Fish Aquarium Supplies

Fish Aquarium Supplies - Aeration and Filtration in your Fish Tank

Just like any other form of life, fish need oxygen. Not having lungs, they breathe through their gills, “breathing” in the dissolved oxygen that is present within the water. In a small body of water, like a home aquarium, the oxygen in that water can be depleted fairly quickly—leaving your fish gasping for air and unable to breathe. It seems odd for a fish, but if this happens, they will have suffocated under water.

The home aquarist keeps his fish alive by circulating the water. This can be done with just a simple air pump or power head, but most systems add a filtration component to help clean the water at the same time. We’ll take you through the various options and you can decide which method will work the best for you.

The easiest option is just a small air pump and airstone. For just a couple of dollars, you can get everything you need for a small tank. Bubble “wands” or “curtains” can even be placed at the back of your tank for a more decorative effect. This setup supplies your fish with the oxygen that they need, but does nothing to remove contaminants from your tank.

The next option is the “powerhead”. A powerhead is basically a submersible motor that is generally mounted on the side or the back of the aquarium. It jets the water into the tank, circulating the water and adding a bit of oxygen to it by means of an attached air hose. Like the air pump, this system does no filtration, but it does create a current and prevents some of the sediments from settling at the bottom of your tank. Some fish thrive in a current; some prefer more placid water, so make sure that your particular type of fish enjoys a current before you install this system.

The most common option is the simple “hang on the back” filter. This type of filter contains a small electrical motor that siphons water out of your tank and into the filter body, where it runs through a cloth or sponge filter pad, and then trickles back into the tank like a waterfall.

On the plus side, this type of set up cleans your tank while it adds oxygen to your system, as well as establishing a place for a bacterial filter to reside. You can also add charcoal to the filter pouches to help filter out odor. On the down side, some people find the trickling water to be noisier than they want to deal with. Plus, the filter pads need to be replaced on occasion, so there are maintenance costs to bear.

The last option is the canister filter. This set up is fairly similar to the (HOB) filter, though more expensive. The motor and large canister sits outside of your tank although it works similarly to the (HOB). It draws water out of your tank, runs it through the filters in the canister and then drives it back into the tank. Since the returning water does not fall into the tank, generally, the canister contains an airline set up similar to the one in a powerhead to put oxygen bubbles into your system.

These filters are the most expensive option. On the bright side, they are very quiet, they are suitable for larger tanks and they don’t need to be cleaned as frequently as the regular (HOB) style. On the down side, they are much harder to clean when it is time to clean them; they fill up with the detritus from your tank and the only real way to get rid of it is to carry the canister to a drain and pour it out.

All of these systems will do the job, so you’ll have to figure out which of these options works best for you. Some aquarists even employ two or three options in the same tank so they have a back up if one of them fails. Start with the cheapest option, and work your way up. Your fish will thank you!
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Fish Types

Fish Types - Pick Your Fish

So you’ve decided to get yourself an aquarium. You have a friend or a family member with fish, or you’ve seen some pictures in a book or on the internet, and you’ve decided to get involved in this beautiful and relaxing hobby.

Well congratulate yourself right now! You are already several steps ahead of most new hobbyists in that you are doing some research before running down to the pet store and buying the first thing that catches your eye. In this series of articles, we will try to give you a good head start on the art of keeping fish successfully. If you follow a few simple steps, you will give your fish a much better chance to live and thrive, and you will save yourself a lot of money and aggravation in the process.

First off, let’s start with something fun, fish-keeping is supposed to be a joy, right? The very first thing you should do is decide what kind of fish that you’d like to keep. You can begin right here on the internet. Put your feet up and enjoy the descriptions, stories, and pictures taken by your fellow hobbyists. Chances are good that you can get a lot more help here than you’ll ever get from the poorly paid staff down at the local big box store. On the ‘net, you will find people with years, or even decades of experience, and there’s a good chance that they enjoy helping a new aquarist like yourself.

Set your search engine for aquariums, fish keeping, marine fish, cichlids, or even gold fish, and spend some time looking at all of the glorious fish. You can keep salt water or fresh water fish; predators or community fish; tiny guppies or monster cichlids; and/or anything and everything in-between. When you have narrowed down your choices to only your favorite few, use your Google for an image search so you can see exactly what the adult fish will look like. You will find dozens of images of your chosen fish; aquarium photography is another hobby that is widely available on the internet.

It is vitally important for you to remember that many fish are not compatible with one another. You may love the idea of keeping a school of small brightly colored fish with a couple of large cichlids, but large fish view small fish as snacks, so make sure that the fish you’ve chosen have similar needs and dispositions. Believe me; you will be quite annoyed when you spend thirty to forty dollars on a brightly colored school of fish, only to find that it completely disappeared the first night that you put them in your tank.

Make absolutely sure that you discover how large will your chosen fish is going to get, as well as discovering how its behavior will change as it grows. Remember that most pet stores only sell young fish, and that those cute one and a half inch fish that you found swimming there in the pet store’s tank may well grow into eighteen inch monster fish with the disposition of a pack of rabid wolves. Fish are fairly predictable really; if the book says that this fish is extremely aggressive, assume that the fish will be extremely aggressive, and then plan accordingly!

Whatever fish that you decide to keep, always remember that you are not in this alone. If your chosen fish is available within the aquarium hobby, then thousands of them have been sold over the years, and you will be able to get lots of help and advice in keeping them healthy and happy for their entire lifespan.
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