"AQUARIUM SETUP GUIDE FOR FRESH WATER FISH"
WRITTEN WITH PASSION FOR EVERYDAY FOLKS.
Introduction
Forty years ago when I was a teenager I went to a pet shop with a friend to get some supplies for his pet. That was the first time that I was truly exposed to the world of fish! I had seen goldfish, of course, and the occasional guppy tank but I had never seen the assortment of tropical fish that was available. From that moment on I was hooked and soon became involved in fishkeeping. Unfortunately, back then many pet stores were more interested in selling fish and supplies than in actually teaching how to care and maintain them. I guess it was more profitable to keep selling fish to replace the ones that were lost than to teach someone how to actually care for them. Times have certainly changed for the better and many fish stores are owned by marine biologists or others trained in fishkeeping. But, back in my teens , I had to learn how to maintain fish through trial and error. It wasn't always easy but in time I learned many things over the years and after a lot of research and experimenting I became pretty adept at maintaining a tropical fish aquarium. Twelve years ago I got involved with saltwater fish and I almost felt like a kid again. It's a very exciting and satisfying feeling to successfully set up and maintain a miniature ocean right inside your home.
Over the years, I have helped several of my friends set up their aquariums and teach them how to successfully maintain them. Once, a friend suggested that I should think of doing this professionally as a sort of "average guy" type way of explaining the process to others. The following is just that, an explanation of how to set up and successfully maintain a fresh or saltwater aquarium in every day language without a lot of technical and complicated words.
Feel free to print a copy of this for your own personal use!
You may not distribute, sell, or add its contents to websites without the permission of the author.
That Fish Guy Mike/Michael Hyman; takes no liability of wrong doing in regards to the methods in how you set up your tank, what you put in your tank, and what lives or dies in your tank. This e-book is to be used as suggestions only from a regular guy who knows a whole lot about fish through trial and error.
STARTING OUT
If you've never kept fish before I suggest that you start out first keeping freshwater ones. The reason for this is simple...money. Fishkeeping can be quite expensive and it would be best to start off on a small scale so that you can determine if this is a hobby you truly want to pursue. Freshwater fish usually are much cheaper than saltwater ones and take less equipment to maintain. I've seen people rush out and buy saltwater fish and get so disgusted in their ability to keep them that they give up in a few months after spending a lot of money. It's best to start simple and then move up the chain, so to speak, as you learn more and become more comfortable with your abilities.
I believe that an aquarium of about twenty gallons is perfect for a beginner. It is not too small for many fish and certainly affordable. Personally, I like 55 gallon tanks or larger when keeping fish but I do not think that anyone should spend that kind of money until they have decided that they really want to spend the time and money that it takes to maintain an aquarium. O.K. let's say you've bought a 20 gallon tank, what next? Well, the tank (and stand) is just the beginning. Now you need lights, filters, gravel, decorations, a heater and maybe even a chiller. Notice that I haven't mentioned fish? Before buying fish you have lots of other choices and decisions to make. Some of these decisions will be based on the type of fish you wish to keep and how you want to keep them. If you decide that you like a certain type of fish from a certain part of the world then you should set up a tank that duplicates that environment. If that's the case, everything you buy would be based on that environment. If you decide on having fish from several parts of the world you have to set up your tank so that all of your fish can survive that environment. I'm getting ahead of myself here, talking about fish, so let's revisit this later and talk more about supplies now.
