Keeping fish and taking care of your own aquarium can be a great hobby, but setting up a fish tank shouldn’t be a decision that is made on a whim.
You have to be aware that it’s not as easy as simply placing a tank in your living room or any other part of the house, and then the work is done.
It isn’t. It’s only the beginning, and there’s a lot of work in front of you because fishkeeping requires not only care and regular maintenance, but you’ll also need to gain the knowledge necessary to carry out all the tasks successfully.
You can’t learn everything there is to know about being an aquarist in a day or two, but finding out what the most common mistakes are and how to avoid them is a great place to start.
Don’t buy an aquarium that is too big or too small
If you’re considering buying a tank, you probably already have an ideal place for it in mind. Therefore you should have at least a rough idea about the size you need to look for. When you measure the available space, you have to remember about leaving some room or providing a way to reach every part of it for maintenance.
No one wants an aquarium that’s messy and dirty. And in order to avoid that, you need to clean it regularly. To do this quickly and efficiently, you’ll need easy access.
Not to mention that it’s actually the size of a tank that determines how many fish can live in it. It can influence the quality of water as well.
Don’t buy random things
When shopping for your new aquarium and the necessary supplies, you might be tempted to buy every single thing you find that looks appealing or seem important.
But that’s not really the way it should work. Only buy things that are necessary and the ones that will work well in the tank you’re setting up.
At the very beginning, you should decide whether you’re interested in getting a freshwater or saltwater aquarium. Once you make this decision, you’ll be able to find out which species of fish will be able to survive in such conditions.
Add real plants even if they require more work, pick a filter that is suitable for the amount of water it has to clean.
And never choose the supplies based solely on their price. If you want to achieve great results, you cannot look for savings everywhere.
It doesn’t mean you have to buy the most expensive options, you can go for cheaper ones as well, but only after checking whether they will work well in your aquarium.
Don’t add fish without learning more about them first
Picking the right fish for your tank is not an easy task. Many beginners make the mistake of simply choosing the ones they find attractive.
But before you actually take any fish home, you need to find out what conditions it needs to survive. If you’re thinking about a few different species, it’s important to learn more about them and to check whether they can cohabit.
Then there’s the matter of size. When you’re adding a small fish to your aquarium, you need to be aware of how big it will get in the future.
You need to count that into your plans, you cannot just choose species you like and then replace them once they get too big.
Don’t think you know better
Just because you’ve read a few articles or even books about fishkeeping doesn’t mean you already know everything. So when someone with more experience offers you advice, take it.
Don’t just assume you know best or that you’ll learn by trial and error. There’s no reason to make your own mistakes if there are people around who have already gone through the same process and can just share the results with you.
So take such information whenever it’s offered, and use it to create the aquarium of your dreams.
Before you start setting up your very first fish tank, try to learn as much as possible about the whole process. Find solutions that will work best for you and buy products from good manufacturers like aquael-aquarium.co.uk.
Be patient, great results don’t come overnight, but if you take good care of your aquarium, you’ll start seeing the effects of your work soon enough.
