Introduction to Aquariums

An aquarium is a mimicry of a natural water body, where we want our fish to thrive the same way how they're thriving in the wild.

This means, there is a lot of factors that contribute into a thriving aquarium, ie. nitrogen cycle, plants, substrate, water changes, lighting and obviously type of fish we choose.

Nitrogen cycle is what makes an aquarium worthy for fish and plants. 

Then rest come under aquascaping.

Aquascaping

It is a personal choice, some people just like to have fish as the focal point, hence minimum scape or not at all. Some people love to have a scape plus fish focal point sort of look in their fish tank. Some people like it to be jungle like, so it looks even more natural for the fish with lots of hiding space, and breeding ground. 

Type of Substrate that you choose, types of rocks that you choose, everything needs to be right for the inhabitants as well. For example if a tank has been scaped with seiryu rocks(lets take an example of iwagumi) it would be great for shrimps in a small tank, but will the shrimps survive? Answer is yes! But you need to choose the right type of shrimps which are not affected by bufferred pH levels like neo-caridinas. However, if accidently caridinas are chosen, they will have a very hard time in the aquarium. So, lots of research is also needed. 

We like to ask/think what is going in the aquarium before we start to aquascape something. If we are uncertain what fish to get before looking at the scape, we try our best to choose the most suitable fish to go in there.

Live Plants and Planted Tanks

Does your aquarium have a light? To grow any sort of aquarium plants, lighting is essential however, intensity requirements vary from species to species.

Fertilizers, CO2 and nutrient soil are another keys to a successfully planted aquariums. However, you can certainly deal with just fish poops and fertilizers for the plants and without CO2 or high tech lighting, you can easily get into a lovely planted aquarium that has lots of easy to grow plants that need minimum care and do not need too much light as well.

Come Visit us at 4/52 View Street, Pascoe Vale 3044 and we will help create even more ideas, provide even more information face to face.