June 2007

Aside from the fish, there are few things more important in creating the ambiance of a home aquarium than the decorations that lie at the bottom of the tank. Consisting mostly of plants and a variety of funny and cute statues of things like divers and sunken ships, these trinkets that line the bottom of most tanks can help your fish feel welcome in their glass enclosure and provide those who look at the fish tank with some stunning views. As with all of the other decisions you make about your tank, deciding on which plants to add can be a very important choice, as not all plants are designed to coexist well with certain types of fish. Furthermore, depending on what type of tank you have decided to make (salt water or fresh water) your choice will play a major role in determining what types of plants you can add to the floor of your aquarium.

Since most people opt for fresh water fish tanks over salt water fish tanks, it makes sense to cover more of the variations among fresh water plants. The fresh water plants available for your tank can come in all shapes and sizes and are a great way to make your fish feel as if they are back home in a lake or river. Most of the aquarium plants you may consider purchasing are rather cheap and, on average, may run far less expensive than the fish you have in your tank. While plants are a great way to improve the ambiance of your aquarium, many people seem to forget that they actually have to take care of the plants as well as the fish for a successful environment in the tank. This can mean extra work and more supplies for those who wish to add plants to the floor of their aquarium.

There are several simple rules that everyone who wants to purchase aquarium plants need to remember. Firstly, you must decide on what type of floor to add to the bottom of your tank if you want to plant aquarium plants. Different plants react differently to different soil conditions, so it makes sense to first decide which plants you want, make sure they all require the same soil and then use that soil. Different soil options include things like clay or gravel. Secondly, you will need to make sure that your aquarium will receive sufficient lighting and carbon dioxide transfer to keep your plants healthy. In order to undergo photogenesis (the process which plants use to make their own food), plants need both light and carbon dioxide so it is highly important that your aquarium plants receive both nutrients in hearty quantities. Finally, make sure that your fish are completely plant-friendly and will eat away any algae that begins to grow in the tank. A perfect plant-friendly fish will destroy any algae that may be in competition against your plants, thereby making a more suitable environment for your plants to grow in your aquarium. Once you have squared away all of the most important factors for healthy aquarium plant growth, head off to your local fish store and pick up the plants that are right for you.

Creating your own unique aquarium is a task which can be both fun and enjoyable for you and your family or it can be considered a chore if you have no idea where to begin. Before you even begin planning for your aquarium, you should certainly figure out where you will place such a large fish tank in your home. Once everything has been squared away and properly measured, think about what types of scenery and fish you want to place in your aquarium. Also, consider a variety of different options for keeping the fish tank clean. An always popular selection is the automated filter which will run throughout the day or on a schedule and can do a very respectable job of keeping the tank sparkling clean month after month. Once everything has been planned and only once everything else has been planned, then you can determine which variety of aquarium fish you would most like to have in your high quality custom fish tank.

While you may be rather impressed by the vastness of the selections of a variety of different fish retailers, there are several things to look out for when selecting the fish for your aquarium. Firstly, while it is popular for people to visit pet stores that have a variety of pets like Target or Wal-Mart has a multitude of products, these stores are not always the best bet for fish. Even though they may have some of the lower end fish which you are considering purchasing, they will not usually have any of the higher end tropical fish which can thrive in many aquariums. Furthermore, such a large pet store will generally be focused on selling more of its high priced animals like dogs, cats and birds and any sales associates will probably not be too informed about the fish which they sell in their store. Also, fish run a risk of being malnourished and under cared for in pet variety stores.

Therefore, instead of purchasing your prized fish at a multi-purpose pet store, you should instead visit a fish specialty store. These stores are great for individuals who wish to create their own new aquarium, as the sales associates are always well versed in everything to do with fish – from how to care for them to what types of decoration in the tank certain fish like, fish specialty store workers always seem to know exactly what is best for any given fish. Also, a fish specialty store will carry a far greater selection of fish, ranging from goldfish at rock bottom prices to several hundred dollar rare tropical fish. No matter what type of fish you would want to order, such a store can generally get it for you – even if that fish is not a part of their in store inventory.

