Project Stress Relief (Fish Tank)
I had heard that watching fish is a good form of
stress relief. There have been
studies
Upon studies, and I thought, “Hey...I needs me some stress relief.
I’ll get a fish tank!”
You get a tank, some fish tank equipment, and of course... fish.
How hard can it be??
Brothers and sisters hear me preach! Can
I get an AMEN! Fish are a pain in the ass to
setup! But in all fairness if you
are like me, and won’t back down and admit defeat, you
can get stress relief. I killed 18
fish getting this right…..but damn it! I
finally got it right.
What makes me an expert of fish? NOTHING!! I’m
still learning, but I know tons more
now than when I started. I’ve
been doing this for something like 4 months.
So I don’t have
years and years of experience with raising fish.
What I do have is a fresh knowledge of
the problems and heartaches associated with starting out.
I love my fish tanks and want
to share my ordeal. I want to take
away some of your heartache. So the following
is out of love for my new hobby. Take it or leave it, I’m only trying to help.
I’m going to tell you the gist of it first off for those of you just wanting
to know how to get a
healthy fish tank going and then you can read my painfully, agonizing, mistakes
that I made
so that you don’t repeat my mistakes (Read my fish blog).
And if you get your tank setup
without all the pain..….you lucky lucky bastard. But in all honestly, I’m rooting for ya.
Let me first say, don’t blame me for a frigg’n thing if
it blows up on you. You make your
own call here, this is my opinion and only my opinion (legal disclaimer, now
don’t try to
sue me). The following is how I did
it and it worked for me. I say this because if you go
out on the web and read all the crap these so called experts tell you, you’ll
pull out your hair
and run screaming into the night. One tells you to do this, the next web site says Nooo!!!
Never do that! I personally think
the problem with all these experts is that they are bias to
the equipment they use and the type of fish tank they want setup from years of
doing it their
way. Oh yes, the type and kind of
tank you want to setup is great. So here is my spin on it
from what I, a newby to all this, wanted and did to get it.
I think (my opinion only) that most people want a fish tank with colorful fish
to look at.
After you get into this hobby people branch off and get into certain species of
fish for one reason
or another. I…..wanted a fish
tank full of different colors and shapes of fish.
Here’s what I
learned about types of fish:
But trust me my brothers and sisters; go with fresh water fish first as a learning tool. Salt-water fish require you keep the tank water as close to seawater as much as possible. You a chemist?? Didn’t think so. Neither am I, I know how to pick and choose my battles. ;-)
The names of each group speak for themselves folks.
Stick with community fish my brothers and
sisters, you will be tempted by the devil himself to buy those aggressive and
semi-aggressive fish.
Some are really cool looking and you’ll think, hey….they don’t look
so mean. Put them with your
community fish and they become murders. AND!
Your favorite community fish…….will ALWAYS
be the first to die! God’s way of
smiting you for your sin…....
The experts will tell you, you can mix certain types of the
three classes, folks…no no no, not now.
Let’s get your first tank successfully setup ok.
Ok, so now what? Well….let’s
talk tanks. Fish tanks are made of
two types of material, glass…duh,
and acrylic. Don’t be suckered
into buying an acrylic tank, and here is why.
Acrylic tanks are much
stronger than glass tanks because the material gives to stress better than a
glass tank. That’s the pitch
the sales guy or gal at the pet store will try to give you.
How often after you setup your tank are you
going to move the thing?? Don’t be suckered into it.
Also, the sales person won’t tell you how easily
acrylic scratches. The stuff needed
To clean an acrylic tank is more expensive, they don’t tell you that
either.
Why is moving it and having a strong tank important.
A gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. So
when
you put 20 gallons of water into a tank you have 160 pounds of pressure pressing
on the glass. If you
have a 55 gallon tank, guess what…. you better damn well be certain where you
want that puppy to
be, moving it will be a major project unto itself.
And if you try to move it with the water in it, you will
destroy it.
Ok, we know the type of tank…what size???
