Aquarium Set-up

• The Ideal Freshwater Aquarium Setup - Basic Concepts - Setting up the ideal aquarium environment can be a challenge since there are fundamental principles about taking proper care of your fish that must be taken into serious consideration. It can be tricky, but that's what makes the aquarium fish hobby truly engaging!
  
• Step-by-Step Aquarium Installation - With a few simple steps to follow, installing a new aquarium is just one of the many fulfilling adventures in tropical fish keeping.
  
• Choosing Aquarium Plants - Care and maintenance of live aquatic plants is as challenging and enjoyable as fish keeping. Hand-in-hand, keeping healthy fish and maintaining flourishing aquatic plants require a combination of basic knowledge and genuine interest.
  
• Aquarium Hazards - You have to admit, getting into the fishkeeping hobby is not all about "fish keeping" -- a major part of the excitement is being able to express your creativity in building a habitat for your pets. But how far can you stretch this creativity? What items have no place in your aquarium?
  
• Installing a 150-Gallon Tank - We learn the best lessons when we are faced with challenges that seem bigger than life. Let's listen in to an exchange between one of our visitors, Uriah who wants to set up a big aquarium, and our expert, Shawn who can't contain his excitement.
  

Tank Maintenance

• Cleaning Your Aquarium: Maintenance Routines - Feeding and looking after the health and wellness of the plants and fish is just one aspect of tank maintenance -- housekeeping is another.
  
• Cleaning Your Aquarium: General Overhaul - Accidents happen. Unintentional introduction of toxic matter, infestation of parasites, or prolonged massive equipment failure can wreak havoc in an otherwise well-maintained setup. Don’t despair -- you can handle the emergency efficiently.
  
• How to Relocate Your Aquarium - Relocating your fish tank is very similar to moving your furniture and belongings to a new house. The complexity of the activity depends mainly on the size of the tank (the "house") and the distance to the new location.
  
• Care and Maintenance of Aquarium Plants - All plants require care and attention, so you will have to play the role of Mother Nature to the plants in your aquarium. Overwhelming? Not really.
  
• Real-life Problems with Algae - Algae growth must be one of the major frustrations of the freshwater aquarist. Algae, in one or another of its various forms, quietly and very slowly change the water's color, take over the plants and decor, and blanket the tank walls.
  
• What's a pH? - What exactly is pH? What is its role in the aquarium? Why is it important for aquarists to know how to manage it?
  

Equipment and Accessories

• Creativity with Aquarium Decor - The primary goal of the majority of aquarium hobbyists is to care for fishes by creating a mini-replica, or a simulation, of their aquatic pets' natural homes. Success in this endeavor, however, requires a working knowledge of what and how decorative items can be used for specific tank setups.
  

Fish Food and Diets

• Feeding Basics - Providing your fish with the right types of food at the right time is crucial. For your pet fish to flourish in their captive environment, they need to assimilate nutrients that are identical to those found in their natural habitat.
  
• Fish Food Options and Feeding Tips - Many different types of food are available for your fish. Here's a list of prepared and live foods to help you make efficient choices. Plus: Feeding Tips!
  
• Specific Fish Diets - One of the major challenges in maintaining a thriving fish community is making sure that all the inhabitants of the tank are well fed. What makes this challenging is that there are a lot of factors to consider.
  

Breeds and Species

• Livebearers - Both novice and expert fishkeepers love to take care of livebearers (Cyprinodonts), which include guppies and mollies (genera: Poecilia), and platies and swordtails (genera: Xiphophorus). Let me introduce these hardy breeds to you.
  
• Labyrinth Fishes - A favorite among aquarium hobbyists is a large group of fishes prolific in Asia and Africa known as "labyrinth fishes" -- they can breathe atmospheric air.
  
• Schooling Fishes - A community aquarium doesn't seem complete without one or two groups of schooling fishes sashaying about in beautifully synchronized swimming. This is why novice and expert hobbyists alike enjoy caring for the most popular and best-loved schooling fishes, the Characins and the Cyprinids.
  

Feeding and Breeding

• Feeding and Breeding Livebearers - Because livebearers introduce their young into the world fully-formed and free-swimming, important feeding and breeding factors have to be taken into consideration.
  
• FAQ on Breeding Livebearers - The beauty of live birth especially fascinates the new and beginner hobbyists, which is why I get the most number of repeat questions about how to breed livebearers -- the Guppies, Swordtails, Mollies, and Platys.
  
• Feeding and Breeding Labyrinth Fishes - Labyrinth fishes are a sheer delight to care for. They eat anything, and they breed by building and tending to bubble nests on the water surface.
  
• Feeding and Breeding Schooling Fishes - The more common schooling fishes are omnivorous, and they share the same breeding tendencies -- they're egg scatterers. This means that in a community tank, certain guidelines need to be followed to keep the schools healthy and prolific.
  

Behavior and Psychology

• The Ideal Fish Community: Compatibility Issues - Fishkeeping is a science as well as an art. You can measure your success by whether or not you have a thriving fish community. What compatibility issues do you need to deal with?
  
• Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up the Ideal Fish Community - Taking all the fish compatibility issues (water, food, behavior, and environment) into consideration, here's how to set up and maintain your community tank.
  
• Fish Intelligence and Communication - Like all other creatures on this planet, your fish rely on instincts, senses, and communication capabilities that have evolved to cater to their particular mode of existence.
  
• Inviting Disaster Into Your Community Tank - Here's a candid question from my friend Bob: "I just got a 20-gallon tank and was thinking about putting in about a dozen Neon Tetras, six to eight Mollies, a Plecostomus and perhaps introducing two to three Angelfish afterwards. Is this an acceptable plan?"
  

Ailments and Remedies

• Treating Common Ailments - Caring for tropical fish carries with it a major responsibility: keeping the fish healthy at all times. Adequate knowhow on common fish ailments is, therefore, very important.