Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Food Tips For Healthy Aquarium Fish

Choosing the best food for our fish pets really requires a lot of knowledge about choosing the right food considering the safety of our pets. Here are some advice from tropicalfishtanksonline.com for us to make sure that our fish eats the right food.

Packed dry food is almost all the time unbalanced and doesn’t assure the fish the nutrients he needs. Besides this, the dry food looses its nutrient and vitamin contents at room temperature after a while. This is why it is better to buy small packs of dry food rather than a big bag that will not be good after a few weeks. Breeders also suggest that dry food must be kept in the refrigerator.

These are a few arguments why fish owners should make sure they give their fish a balanced diet. Otherwise, the fish’s health will suffer.

Besides giving dry food, a change of diet is also recommended from time to time. The fish will be really happy to receive a new type of food with a different color or taste. A small change like this will make their life a little more pretty. Many owners create diversity by giving dry food in one day and live food the next day. With the latest technologies, the live food is also sterilized and ready to be served.

The majority of the aquarium shops sell two types of food: foods that are freeze dried and flake foods.

Foods that are freeze dried

In any aquarium shop you will find foods that are freeze dried and the fish love this type of meal. A freeze-dried food is usually formed of a single animal-ingredient. The most common are blood worms, mosquito larvae, and Tubifex worm. Breeders recommend that freeze-food is combined with flake type food.

Tubifex is the most popular freeze-dried food and I will talk about this a bit.

TUBIFEX – these are small red worms that can be collected from the bottom of some rivers or streams, especially where a lot of organic material can be found. It is very hard for an owner to collect these worms by himself so it is better to buy them from a specialized shop where they are clean, freeze-dried and sterilized. This is a traditional favorite food for most fish and it comes in cube forms.

From personal experience I could say that fish love Tubifex and they could eat them all day. Feeding the fish with Tubifex is done by placing the small worm cube to the front inside wall of the aquarium. As soon as you put it there, all the fish will jump at eat and start eat it till there’s nothing left. You will see how excited and satisfied they are after such a full and delicious meal.

If somehow there are some leftovers like bits and pieces of worms, don’t remove them because the fish will come back to eat the rest of the meal after they swim a little.

Flake foods

This type of food is also popular among owners and loved by fish. The breeders and sales persons from the shop recommend brands like Tetra®, Aquarian®, and Wardley®. The Aquarian and Tetra have a lot of different flakes specialties to choose from and all three of them have a good quality and an acceptable price.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Basic Aquarium Setup Safety Tips

This video will show you some basic information on aquarium setup safety and baic concepts you should know on your aquarium setup...

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Goldfish on Freshwater Aquarium Setup

Did you know that your goldfish can live for over 10 years? Under the right
conditions he can live even longer but most never make it past the first
year! If you want your goldfish to live long and healthy lives, you’ve got to
provide the proper freshwater aquarium setup for them.

It’s a common misconception that a goldfish can live in a tiny bowl. In
order for him to survive for any length of time, you’ll need to do frequent
water changes and cleanings of the bowl – that’s a lot of work and living
in a bowl isn’t much fun so it’s best to keep your fish in a regular tank
with a proper filtration system.


The size of your tank depends on how many goldfish you want to keep
in it. A good rule of thumb is to allocate about 7 gallons of water per fish,
so if you want 5 goldfish a 35 gallon tank is recommended. It’s better
to keep fish in a long tank that has plenty of surface to air space as
goldfish like to have a lot of oxygen in their water. A tall hexagon
shaped tank won’t be the best tank for these fish.

Goldfish like their water to be a little on the cool side – between 65 and
72 degrees Fahrenheit so in most cases a heater is not necessary. You
should, however have a thermometer in the tank and take the appropriate
measures if the temperature gets above 72 degrees as higher
temperatures can make your fish more susceptible to disease. Bear in
mind that most other tropical fish like their water on the warm side, so
you will have to be careful what fish you put in the tank
with your goldfish.

Provide the goldfish freshwater aquarium setup with a filtration system
that is appropriate for the size of the tank. If you are keeping the fancy
tailed goldfish, don’t use a system that will provide too much current as
this can make it difficult for them to swim around. You’ll also want
to provide periodic water changes, as you should with any tank.

One of the main reasons that fish become sick is due to poor water
quality. To keep your goldfish healthy, make sure you provide the filtration
and water changes but also be careful about overcrowding and
overfeeding. Too many fish or too much decaying food and waste will
cause the water in your tank to become toxic to your fish.

Keeping goldfish can be a wonderful hobby and with minimal work, you
can get a tank up and keep it running with healthy fish.

Monday, June 29, 2009

Plant Care for Freshwater Aquarium Setup

When you have a freshwater aquarium setup you must not think only of your primary inhabitants which are your fishes. Your aquatic plants also play an important role in that environment. We should bear in mind all the factor that is directly affecting them.

Photosynthesis and respiration are the most important processes for the plant to survive. So a balance amount of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and light is very important. These two alternate process is really needed by plants make their own food and to breath.