Listen to me very very ….very closely….go with a 20
or 30 gallon tank. Water is the
reason why folks. Water???? You say
as you tilt your heads and make
that funny sound, like a puppy hearing a weird sound coming from your rump. Which
is always a funny
sight to see…. poor dog. The
water in the tank is the determining factor to how healthy your fish are
and how clear your tank is. So why
a 20 or 30 gallon tank? You get a 5
or 10 gallon tank you leave
yourself as a newby to a very close margin of error to work with.
If you get a very large tank (like I
wanted right off the bat) you’ve got a monster to clean and care for, I have
a friend to
thank for not doing that mistake. I love big, I am a true American, bigger is better!
I want a big house,
a big car (truck in my case), big yard, big salary.
You get the picture. And I
started off not only
wanting a big (500 gallon) tank, I wanted to build the damn thing myself!
My
friend steps in and
became my voice of reason.
I now have a 55 gallon tank cycling (we’ll get to cycling
later) and I love it. And thank God
I did the
20 gallon tank first!!
Ok, fish, tank…what next?
How about we talk equipment. Brothers
and sisters hear my words! Stop
….catch your breath and then research the tons of different filters, heaters,
air pumps, décor, etc. Oh
my God, I think I went crazy
researching equipment. I say think
because I blacked out a few times
only to wake with blood on my hands and strangely, a stuffed stomach.
I don’t like to think about it…let’s move on.
I took the hit for you brothers and sisters, can I get an
AMEN!!! Here’s what you need,
trust me, or
go research yourself and then write me apologizing for doubting me.
Don’t forget to kick yourself
good for going crazy needlessly.
Power water filter, the most important item you will
have in your tank. Get one with a
bio wheel.
I literally spent hours upon hours researching filters, all kinds of
filters, from really cheap ones to
some
costing hundreds of dollars. What is so important about the water filter and why a bio
wheel filter?
Without going into the techno mumbo jumbo …and oh yes….I can break
down exactly what happens
here to the micro level. This is
what you need to know; you need a porous surface that gets the
highest level of oxygen mixture to water ratio applied to it.
And once again to keep this simple, you
need to remove the fish waste (yes, that means poop) from the water.
You do that by creating an
environment with a good kind of bacteria that eats the bad stuff out of the fish
waste. A bio wheel filter
is THE best way to do that without spending 2 or 3 hundred dollars.
Now one quick note, the same
type of filter comes in different sizes according to the tank size.
Get a filter that is one tank size up from
yours, you have a 20 gallon tank, get a filter that covers up to a 25 or 30
gallon tank. BUT! Don’t get
a …oh…let’s say a filter for a 100 gallon tank to put on a 20 gallon tank.
Oh yeah, the first thought of
more filtration has to be better comes to mind.
But the speed to which the water comes from the filter
back to the tank would create a current that will over power the fish.
Heater, get a fully submersible heater.
It’s a few bucks more but ooooh so worth it.
Here’s why, a
heater is just that, a device that you can either place partly or fully in your
tank to bring up the
temperature of the water to a level that mimics the conditions your fish are
accustom too. So, why a
fully submersible heater? If
you take a heater out of the water for more than a few seconds, it will burn
out, maybe even burst. The type
that can only be partly in your tank has to be moved when you do
water changes (we’ll get to that later) and have to be close to the top of the
tank to stick out a little.
So you have to mess with it and see it.
You want a bunch of equipment seen when you look at your
tank? A submersible heater placed
at the bottom of the tank in the back horizontally hides nicely and
you don’t have to worry about it when doing water changes.
You place it behind some décor and you
won’t even know its there.
Air pump, you need oxygen to mix into the water for
the fish to breath. The water
coming from your
filter is probably enough aeration for your tank.
But a decoration with an air stone (stone full of tiny
holes that the air pump is connected to) makes for a good looking effect and
serves a purpose. The
easier it is for your fish to breath the healthier they will be.
