Starting your first tropical fish tank

InterPet 120 | FLUVAL ROMA 90 / 125 | JUWEL RIO | BOYU | AquaMode | Filters

48 Litre Fish Pod tank by interpet

Aquarium Fish Blog 2019 - 2020

If you’re about to set up your first aquarium, here’s my blog and simple guide.

Most beginners generally start with a 32 to 48 Litre Fish Tank. Usually made by interpet, Juwel, Fluval or Tetra.

A heater with built in thermostat is an essential piece of kit in order to keep tropical fish. Also add a thermometer to confirm temperature is what it should be. Some advanced heaters have a LED display.

A filter is considered essential hardware for all aquariums, as they are life support systems for fish. No aquarium should be set up without one, and they need to operate 24 hours per day, from day one.

Before adding fish the tank must be cycled. Cycling is a process that allows development on good bacteria and can take up to 6 weeks. But there are ways to speed this up. Adding filter start and setting the temperature to 28. A normal tank is usually 25 to 26 degrees C. You will know when it is almost complete, is when it hits the 'Bacteria Bloom' stage, which can visually be seen as a slightly cloudy water. You will now need to start monitoring the condition of the water with a 'water test kit'

Popular Community Fish to start with

Neon tetra

Bright and beautiful, this tiny blue glowing “neon” effect and red fish swims around the upper levels of the tank and is happiest in groups of six or more.

The Neon Tetra fish in the tank.

Guppy

Also known as million fish and rainbow fish, is one of the world's most popular freshwater aquarium fish species and you can see why.

the world's most popular freshwater aquarium fish species. Wayne's AquaWorld

The Guppy fish in the tank.

Platy / Platie

With many different variety of colors and markings available, a small group of four or five platies makes a good first choice to your tank.

Filling your first tropical platy fish tank aquarium setup. Wayne's AquaWorld

The Platy fish in the tank.

Honey Gourami - Trichogaster chuna

Ideally suited to a well planted aquarium.

Gouramis, or gouramies, are a group of freshwater anabantiform fishes that comprise the family Osphronemidae. Wayne's AquaWorld

The Red Honey Gourami fish in the tank.

Betta fish are native to Asia, where they live in the shallow water of marshes, ponds, or slow-moving streams.

Black Widow / Skirt Tetra - (Characidae) ... Quite nippy.

Black Widow / Skirt Tetra Gymnocorymbus ternetzi Characiformes Characidae Wayne's AquaWorld

Adding an algae cleaning pleco

Algae is always appearing on the glass, and covers tank ornaments. Deciding to get one of these should mean you never have to clean the inside of the glass again.

Bristlenose Ancistrus catfish, which has a sucker mouth. Wayne's AquaWorld

The next morning I could not believe how much of the brown algae had gone, the fish even goes up leaves and the glass to is spotless.

I liked the idea of shrimps, but also fancied an otto or similar.

I especially liked the black shrimps with white feet, but they were ever so small. So I settled for a Bristle nose catfish (Ancistrus) native to freshwater habitats in South America and Panama, and has a sucker mouth.

My Aquarium Blog

2nd june - My Fish has come back to life :)

31st May - My fish is hiding, and jerky and goes into spasms. The fish was also not eating and had picked up a disease.

What I used:

Disease Clear by King British - Effective treatment for most bacterial and fungal infections.
STRESS COAT with healing power of Aloe Vera.

25th May - TANK CYCLING - My Aquarium is spiking Nitrate and nitrites after been going for 6 weeks, it is now in the final stage of cycling. So I am currently doing a 15% water change on a daily basis. Along with water tests using test strips.

Unfortunately I woke up to find one of my first was fish laying still on the gravel floor, sadly it had passed away :(

I then carried out a 5 in 1 water test which measures pH, Nitrite, Nitrate, Carbonate & general hardness. It showed all levels where higher and confirms it is in the final stage of Cycling an Aquarium. Buy a test kit here

Getting Fish

Luckily there are supplies nearby in Watford, Pets at Home and World of Water.

Pets at Home has developed a handy points system to help you choose the right combination of fish for your aquarium – just check the “fish point value” of the tank you want to buy, then tally up your “fish points” as you select your fish.

My first tank: Aquastart 320 - 28litre. I added a PF1 water filter / airator by Interpet.

I bought the Aquarium starter tank by Interpet from my local World Of Water. It came with under gravel filter pump included.

After re-decorating my home, with new side units, I decided to get the fish tank from out of the loft and back in use since it would make a nice addition..