So, the time has finally come! You’re now ready to add tropical fish to your aquarium!

When you place your newly purchased beauties in your fish-tank, keep in mind that tropical fish are very sensitive to rapid changes in water temperature and to other water conditions (such as pH and hardness/softness).

When you put your tropical fish in your aquarium, you must, therefore, first get them used to their new environment. This process of slowly letting your fish adjust to their new aquarium habitat is called Acclimation.

There are various ways to acclimate fish to your aquarium.

The first involves floating the clear plastic fish bag, in which the fish came, at the water’s surface for a period of about 30 minutes. During this time, the temperature of the water in the fish bag will slowly adjust to match that in the aquarium. This way, your tropical fish won’t suffer from temperature shock when you release them into your aquarium.

After the 30 minutes is up, you can release your fish into the aquarium.

But, if you want to go the extra mile you can also get them used to the pH and the hardness/softness of your aquarium water!

Some of the more sensitive tropical fish, including the school of cardinal tetras pictured above, do best when acclimated not only to the water temperature, but also to the aquarium hardness/softness and pH.

If you do choose to go the extra mile, you’ll need a clean bucket (one you only use for aquarium maintenance) and a clean disposable plastic cup.

After the tropical fish have been floating in their bag in the aquarium for 30 minutes, take the bag out and release the fish, along with their water, into the clean bucket. Then take the plastic cup, fill it with aquarium water, and add it to the water in the bucket.

Repeat this step every two minutes for a period of 20 minutes.

After you have completed this process, your tropical fish are used not only used to the aquarium temperature, but also to the aquarium water! You can now catch the tropical fish out with a net, and add them to your aquarium.

Note: In the “members area” there’s an Aquarium Care *video* lesson that demonstrates how to acclimate new tropical fish to your aquarium. The video is based on the information provided in Aquarium Care digital book found here.

When you set up your aquarium, when you add the gravel and decorations, attach the filter and heater, and add water conditioner (a solution that removes chlorine from tap water) you may want to go out to the nearest aquarium shop and pick out as many tropical fish as you can.

Stop right there! That’s the number one mistake people in the aquarium hobby make!

Remember those beneficial bacteria we discussed in Aquarium Care 101: Part 3? Well, until you provide them with a food source (fish waste), there is no bacteria in your aquarium (because they have nothing to eat). So, a brand new fish-tank has no beneficial bacteria in it!

In fact, during the first month or so of your aquarium’s “life,” the cleanliness of your aquarium water may degrade quickly if you’re not careful.

In particular, any tropical fish you add to a newly set up aquarium will produce more waste than the still growing beneficial bacteria population is able to consume. You, therefore, have to be very careful so as to not add too many fish in at once. In so doing, you’ll give the biological filter time to develop and do its “magic.”

Just to review, let’s take a quick look at the biological filtration process one more time:

Ammonia, the highly toxic substance that all fish release, is converted by a group of beneficial bacteria (known as Nitrosomonas) into Toxic Nitrite. Nitrite is then taken up by another group of beneficial bacteria (Nitrospira) and converted in Harmless Nitrate.

This two-step biological filtration process looks like this:

higly toxic Ammonia → toxic Nitrite → harmless Nitrate

But remember, brand new aquariums have no beneficial bacteria in it!

That’s why you should not add all the tropical fish into your aquarium at once. Doing so would cause a sudden and high influx of Ammonia into your fish-tank. Very high levels of Ammonia will kill your fish!

You should therefore add the fish in batches in order to give the beneficial bacteria time to multiply to sufficient levels – to a population that can handle the amount of waste being produced! Once the beneficial bacteria has multiplied to a healthy level, you’re ready for the next batch of tropical fish. This process is known as ‘cycling the aquarium’ and takes anywhere from 4 to 6 weeks to complete.

You may say, “yeah, but I have a giant filter attached to my aquarium!” Well, keep in mind that no filter (which relies on mechanical and/or chemical filtration alone) can match the cleaning power of nature’s little workers. Let me say it again, NOTHING can substitute the work done by beneficial bacteria!

So, you indeed do have to add your fish in batches. Most aquarists recommend keeping one inch of fish per gallon of aquarium water, though in the Aquarium Care eBook, I recommend a slightly smaller ratio. But, if you go for the one inch of fish per gallon rule, a 40 gallon aquarium, for example, has a maximum stocking capacity of 40 inches worth of fish.

So, how big should your initial batch of fish be? Most people recommend adding 20% of your aquarium’s total stocking capacity. If you have a 40 gallon aquarium, your first batch should not exceed 8 inches worth of tropical fish (again, 8 is 20% of 40).

I don’t mean to scare you, but failure to properly ‘cycle’ your aquarium most likely will result in the death of all your fish! This ‘cycling’ process does require a bit of patience, but it’s well worth the time!!!

