Aquarium World

So you have thoughts on setting up your first aquarium. That’s great! Fish keeping is a fun, relaxing and rewarding hobby which anybody can partake.

On to the good stuff; The first job you have is to have a bit of a planning session. Its no good shooting off to the shop and buying something unsuitable for you and your fish! Enjoy the planning stage and take your time. It will make your new hobby much more enjoyable in the long run.

The first thing to consider is the type of fish you want to keep.
There are three main groups of fish you can keep in aquariums. These are

• Cold Water Fish
  These are fish which will thrive in normal room temperature water. They are also, generally speaking, the easiest group to keep.
• Tropical Fish
  This group need more specialist equipment and more tending to but they are still accessible for a dedicated beginner. Tropical fish also tend to be the more colourful and prettier fish.
• Marine Fish
  A marine aquarium will be the most tricky and most expensive to set up and maintain. These are not really suitable for beginners.

We are initially going to look at cold water fish.

We need to look at the location we have available for the tank as this will dictate the size of the tank and so the types of fish we can keep.
The tank needs to be kept in away from sources of noise such as TVs, Radios and machines (eg washing machine, dishwasher etc). Fish don’t like the vibrations and it will stress them.
Changes in heat need to be avoided too so this means any source of heat such as radiator, fire or electrical appliance needs to be given a wide berth.

So you now know the location you are going to use and so you have a range in the size tank you can accommodate. This means you can think about what kind of fish you can keep. I’m guessing you already have an idea of the fish you would like?

Fish

The most common cold water aquarium fish is the goldfish. Goldfish come in a few different varieties. They range in colours from black to white, to grey, to orange and even yellow and there are specialties such as fan tails with their long flowing tails and bubble eyed with their (obviously) bubble eyes and the comets with the streamlined body.
Goldfish can be large producers of waste and so can need a slightly larger tank along with some varietys growing to become quite large fish again needing that extra space.

Another good option for a beginner aquarium is the White Cloud Mountain minnow. These fish are very hardy and forgiving. They are a schooling fish so do like to be in groups of five or more but they are still comfortable in the smaller end of the tank ranges.

Lets stick with Goldfish for now as that is by far the most common first fish!

That’s part one. Keep an eye out for part two coming soon…