Saltwater Fish and Aquariums

August 25th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Owning a tropical fish aquarium can be a very rewarding and fulfilling hobby that can last a lifetime. There are many factors to consider when building and operating a saltwater aquarium. Questions to ask are; what type of fish do I want? Do I want to include coral? Do I have the funds to provide the upkeep needed? With a little planning and hard work, you can own and enjoy the fruits of your labor with a few helpful tips.

Your local pet store or aquarium store can usually assist you with the details of the sizing and how to set-up the equipment that you need to get up and going. You want to do your research (I can’t stress that enough) about what fish you want. There are some fish that do not co-exist well with others and by making the mistake of inserting these two in your waters will make for a huge headache real soon. The internet has plenty of great sources to look and see which fish are able to live together.

Now that you have found what fish you want to include and verified that these species get along together, you now want to look into creating the perfect environment for your fish. Keep in mind that a lot of that work is already done, as the pet store should have advised you to purchase the tools that simulate the movement of ocean water as well as correcting the salt and bacteria levels. In my personal experience, I chose to go with Australian sand. I did this because it provides the necessary bacteria needed to provide an “authentic” environment for the fish and coral. The coral also feeds off of the bacteria and so on thus creating the kind of environment that I wanted. The beauty of this is that you can modify this to fit your desires, just be sure to consult with your local tropical fish store to ensure that your desire won’t kill your fish or coral.

Starting cost can run into the thousands of dollars, so be prepared to spend. Keep in mind, however, that this will be a lifetime investment. Also keep in mind, the continuous cost to keep the tank healthy and the fish living. This varies greatly between tanks because of size and type of fish in the tank. Don’t attempt this unless you know that you can afford it. The last thing you want is to go in and buy the equipment and find you can’t commit to taking care of the fish and then your investments have gone to waste.

The average time from setting up your tank and putting water in it, to putting the fish in, is about three weeks. This is because you need to create that environment the fish need to survive. Your tropical fish store can provide in depth information regarding the pH levels, bacteria levels, movement of the water among other things. You can also read further about this online with e-books and tropical fish websites.

I hope this article has provided a small glimpse into a very rewarding hobby and I hope that you and your family can enjoy the beauty of a tropical fish aquarium.

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Posted in Aquarium

Aquarium Water Toys

August 23rd, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Kids of today’s generation aren’t only fascinated about toy cars, Barbie dolls, toy robots, stationaries, plastic animals, toy guns and cellular phones. They are also fond of aquarium water toys that give beauty enhancement to the aquarium where fishes are reared by fish hobbyists. Or probably the entire aquarium picture is shaped up with toys. Sea creatures can be transformed into plastic versions so that they appear to be fun and exciting to kids.

To those who are ocean adventurers or dreaming to be one, you might get so much enjoyment from the aquarium water toys available in the market. From swimming toy fishes to toy plants, they’re made with the finest materials to keep up with high quality and durability that most parents would get for their kids. Toys are part of a kid’s lifestyle.

Children take playtime as a fun escape from the tiring side of life. They are fond of imagining worlds where they don’t belong such as outer space and underworld. Oftentimes, they’d assume they are superheroes, little mermaids, fairytale characters and sea divers. There is no denying that parents would buy anything they can afford just to please their children. If their children point at some of the aquarium water toys, they usually end up saying yes. With this, manufacturers continue to upgrade the types of toys they produce.

The best-seller dinosaurs are now being joined manatees, whales and sharks as most sought-after aquarium water toys that kids love to possess. Moreover, replicas of more ocean animals like otters, sea turtles and sea lions are sellable as well. Inspired by the famous Sponge Bob cartoon program, toy manufacturers are also offering an entirely Sponge Bob themed aquarium line.

Aiming to soothe the baby’s pre-sleep hours, the aquarium water toys are converged in a bowl that plays lullabies and flashes bright lights. Sea creatures and fishes all move around the bowl. One good product is Ocean Wonders Aquarium.

Little aquariums and fishbowls filled with water are also a fascination among kids ages 1 to 3. In little aquariums, a snow-globe concept is enhanced by small tropical fishes swimming under the sea. The little aquarium has a magnetic effect that allows your kid to move the fishes. Bubbles, fishes and light effects are truly entertaining in fishbowls.