Note: In the “members area” there’s a 10 minute *video* that describes exactly, down to every detail, how this biological filtration process works and how you should cycle your aquarium so that your fish don’t die within the first week. The video is based on the expert Aquarium Care eBook found here.

In this Aquarium Care 101 post, however, I’ll go over the most important of the three primary filtration methods: biological filtration.

Aquarium Care principle 4: Understanding Ammonia

No filtration form is more efficient than biological filtration!

Biological filtration depends on the work done by a group of beneficial bacteria. These bacteria occur naturally in almost all bodies of water, and, most importantly, they consume fish waste.

What makes fish-waste harmful anyway?

Well, the fish poop itself is not the thing that causes potential problems in the home aquarium. Instead, it is the toxic compounds released by fish poop (and by other forms of decaying organic matter) that can make Aquarium Care a nightmare.

In particular, Ammonia, a substance that is highly toxic to all tropical fish, is readily released by fish poop. This toxic substance is also released by your tropical fish through the gills.

Ammonia is made up of one nitrogen and three hydrogen atoms. That’s why scientists abbreviate it as NH₃. In other words, NH₃ describes the chemical makeup of Ammonia.

In the home aquarium, Ammonia may also be released in the form NH₄ (called Ammonium), which is not toxic to tropical fish.

Nevertheless, whether your fish release Ammonia or Ammonium depends on several factors, many of which (such as pH and temperature) are beyond the range of what most tropical fish will tolerate.

Aquarium Care Principle 5: Biological filtration makes Aquarium Care easy

Ammonia can be removed by means other than biological filtration, but that’s doing things the expensive and hard way!

Those beneficial bacteria will do a lot of the work for you if you provide them with aquarium conditions that will allow them to thrive.

But, before I get ahead of myself, let me briefly describe how the beneficial bacteria remove Ammonia from your aquarium water.

There are two groups of beneficial bacteria, and they detoxify your aquarium in a two step process.

1) The first group of beneficial bacteria absorbs Ammonia and produces Nitrite as waste. Nitrite is also toxic to tropical fish, but, fortunately, the process does not end here.

2) The next group of beneficial bacteria absorbs Nitrite and produces Nitrate as waste. Nitrate is the relatively harmless end-product of biological filtration.

And, that’s it. That’s all there is to it!

Aquarium Care Principle 6: Encourage the growth of beneficial bacteria in your aquarium

So, how can you encourage these beneficial bacteria to grow in your aquarium?

The beneficial bacteria are not free swimming. That means that they need places in your aquarium to cling to. In other words, they must have a surface area on which they can grow and multiply.

These clingy bacteria homes most often include 1) filter material and 2) the sand or gravel at the bottom of your aquarium.

1) Canister filters are great at providing biological filtration. I pack my canister filters with bio-filtration media. This media looks like a bunch of highly porous blocks which provide the beneficial bacteria a lot of surface area.

My canister filters are, essentially, massive beneficial bacteria colonies!

2) The bottom material of your aquarium constitutes the largest surface area in your aquarium! The sand or gravel in your aquarium, therefore, houses the most abundant population of beneficial bacteria.

The subject of gravel type and biological filtration is a complex one, and you can refer to Chapters 4 and 8 of the book to learn about the ins and outs of proper substrate choice and care.

Basically, though, the larger the aquarium is, the more gravel or sand it will house. More gravel or sand, in turn, translates both to a larger surface area and to more beneficial poop-eating bacteria!

This is just one more reason why large aquariums are easier to care for than are their smaller counterparts.

In the last addition of Aquarium Care 101, I discussed balance and stability – two of the key ingredients for creating a nature inspired aquarium.  In this Aquarium Care 101 article, I’ll go over some ways by which you can provide your topical fish with a stable aquarium environment!

Aquarium Care Principle 3: When it comes to aquarium size, bigger is MUCH better

Yes; size makes a difference when it comes to tropical fish aquariums! Bigger is better!

This may seem counterintuitive, but large aquariums are much easier to care for than are smaller fish tanks!

Therefore, I recommend that beginners start out with the largest aquarium they can get. A 40 gallon (150 Liter) aquarium is the minimum aquarium size I’d go with.

Experienced aquarium keepers, on the other hand, will benefit from the low maintenance routine that large aquariums allow for!

So, how exactly do large fish tanks make aquarium care simple?

Well, large aquariums promote a balanced and stable environment – the key points I discussed in the last Aquarium Care 101 article. Two major reasons make this the case.

1) Large aquariums tend to stay cleaner. Think of it this way: if a fish poops in a small body of water (a fish bowl, for example), there’s a good chance that it will poison itself! Conversely, if a fish poops in a large body of water, it will just funk the place up a bit.

