Freshwater Chemistry
pH, nitrate, salinity and temperature are critical parameters in freshwater chemistry within a freshwater aquarium. Ammonia and nitrite pose a major problem for nitrogen cycle.
The freshwater aquarium inhabitants are very sensitive to the pH and salinity levels. On an average a freshwater inhabitant cannot survive salinity level above 0.5%. Invertebrates are most sensitive to pH fluctuations of 0.2 per day they are also more sensitive to the nitrates. The temperature range that the freshwater aquaria inhabitants usually tolerate lies between 75F to 80F (24C - 27C), with 77F (25C) being a good midpoint. Unchecked temperature variations lead to fish stress and diseases. Thus, a good heater/ chiller should be installed in a fresh water aquarium.
Alkalinity and Calcium content are some other parameters that should be born in mind. The aquarium inhabitants need a regular supply of trace elements. Thus, you should use fish food that supplies all the necessary amounts of essential fish nutrients. The protein skimmer of the aquarium might strip the water off these nutrients so you should frequently keeping adding a dose of them.
If the salinity level goes high in freshwater aquarium it can lead to fatal repercussions for the inhabitants. The osmotic pressure in the body of freshwater inhabitants gets disturbed with high salinity in water. This is the reason why freshwater aquarium maintenance involves frequent partial water replacement. The chemical filters fitted in freshwater aquarium have to take care of the water salinity level.
Inhabitants
Choosing the right inhabitants for your aquarium requires a bit more thought than simply matching their colors to your couch. Choosing fish is the most fun part of getting an aquarium for oneself. The number of fish you can have in your freshwater aquarium depends on its shape and size. The thumb rule is to allow an inch of fish per gallon of water. You should always buy aquarium inhabitants from a reputed dealer. This ensures that you'll get clean inhabitants that won't affect each other's health. Before selecting a particular species you must read about it so that you know what are their special needs such as chemical, dietary, compatibility and temperature related needs.
Before you add any fish to the tank you must quarantine it for a while. Introduce the new inhabitant slowly to the tank. Equalize the water temperature by floating the bag containing the new inhabitant in the tank and keep adding the tank water periodically to the bag water. After you have added the new inhabitant to the tank ensure that it has enough hiding places for the beginning. Also, make sure that you keep lighting dimmer than usual for a few day. You should never add more than four fish at a time s as to avoid any kind of chemical imbalance in the tank. Always remember the fish store sign "big fish eat small fish" so never try to be too experimenting in mixing and matching the tank inhabitants.
You may consider having a community tank or a singel species tank. You should have an idea in your mind as to what kind of fish you would like to keep. Thus, you must do enough research about various fish species. There are some fish that are predatory or aggressive so they should either be kept in a species tank or with other predatory species only if you are really keen on a community tank. Aggressive species include Oscars, Jack Dempsey and many cichlids. However, there are some fish that are slow feeders, or are very shy. Such fish should not be added to a community tank. A good example of this is Discus fish.
While selecting a fershwater aquarium inhabitant you should take care of certain factors that would result in right selection of mix of fish and provide the appropriate environment.
Temperament: Peaceful, semi-aggressive, or aggressive
Lighting needs: Bright light or subdued light
Habitat needs: Plants, rocks, or plants and rocks in the aquarium
Swimming level: Top, middle, bottom, or all levels of the aquarium
There are a large number of fish that are ideal for freshwater aquarium. Some of the commonly kept species include:
a) The Live-bearing fish: Live bearing fish do not lay eggs. Instead, they give birth to live, fully formed young ones, which are capable of swimming and feeding as soon as they are born. They include freshwater species like guppies, platys and swordtails. The guppies are natives of South America, Barbados, and Trinidad. They can be easily bred in America, Asia, and Europe. They do well in community tanks provided there are no aggressive inhabitants around and he number of males and females are equal. Swordtails are the first to jump out of the aquarium when stressed or involved in a frantic courtship. Therefore, enough plants must be planted in the aquarium as hiding places and as deterrents to their impulse to jump. It's also a good idea to purchase an aquarium cover that fits well.