Some of the most popular aquarium water toys are the ocean-inspired Amazing Live Sea Monkeys, Sunken Treasure and Aquasaurs Prehistorical Pet Habitat. There are even aquarium cars transporting sharks and octopuses. The 83-piece Aquarium Set is also preferred as it has it all-aquarium cars, aquarium and fish food stock. Adventure parks are also adopting the phenomenal breakthrough in toys by affording the kid visitors some clip-on’s that are inspired by sea creatures.

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Posted in Aquarium

How to Use Laterite As a Substrate For a Planted Freshwater Aquarium

August 12th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Setting up a planted tank is one of the most beautiful and rewarding experiences in freshwater fish keeping. Not only will your aquarium look natural and provide cover for your fish (which keeps them happy), the plants will help keep the water free from nitrates and other toxic biological compounds. Most of my tanks are at least semi-planted and I almost never have “random fish deaths” in those tanks. Plants in my opinion can act as a buffer to keep the water more stable for your fish.

When you set up a planted tank there are many things to consider, such as which plants to pick, which lights and how much, and of course the substrate. For today lets focus on the substrate since it’s the foundation of your tank. If you are like most people, you go to the pet store and buy their overpriced bags of colored gravel. You end with an empty wallet and up wondering why your plants won’t grow properly.

The only thing from the typical pet store you are going to need for this is box of laterite. Laterite is a clay like substance that contains iron, which plant roots need to grow properly. A typical box for a 40+ gallon aquarium will probably run you about twenty dollars. Next go to a hardware store like Orchard Supply or Home Depot and take a look at their sands and gravels. Typically you can find a 50lb bag for around five dollars. Personally I prefer to have a nice texture to my gravel so it looks natural. I usually buy a second bag of a larger size that I will mix in.

Make sure to completely rinse the laterite and other substrates in buckets before putting them into the tank. The laterite is tough to get clean so do the best you can. When you are ready, lay the laterite down first evenly or more concentrated where you think you might have more plants. Next, if you chose 2 or more other components, mix them together until you create a texture that looks good to you. Place the mixed substrate over the laterite, completely covering it.

For most tanks, I’d say 2-3 inches is fine for substrate depth. When filling the tank with water, pour slowly and carefully or you will stir up dust and powder from the laterite. Also be careful if you only used sand with your laterite. Sand is fine but sometimes it (and this is rare) can compact and create toxic bubbles of bacteria. When it’s mixed with something else it’s more unlikely this is going to happen. A good burrowing fish can also prevent this too, much like earthworms churn soil. Your gravel should have a nice rich, natural look and be ready for plants….good luck.

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Posted in Aquarium

Centropyge – Smaller Angelfish For Smaller Aquariums

August 3rd, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Angelfish from the genus centropyge are seen as the ideal angelfish for those with smaller than usual marine aquariums. While larger tanks can be absolutely stunning if done right, maintenance can be pretty costly. They also take up a lot of space.

Because of this a good number of hobbyists have been going to pico, nano and smaller aquariums in the size range not exceeding 50 gallons. While pico and nano tanks are usually too small for most dwarf angelfish, aquariums between forty to fifty gallons can be ideal for some of them.

Ideally, a 75 gallon would be perfect but a 50 gallon will do for all but the largest members of the genus centropyge. These angelfish include the rare and expensive Centropyge Interruptus, Centropyge bicolor, Halfblack angelfish, Keyhole angelfish and one or two more. All of these fish can attain lengths of around six inches.

So we are left with the smaller members within the genus, mainly, everything else. The smallest of them are made up of 5 angels. Cherub pygmy, Fishers angel, White tailed dwarf and both the African and Brazilian flamebacks. These species are very small and are perfectly suited to smaller aquariums. A maximum length of no more than 3 inches is achievable in captivity while most of them enter the trade in sizes between an inch to two inches plus.

Next we have species that are considered medium sized dwarf angelfish. These include the popular Flame angelfish, lemonpeel angel, potters angel and many more. They make up a good number of species within the genus. One of them is also the most popular dwarf angelfish in the market. The flame angelfish, with its stunning all red and orange colors with black tiger stripes running down its side.

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Posted in Aquarium

Feng Shui – Using Mirrors and Aquariums

July 29th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Mirror plays an important role in Feng Shui. Do not keep mirrors facing the entrance as it reflects back the good energy from entering our homes. Mirrors near the dining table are good, but mirrors near the stove are very bad Feng Shui. Mirrors reflecting the dining table enhance good fortunes, whereas mirrors reflecting the cooking gas cylinder or the stove, can be fatal.