If you live in a small town or a place without any major pet stores, you may have to resort to ordering fish online. While this has recently become a relatively common practice among connoisseurs of high quality aquarium fish, there are still some risks involved. The two major problems faced by people who order online fish is that they are not able to pick out the specific fish they want and can only select by the species and also there have been reports of fish arriving either dead or dying after a rough shipping process.

Angelfish, one of the most popular freshwater aquarium fish are lovely to look at and can live for several years. They usually grow to about six inches with very long feathery veils. In a fifteen gallon tank, only two angelfish should share it. When breeding, move up to a twenty-five gallon tank as the female will lay about two hundred eggs. Not all of these eggs will hatch, but it is good to be prepared. Also, when in a tank that is too crowded, the parents will eat some of the eggs to reduce the overcrowding.

Freshwater fish must live in freshwater. They will die if they are placed into saltwater. Buying a filtration system will keep a steady flow of clean water going into the tank and old water coming out. It is also good to buy a temperature monitoring system that will maintain the proper temperature which is about 70 degrees. If the Angelfish develop Ich, the water temperature will need to be raised in order to kill parasites that have not yet found a fish to infect. Clean water is essential when trying to keep the fish healthy and active. Fish that appear sluggish or who have stopped eating may be sick. Look for white spots on the gills to see if it is a parasite. There are medications available to help the fish recover.

Tank size is not the only item to consider when building an angelfish tank. It is important to place a few live plants at the bottom so that the fish will feel comfortable and at home. Many times, an angelfish will lay eggs on the leaves of the plants. And if there is something wrong with the water, the plants will appear sick and dull-looking before the fish do. This will give the fish owner a chance to fix what is wrong in the fish tank. Sometimes adjusting the tank temperature is that will be needed.

Feeding angelfish is also very simple. They eat a wide variety of food, so it is important to make sure they are eating different things. Brine shrimp are a favorite of the angelfish. They prefer live shrimp when possible. Other foods include worms, ground beef, and dehydrated fish food. Feeding young angelfish will require multiple feedings of fresh food each day until they are old enough to eat the dehydrated food. If the angelfish stop eating, give them fresh brine shrimp. They should start eating again.

Angelfish are wonderful pets for those who enjoy fish to have for a long time. They are easy to care for and can also breed easily. It is recommended that a person talk to a pet store employee before buying any type of freshwater fish. Knowing how to provide a suitable home for the fish is a wonderful start. The fish will thrive in an environment that is safe, warm, and comfortable. Angelfish will eat practically anything and will enjoy shrimp whenever possible. Supplying a healthy diet is another way to ensure healthy fish for many years.

The Blue Planet Aquarium in England is one of the largest and most stunning aquariums on the planet. Populated by hundreds of fish and other sea wildlife from around the world, this aquarium is certainly worth a visit if you ever decide to plan a trip to England. You can reach it by train, bus or taxi if you do not have a car you can drive, making it perfectly simple to get there under any style of transportation. At the Blue Planet Aquarium you will find multitudes of different displays featuring fish from the Amazon River, the oceans of the world common lakes, rivers and streams as well as swamps and tide pools. For further enjoyment, the aquarium also has a theatre and a tunnel which allows you to walk under a variety of fish habitats, including tropical fish tanks and the always popular shark tank. A blast for the whole family, the Blue Planet Aquarium is definitely one of those places which everyone must visit during a trip to the United Kingdom.

Even if you cannot possibly visit the aquarium any time soon, you can still enjoy a piece of it by building your own miniaturized version of the Blue Planet Aquarium for cheaper than you might think. Such a project begins with a simple idea about what types of fish you want to include in the tank. If you want to copy the aquarium in Britain itself, then you will want to choose a suitable aquatic setting, like a lake, the Amazon River or one of the various oceans or seas in the world. Once you have settled on which aquatic environment you want to recreate in your own home, you need to do some research into the types of water conditions present in that body of water. Obviously, lakes and most rivers will consist of fresh water while saltwater will be present in the oceans and seas. Therefore, you will want to use freshwater fish if you are constructing a miniaturized version of a Blue Planet lake and saltwater fish if you desire to build a replica of the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean.