b) The Schooling fish: Tetra, barbs and danios are the best schooling fish that can be good addition for a freshwater aquarium. These are generally small and do great in community tanks. The Neon, Glowlight, Lemon, Cardinal, and Emperor Tetras are amongst the favorites of aquarium enthusiasts. These fish require a lot of aquarium plants to thrive and do well as pets.
c) Egg laying Fish: As the name suggests these fish reproduce by laying eggs. There are many egg-laying species of freshwater fish that are popular amongst the aquarium enthusiasts. Catfish like armored catfish, Cory catfish, glass catfish, sucker mouth catfish are very popular. Then there are the plecos, common hatchet fish, cichlids, angelfish, discus, electric yellow, cyprinids, barbs and many more. Cold-water fish include Gold fish, common carp, koi, daces, danios, knife fish and eels, labyrinth fish and loaches.
Besides, the fish invertebrates are very commonly kept in freshwater aquaria. There are a number of snail, shrimps and crayfish species that are commonly found in freshwater aquaria. Some of them include freshwater inhabitants like:
- Apple snail
- Japanese Glass Shrimp (Caridina japonica)
- Caridina serrata
- Macrobrachium lar
- Carambellus montezuema
- Procambarus species
These invertebrates help achieving a more aesthetically appealing aquarium as well as more balanced aquarium ecology. They require more care than the freshwater fish because they are more sensitive to the salinity levels, calcium content, pH levels and temperature. Hence, you might have to be on your toes for maintaining the freshwater tank having invertebrates but all the effort is worth it with the kind of zest they add to the aquarium.
Freshwater Aquarium Plants
Plants are a vital part of freshwater aquarium ecology. They keep the correct water balance in the aquarium. They have a very critical role in the nitrogen cycle because they convert the absorbed nitrates into various essential nutrients such as plant proteins that herbivorous fish consume, and dissolved oxygen that fish "breathe" from the water. Plants are also responsible for maintaining water quality of the aquarium by helping maintain the pH level, dissolved oxygen and carbon di oxide levels and the salinity levels. Moreover, they also add to the overall aesthetic appeal of the aquarium. They make the tank environment look more natural and secure for the aquarium inhabitants.
Aquarium hobbyists generally include two types of plants in their freshwater aquarium setup. They are submersed (in water) and immersed (out of water/floating) types of plants. Each of the types has its own function and benefit for the aquarium inhabitants and the overall habitat as well.
The Submersed aquatic plants have subgroups namely, tubers, rooted and cuttings. The tubers are sold slightly sprouted. However, the one that is sprouted and rooted stands a better chance of survival even though most of the tubers are quite hardy and viable. Like the non-aquatic plants they also hibernate for a season and shed leaves. In this season they should placed carefully in a cooler tank and the returned to the tank to bloom again. They have flowers that produce seeds that can help grow new tubers. Examples include water lily, lotus and elephant ears.
Then there are rooted plants that are the most commonly found aquarium plants. They are planted individually in the aquarium for growth and proliferation. They are commonly used as tall backgrounders and clustered fore grounders. Examples include Amazon sword, giant and dwarf sag, java fern etc.
Cuttings are essentially un-rooted aquatic plants top. They have finer and smaller leaves as compared to their rooted counter parts. Cuttings are sold in bunches but they should be planted individually for maximum proliferation of light to the bottom leaves. They make for great hiding places for shy juvenile fish. They are prone to collecting 'dust' if filtration is not done properly. Examples are cabomba, rotala, bacopa, hornwort etc.
Immersed plants are mainly floating plants since they thrive out of water. They don't need an anchor of substrate. Their roots hang freely in water. They help the aquarium fish to hide from the predators. However, you must take care that their roots do not touch the lighting fixtures. Examples are water lettuce, butterfly fern, ricia, java moss etc.