Aquarium with Goldfish: A great way of enhancing good luck in the house is by keeping some goldfish in an aquarium or fish bowl. You should keep nine goldfish, out of which eight should be red or golden in color and one should be black. If your goldfish die, do not worry, just get some more and replace them.

It is also believed that when a fish dies in your home, it takes some of the bad luck away with it, which otherwise would have befallen a member of the family. Avoid keeping goldfish in the bedroom, or in the kitchen or in the toilet. It can lead to some material losses. The best place to keep an aquarium is in the living room, and the right direction is in the East, South-east, or North.

Water features, if kept correctly, can bring excellent luck. But if kept wrongly they prove to be very harmful. Never place an aquarium on the right hand side of your main door. The Chinese of olden times liked to display auspicious writings and symbols in their homes, which bring them luck. The various symbols like Cross, Star of David, OM, Star of Bethlehem, Crecent etc. can be freely displayed in most parts of the home. Avoid displaying such symbols in bath rooms and toilets.

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Posted in Aquarium

Reef Ready Aquariums

July 26th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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A reef ready salt water aquarium is simply an aquarium that comes with an established community of reefs needed for your salt water fish and can be readily purchased from aquarium manufacturers. There are actually many people notably novices, who do not have time and sufficient knowledge to make their own reef ready aquariums and will therefore resort to buying one so that they don’t have to go through all those hassles and troubles in getting one.

In fact, in order to successfully setup a reef ready aquarium, a person actually needs a lot of commitment and patience as well, not to mention also it will take months to actually setup and then maintain a healthy population. Many of the reef ready aquariums are done by professionals and they use certain techniques to ensure that the reefs will be able to live in artificial home water aquariums.

According to internet sources, certain reefs are actually obtained from the sea and do check properly from the aquarium manufacturers whether these reefs are harvested legally. This is especially true because in order to obtain one 50 gallon of aquarium full of reefs, the person has to scour a large area of the sea and this potentially could cause ecological damage to the environment. Try to avoid buying from these suppliers and instead go and look for those professionals who grow and sell reefs harvested from their farm. It is also wise to avoid buying reefs obtained from the sea because the reefs usually does not live long due to unable to acclimatize with artificial salt water environment.

Many of those reef ready aquariums that can be purchased also comes with a complete kit of chemical preparations, water temperature controller and some of them are also fixed with electronic pH meter and salt water salinity device to help and adjust water parameters according to measurements. Professional aquarium reef makers also ensure that the reefs are artistically arranged in order to create a wonderful sight for the owner. Therefore, be prepared to pay a high price for it because there are actually not many suppliers around and one would have to go through an amount of time searching through the internet.

It is certainly costly to purchase a reef ready aquarium, but the reward of having one is simply great minus the time needed to spent on it for the setup. The owner would only need to worry about getting the right fish for their reef ready salt water aquarium.

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Posted in Aquarium

Understanding Saltwater Aquariums – All About Gravel in a Salt Water Fish Tank

July 24th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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The gravel in a salt water fish tank is not the same as the gravel in a standard freshwater tank. Gravel in a salt water fish tank is called aragonite and it does some pretty special things.

Aragonite is used as gravel in saltwater aquariums for a variety of reasons. For one it is bright white so it will help to show off the colors of the saltwater fish much better.

This special marine aquarium gravel will also help you stabilize the PH in your tank. Aragonite starts to dissolve at a PH below 7.8. When it dissolves it releases minerals that help to bring the PH back up over 8.0 which is great for your fish.It does this 24/7 with out ever taking a break or missing a beat.

It also is believed to release some much needed trace elements into the water when it dissolves and these are believed to improve marine fish and invertebrate health in your tank.

Aragonite comes in a variety of sizes that range from very coarse all the way down to sugar fine sand. While it comes down to personal preference what one is the best most experts agree that you should stick to medium size grains for your saltwater tank.

The large grains can trap dirt, marine fish waste and uneaten food in places where it can decompose and add t algae problems. The very fine sugar sand blows around very easily.

If you have strong currents in your saltwater tank you may have a hard time keeping it from all blowing into one corner, this gets annoying over time.

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Posted in Aquarium

Introduction to Fish Aquariums

July 22nd, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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If you have even a passing interest in the topic of fish aquarium, then you should take a look at the following information. This enlightening article presents some of interesting facts on the subject of aquariums.

