Setting up a New Aquarium

I was surprised several times along the way as I learnt about fishkeeping. I had learnt that you need air pump, filter and heater, and expected this to be expensive and fiddly, so I was delighted to find that you can buy tanks with everything built into one core, and bought a Juwel Rekord 70 (70 litre basic tank, everything inbuilt). The water is aerated by surface movement, so make sure that the pump outflow is near the surface and that when you drop a small pinch of food in, you can see it moving around. If you're in any doubt, you can buy a piece of thin plastic tube and push it into the pump for it to suck in air - so ask your seller about tubing. This will increase the level of agitation caused by the outflow as it bubbles (the bubbles themselves don't aerate the tank per se!) I was also not told about thermometers, but as the calibration on heating elements will vary, you can get a cheap tank thermometer to stick to the outside of the glass.

However I had thought it would be easy to get going once I had all the equipment sorted out - I had not realised that you need to mature the tank first (see below) before you can even think of putting fish in it - so you will need to be patient!

Also, think about where the tank will go. Even small tanks are heavy. If you do not wish to buy a recommended stand or cabinet, choose a solid piece of furniture to support it (a good test is to sit on it!) and ensure that the top is also strong enough. I bought an MDF board which was cut to be slightly larger than the top of the furniture, and then painted to be water resistant. In that way the furniture was protected from water damage, and also from the fishtank going through the top.

Check the orientation of the floorboards, and make sure that your tank will stand along the joists (at right angles to the boards), so that you do not risk the tank going through the floor. This is unusual, but it is worth being careful especially with older floorboards or with tanks 3ft and over.

Maturing the Tank

Water Changes

Once the tank is established, you should undergo a 25% water change every week, or a 33% water change every fortnight - whatever works for you. Always treat the water with something like Aquasafe. However, I have discovered Tetra Easybalance, which claims that you can add it to the tank in place of water changes. This sounded too good to be true, so I tried it and found that it does appear to revitalise the fish, and certainly the water tests were all fine. However, you should still make regular top-ups of treated water, to allow for evaporation. Also, although Easybalance claims that you only need to change water every six months, I find that a water change does perk the fish up more; I have cut back on the water changes and use Easybalance when it is inconvenient to get the buckets out, but don't abandon water changes altogether - once every six weeks works well for me.

Choosing Plants

Choosing Fish

Choosing Food

This is usually pretty simple - most tropical fish will happily eat a flake food. You can also buy flake foods to boost their colour, if you prefer. Don't try goldfish or pond fish pellets - they don't get eaten!

You can offer live food, but beware of spreading infection or causing a worm colony to grow - try freezedried instead for a treat.

Catfish and bottom dwelling fish will prefer algae wafers, and (in particular Plecos) need bogwood to chomp on. You can also buy pellets called Plecochips which include algae and wood. In fact all my fish enjoy wafers and pellets, so I need to distract them with flake while I drop the pellets in for the catfish. My Pleco also enjoys cucumber and celery, but although you can get special clips to hold the vegetables, I find that they decompose quickly and clog the filter. If you feed it, remove it as soon as the middle has been eaten, before it is just skin left!

Don't forget that many fish are omnivorous; if they can get it in their mouth, they will eat it! Small fish are at risk from bigger ones; baby fish are almost certain to be eaten, if you manage to breed any; dead fish will be cannibalised. This is quite natural, so don't let it repulse you - just choose your fish carefully!

Moving House

This took a lot of organisation! I needed to move to a house around 10 minutes' drive away, so only a short journey, but the whole activity took several hours.

First, I syphoned half of the water into a large, clean, crate, with lid. Although it would lose temperature as soon as I did this, it was the best way to remove clean water (remember to syphon from the top and not the bottom as is more usual!) - before everything got stirred up. I kept this water for reinstating the tank at the other end.

Next, I removed the plants and rocks, as carefully as possible. This made it easier to catch the fish. Plants will be fine for hours, as long as their roots are kept damp. However, when you move them beware of stirring up dirt from the gravel and making the water cloudy.

Now came the most difficult part - catching the fish. I had already obtained several bags and rubber bands from a pet shop. I put a small amount of water into each bag - enough to just cover the fish, the most important thing is to give them plenty of oxygen - and caught three small fish for each bag, trapping plenty of air as I sealed each one. Catching fish isn't easy, especially once they have realised something is up! My favourite tactic was to trap the fish in the net against the side of the glass, and slide him up to the top with my hand over the net. It isn't easy though, so do whatever comes most easily! I had to take frequent breaks to allow the fish to settle down again, although I was aware that captive ones would be cooling down.

At this point, I had to turn off the pump and heater, as the lack of water would have caused them to burn out. They should only be used when completely immersed in water.

Finally, I syphoned the rest of the water out as fast as possible, throwing it away, and put the gravel into a bucket. The gravel was rinsed thoroughly and the tank wiped clean. I was aware of how long this was taking and how cold the fish must be, so I was very quick with this part. However, NEVER try to lift the tank with water in it. Even a small tank is awkward with water sloshing about. The pet shop told me a horror story about a man who dropped a tank, which broke and sliced the end off his nose. I didn't try it!

Finally we could load everything into the car, and drive carefully to the new house. I had already prepared a stand for the tank so it could be put in situ right away. I added the cleaned gravel, put the saved water into the tank, and topped it up with warm water treated with AquaSafe, until it was full to the line, and about 25°C. I turned on the pump and heater, and started adding plants and rocks, being as quick as possible - you can reorganise the tank later. When the pump came back on it threw out murky water - it took a few minutes to settle.

I put the bags of fish on top of the water, as if I had just bought new fish, so they could acclimatise for 15 minutes. They had cooled down somewhat, so it was essential to prepare them. A final check that the rocks and plants were stable, and I could release the fish. They were very anxious to hide, and I left the light off for the rest of the day. However, they perked up within a few hours, and there were no casualties at all!

