let your tank run for 12 to 24 hours then bring down a sample of water in a clean glass jar. We will test the water for you to make sure that is safe for your fish. If the test is good, and no adjustments need to be made, we will advise you on a safe number of fish to start off with.

Feeding

Just like us, fish need variety in their diet. Don’t feed just one type of food. You will get more colour and healthier fish if you vary their diet. The diet should include, vegetable, live foods such as brine shrimp and black worm, and frozen foods such as blood worms. Ask our staff for an appropriate diet to suit the type of fish that you are keeping.

Feed twice daily, morning and evening but feed only small amounts at a time. There should be no food left in the tank after two minutes of being fed. Take out any uneaten portions of food with a net. Make sure not to leave any food to rot in the tank. This is what causes most fish diseases. Rotting food, causes poor water quality, which in turn effects the health of your fish.

Water Changes

How often to do water changes will depend on the amount of fish, the size of the aquarium and the quality of your filter. Once again we can advise you on how often to do your changes and keep helping you with testing your water until your are confident in managing your own aquarium. As a rule, a 10% change a week is a good thing. Small changes often are far better for the fish than leaving the tank for months then changing all of the water. Have a bucket of new water ready, conditioned with both the salts and the nuetralizer.

Start by cleaning the inside of the glass and any ornaments with a soft scourer to remove any algae build up.

Then use a gravel siphon to remove water from the tank, as this will ensure that you take all of the dirt from the gravel and not just the clean water from the top of the tank, (ask us fora demo).