The fish-keeping hobby is widespread worldwide because it doesn’t bother you much like other pets. Unlike dogs or cats, they don’t make noises, don’t pee around your house, and don’t need much attention. It’s an easy hobby if you once understand it and select the type of your aquarium wisely.
Now what do we mean by the type of aquarium here? Aquariums come in different sizes, shapes, and water conditions. We will discuss a few of the most common ones here.
1. Fresh Water Fish Aquarium:
As we understand from the name, a freshwater aquarium consists of sweet water with simple decoration and fish but it’s not that simple. You can keep many fish in sweet water fish tanks such as Cichlids, Goldfish, Koi, and tetras being the most common ones. All fish require different water conditions and setups.
- Coldwater Aquarium:
A cold water aquarium needs aeration and a water temperature of around 20-22 degrees Celsius. You can house goldfish and koi Families in these aquariums or other small fish like cherry barbs, minnows, zebra danios, corydars catfish, hill stream loaches, shrimps, etc.
- Tropical Aquarium:
A tropical aquarium setup requires much warmer temperatures from 26-30 degrees Celsius. You get a large variety of fish to keep in tropical aquariums and can also add live aquatic plants to add a more natural look. You can keep Angelfish, Discus, Gourami, livebearers, catfish, cichlids and many more. You have to monitor your water parameters regularly to avoid any tank crashes. A tropical aquarium requires more attention than a cold water fish tank so you have to be sure if you can maintain your tank by yourself or call a professional for maintenance.
- Betta Tanks:
One of the easiest fish tanks you can own is a betta tank it requires a minimum 5-gallon aquarium with few live plants. Bettas are quite hardy and are classified as labyrinth fish which means they can breathe through the surface. A small tank with weekly water changes and good quality feed like Hikari Betta Biogold is all you should do to keep your betta healthy.
You can house a few other fish with bettas such as corydoras, snails, ember tetras, kuhli loaches, danios & other small bottom feeders.
2. Saltwater Fish tank:
- Fish Only with Live rocks Aquarium:
Saltwater fish tanks might sound difficult to maintain and expensive to own but with some basic knowledge you can maintain a decent-sized saltwater fish tank. Fish only with live rock setup is the easiest setup as you don’t have to care for invertebrates or corals. Testing your water regularly with a reliable water test kit like Salifert or API and frequent water changes is the basis for maintaining a saltwater tank. In the FOWLR setup, you can keep Butterflies, Angels, Tangs, Gobies, and many more beautiful fish
- Reef Aquariums:
Reef aquariums houses a variety of corals, invertebrates along fish. It requires a fair amount of effort, equipment, and care. Water testing, water changes, good spectrum light, good quality salt mix. Knowledge of each and every critter in your tank is useful for you. You should know the placement of corals according to their lighting requirements. You have to really be careful with these tanks because your small silly mistake might crash your tank. We recommend learning & experiment with the basic saltwater aquarium before making it a reef aquarium.
Making and designing a fish tank can be fun but choosing the right type for yourself is very important. Some things to consider before investing in a fish tank are how much time are you willing to give to your fish tank, a suitable place, your maintenance program, and type of your aquarium according to these all factors and of course, do your homework before getting any pet.