Important Life Lessons You’ll Learn When Getting and Taking Care of a New Aquarium

Nothing beats the fulfillment of taking care of pet fish in an aquarium. Despite the activity being so mentally rewarding, having an aquarium in your home creates a relaxing environment that tremendously helps ward off stress. Moreover, an aquarium is an amazing addition to the indoor environment that goes a long way in lifting your home’s curb appeal. Taking care of a new home for your pet fish will also help make you a more responsible version of yourself. As if enough has not been said already, here are some important lessons you will learn when getting and taking care of a new aquarium.

1. Proper and Regular Maintenance

Proper maintenance is crucial to ensure an aquarium runs properly. This is true regardless of the size of the tank. Well, perhaps due to reasons such as space and budget, many people prefer starting with smaller tanks, also popularly known as nano aquariums or nano tanks. If you choose to go for a small tank, Jen Clifford provides a comprehensive guide on the best nano fish to get and how to take the best care of your tank. He adds that fish for tiny tanks often have a peaceful temperament, are small in size, and won’t mind isolation. Proper maintenance starts from choosing the right fish for the right tank!

Once you do so and get your tank installed, remember to always maintain steady water levels, topping off for evaporation daily if needed instead of weekly. Also, changing the water regularly is highly discouraged to maintain a proper water parameter. Keeping the water parameters stable allows you to run an aquarium that is not only clean but also alluring and beautiful. Also, don’t forget to clean out the live rock where detritus (fish poop, food, and debris) builds up. Almost everything in life depends on maintenance and care to thrive, glow, and last long!

• Lesson: Maintenance is important

2. Compatibility Is Crucial

While you may want to keep some different types of fish in the same aquarium, you should know that not all fish are compatible. As a matter of fact, adding fish that do not mingle well with others can end up being an expensive affair. Some could become a meal to others. But again, how do you determine fish that are compatible with your aquarium? It’s simple. You check a fish compatibility chart before purchasing a new fish. Moreover, for those of us interested in making a reef aquarium then you need to know that not all species are reef safe. There are too many fishes to fry in the sea but not all of them are edible or can live together!

• Life Lesson: Compatibility

3. Consult an Aquarium Specialist

When getting started in this aquarium hobby, consulting a specialist comes in handy. Through their experience, they can accord professional advice such as how many and what species of fish to get started with at first. For example, an expert is well informed that fish species such as goldfish can be kept together with a shark or angelfish, and not with other fish species like Texas cichlid. The Texas cichlid is known for subjugating the goldfish. Through a specialist, you also get to learn about other essential things such as treating common fish illnesses, feeding, cleaning, etc.

• Life Lesson: Professionalism matters

4. Proper Fish Feeding

As a newbie in this fish rearing hobby, you will quite often be tempted to overfeed your fish pets. Truth be told, it is very difficult to starve a fish. Just feed them with frequent small meals according to their feeding habits. Here, consulting your local pet dealer or the person that sold you the fish goes a long way. They certainly know the kind of feed appropriate for your fish health-wise.

Additionally, you may also decide to give them a treat every now and then with vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, cucumber, carrots, cauliflower, apples, etc. Just chop the fruits or vegetables into appropriately small pieces, boil them for a while, drain the soup and feed your fish with the boiled delight after cooling down to a normal temperature. This will not only provide them with the nutrients missing in their supplemental feeds but also keeps their skin vibrant and their guts in the best health.

• Life Lesson: Proper feeding

5. Detecting Signs of Illness

Keeping an eye on the health of your fish is extremely imperative. In fact, you should do it daily. One common hack of detecting signs of illness is through the way they eat or move around the tank. Once you realize that your fish is not eating well enough or is gasping for air, then that’s a sign something is wrong. Other illness symptoms to check for include the development of flakes on their skin as well as some abnormal inflammation in their stomach. If you identify such symptoms, and you are a newbie, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact a fish expert. He/she may guide you on what first-hand treatment to offer your fish e.g. using some anti-infecting drops in water, salt, etc.

• Life Lesson: Health is wealth

6. Bullying

You may experience some sort of fish bullying inside the tank. One reason could be as a result of the natural way for a fish inside a tank to mark and fight for its territories. Also, if your fish have mated and there are some newly born fish, then they will need protection from bigger ones. Most often, a species can be bullying others by biting their tail or fins. In such a scenario, take out the bullying species and put it into a separate compartment still inside the tank. After a while, get it back and the bullying behaviors should be gone. If not, repeat the process. Alternatively, a glass physical barrier between the bullies and the bullied fish could help.

• Life Lesson: Bullying is real

Finally, you should never overcrowd fish in your new aquarium. It clogs water filtration, messes up water quality, and stresses your lovely fish out. It’s just like the Covid-19 pandemic taught us to avoid crowded places. All the same, enough can’t be said about the benefits of bringing a new aquarium home and putting some lovely fish inside. Taking care of aquatic life could potentially change the way you view life as a whole.