Friday, April 29, 2011

Taking Proper care of Your Clownfish

In looking after real-life “Nemo” or anemone fish or clownfish requires an additional care. They live on warm waters of Pacific and Indian Oceans. Although they are territorial fish and tend to guard the sea anemone and coral reefs that they are in, they usually get along with other kinds of fish that makes them as a very good addition to your aquarium tank.



1. When choosing an aquarium for the clownfish, you will need to select a large one because saltwater fish needs much more area as compared to fresh water fish. It’s encouraged to get 30-gallon aquarium to create a blooming setting to your clownfish.

2. Be sure you purchase those tank-bred clownfish instead of the ones that were captured from captivity.
The fish will most likely die if they’re from the wild as a result of stress brought by the capture and shipping.

When choosing your clown fish, be sure that the one that you will buy has bright colored scales, clear eyes, energetic and alert, and doesn’t have signs of whitened spots. It’s wise for you to choose the younger anemone fish so that you won’t have trouble if you try to breed them. However, if you want to breed them, you should try buying the paired one.

2. Seek advice from an aquarium technician or perhaps informed pet shop employee for lighting and filtration advice for the fish. A large filter is preferable to be sure that the aquarium is clean and is filtered correctly. Make sure you make weekly water changes of at least 10% of the total amount of water. A timer for lighting could be good so your fish will get the schedule of sunlight and darkness.

3. Buy the best fish food for the clownfish. Feed the fish in a certain time every day with a mixture of flakes and frozen food. Keep in mind that the fish should get appropriate vitamins and nutrients so it is going to be healthy and balanced.

4. Maintain the temperature of your aquarium between 24 to 28 degrees Celsius or 76 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit, and also the salinity levels between 1.020 and 1.026. This will help your clown fish feel more at home, considering they are tropical fish.

5. Place stones or sea anemone inside the tank and be sure that there will be plenty of hiding areas. This will make the fish feel more secure and feel home inside the tank. However, sea anemone isn't really important in the aquarium if you don’t have possible predators within your tank.

6. Don’t crowd the tank with several sorts of fishes. Clown fish likes the place to be peaceful. Overcrowding of the fish tank can cause stress and illness to your clownfish. If you're planning on breeding it, the fish has to be free from stress simply because stressed fish are not going to lay eggs.

7. You must observe your fish if it has any strange behaviour or has a disease or health problems. You should have a information about what illnesses will be present in a clownfish so that you could identify it and treat it before it gets worse.

Get the best guide for taking care of your Clownfish and learn facts about clownfish here.





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Friday, April 15, 2011

Learn To Set Up Your Nature Aquarium

Making your very first nature aquarium isn't too hard to carry out. All you need to accomplish would be to collect your components and place it up as a whole.

Listed here are the things that you should have:

Aquarium
Aquatic plants
Aquarium substrate
Drift wood
Aquarium Fertilizer
Lighting system
Filtration system
CO2 Injector




Photo credit: www.natureaquariums.org

How to set it up step-by-step:

1. Decide on how big is the fish tank that you simply want to setup. You could find all kinds of dimensions when we discuss fish tank. There is 10 gallons, 20 gallons, 30 gallons, even 60 gallons. However for a starter, I recommend that you pick the intermediate size, 15-20 gallons can be a good start.

2. Position the aquarium on the desirable area. Be sure that there isn't a direct sunlight. Algae will typically develop when you have direct sunlight. Furthermore, put it where by it will not be a roadblock, but where people could see it and increase beauty to your house. Nature aquariums are incredibly stunning when aquatic plants began to develop very well in it.

3. As soon as the tank is in place, begin putting the substrate. This can be an activated soil, pebbles, river sand or any commercial substrate great for aquatic plants. Basically, it will likely be the base of your fish tank.

4. You can add fertilizer before or whenever you put the aquarium substrate as long as it doesn't make the water cloudy. So this means that you put the substrate before you decide to put the water. It might be better if you put the fertilizer under the soil so that it will not be floating around when you put water, instead it'll be combined thoroughly with your soil.

5. Setup your stones or driftwood. If you will have to tie your driftwood to some rocks inside your fish tank, do it. But do it in a way that it will not be too noticeable to see. Don't forget, you want it to appear natural as much as possible.

6. Put a bit of water enough to submerge the front part and start planting. It must be tiny amount of water so that the plants won't be floating, instead you will have the opportunity of fastening them properly to your substrate so that it won't float when you add the water in full.

7. The more aquatic plants you have the better. Think garden. This is what you're going to create, only that it's within the aquarium and is also underwater. Absolutely no garden has only one type of plant. A combination of plants along with a good arrangement can make a marvelous elegance when it is all set.

8. Now you can put the filter, and light. Put the perfect filter. Usually there are some excellent filters for fish tanks. It is best to choose the better ones than the low cost ones. And since we're working with real live plants, your lighting system must be excellent. It should certainly be a good one since your plants will need to process photosynthesis to allow them to grow well.

9. CO2 fertilization is definitely suggested in planted fish tanks. Carbon dioxide together sunlight produces food for the plants, that is part of the photosynthesis. So it is not just recommended, but really necessary. Your CO2 injector system may be DIY or you can have professional Carbon dioxide injector which is often a little pricey.

10. Wait for about 2 to 3 months to enjoy the fruits of your work. It takes time to grow plants. Don't add the fishes yet. Let your plants to develop first before you decide to put any fish.

Remember that there are some other things that you need to do for you to be successful in nature planted aquariums. The main element to success is adequate maintenance which is to be discussed thoroughly on my other article. The method previously mentioned is just to provide you with an example how things can be performed in a very simple way.
 
For more information, visit Nature Aquarium website.