Although the ‘fish poop’ example is a simple way of describing a complex subject, it’s fundamentally accurate. In Aquarium Care Principle 6 (featured in the next addition of Aquarium Care 101), I’ll explain the relation between aquarium size and clean and clear aquarium water in more detail.

For now, let’s move on to the next attribute that makes large aquariums better than their smaller counterparts.

2) Large aquariums promote stable water conditions. In addition to cleanliness, aquarium conditions include pH, hardness, and temperature. The larger the body of water is, the less likely it is to suffer from outside disturbance – a cool or hot house, poor tap-water quality, etc.

And remember, tropical fish thrive under stable aquarium conditions. Aquarium stability is an extremely important aquarium care factor that many overlook!

Even “experienced” aquarists make the mistake of perpetually adjusting and tweaking their aquarium water. Many of them are left to wonder why, after so much effort on their part, their tropical fish contract diseases!

Well, stability is a key aquarium care factor! Without a stable environment, no tropical fish will do well!

The first step to creating stable aquarium conditions involves getting the right aquarium! And, again, bigger is better!

This article is the first installment of a tropical fish and aquarium care series. In this addition, I’ll briefly discuss tropical fish habitats and simple ways by which you can adjust your aquarium conditions to meet the basic needs of your fish.

In particular, I’ll talk about the concept behind the method of creating nature inspired aquariums, a practice that has gained popularity among tropical fish hobbyists in recent years.

Acquiring a basic understanding of the native habitat of your tropical fish is the single most important thing to know about keeping successful aquariums! After all, you don’t want your aquarium to turn into a fish-prison! Instead, you want to create a healthy environment. Tropical Fish Care becomes a lot easier when you take this first and crucial step.

Aquarium Care principle 1: Balance and Stability

All bodies of water that contain fish also house beneficial bacteria. These bacteria consume the most potent compounds found in fish waste – namely ammonia – and they form the backbone of biological filtration.

You can read more about biological filtration in one of the recent filtration articles found on this website.  I also explain, in detail, how this vital filtration method works and how you can make it work for you in The Kick-Ass Aquarium.

For the sake of avoiding repetition, I’ll cover biological filtration only briefly.

Ammonia (NH3) is highly toxic to fish. Fortunately, the naturally occurring beneficial bacteria convert this poisonous substance to far less harmful compounds.

These bacteria are nature’s microscopic filter! They continuously munch on fish waste and thus provide for the water’s sustained cleanliness! (This is the reason why I opt for swimming in lakes over pools; lake water may seem murkier, but it’s actually a lot cleaner than the water you’d find in the average pool!;)

Although many aquarists rely on expensive and bulky filters, the smarter tropical fish enthusiasts rely mostly on biological filtration! The trick is to create an aquarium that imitates nature. It makes sense, really.

While most filters degrade over time – a condition that results in unstable and dirty water, some filters (such as canister filters) accommodate biological filtration and thus provide constant aquarium cleanliness for your tropical fish.

By imitating nature, by encouraging the growth of beneficial bacteria, you’ll balance the amount of waste produced with the amount being consumed! It’s really simple, and it’s the right idea!

Aquarium Care principle 2: The physical aquarium environment affects water conditions

Not all tropical fish are the same. The species available on today’s aquarium market originate from a variety of habitats and are used to different water conditions.

While some tropical fish like hard water (water that has a lot of dissolved minerals in it), others prefer soft, mineral poor water. PH, a related water parameter, is also important, and you can refer to Chapter 7 of the book to learn about this complex subject.

For now, though, we should ask ourselves, “how did the water in various tropical fish habitats become soft or hard?”

The answer is simple. The physical environment – which includes rocks, sunken logs, and various bottom materials – of tropical fish habitats determines whether the water will be hard or soft.

A calcareous rock will release a lot of dissolved minerals into the water and thus make it hard. A piece of driftwood, on the other-hand, releases tiny amounts of acid that soften the water.

Africa’s Lake Malawi, for example, is filled with mineral rich rocks. The water there is hard. Conversely, much of the Amazon River Basin is littered with driftwood and contains minute amounts of calcareous rocks. Hence, the water there is soft!

When you set up your aquarium, keep in mind where your fish originate from, and try to imitate their native habitat as much as you can. If your water is too soft, add a calcareous rock. If it’s too hard, a piece of driftwood will do the trick.

Adding the appropriate decorations to your aquarium not only promotes the health of your fish, but it also looks nice!

If you borrow some of nature’s proven “methods”, you will create a thriving aquarium, a beautiful window to the natural world!

That’s it for this article.  In later installments of Aquarium Care 101, I’ll discuss some ways you can apply some of the above concepts to practice.

Until then, happy fish keeping!