Common Mistakes in Setting up New Home Aquarium – Part Two

This is the second and last installment on the common mistakes an amateur and even veterans commit when they setup their new home aquarium.

The fourth mistake you may commit is improper water conditioning. Insufficient filtration and water circulation system are very essential to the life of the fishes. There are many kind of filter available in the market, but you must make sure that you have the right system installed in your tank. It is also better to have more than insufficient filtration system.

The aeration system gives your fishes their much-needed oxygen. Moreover, it prevents formation of slimes on the walls of your tank. To avoid slime formation, you may add a power head or a surge device. Again, it is better to have more than insufficient aerators in your tank.

The fifth mistake is lack of knowledge. It is exciting to put exotic and expensive animals in your aquarium. The fishes that usually comes to mind of new aquarium owners are arowana, red, blue, or silver; lucky flower horns; and other costly fishes. I don’t see anything wrong with starting with these fishes right away; the problem lies in the owner’s lack of knowledge on how to take care of these fishes. Put them into your tank, but be sure to understand their needs and meet them.

There are magazines, books, and articles online that you may read to gain knowledge about your animals. Subscribe to this blog or other sites that provide the latest research on your fishes. Keep in mind that knowledge is power, and with knowledge comes success. Proper implementation of what you know is as important of what you understand.

The sixth mistake is about incompatible fishes in your tank. Like human beings, there are fishes that simply do not go well with each other. There are also fishes that prefer to live alone, such as fighting fishes, no matter how colorful and attractive they may be. Lionfishes will just gobble up all your guffies and small goldfishes. Some fishes also eat live plants.

Angelfishes go well with goldfishes. Oscars can live with their own kind but will not tolerate squally small fishes. Arowana is better left alone; flower horns may live with another of its kind, but not with too many of them.


LESSON IN LIFE:
“Like fishes, human beings have their social preferences; let us respect them.”