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SO, YOU'VE DECIDED TO TAKE UP THE AQUARIUM HOBBY EH? HERE IS SOME HELPFUL ADVICE TO GET U STARTED ON YOUR WAY TO BECOMING AN AQUARIUM HOBBYIST.

*FOR ALL U BEGINNERS*

** An aqurium hobby is simple yet difficult at times to get started in. There are so many different variations of fish to choose from and when u finally decide what you want, you must consider: are they beginner fish? I would recommend goldfish or tropical fish for beginners. They are easy to care for. Marine fish are really beautiful, but expensive to maintain and require more care and maintenance. They are really for more experienced hobbiests.

**Equipment to safely house your fishy friends must be taken into careful consideration as well. You don't want something too big to start with, for you will find that you'll have many problems to great to deal with all at once. A good starter tank is a 10-20 gallon. Some people say that a 10 isn't a good starter tank... but that's what i started out with and found that i had no problems at all. I've heard that the larger the surface area, the better. But you may find a 20 gallon or over too much to deal with all at once if u are just starting out.

**Tanks with more horizontal space and greater surface area are better than tanks with vertical space and less surface area, for beginners.

** Be sure that you run your aquarium set up for at least a week to help get the biological cycle started. The "Nitrogen Cycle" is an important role player in maintaining a healthy aquarium. This is a process whereby the invisible colorless poisons such as ammonia and nitrites, are rendered harmless by bacterial action. Ammonia is the main toxic material produced by fish waste and the decomposition of leftover food. When your filter is working properly, and has had time to establish itself, it is the home of beneficial colonies of bacteria called " Nitrosomonas". These bacteria convert the ammonia to a less harmful material called " Nitrite". Another bacterium then goes to work to again change this less harmful substance into a relatively benign material compound called, "Nitrate".

** Listed below are some things to help a beginner to get along in their TROPICAL FISH hobby.

REGULATION EQUIPMENT:

**Aquarium heaters are essential pieces of equipment for tropical fish. Used in conjunction with an accurate thermometer, a good thermostatically controlled heater is a necessary investment. Most tropical fish are comfortable within a range of 72-82 degrees Farenheit ( 22-27 celcius). There are many different kinds of aquarium heaters that you can purchase, personally, i like the submersible heaters. I found that the other kinds that sit slightly in the water tended to burn out more often. So far, the submersible hasn't had any problems.

AERATION:

**Before you go ahead an decide to add your fishy friends, take into consideration: Is the water oxygenated? Fish beath oxygen that is in the water. In order for your fishy friends to survive and thrive well, you need to make sure that your water in the aquarium is fully oxygenated. The usual aerators are air pumps used in conjunction with airstones. Air pumps are virtually inexpensive and also don't use much energy to run. They operate by a vibrating diaphram. They do not need oiling and are very quiet, in comparison to piston pumps. The pump should be placed above the level of water to prevent water from backing into it through the airline when the plug is pulled. Airstones are used with airpumps. They are a porous rock and are inexpensive to buy, unless you want to go to the bigger airstones. The purpose of the airstone is to increase surface movement of the water and the circulation of the water within the tank, thus increasing the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide at the surface of the water. Not much oxygen is absorbed by the water from the air pumped through the stone, but the extra movement of the water's surface does have a beneficial effect on the oxygen level of the water. A medium sized spray of bubbles is more efficient than either large or small bubbles. If you do decide to go with an airpump and airstone, be sure to change the stones fairly often as the pores can clog and this will cause back up pressure that can damage the pump. But, take into mind that airpumps and airstones just improve the surface aggitation, helping out with oxygenation levels in your water, they do not filter out the dissolved substances that fish can produce fromt their wastes and whatnot. So i would recommend an outbox power filter instead of airpumps and airstones. They are more expensive, but are permanent and don't need to be changed, except for the filter cartridges inside. That natural flow of water coming in and going out of the filter produce a natural aeration occurance.