An aquarium is made of glass or extremely strong plastic and is basically made for holding fish, amphibians or any other type of marine animal. The aquarium can contain tropical or salt water fish, or even corals but the aquarium has to be able to maintain the weight of the water that will be put into the tank. Aquariums are fast becoming one of the leading hobbies around, many people use aquariums for decorative purposes.

Fish aquariums range in size, they can be simple gold fish bowls or they can be intensive set up reaching something like eight or even nine feet wide. Many people even boast of a fish room. Fish collecting has been around for years and is especially popular in countries like Japan. The Japanese are renowned for keeping coldwater fish such as Koi in extremely decorative ponds outside, these Koi are basically beautifully decorated goldfish.

Aquariums are amazing pieces of equipment but they do need a lot of work and attention . That’s why this hobby is not for young people. It is more of an older person’s hobby who is going to be willing and responsible enough for all the things that are required when setting up and maintaining an aquarium. They can be the most beautiful thing to look at if they are decorated nicely enough, and I’m sure that you will do a great job in making sure that the aquarium looks just like the creature natural habitat, this is what makes the animal settle quicker! Just make sure that you are prepared to take on the responsibility before investing in an aquarium as they can cost quite a lot of money!

So now you know a little bit about fish aquariums. Even if you don’t know everything, you have done something worthwhile: you have expanded your knowledge.

Fish Aquarium

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Posted in Aquarium

Bottom Feeding Fish For the Aquarium

July 21st, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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Where would aquariums be without bottom feeding fish? Algae is the preferred diet and therefore a well established tank is required and/or algae wafers should be supplied. Twig catfish can be kept in most freshwater community tanks without problems. Algae Eaters will spend most of their time on the bottom of the tank, sucking algae of the substrate and rocks.

Siamese Algae Eaters usually don’t need an aquarium heater, and they seem to well from about 68 to 80 degrees F. We have not had problems with these fish jumping out of the large aquariums in our facilities. Siamese algae eaters crowd together when small in the aquarium shop, but as they grow become increasingly aggressive and territorial. A foot long territorial fish requires a great deal of space to house it. Siamese Algae Eaters often chase one another, but they never get hurt in these fights. As they are not aggressive, they can be kept in any community tank big enough.

Algae are photosynthetic organisms. They rely on light for all life processes. Algae is the preferred diet and therefore a well established tank is required and/or algae wafers should be supplied. Twig catfish can be kept in most freshwater community tanks without problems. Algae Eaters should not be put into newly established tanks, as there will not be any algae present for them to eat. This has to be one of the hardest fish to catch.

Algae eaters are important in a plant tank, but should be selected carefully. Discus are big and slow-moving, and also have a tasty slime coat. Algae (pronounced AL-jee) are simple forms of marine plant life. They?re pretty basic: they lack leaves, roots, flowers, seeds, and all the other things we normally associate with plants. Algae eaters are important for the fishkeeping hobby and many are commonly stocked by the trade. The true algae eaters are cypriniform fishes of the genus Gyrinocheilus , family Gyrinocheilidae .

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Posted in Aquarium

Tips For Choosing the Right Aquarium Canister Filter For Your Saltwater Aquarium

July 11th, 2010 by Juan Hendrick
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When it comes to filtration methods for saltwater aquariums the canister filter ranks up at the top of the list. They do a great job, are easy to use and are generally affordable. However not all canister filters are the same. Below you will see some simple tips to help you when shopping for canister filters for your saltwater aquarium.

Tips For Picking The Right Filter Setup

Replacement Part Availability- When you are at the local fish store looking at the selection of filters take notice if they also sell replacement parts for the unit you are interested in , if you do not see them ask if the stock them.

Common parts that go bad are the impellers, rubber gaskets and o-rings. These normally go bad at the wrong time and most of the time your filter will not work or worse yet leak without them and waiting days for a mail order part to arrive will not work.

Saltwater Safe- Not all aquarium canister filters will work with saltwater tanks. Filters that are not saltwater safe often use material that will corrode or slowly dissolve when exposed to seawater. Make sure that the box states that it will work in saltwater or filter failure will eventually occur.

Ease Of Service- All aquarium filter systems need to be serviced and maintained to function right and some are harder to service then others. When you are looking at aquarium filter units ask the salesmen how easy the unit is to clean or care for.

Also take note if it has quick disconnect fittings, these allow you to remove the filter system from the hoses without having water leak all over the place. Not all canister filters have these so double check that the one you like does or you will be in for a headache

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Posted in Aquarium
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