How to Set up A Tropical Fish Aquarium

There are many varieties of tropical fish, suitable for all people with different fish-keeping skills, and various budget ranges. The aquarium device demonstrated below is suitable for beginners, simple to build, and easy to maintain. You can use strong real aquatic plants to create a natural landscape. Of course, plastic plants or other decors can also be used to achieve different results.

If you are new to tropical fish, choose a species that is easy to raise, does not grow too large, and is strong. Tropical fish aquariums can host more fish than cold-water fish or sea fish aquariums, which can show a prosperous and vibrant landscape through a variety of shapes and colors of tropical fish. You can follow this example guide as a template. The aquarium can simply be a primitive aquarium, a breeding aquarium, or an aquarium with specimens or strange fish.

Steps to set up a tropical fish aquarium

1. The size of the tropical fish aquarium must match the fish to be kept. For groups composed of several small and medium-sized fishes, 80-100 cm aquariums are needed. Do not add any fish with an average length of more than 10 cm, because all fish need swimming space.

2. Install the filter. There are 3 types of filtration systems. Mechanical, biological, and Chemical filtration systems. Chemical is the least important filtration system and you are going to need a filter that could catch the debris and also host the nitrating bacteria.

3. Tropical fish need a heater or thermostat. Place it on the rear glass at an angle to allow water to flow through, or install it in the filter. Set it to the desired temperature. Before the aquarium is full of water, the heater or filter cannot be connected to the power source.

4. Clean the substrate. Lay the substrate on the bottom of the aquarium. If you plan to stock catfish that dig the bottom of the sand, such as those of Corydoras, it is best to use fine sand as the substrate so that the fish can sift the bottom when looking for food. 5. Place the decor. When decorated with water plants, it can provide a natural landscape.

6. Put water in the aquarium If you want to keep fish that like soft water in the original Amazonian aquarium, then reverse osmosis water is the best choice. Cold water can be added at this stage because tropical fish will not be added until the water is cycled.

7. Dechlorination. Dechlorination means that the water is safe for fish and nitrifying bacteria. If you use purified water, add minerals and electrolytes, which are essential for fish. The filter can help the dechlorination agent with diffuse, the heater can also be used at this stage, and the filter and the heater should continue to operate.

8. Add nitrifying bacteria to prepare water. 9. Plant. Plant some good and strong aquatic plants in the aquarium, and plant the tallest aquatic plants behind. Tall feather-like green chrysanthemums are used to hide the filter. Continue to plant focal plants in the middle and small carpet-like plants in the foreground. 10. Add some plant liquid fertilizers to help aquatic plants grow quickly. 11. Install the lighting. It is recommended to use lighting that promotes plant growth and enhances fish color. When the concentration of nitrite and ammonia returns to zero, the fish can be added.

Finished aquarium

Due to the wide selection of tropical fish, you can choose the fish that live on the surface, middle, and bottom of the water to show the rich colors of each water layer and appreciate the grace of the fish in different water layers. And you can add algae-eating fish to control the algae at the lowest level.