Tank maintenance is one of the most important parts of having a healthy aquarium. The tank should be vacuumed at least once every two weeks. You need to do a 10-20% water change every week. For freshwater tanks, once a year you should completely start over. Drain all water, clean the tank, and rinse the gravel.

Aeration in your tank helps provide oxygen for your fish. The filter helps but does not get the job done. It’s important to have at least one device for a 10-20 gallon tank and two for a tank that is larger than 30 gallons.

Something that most people don’t think of is how long you have the lights on in the tank. Fish need to rest too. Turn the lights out at night so they can sleep. They need about 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness.

Feeding fish doesn’t have to be boring. Fish like different types of food. Find out if your fish are insectivores, carnivores, herbivores, omnivores. Then you can feed them different things according to their preference.

Fish food has four different food groups. The most common flake food, frozen food, live food, and household food. Live food can be infected with disease.

What do I do when algae takes over? Some things to try to decrease your algae growth are algae eaters, buy some aquarium plants, decrease the light in your aquarium, scrap the glass of your aquarium, and do water changes more regularly.

Buying fish for your new aquarium is exciting. Fight the urge to buy the cool ones and get the hardy ones instead. Sometimes is takes awhile for your tank to adjust and to get your water the way it needs to be.

There is three different types of filters for aquariums. They are a box filter, an under gravel filter, and an external power filter. The under gravel filter is a good option. It requires less maintenance and has more aeration for your fish.