This is a reef type tank filled with corals, crabs, starfish and marine fish.
Marine aquariums can be a great hobby but very challenging. You must first decide if you can afford to start a marine fish tank as starting one up can be very expensive. To start off you have to decide the size of the tank, tank-stand, filters, lighting, rocks, marine salt, salinity-Meter and type of fish and invertebrates. The tank pictured above is a 90 gallons with some soft corals and fish. The fish-tank is equipped with 6 4 foot fluorescent lights( Cora-life 50/50
bulbs), protein skimmer, canister filter, live rock, 200 watt heater, 2 power heads and some crushed coral substrate. IF YOUR NEW TO THE HOOBY I WOULD START WITH FRESH WATER FISH FIRST…..
This is a clip of my koi during feeding time>
My koi pond in July
Koi are very large fish and need space to grow and be healthy. A large pond like this is needed for koi fish along with good water movement and large filters.
Here are my tips to a healthy clean pond:
1. Use flooting plants like Water hyacinth, this plant covers the pond from sunlight and absorbs nutrients from the water, this will stop the water from turning green.
2. Barley straw in a mesh bag placed in your filter is a great algicide, keeps your water crystal clear. Just place a bag in your filter and magic.
3. Do not overfeed your fish, I feed my koi just once a day and I even skiped a few days as there is plenty to eat outdoors(bugs,worms ect.) Do not over crowd your pond, I only have ten koi in my large pond, remember more fish more waste!
4. PUMPS AND PUMPS, it takes a lot of pump power to run the waterfall and the filter(never go cheap on pumps). The more water moving around and splashing from the waterfall create oxygen for your fish and keeps the water clean. My koi pond is running on 3 pumps, one to run my large waterfall and 2 to run my filters, yes two filters, koi are messy fish.
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My 90 gallon cichlid tank
This is a 90 gallon cichlid tank built into the wall in the basement.
Here are a few tips on setups:
1. Select the type of fish you like, remember not all fish can live together, go down to the pets store and see which ones you like.
2. The type of fish will determine what kind of tank you need(size and style). Some fish get big so they need room to grow and swim.
3. In order for fish-tank to be clean and healthy you will need filters and a heater. I normally put a heater as fish do much better with a constant temperature, fish don’t like fluctuations in temperature it could make them sick.
4. Dont forget you will need a bucket, fishnet, thermometer and specific fish food for your fish.
5 . And the fun part, rocks, boats, plastic plants and gravel to decorate your tank, but that’s up to you.
Spring is coming and your garden pond is ready for another season after a cold winter.There are some factors to consider when doing your spring maintenance and ensure the health of your pond, pond fish, goldfish and koi.
If your fish did survive over the winter its a good idea to start your filter, remove any dead fish and do a water change to make sure your pond is off to a good start.Clean out as much sludge, leaves and debris from the bottom of your pond to make sure this doesn’t decay and create water problems for your fish.During the spring your pond fish are most vulnerable to disease and fungus because of the long hibernation.
Make sure your fish are healthy and without ulcers or fin rot, you might have to setup a sick tank to make sure any diseases are not spread.Do not feed your fish unless the temperature is at least above 55F, and only use food high in wheat germ and only switch to protein based foods when the temperature reaches at least 7oF.
At pond maintenance time make sure all the hoses are intact without any pinholes or leaks.Check your liner for any tears or leaks.Clean all of your pond equipment such as filters, pond aerator, pumps and UV sterilizers.Its a good idea to add some barley hay to your filter at this time this helps with avoiding a algae bloom.Add some pond clarifierand sludge remover during at pond clean up time.Make sure you are stocked up on your pond supplies.
The pond season is a great time of year to setup some new plants and add some fish to your existing water garden.Rember to do your spring maintanence is the key to healthy garden ponds.Weather you have a fish pond or a waterfall clear water always looks best in any garden.
There are several important factors in keeping tropical fish.There are several reasons for not successfully keeping tropical fish.If you are new to the hobby or a beginner on then its always a good idea to start off with a freshwater tropical fish tank setup.
Selecting fish is very important, if your new to the hobby its a good idea to start off with fish that are much hardy like goldfish, guppies, betta fish, African cichlids, tetras, gouramis(kissing fish) and South American cichlids.Never start off with something more complicated like marine fish or reef tanks that require protein skimmers and complicated equipment in order to keep corals.Start off with something easy before committing to the hobby.
Always keep up with water changes and filter maintenance.Use a gravel cleaner to keep your aquarium clean instead of a complete tear down of your tank.If you decide to completely tear down your tank to clean it can cause stress to your fish and your completely eliminating any healthy bacteria.Any beneficial nutrifying bacteria takes weeks to months to establish so its a good idea to just keeping your aquarium clean and avoid overfeeding your fish.
First factor to keeping tropical fish healthy is to make sure to keep your fish numbers very low.Never over stock your aquarium, it will lead to a dirty unhealthy tank and you will loose your fish to disease and stress.Remember you could not survive very long stuck in a small room with 30 other people.Every fish requires a certain amount of space and water to survive and setup a territory.
Always provide a variety of fish food like frozen shrimp and good quality fish flakes and pellets when feeding your fish that is high in vitamin C.This will lead to a fish that is resilient to disease and help with reducing fish loss.
Tropical fish aquarium accessories include filters, lighting and decorative materials. Choose tropical fish aquarium accessories with tips from a limnologist in this free video about tropical fish
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