After you have decided on what type of water to have in your tank, you will also need to figure out the proper concentrations of salts, algae and bacteria to have in your tank to ensure that your fish will get all of the proper nutrients which they need for survival. This, along with the temperature of the water should definitely vary based on what locale you chose for your miniaturized Blue Planet Aquarium. Once you have figured out everything that has to do with water concentrations, filtration systems and decorations for the bottom of your tank, head over to your local fish store and consult with the experts there to find out which fish are best for your pseudo-environment. They should be able to provide you with a number of smaller fish that are native to the area you wish to recreate, allowing you to manufacture a near perfect replica of one of the beautiful tanks at the Blue Planet Aquarium – right in your own home.

Fish require various temperatures. When you place fish inside an aquarium, it is important that you duplicate their natural environment as much as possible. If the fish are native to a tropical area, they will need to be in water with high temperatures. Similarly, fish that live in cold environments should be in a cold water aquarium.

To have fish of a cold water species, it will be necessary to build a cold water aquarium. The cold water will be necessary to make sure that the fish are able to live and thrive in the aquarium. Without a cold water aquarium, the fish could eventually die. Keep in mind that a cold water aquarium will be more expensive than other kinds of aquariums since the water has to be kept at a low temperature.

You can easily build a cold water aquarium by adding a chiller to the aquarium. These chillers can be purchased as a unit that connects to the filtration system. The chiller acts like an air conditioner, cooling the water to the desired temperature.

The chiller for the cold water aquarium must be maintained in a manner that is similar to a refrigerator. It must be kept clean and free of salt. The filter will also need to be replaced periodically.

You can also build a cold water aquarium using a thermostat similar to the kind that is used for a heated aquarium. The temperature on the thermostat can easily be adjusted in order to provide the fish with the cold temperature that is needed for them to live.

The materials need to build a cold water aquarium can be purchased from a pet store or other store that sells aquariums. There are also kits available that will allow you to build your cold water aquarium. Purchasing such a kit is best for someone that has never built an aquarium before. Since the kit will come with instructions from the manufacturer, it will be easier to build the cold water aquarium.

When you have a cold water aquarium, there is always the possibility that the cold water mechanism will go out. A power failure could also be potentially damaging if your aquarium uses electricity. In either of these cases, the water temperature will need to be chilled by some other means. The fish will only be able to survive for a short period of time at room temperature. This might not be enough time for you to repair or replace the chilling mechanism on the aquarium. If such an event occurs, you should place ice in several airtight Ziploc bags. Place the bags inside the aquarium to keep the temperature cool.

Cold water aquariums are becoming increasingly popular as it is becoming easier to recreate cooler temperatures inside an aquarium. You can purchase a chilling mechanism to add to an existing aquarium or purchase a kit that will allow you to build a cold water aquarium. In either case, make sure that the temperatures are cool enough for your fish.

As one of the easier types of aquariums to construct, a freshwater fish tank is a great way to get started into the aquarium craze. Certainly much easier to get functioning than other types of aquariums on the market (especially reef aquariums), freshwater is a great way to learn the basics of care and maintenance for a variety of fish and plants which will give you valuable experience which you can use later for larger and more impressive ecosystems. Nevertheless, just because a freshwater aquarium is less expensive and less impressive than other types of fish tanks does not mean that it is inferior as you can actually do a few cool things different with a freshwater tank than you can with the saltwater varieties.

Perhaps the most important decision you will make about your aquarium is what size and style of tank you should purchase. Some of the experts recommend that you should always buy whatever tank you can afford provided it can fit in your home. If you are just getting started into the world of aquariums, however, it would be more beneficial to you to purchase a small tank that will be much easier to care for and maintain. There is no need to throw away hundreds of dollars on a project which you may or may not like in a year or so. For this reason, start small and, if you find that you are successful with your endeavor and want to have more fish, then move up to the largest and most expensive tank you can afford. However, it should be noted that those who say that a larger aquarium is better also cite that having more space or less fish will improve your chances of creating a successful ecosystem your first time out.

