What do you wish you had known before getting an aquarium?? I figure it could be a helpful thread to people wanting to get into fishkeeping! (Keep in mind I am fairly new to fish keeping myself so if I say anything inaccurate pleeeeease correct me).
1. Do a fishless cycle on your tank before adding any livestock. When I got my first ever fish when I was 17 I had not a clue what cycling was. Oh my gosh did that give me some stressful times when I woke up to my black moor goldfish that I kept in a 10 gallon tank swimming around frantically with white spots all over him that I swear looked like burns and I ended up finding out my acidity and ammonia levels were of course awful and ended up discovering cycling through that. Thankfully he survived the cycling process but I never want to intentionally put an animal through that again. Fast forward to present day and I finally have a tank again, I made sure to do a fishless cycle this time. So much less stressful. I think cycling is really confusing and complicated so I don't blame people for being intimidated by it, but I found this guide very helpful and straightforward https://fishlab.com/how-to-cycle-aquarium/
2. The 1" of fish rule. This has been so helpful to me when determining how many fish I can keep in a tank. Keep in mind this is a rough estimate and not always accurate. But what it says is for every 1 inch of fish, you need 1 extra gallon of water. So for example in a 15 gallon tank theoretically you could keep 15 1inch long fish. Why I say this rule is not entirely accurate is because your decor and equipment takes up space in your tank thus reducing the actual volume. A heavily decorated 15 gallon or one w a huge filter may be more like a 12 gallon for example. Due to this it is really better to understock than stock your tank to max or over capacity, because due to what stuff is in the tank you may not have as many gallons as you think you have. Also, some fish though small are very active and thus require a larger space than you might think. For example red tail sharks only grow to around max 6 inches so you might think you could easily fit in in your 10 gallon or 15 gallon with a few smaller fish. But in reality this fish is very active and needs a large territory and needs a minimum 55 gallon tank. So always research the fish first before getting it of course. But for general reasons it is a very helpful tool to use when determining how many fish you should stock.
3. You need to be really really patient. It can be super exciting to get new fish and I know I 100% wanted to just dive right in and go get all the fish I wanted at once and add them. No. That's how you get a lot of dead fish. It can take 6 weeks or more to fully cycle an aquarium ie make it safe for fish to live in it. And even after that if you add too many fish at a time it will become unstable again parameter wise so it is best to just add a few at a time instead. And keep in mind before adding new fish they should be quarantined for at least a week in a separate tank ideally to avoid potentially getting the rest of your community ill with any diseases they might have come in with. The whole process of setting up an aquarium properly takes months, honestly. If you choose to rush, your animals and plants will suffer, and all the money you spent on them goes down the drain too. As an added bonus, the time it takes to set up your tank is excellent time to spend researching what fish and plants are best fit for what you are looking for. Jumping into things leads to impulsive decisions and you could end up with a mess of fish that don't get along or eat your plants because you didn't stop and take time to research first. Anyways patience is key with aquariums, trust me!!
4. Your tank location really matters. My first ever fish tank I had on my dresser in my bedroom. It was a pain in the butt to clean it and do water changes. Now my fish tanks are literally right next to the sink so when it's time for a water change it's just like pump it right in the sink, takes 5 seconds to clean my tanks now and it's so easy. Also if you have your tank where the sun can hit it it can give you algae problems (and im assuming may affect temp as well but I'm not sure). I'm not saying everyone needs to keep their tank next to their sink, plenty of people have fancy rigs set up with long hoses or whatever so they can do easy cleans from wherever. But if you don't feel like setting that up, it is easiest to do tank maintenance if your tank is right by a sink. And the easier it is the more often you are likely/willing to do it!
Those were my biggest things I learned about that I wish I'd known earlier. What about you guys?
1. Do a fishless cycle on your tank before adding any livestock. When I got my first ever fish when I was 17 I had not a clue what cycling was. Oh my gosh did that give me some stressful times when I woke up to my black moor goldfish that I kept in a 10 gallon tank swimming around frantically with white spots all over him that I swear looked like burns and I ended up finding out my acidity and ammonia levels were of course awful and ended up discovering cycling through that. Thankfully he survived the cycling process but I never want to intentionally put an animal through that again. Fast forward to present day and I finally have a tank again, I made sure to do a fishless cycle this time. So much less stressful. I think cycling is really confusing and complicated so I don't blame people for being intimidated by it, but I found this guide very helpful and straightforward https://fishlab.com/how-to-cycle-aquarium/
2. The 1" of fish rule. This has been so helpful to me when determining how many fish I can keep in a tank. Keep in mind this is a rough estimate and not always accurate. But what it says is for every 1 inch of fish, you need 1 extra gallon of water. So for example in a 15 gallon tank theoretically you could keep 15 1inch long fish. Why I say this rule is not entirely accurate is because your decor and equipment takes up space in your tank thus reducing the actual volume. A heavily decorated 15 gallon or one w a huge filter may be more like a 12 gallon for example. Due to this it is really better to understock than stock your tank to max or over capacity, because due to what stuff is in the tank you may not have as many gallons as you think you have. Also, some fish though small are very active and thus require a larger space than you might think. For example red tail sharks only grow to around max 6 inches so you might think you could easily fit in in your 10 gallon or 15 gallon with a few smaller fish. But in reality this fish is very active and needs a large territory and needs a minimum 55 gallon tank. So always research the fish first before getting it of course. But for general reasons it is a very helpful tool to use when determining how many fish you should stock.
3. You need to be really really patient. It can be super exciting to get new fish and I know I 100% wanted to just dive right in and go get all the fish I wanted at once and add them. No. That's how you get a lot of dead fish. It can take 6 weeks or more to fully cycle an aquarium ie make it safe for fish to live in it. And even after that if you add too many fish at a time it will become unstable again parameter wise so it is best to just add a few at a time instead. And keep in mind before adding new fish they should be quarantined for at least a week in a separate tank ideally to avoid potentially getting the rest of your community ill with any diseases they might have come in with. The whole process of setting up an aquarium properly takes months, honestly. If you choose to rush, your animals and plants will suffer, and all the money you spent on them goes down the drain too. As an added bonus, the time it takes to set up your tank is excellent time to spend researching what fish and plants are best fit for what you are looking for. Jumping into things leads to impulsive decisions and you could end up with a mess of fish that don't get along or eat your plants because you didn't stop and take time to research first. Anyways patience is key with aquariums, trust me!!
4. Your tank location really matters. My first ever fish tank I had on my dresser in my bedroom. It was a pain in the butt to clean it and do water changes. Now my fish tanks are literally right next to the sink so when it's time for a water change it's just like pump it right in the sink, takes 5 seconds to clean my tanks now and it's so easy. Also if you have your tank where the sun can hit it it can give you algae problems (and im assuming may affect temp as well but I'm not sure). I'm not saying everyone needs to keep their tank next to their sink, plenty of people have fancy rigs set up with long hoses or whatever so they can do easy cleans from wherever. But if you don't feel like setting that up, it is easiest to do tank maintenance if your tank is right by a sink. And the easier it is the more often you are likely/willing to do it!
Those were my biggest things I learned about that I wish I'd known earlier. What about you guys?
