Freshwater Fish Care

Starting your New tank

•  Rinse your tank and gravel thoroughly with tap water, and then place the gravel in the bottom of the tank.

•  Position filter and heater in place and fill up your tank with water.

• Work out how many litres of water your tank holds, and take note. The formula is Length (cm) X Width (cm) x Height (cm). Divide your answer by 1000.

• Add chlorine neutralizer/water conditioner to your tank, relative to the number of litres you have determined.

• Switch on your filter and heater.

• Add a dose of good bacteria to your tank. Add this to the tank every day for one week.

•  Test your pH level with a pH test kit and adjust as required. Most freshwater tropical fish require a pH of 7. Retest your pH just prior to adding new fish.

• It is strongly recommended that you wait at least one day before adding fish to the tank. Add small numbers of fish to the tank over the first couple of weeks. It is important to regularly test your ammonia and nitrite levels.

• When adding new fish to the tank, let the bag sit at the top for ten minutes. Allow some water to flow in to the bag with the fish, and leave your fish to get used to the pH of your tank. Use a net to remove the fish from the bag, the water in the bag should not be added to the tank.

Maintenance

• Perform weekly or fortnightly water changes on your tank.

• Turn all of the equipment in the tank off as you water change.

• Wipe down the insides of the glass with an algae scrubber.

• NEVER CHANGE ALL OF THE WATER IN THE AQUARIUM. We recommend a third water change at the maximum.

• Use a gravel vacuum. You can siphon the waste from amongst the gravel as you suck the water out.

• Rinse filter sponges out in old water from the tank. You may need to replace filter sponges that are overly discoloured or falling apart. Replace carbon every 6 weeks.

• Add water conditioner to the tank before adding tap water.

• Add a dose of good bacteria to the tank.

• Test and adjust the pH of the tank. If you have never adjusted the pH before, adjust it slowly over a number of days.

For more information or to set up your new fish tank, come in and visit one of our Aquarium Specialists.