It is also a good idea to add a bacteria treatment such as Denitrol when so much water has been changed, and a skin treatment like Melafix where the fish have been netted and may have small abrasions.

Hot Weather (above 30°C)

Since setting up the tank, there have been one or two weeks each summer where the temperature has risen to over 30°C. At this temperature the fish will be struggling. There are several things you can do to allieviate this: turn the light off; place a damp towel over the tank; open the windows and point a fan at the tank; increase aeration levels; be stringent about water quality and treatment; change water and filter layers more often than usual.

I tried all of these, and the tank temperature was still consistently over 30°C, so I did something that fishkeepers are told is terribly wrong... I added ice to the tank. However, I did this extremely carefully. I put two or three lumps of ice at a time into a freezer bag, and floated that in the filter section of the tank, so that the colder water would be mixed into the tank and not in direct contact with the fish. I stirred the water gently with a net every few minutes after adding fresh ice. It only took a few minutes for each small bag of ice to melt, and I changed it every half hour or so. It worked, but I would still suggest that you only use this method as a last resort. It is labour intensive for you, and probably a shock to the fish. I used it only when my fish were resting and gasping all the time, and I felt I had to act. It takes the tank through the few really hot days of the year.

Water Chemistry

If you have any unexplained fish deaths or listlessness, always check the water.

Alkalinity and hard water is the only water quality issue that I face; following the rules for maturing the tank has meant that the nitrogen cycle easily established itself, and so the tank water is fine in terms of nitrites and ammonia.

I live in London. We have very hard water here. Initially the tank pH was around 8, the same as my local tap water, but after a year it has crept to 8.6 which is unacceptable. A pH of around 7.5 will be better for my community tank, although most of the fish in it can cope up to 8.2.

I tried using Proper pH 7.0 which is a sachet of powder, and will buffer the pH to 7.0, that is it will push it to 7.0 from whichever direction is required, acid or alkali, and hold it at that value. Proper pH has two problems - firstly, it will reduce trace elements in the water, so that eventually plants will yellow and die. I am now adding a few drops of an aquatic plant food which I am told can be added to the tank with no side-effects, and which will help the plants.

Secondly, in hard water, the pH treatment will cause a white precipitate, or cloudiness, in the tank. This is harmless, but any cloudiness in the tank will make it harder for the fish to breathe. I have worked around this by adding sachets in tiny amounts rather than tipping in at once, and by adding it to the area of water near the filter so that the precipitate is sucked in right away. This kept it to an acceptable level as the sachet was added, although a white haze formed after a few hours.

Haze forming in water

Aggressive or Unhappy Fish

I have had problems with some fish pecking at others, and with other fish hiding all day. Here is how I have combatted that:

• More plants, more rocks, more wood - give them more places to lurk, and fish will feel more secure. In fact, fish that used to stay hidden now swim more actively around the tank, so it is true that if you provide more places to hide you will actually see more of the fish!
  

• Dark background - use a plain dark backdrop to the tank. I prefer to use purple, but deep blues, greens and black work well too. This makes fish feel more secure, and is also more natural for those fish that usually live deep in lakes. I have also heard that a green background reduces aggressiveness, but I have no idea if it is true. Certainly, as soon as there is a solid backdrop, I find fish more likely to swim higher in the tank.
  

• Check the water quality, and examine fish for signs of illness. Sometimes general listlessness can be a sign of disease.
  

• Keep them in the right numbers - many fish prefer groups of their own type, and you should not consider keeping fewer than six of those types. For example, my Green Tiger Barbs would often fight, so I was loathe to add more, but as soon as another three joined the tank, the existing ringleader calmed right down. Also ensure that solitary fish, e.g. Plecos, are the only one of their type in your tank.
  

• Temporary segregation - a lot of infighting is due to fish establishing their pecking order within the tank, but if the fighting is prolonged try putting the aggressor into a breeding net for an hour or two, until he has calmed down. When released into the tank again, he is a lot calmer, at least for a while!
  

Sick Fish

Something I learned only recently is that you can buy boxes covered in net, which are used for breeding fish, and they clip onto the side of the tank. They cost only a few pounds, and mean that you can keep the fish segregated, while still in the same tank - so if you can't afford a quarantine tank, this is a good option for sick or injured fish.

Breeding net for quarantined fish

Of course, not all sick fish will need segregation, for example White Spot does not require affected fish to be separated and in any case, the whole tank should be treated if one fish is ill. However if you have a fish which is injured, for example is missing scale or fin, or which is hiding a lot of the time, it will do well from being separated in a breeding box. It can remain there while the tank is treated.

White Spot (Ich)

White Spot is common in new tanks, traumatised fish, or where new fish have recently been added to the tank. It shows as white spots, initially on the tail and a little on the fins. Treat it straight away with a specific White Spot treatment, and as with many treatments, remove the carbon filter layer before treatment, and make a 25% water change after treatment is complete. Be really careful not to overdose.

Although that treated my fish quickly and easily, you should also address the underlying cause. Traumatised or weak fish are more likely to suffer White Spot.

Fin and Skin Injuries

My fish quite often peck each other. Slow moving fish with big fins are at risk of this, and I was shocked to find one fish with a fin which was barely sticks, and patches of bald skin.

A great treatment is Melafix. You should also keep the fish separate in a breeding net (see above) until it has healed. Beware; fish with infections will often rub against tank furniture which can cause a loss of scales, so make sure you treat the cause. I have made changes to my tank to reduce the aggression (see Aggressive or Unhappy fish, above). Melafix is only the sticking plaster!

An injured fish: pectoral fin worn away, skin red and sore.

Fish Symptom Diagnosis