Keeping tropical fish

Starting off with what should be a hassle-free hobby

by Walter Spanner

Setting up your Tropical Fish Tank is a personal thing. You might think that it is the best thing that you've seen, and others might think that theirs' is better. Well I can tell you 'it's your opinion that counts' no one else's; so long as you and your fish are happy, that's OK.

As I said in the first chapter you must have a base, so we will start with you having one. The tank must go on some polystyrene, thick enough to stop anything underneath that might break the glass base of the tank. I will now list the things you will need; these are essential for the safe keeping of the fish, and their survival.

Gravel, heater (or heaters), filters, plants, (whether they are real or plastic), air pump, lights, cover (for the top). If you bought all of them at once, you would pay a lot of money, so try buying the bits slowly so it doesn't make a big hole in your pocket in one go. I myself have got into trouble in the past quite a few times with my wife, buying things that are expensive and telling her 'it was not that much'.

Gravel: Only needs to be about 2 inches deep; if you are going to use an under-gravel filter then it needs to be 3 inches deep.

Heaters: you will only need one for a tank which is no bigger than 30 inches long, but by having 2 if one goes wrong then you still have the other one to fall back on. You can get heaters in various lengths and at different wattage, to suit the size of the tank. Either ask the shop keeper, or look on the net and there are also a lot of manufacturer's websites you look at. Bigger tanks need more than one heater and if you get a 6-foot tank you probably need 3 heaters.

Filtration System. This is the life-support system for the fish: if you get this wrong then your fish will almost certainly die. Ok, it might be the most expensive thing that you are getting for say a biggish tank say over 3 feet long but it is worth it in the end. You can use internal filters that work inside the tank, or external that work outside the tank or you can use an under gravel filter system; some say 'it's out of date', but I still use them in two of my tanks. They work by having a plastic plate over the bottom with holes in it then covered over with gravel. Each end of the plate has a tube that rises up and you can either put an air stone in it to draw the water up or you can put a power head on the top of the tube thus pulling the water up. The choice is yours. One thing you must consider when choosing your filter is how easy is it going to be when you clean it out, except the under gravel filters as they only need cleaning out about 2-3 years or so.

Plants : there are plastic ones, some that very realistic and there are the real ones. The plastic plants are quite dear, if you buy a lot of them, but at least they don't die off. The real ones grow really lovely but require some work to keep them alive, but it is worth it in the end.

Air Pumps: These also come in different sizes and have one or more outlets to power more air stones or ornaments, some are nosier than others. I myself have never come across a totally silent one yet. They seem to be worse at night, when everything else is quiet. Like most of us that have them, I have tried putting the pump on different types of material (foam, bubble rap etc), and even tried hanging them in glass jars to stop the noise.

Lights: You only really need these to grow plants, but if it is just to show off the fish then it doesn't matter that much what sort of lighting you have. The only thing that I will say about it is 'you must make sure that it is safe against the chances of water getting in'. I will go into lighting in more detail later as it is a large subject, if you are growing plants.

Covers: These are needed for 2 reasons. First is to keep the fish in, and the other is to keep other things out - such as my granddaughter, who likes to put her hands in - and to stop any airborne particles. It also keeps the water from evaporating.

Now, that should be all but the water. I will go into more detail in the next chapter so you can hopefully avoid the mistakes that a lot of people make and end up killing the fish, and get fed up and give up.

Walter will be pleased to answer readers fish keeping queries.

'Click' to send an e-mail to:- Fishkeeping queries