| A tropical aquarium is a beautiful addition to any | | | | rid of all the chlorine and for the filter system to build |
| home, in fact one of my earliest memories is of my | | | | up some good bacteria. I usually put a little pinch of |
| dads tropical fish tank. They are quite easy to set up | | | | fish food in the tank to help speed this up,or if you |
| but take a lot of time and care to maintain properly. | | | | have a friend with a clean healthy aquarium then add |
| To set up your first tropical aquarium you will need: | | | | a pint or two of water from his tank. |
| A fish tank with a light unit, filter, thermometer, | | | | STEP 3 |
| heater, air pump, gravel, plants, rocks or wood, net, | | | | While your tank is maturing why not choose your fish |
| algae scrapper, water conditioner, fish food. | | | | and plants. Choose fish with care,make sure you find |
| STEP1 | | | | out how big they will be when they are fully grown, |
| Make sure your fish tank is not in direct sunlight, this | | | | that is a mistake i made with my first tank. I bought |
| could cause the water to over heat and will promote | | | | a pleco for my three foot tank, big mistake the fish |
| the growth of algae. Make sure your fish tank is | | | | can grow to around two feet in length. But as with |
| dead level and on a rock solid stand. Put in the gravel | | | | most things you learn from your mistakes. I tend to |
| to a depth of around two or three inches and | | | | go for one big show fish and a few medium size |
| decorate with rocks or wood and if you are not | | | | tank cleaning catfish. |
| planning on real plants then you can place your plastic | | | | STEP 4 |
| plants in your tank. Don't go overboard as your tank | | | | Now after three to four weeks you can add your |
| will look cluttered and your fish will have no room to | | | | fish I do this one every week or two so I can keep |
| swim. | | | | an eye on them. There is nothing worse than buying |
| STEP 2 | | | | lots of fish and they all die after a few days because |
| Wash out your fish tank with cold water, fit the | | | | the tank wasn't quite ready. Use the Equalising |
| filter, thermometer, heater and air pump (chances are | | | | method to add your new fish to the tank, by floating |
| you bought a fish tank with all this ready setup for | | | | the fish using their bag. Leave them there for 15 - 20 |
| you). Fill your fish tank with cold tap water then flick | | | | minutes,then open the bag and little by little add small |
| the switch to power up all of your equipment. You | | | | amounts of water from your aquarium to the bag. |
| should set the temperature to between 22-29 | | | | Then release them and enjoy,tropical fish are so |
| degrees centigrade. Then wait and wait and wait I | | | | relaxing to watch you will get years of pleasure from |
| think you get the message,don't add any fish for at | | | | a well looked after tropical tank. |
| least three weeks. This gives the water time to get | | | | |