Aquarium Setup
Aquarium with a purpose
Every aquarium enthusiast will have an mental image of what the fish tank will look like before they start to build it. There are no rigid rules about creating an aquarium but it’s good to have a plan and consider a few things when planning.
Aquarium for what?
What kind of fish are you going to keep in the fish tank. It is vital to know that beforehand and design around the specific requirements of a particular specie of fish.
Most aquarists will go for a community setup as this is the way to keep various types of fish together, fish that would never meet in their natural environment.
Tropical community fish tank
tanks require peaceful inhabitants that can coexist without stressing each other, also the size of the fish needs to be taken into account. Typical community tanks are quite large as the fish grow, usually at different rates for various species, they will need more space.
We tend to buy young and small fish, this assures that we will keep them for longer, it may also be difficult to gauge how old a grown fish can be. Obviously more small tropical fish will fit into a big aquarium but they will grow.
You don’t want to to have too many fish in your tank looking cramped, but there’s also the problem of the toxins that accumulate faster in crowded aquariums. This can cause all sorts of problems in a long run. A good guideline is to use 1 inch of fish for every 4.65 sq inches of water surface in aquarium.
Aquascape aquarium
This type focuses on plants as the main object, fish are used as decoration to supplement the underwater landscape. The basic setup might be the same as in community aquarium but there is a different approach to maintenance, frequent use of fertilizers and CO2 injections can be stressful for many fish species, often pruning and scaping can affect the fish as well.
Aquascapists put a lot of the attention on the details and very often they can use expensive tools and materials to create stunning visual effects. They will carefully select the right kind of plants for the job and accent it with the proper lighting.
Very often ornamental aquascapes are created for a limited time and get ta total landscape overhaul.
A different kind of aquascaping is so called green aquarium which include a lot of plants but the main focus remains on fish. These so called natural aquariums benefit from the large amounts of plants which work as natural filtration system creating a very healthy biotope.
Some aquarist strive to recreate natural environment for specific kind of fish using plants that come form the area where the specific fish live in nature.
Breeding Fish Tanks
Setting a tank for breeding purpose takes a different approach. Some fish need very specific light, water chemistry or plants to reproduce. Commercial scale breeders use as little resources as possible as they use the quantity approach. Aqarists on the other hand are very careful as they learn from the experience and take pride from even tiniest achievements.
Every serious aquarist is a scientist as well, they would learn as they gain the experience in fish keeping.
Basic aquarium setup
-
- Aquarium with or without hood and aquarium stand
- Filtration and aeration system: internal or external
- Lighting
- Heating with thermostat
- Water and water conditioners and testing kits
- Gravel or specific substrate
- Plants and/or decorations like wood or rocks
- Fish
- Maintenance equipment
