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Reestablishing an Aquarium
The Community Aquarium
Most frequently found aquariums are community aquariums. They are beautifully planted and decorated with rocks, roots, plants, and a variety of fish. A community aquarium should contain at least 70 liters of water, and even more if possible.
Remember, a larger aquarium is actually easier to maintain than a smaller on since the water in a smaller aquarium become murky much faster.
When preparing a community aquarium, you must remember that plants and fish have certain needs, so we must be able to meet those needs when planning our aquarium.
When planning our aquarium we should make sure that we use fish and plants that have the same light and temperature requirements. While it is much easier to combine plants by this method, it is a different story with fish, as some fish that have the same requirements cannot be put together!
It is difficult to put too many plants into an aquarium at the start, but it is quite easy to put in too many fish. We must always avoid the temptation to purchase more fish than our aquarium can sustain.
There are no hard, fast rules to combining fish in a tank; however, there are a few basics that need to be observed. Schooling fish should never be kept alone or with only a few of their variety.
There are fish that fight viciously with others of the species, especially males when it is time to spawn; these should be kept singly or in pairs. Since they are normally quite accepting of other breeds, it is suitable to put these fish together.
When stocking your aquarium for the first time, it is advisable to obtain a book from your local pet store that has a section on stocking.
These books will not only provide you with information on how many fish can be put into a specific-sized aquarium, they will also give you information on the types of fish that can be safely combined.
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Weekends and Vacations with Your Aquarium
Everyone has a well-meaning friend who will come in and care for your aquarium; however, this can end in a disaster if they are not well versed in caring for your tank.
This usually ends up with too much food rotting on the bottom of your aquarium, and the very real possibility of dead fish floating around the cloudy, foul-smelling tank thrown in for extra added problems!
Something that few people realize is that fish are quite capable of, and actually need to have a day of, fasting once a week in a well-established aquarium. Because of this, it is very acceptable to leave the aquarium alone for an occasional weekend; it is even healthy for them. |
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If a disease has spread to epidemic proportions, you will need to clean the substrate and disinfect the plants, substrate, and aquarium before starting again.
Wood, rocks, nets, roots, and other like items should be boiled. Water plants should be treated with a solution of potassium permanganate, which is available at pet stores.
A solution of 1 gram of potassium permanganate to 20 liters of water is used to soak the plants for five minutes, while moving them around frequently.
For the appliances the solution is quite a bit stronger -- 3 grams to 1 liter of water. In most instances it is not necessary to disinfect the tank itself.
As a matter of fact, it is best if we can leave as much of the well-established micro-life as possible. This allows much faster reestablishment of the tank than disinfecting everything.
After the appliances have been unplugged, siphon about 1/4 to 1/3 of the original water only from the top of the tank, before disturbing any of the items or causing anything to be stirred up.
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