Lighting, get a cover for your tank, one with a
light, don’t be a cheap skate. Fish
need 8 hours of light
a day. Put your light on a timer
that you can get from a hardware place (should cost about 5 bucks)
and you can set it and for get it. Have the light come on automatically for 8 hours.
Fish have internal
clocks like us, they need light and dark. Fish
sleep with their eyes open, they need the dark just as
much as the light. Don’t be a
jackass, do the light thing right.
Plants, I
bring this up now because of the lighting.
Plants need UV light, not found in the typical light
that comes with a fish tank. Plants are great….once you’ve done your first tank.
They are messy, and
require care like the fish. Hold
off getting real plants at first, we have some fake ones that when in the
water are just as good looking as the real thing.
Gravel, some experts say don’t do it, DO IT!
Here’s why; remember that bacteria, the good bacteria
I talked about? It not only grows
on the filter, but on the surface of most things in your tank.
Gravel
makes the number of surfaces much greater for you. Also, ever seen a tank
without gravel? One word
brothers and sisters, eeeeeeewwwwwwww! All that fish poop just swishing
around at the bottom, yuck!
Your fish tank is suppose to be a source of stress relief, not a game of, "Find
the biggest POOP!"
Décor, you
need it, fish get scared easily,
they need some place to feel secure. Hiding
places like
you’ll find with aquarium décor is needed to keep the fish from stressing out.
On the note of stressing out fish. You want to kill your fish slowly and painfully…stress them
out.
Want them to live long lives and be as colorful for you as much as possible;
remove as much stress
from their
tiny lives as you can. I’ll talk
more about this later.
Water testing kit, get one with everything, test
tubes, chemicals to test for ammonia, nitrites, PH
balance, hardness. Without going
into all the techno mumbo jumbo again, your fish need the water
to be within certain limits of the mentioned items.
A complete water testing kit will have a guide to
let you know what the levels should be, its color coded and easy to do, don’t freak out.
A good test
kit costs
about 20 bucks.
A chemical (bought from your pet store) to remove
chlorine from your tap water.
Aquarium Salt, used properly will promote healthier
fish. It works as a stress reliever
and helps
balance the water. Note on the salt, if you are planning on having snails,
which are way cool I think.
Don't use salt, and we won't go into how I found that out. :-(
Water clearing chemical, not a necessity, but really
clears up the water.
A floating thermostat. Get one with the color mark so you know when the tank
temperature is
within the “safe temp zone”. The safe zone is like 72 degrees to 80 degrees.
76 or 78 I have heard
is the idea temperature. My
fish are happy and healthy at 78 degrees.
You’ll also need an
aquarium sponge to clean the
inside of the tank glass.
A water ciphering hose, to vacuum your gravel and
remove water for water changes. Vacuuming the
gravel will help keep the level of poop to a minimum.
A bucket to put the water you cipher out of the tank
in.
Fish food,
fish have to eat right. Tropical
fish usually eat flake food. Get some freeze dried worms
to help supplement the flake food. They'll love it and it'll promote
healthier fish.
Ok! Now for the moment of truth! Put it all together...except…don’t add fish yet.
WHAT! You say.
Here’s the next topic, cycling your tank.
Cycling your tank is the process of growing the good
bacteria your tank needs to keep fish alive.
Add
your fish to an uncycled tank will kill them.
Their waste will make the water toxic and kill them dead,
found this out the hard way folks. DO NOT add fish until your tank is cycled.
I suggest starting off by
getting a water filter or making one. To see the
steps on how I made mine, Click
Here. I
went to a
hardware store and bought tubing, a refrigerator filter
for an ice maker, and fittings. Not that
mechanically inclined?
No problem, you can get a water filter
made for this purpose from a pet store.
It’ll
cost you about 3 times what one costs to make.
The
reason for The water filter is to remove “stuff”
from your tap water.
Gives you the best water to work
with. Once filled, add several
pinches of fish
food to your tank. The
food will decay and make the
ammonia and nitrites the bacteria needs to feed on.
Add food every couple of days. Testing
the water
levels every three days or so. Do a water change
every week of about 25 percent of the total
water.
