How to Choose and Set Up a Fish Tank

Are you tired of the plain "normal" pets like dogs or cats, and looking for something not super high maintenance but still cool to look at. Well look no further because a fish tank is the way to go. There are a lot of wrong ways to set up and choose a fish tank, and you can't always trust what the pet store tells you.Because at the end of the day they are just trying to make a sale, but read this article and you will be ready to set up your new tank!

What Do I Need?

First off you need to know what size tank you want, because this will effect everything else you will need to get. This best beginner size is 5-10 gallons depending on your preference, there are many kits that come with most of the things you will need. But incase maybe your pet store does not have any tank kits this is what you will need.

• Filter ( make sure you get the right kind for your tank)
• Heater 
• Light
• Substrate (Gravel or Sand)
• Decorations
• Water Conditioner ( if you have city water)

Some of these thing do depend on where you live or what fish you are putting in your tank. For example with the heater, most of the fish at the pet store are tropical fish so they come from very warm conditions. But if you are getting something like and Axolotl they do not need a heater because they like cold water. You can find what temperature your certain fish likes by searching online. Also water conditioner is only if you have city water, so if your water comes from a well then you do not need this. It is made to get the chlorine out of the water because the fish will die from it, and city water has chlorine in it unlike water from a well.

How Do I Set It Up?

Setting up a tank is quite easy, but it can be hard if you try and do it without reading the instructions. You may think instructions are dumb but they will save you so much time in the long run, so just read them. 

Find a Good Location

Water weighs a lot, a little over 8 pounds a gallon in fact. So for a 20 gallon tank that is around 160 pounds of just water weight, not including substrate and the decorations. You definitely need a structurally sound place to put it, so I would not recommend that old book shelf you got from your great grandma that was built in 1801. Also make sure that what ever you put it on covers the entire bottom of the tank, because you do not want parts of it hanging off. When parts are hanging off it makes it more vulnerable to sliding off or tipping over.

Substrate/Decorations

Once you have found a good place to put your tank, get your substrate whether its sand or gravel and wash/rinse it out. I recommend getting your bag and poking very small holes in the bottom, pour water in from the top and let the water just run through. Always wash your substrate because during shipping things get in there that can harm the fish. Then once you have washed your substrate out well, put it in the tank and spread it all out to cover the whole bottom. Make sure that you get enough! The general rule of thumb is about 1 pound of substrate for 1 gallon of water, so a 10 gallon tank needs around 10 pounds of substrate to cover the bottom. Once your substrate is in and all spread out you are going to want to put in your decorations. Make sure that your decorations are dug into the substrate at the bottom so that they do not float up when you add water.

Add Water

Once you substrate it is in and all of your decorations are in place the next thing to do is add water. I recommend getting a clean plate and putting it at the bottom of the tank so when you start filling it up, it doesn't mess up your substrate. If you are using sand as your substrate, when you fill up some pieces of sand might float to the top. Once the filter begins to run they will all sink back down. Keep a very good eye on the water level because the last thing you want is to over flow.

Set Up Filter/Heater/Light

Once your tank is done filling up, open up the filter package and read the instructions. Most filters hang over the back of the tank and have a little intake tube that sticks into the water to suck the water up into the filter. Most of these are pretty easy to set up, just insert the tube into the bottom, slide in the filter cartridge into it's labeled spot and plug it in. Also you might want go ahead and get some extra filter cartridges, because about once a month you need to replace it. Once you have filter running you need to open up your heater package and read those instructions. Most of them have suction cups that you hook on the back, and it sticks to the back wall of the tank. It will have a dial of some sort where you can set the temperate you want to keep in the tank. Make sure that the heater is fully submerged in the water before you turn it on, because if you run it outside the water it can burn it up. Once you have your heater and your filter up and running, the next thing you need is your light so you can see your beautiful masterpiece. Some tanks come with a top that has lights, so you just need to pop those into the designed place. Many tanks don't come with tops so you must need a light to go across the top. It is pretty simple most come with adjustable ends so you can get the right fit on your tank, and you just plug it in and switch it on and you are set to go.

Cycle

This is the part that everyone hates, you HAVE to let the tank cycle for at least 3 days. This means no fish for these 3 days, because you have to let the tank get set up and all that water needs to go through that filter. If you do not cycle the tank the fish will get thrown into an unstable environment and most likely will die.

Picking Fish and Putting Them In

This is probably the most important decision in the whole process. What fish should you buy? Really it's up to you, but here are some of the best options for a 10 gallon tank and how many you can put in it (no particular order).

• 2 Fancy Goldfish 
• 7-10 Guppies
• 10-15 Neon Tetras
• 3-4 Gouramis
• 8-10 Tiger Barbs

All these options can be paired together in smaller numbers, for example you could put 1 Gourami and 8 Neon Tetras. But the Fancy goldfish I would not pair with any other fish because they only look good by themselves. My favorite on this list is Guppies,  I actually have a tank of Guppies in my house and I love them. They are perfect because they aren't the most normal fish for people to have, they have beautiful colors, and they have live babies! My tank at my house has 8 grown Guppies and over 20 little babies swimming around. It is really cool to see the process because you can tell when the females get pregnant, and you know that any day they will have the babies. Then once the babies are born it's so cool to see them grow up from a little microscopic dot to a full size fish. You don't really get that with any other fish on this list. Ultimately it is what you want, but once you get your fish you need to acclimate them to your tank. You do this by keeping them in the bag they came in and just putting the bag (still sealed) into the tank and letting it float. The bag then will slowly change to the same temperature as the tank which helps the fish get used to it. Let them float for about 15-20 minutes, then get a bucket or something to catch the water, and get your net. Hold the net over the bucket and pour the bag of fish into the net, this makes the unwanted pet store water go into the bucket and leaves you with your fish in the net. Then release the fish into the tank, and you are all done. It will take a day or so for the fish to get used to the tank, so they might hide for a while.

All Done

Now that you have your fish tank all set up, you can show it off to your friends, your parents, or you can just sit there and enjoy it. Make sure to feed your fish and keep the water level right and your new little ecosystem should run swimmingly... no pun intended.