Introduction
When you do something new you will always learn something. When I developed my 75-gallon freshwater aquarium for the first time,I learned a bunch. Here is what I learned.
Maintenance
I initially thought that it would be very time-consuming to keep up. Surprisingly a freshwater aquarium is very easy to keep. It takes me less than an hour a week to do a 10% water replacement and to clean the debris.
I do not count feeding of the fish in this task because this is a chore I really enjoy.
Nitrogen Cycle
I initially thought you poured water in a tank, put some filters and an aerator in and then added your fish. How wrong could I have been? You have to make sure you have a bacteria colony established before you even add your first fish.
Most of the work performed in keeping a freshwater aquarium falls to the bacteria colony you have developed. I did not know that to keep the water clean and to keep toxic chemicals out, such as ammonia and nitrites, the bacteria colony you have to develop performs this work.
You can use fish to develop your bacteria colony, but you have to make sure they are tolerant of ammonia and nitrites and they are the fish you want. The fastest and easiest way to develop this bacteria colony is to buy your bacteria culture at your local pet store.
Adding Fish
Once you spent the time developing your bacteria colony, you cannot just dump your fish in the aquarium. Because I have a 75-gallon aquarium, and using the one-inch of mature fish for every gallon of water, I calculated I could put 15 fishes of the type I wanted in my aquarium.
I found out I should put just three fish of the same species in my tank every week. This is to prevent stressing the fish. Who would have thought?
I did violate this rule at the end when I added my Tiger Barbs. Since Tiger Barbs are schooling fish, they live in groups of six or more, anything less and they will become stressed.
So on the fourth week, after I had added nine fish already, I added my six Tiger Barbs with no problems to any of the fish.
Fertilizer
When I started replacing 10% of the water weekly, I found that this water was full of nitrates, phosphates and fish "poop". I had ready plant fertilizer.
I started pouring it on my houseplants and did they take off.
If you want more information on how to keep an aquarium, download a free eBook, titled "15 Tips On Building And Maintaining An Aquarium", at http://www.squidoo.com/homefreshwateraquariums or at Your Home Freshwater Aquarium.
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