John Galea's Beginner's Aquarium Page

Introduction

Every aquarium owner has their own secrets that they believe are the key to their success. I of course have one or two too. When I first started a freshwater aquarium I was a little concerned about learning how to do it. I have now had an aquarium for over two years (far from a veteran) and I feel I am doing pretty well. I of course still make mistakes, the latest boo boo was not counting how many fish I had in the tank and over populating the tank ... oops. Classic ...

My Aquarium

I have a 12 gallon (certainly not large) tank with a Dynaflo 2 filter and a heater that came with the tank. I keep the temperature between 75-77 F.

Maintenance

I do upkeep on the tank once a week. I change two to four gallons of water and clean the filter. I choose to stagger these so the filter isn't immediately fouled by the water change and stirring up the crap. To remove the water I use a simple piece of plastic tube, which I fill with water and use it like a siphon to remove the water. I always vacuum the gravel with this process to remove the unsightly crap from the tank.

When I change the water I generally also clean the glass using a razor blade. This does an excellent job of removing algae from the glass. Be careful of damaging the silicone though.

I have found the best way to clean out the filter is to use a garden hose with a sprayer on it. Lots of volume and lots of pressure.

Water Preparation

To prepare the water prior to putting it in the tank I carbon filter tap water using a Teledyne Waterpik tap filter. Ontario has pretty crummy water quality. In fact we use only distilled in our home ... The water is placed in a pale with the prescribed amount of Tetra Aqua safe added to remove the chlorine, quite strong in our local water. I leave the water in the pale for one to two days prior to adding it to the tank. This allows the water to be at room temperature (our water varies tremendously in temperature), and allows the chlorine to dissipate.

Filters

On top of the usual filter found on the Dynaflow I use an Aquaclear foam mini filter placed over the filter in take. This does numerous things. First of all it removes the large items such as leaf clippings and the like from becoming fouled in the main filter. Secondly it obviously adds additional filtering. Lastly it also keeps small fish and frogs from getting inhaled by the filter. A problem I have had.

Feeding

I feed my fish once a day and use a fish feeder if I am going to be away for more than a day or two. The feeder was inexpensive and lets me go away without feeling guilty. The fish feeder is a simple drum that rotates around and drops food out of the drum once every twelve hours. Some people believe you should feed your fish more often than I do, the fish haven't said anything to me yet. If they do I'll be sure to update this page with their preference.

I feed my fish a combination of flake and dried blood worms. When I can stomach it I take an earth worm, stick it in the freezer (don't tell my wife or I'll be in yogurt) and then simply slice the worm. The fish absolutely go wild at this.

Your choice of fish

People choose fish for various reasons, from looks to longevity to activeness. I must say I have been disappointed by a number of fish:
  1. firebelly newt. Very inactive and boring. Really didn't add much entertainment value to the tank. Additionally it eventually got out of the tank, in spite of being completely covered except for the filter.
  2. tri color sharks. Just when these start to get big they tend to go a little stir crazy and run themselves in things (such as my turtle platform) killing themselves
  3. gouramies. These can be pretty fish, but beware, they love plants
  4. I have a spiny cat fish, can't remember the name of it, but it turns out to be nocturnal. What a waste. And the silly thing won't die!
  5. Angel fish have come and gone in my tank, they don't seem to last all that long and are very frail fish. I probably won't bother in the future.
Other fish have done very well
  1. corey cat. Lasts forever, but is really not that exciting to watch.
  2. tetras especially long fins, can be colorful, and energetic. These are very durable fish.
  3. danios especially long fins, can be colorful, and energetic. These are also very durable fish.
  4. plecos help keep your tank clean and will probably out last every fish in the tank
  5. Australian rainbows are also very durable pretty fish.
  6. Colombian shark. This is a very pretty, elegant, and active fish. I just got it, so no comment on longevity.
  7. painted red ear turtle. While it may seem odd to have a turtle in the tank, I and my three year old daughter love it. Some simple rules ... if the fish is small enough to fit into the turtle's mouth ... it will. Second turtles like tropical fish, newts etc can carry semolina. Don't allow your child to touch it and be sure to wash your hands after touching it or changing water.

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