Also, when choosing your tank for the first time, you will have a very important decision to make about what the tank is constructed from. Glass and acrylic are the two most popular choices for tank, and each has its own benefits and its own downfalls. Acrylic for example is much clearer than glass and will help insulate the tank better. This means you will not have to spend much extra on heating and lighting bills for your larger tank. However, acrylic scratches much more easily than glass and could lead to you having to replace your tank if a giant scratch were to develop in the front of the tank or if you were to accidentally scuff the tank while cleaning it.

When choosing the right filters for your aquarium, you will have to look into at least three different products. Depending on the size of your tank, you will need a biological filter, a chemical filter and a mechanical filter to make sure that everything is in the right concentrations in your tank’s water. Such filters and skimmers can greatly range in size and price, so if you have a smaller tank you will definitely not need as many high tech products as you would with a much larger tank. Also, be sure to purchase plenty of acidity monitors and various other trace nutrient and chemical additives so you can keep track of everything your tank needs as often as you can.

Sharks have long since been creatures of the animal kingdom that continually leave people in awe and inspire them. Perhaps it was Peter Benchley’s novel JAWS that truly brought sharks to the public consciousness more than any other form of media spotlight; but, regardless of the method that brought sharks to people’s attention, the fact remains that they image of the thrashing tail and sharp teeth has proven indelible in the minds of people.

Now, not everyone is all that scared of sharks. Everyday there are those who shell out a few bucks for a boat ride so that they may dress up in scuba gear and find themselves lowered into the water to spend time with the sharks. Granted, these people are kept within the safety confines of a shark cage, but the fact that the giant ocean predators are swimming right in front of them surely can be cardiac arrest inducing!

Now, some folks take their love for sharks to such an extreme that they wish to have them as pets and placed in an aquarium! If one is a billionaire like the bad guy in the old James Bond film THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, one can have one of those cool building-sized aquariums filled with tiger sharks. However, for the shark lover on a budget, one may wish to have a nurse shark aquarium in their dwelling.

Now, a nurse shark may seem like one of the smaller, friendlier sharks in the great ocean, it is still a wild creature that can be unpredictable. A nurse shark can run from one to two feet, but it is not uncommon for the sharks to reach extended lengths of fifteen feet. Yes, fifteen feet! That would seem like a fairly difficult beast to have in the bathtub, would it not?

So, how does one build an aquarium to house such a shark? Well, before attempting to house the shark one needs to ask if a nurse shark is truly the type of pet one would prefer to have. Granted, it may look cool to have a shark in one’s living room, it would be wildly cruel and unfair to try and house the shark only to have an aquarium that is not truly able to properly house the shark. Why purchase a shark when it may possibly die from neglect?

So, how does one go about constructing a nurse shark aquarium if one feels they are able to care for the shark? What are the main things one should know or one should consider when building the aquarium? Well, if you have to ask, then do not even bother building it.

The best idea here is to purchase an aquarium directly from a dealer of these aquariums. Just muddling along trying to build such a sophisticated piece of equipment is insane. One should look for a dealer who knows how such aquariums are constructed and purchase directly from the dealer. To try to do otherwise just might turn out to be disastrous!

Along with the tropical aquarium, the reef aquarium is one of the most beautiful types of fish tank you can possible make. Unfortunately, unlike the tropical tank, a reef aquarium requires much more time, patience and practice if you want to get everything exactly right. Keeping that in mind, when you go to build your first reef aquarium, do not expect it to be an easy task, as these tanks require far more input than other types of aquariums if you want positive results. Many people find that such aquariums are some of the hardest and most difficult projects they have ever undertaken so do not be alarmed if everything does not turn out exactly right the first try – or the second even. Nevertheless, building and maintaining a reef aquarium has been described by many people as one of the most relaxing hobbies on the planet so long as you spend the time to make sure everything is running smoothly. If you feel that you cannot dedicate yourself to a reef aquarium, then perhaps you should stick with other types of simpler projects before you delve into something as involved as a reef based fish tank.