LIGHTING:

**A well illuminated aquarium allows better viewing, high lights the color of the fish and promotes plants and algae growth.

**Flourescent fixtures produce more light and give off less heat than incandescent fixtures. Your pet professional can help you select the appropriate fixture for your aquatic needs.

FILTRATION EQUIPMENT:

**There are many different types of filters that will efficiently clean and aerate the aquarium water. Undergravel filters, inside box and corner filters, sponge filters, and some outside filters are powered by external air pumps.

**Power filters are another type of filtering system available for the home aquarium. They are electrically driven water pump units that purify water through a self-contained canister or an outside hanging overflow filter.

**A majority of the filters mentioned above use fibrous material and activated carbon to purify and clean the water. The exception to this is the undergravel filter which creates a biological system within the gravel to clean and purify the water.

**Personally, i like to use the outside overflow filters, either the penguin mini, or penguin bio-wheel. They seem to prove less hassle than the undergravel filters and corner filters which as explained above require the acitvated carbon and fibrous material called "angel hair". The outside overflow filters are good if you have a 10-20 gallon tank, corner filters would prove to be too much of a task to look after in such great volumes of water. I would recomment using a corner filter, or inside box filters for only 5 and under gallon tanks.

DECORATIONS:

**The decorations of an aquarium is purely a matter of taste, therefore the choice is yours. You have to be sure though, that you don't place anything in the aquarium that isn't aquarium safe. For example: do not place things you find outdoors in your aquarium. Anything you place in your aquarium should be manufactured for ornamental fish. Just be sure that you purchase your decorations from a local petstore that deals in fish accessories.

*GENERAL CARE*

** When looking to buy fish, be sure you don't pick out sickly fish to bring home. Look for energetic healthy fish with vibrant fins and perkiness. Don't select fish showing clamped fins, or other bodily abnormalities. And also be sure that the fishies you bring home co-habitate well with eachother. For example, you can't put cichlids with other tropical fish other than themselves for they tend to be aggressive and will attack other fish that are smaller than they. Make sure any fish you put together are moderately tempermental and are good community tank fish. Down at the bottom are a couple of lists showing what you can put in a general community tank of ten gallons.

** When you purchase your fish and bring them home, before you can place them in the tank, they need to adjust to the new water temperature. So, gently place the bag into the water and let it sit for about 20 minutes. Then after about ten minutes, pour gently some water from the tank into the bag. Do this a couple of times until the fish are ready to be released. When the time comes, net the fish gently and place it in the main tank. Try not to stress the fish too much by keeping the net above water for long periods or jerking the net around. Some say to just simply tip the bag over and pour the fishy out, but there may be contaminants in the water the fish was previously in, and you don't want those running wild in your aquarium. You really should quarentine the fish for a week or two, but if you don't have the equipment then you can't really do that can you? Gently netting the fish and placing it in the water, after it has become accustomed to the temperature in the tank, will reduce any parasites or contaminants being introduced in your main tank.

** When feeding your fish, don't feed to much. Only feed your fish as much as they will consume in five minutes. Generally, you can not overfeed your fish, but you can overfeed the aquarium. Too much uneaten food will start to foul the water and will end up killing your fish.

** When you purchase your fish, be sure you don't overcrowd your tank. The General rule of thumb is: A gallon of water to every inch of fish. So if you have fish that grow 3 inches, then you can not have too many in a 10 gallon tank. Three only would be sufficient. That's why i like to stick to the smaler fish, like neon tetras and mollies. They only grow around 1.5 - 2 inches.

*THE COMMUNITY TROPICAL* TANK

** You want to know what kinds of fishies you can put in your community tank? For a 10 gallon, the types of fish in the list below are good, but you cannot have as many. You would have to slice the number of fish in half for a 10 gallon aquarium. If the fish stay a moderate size, like 1- 1.5 inches, then you can most likely keep a healthy aquarium of around 6-8 individuals. Listed below are a couple of examples of what kind of tropical fish you can place comforatably in a community 20 gallon aquarium:

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