Don’t be anal about it, just look at the tank and
figure out roughly
where the 1/4th water level mark is
and drain that much. You will see
the levels
yo yo high and low for awhile and THEN! When they
stay at a constant level of zero your tank has
finished cycling.
Now for the bad news folks, it takes
one to two months to cycle a tank folks. It
could take less if you already have a cycled tank and you
put one of the decorations from that tank
in with the new tank.
You can also get an additive from your
pet store that helps establish the bacteria
quicker.
When the levels Stay at zero across the board,
you’re done.
Or! You can now buy a product called “Bio Spira” that
has living bacteria in it that after you have setup
your tank, after adding the water, when added will make the tank habitable for
fish after about 24 hours.
So tank is cycled and time to add fish.
Add two to four fish at a time. Too
many fish added will stress
out the fish. How many fish can you
add? A rule of thumb is 1 inch of
fish for every gallon. You do
the math. If you get 6 fish that
will grow to 5 inches for your 30 gallon tank, then you’ve hit your limit.
Personally I want as many as I can get in the tank.
So I go with smaller fish. Getting
no bigger than
3 or 4 inches when fully grown.
Tips on fish and keeping them healthy.
Fish need to be in schools of 3 or more.
Like I said before, I
want a bunch of color. So I will be
getting for my 55 gallon tank fish of the same species (6 of them
per school) but for Extra color, different ones of the same species.
My girl friend loves guppies. And
the great thing about guppies is the many colors fancy guppies come in.
I personally love a fish called
Gourmai, I love their shape and colors. Don’t
settle for want one pet store has, visit every pet store
within a reasonable distance to your place.
A note on pet stores that I’ve learned.
The big chains have the same fish that a mom and pop pet stores
has, but cost less. The bad thing
about chain pet stores, the people working there…suck.
You ask for
knowledge and they give you a spin, that, like a newby you buy.
I let my first tank (according to a major
pet store recommendation) only cycle for two weeks and it cost me 18 damn
fish….grrrrrrrrr, da
bastards. At one pet store I asked
what the difference was between the power filters that have the bio
wheel and the ones that don’t. The “fish expert” told me the bio wheel is just prettier.
Which sounded
like a load of hooha to me so I researched for hours on the subject.
GET THE BIO WHEEL. And to
save you even more time…get the Emperor 280 for your 20 – 30 gallon tank, or
the Emperor 400 for
your 55 gallon tank. It’s the
best on the market. AND order it
from petsmart.com. The store
carries
it for 76 bucks, bought it from the same company online for 45 bucks.
Now the mom and pop stores
are good for knowledge. The people
that work there are fish people, not some stupid teen working the
summer for spending money. The same
filter at a mom and pop store was going for 96 bucks.
So you
need a combo of both major chain pet store and mom and pop pet store.
Water changes, do
a 25% water change every week. Only
takes a few minutes out of your day and
your fish will be very happy.
My 20 gallon tank has plenty of places for my fish, 8
total, to hide. They now only use
the places to
sleep. During Light hours they are
very active and out in the open.
Feeding fish, fish
are constantly looking for food. It’s
in their nature folks, don’t over feed them.
If
you can feed a small pinch of food every 3 hours or so, great.
If you can only feed them 2 times a day,
no big deal. They actually
can go for several days without food. I
feed mine flake food and dried
worms. Just to mix it up a little.
They love the worms, it’s a treat for them.
If you put too much food
in the tank and it settles at the bottom it will cause the levels to go crazy.
So give your fish a pinch of
food. If after 5 minutes there is
still food floating around, you’ve fed them too much, cut back.
I hope this helps you out on your journey and hasn’t scared you away. Follow my advice and you’ll be ok. I’ve done all the hard work for ya. I have become attached to our fish, I’ve watched them grow from tiny things to healthy adult fish and love it. I get great joy from knowing I am taking care of them and knowing that I didn’t give up on this hobby. I wish you the best of luck. May you experience the joy I have.