How to successfully set up a fish tank

Setting up a fish tank and allowing the occupants to live happily isn't hard as you think but it does need some patience and planning

First step is to decide on what type of fish you'd like to keep and check what kind of water they like to live in. Some are marine fish and some are freshwater fish and freshwater fish can be tropical fish needing warm water or cold water fish which do not. These are the two main types you can keep at home. The first type, marine, live in salt water like the oceans and then second type live in lakes and rivers. Both types of fish can be very beautiful but require very different tank set ups.

Marine tanks are much more difficult to set up and maintain since you have to keep the water at a certain salinity. So for beginners and for people who don't want to spend too much time on maintenance should go with freshwater.

I'll do a walk through about how I set up the above tank so you have an idea of what to do. I recommend buying as big a tank as possible since fish easily outgrow a small tank and you'll need to upgrade later so getting a big tank first off will save you the hassle of changing tanks. Another advantage of a larger tank is that it is easier to keep the water condition clean and stable.

There are a number of items you will need to buy and set up before you get some fish.

1. Fish tank, not a fish bowl.

2. Filter - can be a internal power filter, sponge filter or external canister filter

3. Heater if you are in a colder climate and want to keep tropical fish

4. Decorations like plastic plants and gravel for the base

I wanted to keep fresh water fish and wanted to start with Cardinal Tetras. They have beautiful red and blue colouring as you will see later on.

1. Find a nice place for the tank, away from direct sunlight and away from heat sources. Clean out the tank with fresh clean water so no detergents or soaps. Wash any decoration you have with clean water also.

2. Wash and set up your filter and heater. Then fill the tank with tap water that has been treated with water conditioner. This is because tap water can contain chlorine, copper and other heavy metals that are not safe for fish.

3. Once the tank has been filled, turn on the filter and heater and let it run for a day. You'll probably see little air bubbles form on the sides and decorations, this is perfectly normal and it will clear over the next few days,

4. Now its time to cycle the tank. This means allowing beneficial bacteria to growth and colonise the filter. This can be achieved with a fishless cycle where you add small quantities of fish food to the tank daily to provide food for the bacteria to grow.

The science behind this is that when fish live in your tank, they give off ammonia as a by-product of respiration and excretion. Ammonia is poisonous and will quickly kill your fish if allowed to build up. Nature has a solution for this, this is where good bacteria come in. They consume the ammonia and produce nitrite and another group of bacteria grow which consume the nitrite and create nitrate. Both ammonia and nitrite are poisonous to fish but nitrate isn't. When the tank is cycling, these good bacteria begin to grow. At the beginning there is very little of these bacteria but as time goes on, in the presence of their food (ammonia from fish or fish food) they multiply.

After cycling the tank for a about a month there should be enough beneficial bacteria in the tank to allow fish to be added.

Please note that some people cycle their tank using small numbers of live fish - this is cruel since the ammonia will burn their gills and irritate them so its best to do a fishless cycle.

5. You can test the water with a water test kit to make sure there is no ammonia or nitrite. There should be detectable amount of nitrate to show that the poisonous compounds are being converted. Once you are happy the water parameters are correct you can add your fish by first floating the bag in the tank for 15 to 20 minutes and by adding small amounts of tank water to the bag. This will help them acclimatise to the the water in your tank.

Once you release then, sit back, relax and enjoy your beautiful fish

Just make sure you check on your fish daily and I would recommend also checking the water parameters daily for at least two weeks. If ammonia starts to build then do partial water changes. After then tank has been running with fish for more than a month then it should be stable.

Welcome to fish keeping, you have now entered into a important agreement with your fish. You agree to maintain your tank- that is perform weekly water changes and tank cleaning in and in exchange your fish will give you many months of enjoyment and entertainment!