Home aquariums

Home aquariums are becoming more and more popular, it is a hobby that many people are flocking too and fish shops are on the rise. Fish are generally easy to keep although do they need quite a bit of attention. Puppies and kittens were the typical pet but now fish are becoming more and more frequent in house holds. In recent years fish shops have noticed a great increase in the rise if people wanting to purchase aquariums and fish, the boom has been great for local shops as the fish industry hasn’t been such a great industry before now.

When collecting fish for a home aquarium it is always great to seek some advice from your local pet shop. They are the experts and what they say should be given great consideration. They explain to you the process in which bacteria builds up. They let you know all the essentials in setting a great home aquarium and they know the best fish that is suited to your needs. They let you know all about the responsibilities that are involved when deciding to set up a home aquarium. Fish shops are brilliant for purchasing the equipment that you need, it is cheaper than anywhere else, except the internet of course. Most fish experts will advise you to purchase a ready made aquarium that comes with the tank, stand, heater, filter and lighting equipment.

Home aquariums can be as small and simple as you like or they can be huge and intensive set ups that requires hours each week of maintenance. A home aquarium can be a great experience for all the family and it is something that they can all join in, although keep the children away from the poisonous fish, and the fish waste! Which ever aquarium set up that you choose you should always make sure that you take great effort in keeping the fish. After all it would not be nice to wake up one morning and find that all your fish are dead, now would it?!

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Aquarium Fish

You have the set up and now all you need is the fish to go in it, but what to choose? Do you want to start of small? Or do you want to dive right into the deep end, pardon the pun. The best thing to do it is to talk it over with your local fish shop. But they will advise you exactly the same as what I am going to advise you. If you see this as becoming a really good hobby then don’t bother will small fish as this is just a waste of time and money, but if this is just a fad or is for your kid’s or whatever, then small fish is the way to go.

Small aquarium fish can be anything from tetras to angel fish, they are usually brightly coloured and tend to eat fish flakes rather than fish “meat”. The smaller fish tend to be for decorative purposes as they are very shiny and create a lot of bright silvers under the right aquarium lights. They are simple fish with no personality and they are no fun at all! These kinds of fish are for simple decorative aquarium set ups and suit people who want a low maintenance tank.

Larger fish however, such as cichlids and African fish are a lot harder to keep. They are the harder fish in general though, so your fish mortality rate is pretty low, unlike smaller weaker fish. The problem or should I say fascination with cichlids is that they are cannibals. If there is a smaller fish in the tank then say good bye to it as it won't be there much longer! They eat fish meat and don’t try to feed them any less, they will not be happy. Different types of cichlids are available. They do not all look the same, there are Oscars (my personal favorite) which you can have tiger, red or albino. There are black belts, there are jaguar cichlids and the list does go on. The types of fish require a lot of filter and gravel cleaning as they have high amounts of waste. A breeding pair of cichlids is worth a lot of money! Cichlids in general are more expensive as they tend to be larger (we have a tank of 5-6 one and a half foot Oscars). Just remember that these fish like the tank. Set up the tank how you like but it may not stay that way for long. I could go on forever about cichlids but Ill leave it there for now.

So depending on what the reasons for your aquarium is depends on the type of fish for the aquarium that you should get. Smaller more decorative tanks need smaller more decorative aquarium fish. But the bigger the tank the bigger the fish! Put in some big boys and let them do the talking!

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