The first step to building a reef aquarium, and any other fish tank for that matter, is to find the proper size and placement for your tank. Generally reef aquariums require a larger tank, so keep that in mind in deciding where you want your tank to go. Although the vast majority chooses to place their tanks in cabinets, some have mounted them directly into the walls, which is actually an excellent idea if you have a tank that is massive in size and you do not want to risk accidental destruction of your cabinet and tank. Furthermore, larger tanks require much more equipment than other types of fish tanks, so take into consideration where you will run the required pipes and tubes if you are unable to store all of the necessary equipment underneath the tank in a cabinet.

While what you choose to put into your tank is completely your own decision, there are a few simple rules to follow. Make sure that everything is compatible with everything else, as there is nothing worse than spending hundreds of dollars on fish and anemones only to watch them all die after a week or so. Therefore, it is very important that you make absolutely sure that everything will be able to live in harmony with everything else. Because there is no definite set of plants, vertebrates and invertebrates that will work together, it impossible to come up with a perfect combination of plants and animals, but you should focus on plants and invertebrates that produce things which the vertebrates need and have fish produce products that the invertebrates and plants need to survive.

As far as necessary equipment goes, you do not want to cheap out on your supplies if you want to build a beautiful reef aquarium. Such ecosystems are completely reliant on what types of machinery you have to remove algae, keep the water full of gases and what you use to measure the pH of the system. If anything fails you could risk losing your entire investment in a matter of days, so be sure to purchase the best skimmers, filters, pumps and UV arrays if you want to make your tank the best it can possibly be.

For all intents and purposes, building your own tropical aquarium is not so different than building any other type of aquarium. While it will take a little more dedication and a little extra cash to make sure that everything is up and running smoothly, a tropical aquarium is simply a regular aquarium with salt water and tropical fish and plants. Finding the tropical fish, however, can be a challenging aspect of setting your tank up for the first time, as tropical fish are generally harder to find and may require that you order them online or visit your local fish specialty store. Unfortunately, due to relatively low demand for such tropical fish, many major pet retailers do not generally offer expensive fish at their stores, making it even more difficult to find the perfect fish for your table top tank.


When it comes to building your tropical aquarium, the first thing you will definitely want to do is to buy yourself a stand or a cabinet for your tank. Tropical aquariums are widely regarded as some of the most attractive fish tanks around thanks to the wide variety of plants and animals which can live in them, making them a great showpiece for your home. Make absolutely sure that your stand or cabinet is able to withstand the pressure of a several hundred pound fish tank before you add any plants or fish to the tank. You can test this by simply placing your tank atop the cabinet and then filling it to the brim with water.

After ensuring the cabinet is secure, begin filling your tropical aquarium with sand, clay or granite rocks. If you are adding plants, make this floor layer a bit thicker so the plants have places for their roots to grow and take hold. Next, you will want to thread the tubing for air down underneath the rock. You can then attach a statue or an air rock to the tube to allow for circulation of air through the water. This is not so necessary if you have a wet/dry filter that will allow for gas exchange during the filtration process. Once everything on the floor of the aquarium is in place, you can begin adding the water to the tank. Many experts recommend that you should first place some sort of jug or bowl on the bottom of the fish tank before you add in the water so you can pour your water right into the bowl and not accidentally mess with the rocks and gravel on the tank’s floor.

Once the tank has been filled most of the way with water, you can add in your electrical filters, gas exchangers and pumps. Once everything is in place, continue adding water until the electrics are within a safe operating zone. Be sure to test everything before you add in your plants and fish, as you would not want to risk killing your animals as result of an improperly functioning machine. You should also wait for at least a couple of weeks before you add any fish, as this will allow all of the important biological systems in the tank to stabilize and create a much healthier environment for your animals.