Before buying aquatic plants you should take care that they do not cause chaos in your aquarium's aqua-scape once they grow up. They should match the natural environs of the aquarium inhabitants. If you have more number of fish and invertebrates that are shy then thick foliage will do the trick. If you have herbivorous fish avoid plats that are either too small or their leaves are too small or soft. Be careful about the lighting, temperature and water composition aspects of aquarium. Do not restrict yourself to the conventionally used aquatic plants only you could add plants of different colors, shapes and sizes.
Accessories
The aquarium accessories help creating a near to natural environ for the aquarium inhabitants and they add to the aquarium decor. There is no end to the creativity that can be put in doing your aquarium decor. It's the same way, as you would do your home interiors. You can use any thing from plastic plants, toys, aquatic animal replicas, rocks, driftwoods, backgrounders and many more things. However while selecting these accessories you must take care of few points that are given below.
1. Address requirements of all the fish: This is a very valid point for community tanks. You must take care that habitant requirements of al the species are fulfilled. Nocturnal breeds should have enough caves and shells for them while the territorial and the schooling species should have enough natural shielding of plants for them.
2. Non-toxic Decor: You must avoid metallic, oily, water-soluble or dirty aquarium accessories.
3. Aqua-scaping: You must pre-plan the decor of your aquarium. This is called aqua-scaping it is the same as you do landscaping of you garden and home interiors.
Once you have designed a layout for your freshwater aquarium its time to get into some creative action. You can start off with having something of an eccentric substrate. Depending on the type of fish you keep you can choose between loose sand or different grades of gravel in varied vibrant colors. However, experimenting with the colors of the substrate you must remember that though the electric blue substrate may appeal your eyes but it might look un-natural to the aquarium inhabitants. Too much of dark color gravel do well for those fish that prefer low-lit habitats and a sugar white gravel might do bad for them since it would reflect a lot of light. So while considering the type of substrate make sure you not just consider the aesthetic aspect but also the requirement of your pets.
Rocks are another type of aquarium accessories that work wonderfully well for creating a natural environment for the aquarium inhabitants. However, you must remember that there might be some rocks that are very colorful and aesthetically appeal to you but contain minerals that you might not want in your aquarium. Especially, if they add to the salinity level in your freshwater aquarium. Thus, it is best to buy rocks from the local fish vendor only. You should not place them too close to the walls because they might exert pressure on the glass and may even break it. If you are using a rock pile formation do remember to glue the rocks together to avoid the danger of them toppling on the inhabitants or the aquarium walls. Rocks, green slates, riverbed stones, and colorful pebbles are great to work with because they look natural, and go well with plants and driftwood.
Next in line are the driftwoods. You can pick one up from the beach or any water logged location and use it imaginatively in your aquarium decoration. However, you must be careful that it is not a decaying log of wood in which case it might carry along harmful bacteria and parasites. Always scrub, rinse and soak wood before adding it to the tank. They work best for creating shady areas and hiding places for shy or nocturnal species.
Besides all the above-mentioned natural aquarium decoratives you may consider using objects like tiny clay pots, plastic and glass toys, vases, figurines, Lego pieces, colored glass menagerie pieces. You can also consider working on decoration themes like sunken ship scenarios, outer space terrain, and whole Lego land or for that matter abandoned castles, Peruvian pyramid forests, or maybe your own version of Atlantis. All you need to do is let your imagination run wild.
Stands
Aquariums can get really heavy once they are filled with water, substrate and other aquarium accessories and equipment. You can easily place a 15-gallon aquarium on the furniture you already have but for a larger on you may require a special aquarium stand. Stands are available in a variety of colors and materials, from wood to metal.
There is no dearth to the number of ways you can design or stock your freshwater aquarium. A few precautions and a bit of creativity and you get a whole lot enjoyment with a lovely pet world of its own.
