How To Care For Your Very First Freshwater Aquarium

For many hobbyists, keeping aquariums is a wonderful way of both whiling away the hours and learning how to take care of aquatic life. As compared to marine (or salt water) aquarium keeping, and that of taking care of different life forms that survive in brackish waters (combination of salt water and fresh water,) fresh water fish keeping is probably the least expensive of the three options.

It is also by far the easiest to maintain, since fresh water fish and other living things that survive in the same setup can thrive successfully with minimal care. However, if this is your first attempt to take care of life in a freshwater aquarium, here are some tips to get you started.

1. Find the perfect receptacle. These days, the most common choices are acrylic glass and transparent glass. There are also some aquariums made of unusual materials like tile-glass combos. There are some aquariums that have been literally fashioned into coffee tables, walls and even into toilets - and these make really great novelty items.

However, you do have to remember that you are placing living things here, and they too would need the correct environment to thrive. So, to make things easier for you, you could try to choose the ones which you think would be easiest to clean (for maintenance purposes); and have ample enough interior space to accommodate any water based plants, fish, crustaceans, amphibians, and what-have-you.

2. Research extensively first about the freshwater life forms before you buy anything. The most common mistake that first time aquarium hobbyists make is simply buying anything and everything that looks great in the pet shop, and adding these to the aquarium at home.

Only when the plant, fish, or amphibian becomes ill or succumbs to weakness does the person actually look up how to best take care of the aforementioned freshwater life form. This can be easily done away with by doing the research beforehand. You do have to remember that conditions have to be just right in order for one (yes, only one) life form to thrive in an artificial environment.

So, if you want an entire ecosystem to exist in one space, you really need to research what plants may be planted together (so they will actually live long lives in the aquarium, and not prove toxic to other life forms); what fish species will actually not want to eat each other up; what life forms can co-exist peaceably with others; etc.

One of the best things to start you off is to always look into the temperature of your tank constantly and then match this with possible freshwater life forms you might want to get. Some thrive in lower temperatures while others want tropical set-ups.

Additionally, you may want to check which animals are nocturnal as well, especially when it comes to amphibians, crustaceans and water based mammalians. You may be throwing off their internal clocks by not providing them food during their feeding time or enough rest during the day time.

3. Keep your aquariums as stress free as possible. Incredibly enough, stress is the number one killer of most freshwater pets. Stress leads to illnesses; and very often, our pets succumb to illnesses when not treated properly.

Instead on focusing on treatment measures, you can eliminate the possibility of stress to begin with. Try not to overcrowd your fish in one aquarium, feed them only the recommended foods and supplements; and yes, give them something in the tank that they may actually find engaging.

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