Aquarium Supplies

So you've decided to swim with the fishes (so to speak). After you've set up your aquarium, there are some supplies you may want to keep on hand.

The Basics:

• Fish food. You need to feed your new fish.
• A net. For scooping out the fish when it's tank cleaning time.

Useful But Not Essential:

• Water testing kit. You want the water in the tank to be fish-friendly. Periodically check the PH levels and water hardness, and find out what other stuff is in your tank.
• Isolation tank. Also known as a nursery or breeding tank, it's a good way to isolate a sick fish or a pregnant fish. I've seen tanks that have an isolation tank with a beta in it, and all sorts of other fish in the main tank.
• Fish drugs. It doesn't hurt to keep them on hand in case of fungus, parasites, or other fish ailments.
• Air tube/air pump. Don't put the actual pump in the tank! The tube helps increase aeration of the water.

Keeping your tank clean is essential to the health and well-being of your fish! Your water filters will need periodic cleaning. Your tank will grow algae. Uneaten fish food and other gunk will get stuck in the gravel.

Rather than emptying the tank and starting over every time you need to clean, you may want to do a weekly cleaning. Just remove part of the water, less than 20% of the tank capacity, and clean a portion of the gravel every week. By not removing all the water, you keep beneficial bacteria in the environment.

Cleaning Supplies:

• Gravel vacuum. This handy device cleans debris (like uneaten food and fish waste) out of the gravel.
• Large bowls or bucket. These can be used for cleaning filters, other tank accessories, and for tank filling. Keep in mind that tap water can be detrimental to good bacteria in the tank water, so you may want to use water from the aquarium for cleaning.
• Algae scraper. Algae in tank is bad.

Catherine Forman