The pH value on the water should be checked from time to time. The pH value indicates whether the water is acidic or alkaline. Most aquarium plants can withstand pH in the range of 6.5 to 7.4 without any problems. There are some exceptions to this rule, but to a large majority of aquarium plants this is not critical. The pH scale runs from 0 to 14 with 7 being neutral. A low number indicates acidic water, while a higher number indicates more alkaline water. It's important to note that this scale of measurement is not linear, but logarithmic. What this means is that a pH reading of 5 is 10 times more acidic than a reading of 6, and 100 times more acidic than a reading of 7. So, where your fish are concerned a small numeric change in pH value to you could mean a dramatic change for your fish. pH stability is probably the most important factor for both your plants and your fish.

Hardness of the water also affects our water plants. When rainwater reaches the ground and flows through the soil, hardness-forming substances mix with the water in varying degrees. General hardness is determined by the quantity of dissolved magnesium and calcium ions. An ideal General Hardness would be 3 to 5 degrees. There are chemical substances sold in the market which will stabilize the pH and hardness of an ordinary tap water.

Plant fertilizer are also a good treat for our aquatic plants. These fertilizers comes in solid forms. Proper procedures must be followed for avoid rapid growth of algae in the tank. Read labels before applying such fertilizers so that you will know certain concentration needed for type of aquarium you have.

Substrate or the materials in the bottom of the tank should be ideal also to the plant growth. Certain nutrient and bacteria should be present. In addition, schedule of changing of your tank water and so as lighting and temperature also constitute on the condition of you substrate.

Maintaining a healthy freshwater aquarium setup means having a healthy plants, fishes, and other organism as well. You must think that you are making an ecosystem wherein each one is depending on each other.

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Well-lighted Setup Reef Aquarium

The most fascinating part about having an aquarium is to see those little water pets swimming on the aquatic world with a glimmering flashes of light. Before you light up that water world, there are few things you must consider to make it the ideal setup reef aquarium. The first thing that may come on you r mind will be the cost but it is also important to understand the purpose of lighting you fish tank.

Lighting you aquarium is not the same way of lighting your own room which you can choose whatever color or intensity you want. You must think first that your little friends should feel that they are on the real world. And what would be the ideal light, of course the sun itself. So, we need for look for lights which will give our fishes an impression that they are on a direct sunlight. Light also plays an important role on the body clock of our little friends. Sudden turning off of light supply may cause stress to them. It is very advisable to turn off your aquarium lights few minutes before you turn off the lights on your room. Same thing to do in the morning, turn on the light in your room first and then turn on your aquarium lights a few minutes later. It it normal not to have light at nighttime. Dark environment wont scare your fish, it is really dark at night on an underwater setting. The length of day and night time should be balance to maintain your fishes healthy. You must also think that its not only your fishes who needs light so as you aquatic plants which give oxygen to your little pets. If you choose a wrong type of the light, it may cause that your plants will not grow, but algae will.

According to aqua-fish.net, the most common lightings are Fluorescents tubes. They can be made in many color spectrum and many sizes. They lasts for about one year. They also can simulate daylight. Tungsten and Halogen Lamps are used in some cases, but they are not a good choice. They are maybe cheaper, but they need more energy and lasts for a short time. They also heat up the aquarium and they have not the right color spectrum for growing plants. This is also the the cause why normal lamps can’t be used. By the way, unlike like lamps specially made for aquariums, ordinary house lamps would not light up the whole aquarium the same way. Compact Fluorescents are like fluorescent tubes, but they last longer. They also need less energy even if they make more light. This can be possible because it looks like one long fluorescent tube shaped to U. Most lightings need more space, but this don´t. Compact Fluorescent and Fluorescents tubes.

Think first before you spend a dollar in your lighting so that your effort wont go into waste. There's no more place for your fishes to swim lively than a well-lighted setup reef aquarium.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Getting Started with your Aquarium

Setting up your aquarium is a little bit tricky considering the aquarium setup safety, cost, location and personal preferences. The first thing you should do is to picture out first what's your aquarium going to look like. You have an option to choose a smaller or a much bigger one. In my own opinion a container containing 20-30 gallons will do and the the shape will just depend on you. Take note that a smaller space will give your aquatic pets a little room to move and a little oxygen which could be fatal sometimes.

Location is one of the biggest factor to consider in your aquarium setup safety. Look for a space in the house which can be easily seen by visitors but is not directly hit by sunlight. Avoid placing your aquarium near the door or wherein people are passing by all the time. Noise may destruct and even cause stress to your aquatic friends. It is advisable to set it up on a much darker part of the room which also an advantage for if do some lighting effects in the future.

We already have an aquarium and a place for it, now its time to shop for accessories. You can visit your local pet shop for available accessories. Of course accessories will also depends on the the type of fish you want to put on you aquarium. Primarily the most important accessories are your gravel, filter, air pump, heater and etc. You can also ask advice from your local pet shop for quality products available. Once your aquarium is already set up pan to shop for fish the next day.