Aquarium Fish Tanks

Pet or Pest? Pond Snails in the Tropical Aquarium

Pond snails are the snails that turn up unintentionally when you buy aquatic plants. They breed prolifically and are often considered a pest. However, these snails have their good points: they are easy to feed, help keep the tank free of uneaten fish food, eat algae, stay small, do well at both [...]

Finding the Right Temperature For Your Aquarium Shrimp

It all depends on species…
Shrimp tolerate a wide variety of temperatures but temperature tolerances vary between species. Most will tolerate normal tropical aquarium temperatures, but some require higher temperatures and others are quite happy at temperatures lower than most tropical fish will stand.
Because shrimp keeping is a young part of the aquarium hobby, estimates of [...]

Shrimp, Snails, Crayfish and Other Invertebrates for the Freshwater Aquarium and Goldfish Bowl

While most people thinking of invertebrates for the aquarium are thinking of marine invertebrates, there are a surprising number of freshwater invertebrates that make excellent tank inhabitants.  Many freshwater invertebrates do not require large amounts of space, making them ideal for Nano tanks or even goldfish bowls.  Some eat algae or uneaten fish food, [...]

Fish for Small Unheated Aquariums and Goldfish Bowls

Certain fishes are often kept in bowls or small plastic aquariums that lack heating and filtration equipment.   The fish most often kept in this way include goldfish, bettas, white cloud mountain minnows, and danios.  Each of these fishes have different pros and cons when it comes to keeping them in this fashion.
Goldfish, Carassius [...]

Lighting for Aquarium Plants

Lighting for plant growth is rather a specialized topic. Most plants need quite bright light to grow properly. Because water absorbs light much more quickly than air does, a deep tank needs a lot of lighting if you want to grow plants.
Types of Plant Lights
The most common aquarium lighting is the normal output, or standard, [...]

Fish Tank Filtration

There are three main types of filtration: mechanical, biological and chemical. Mechanical filtration removes particles from the water by forcing the water through a medium with holes. Particles larger than the holes get stuck in the filter and are removed from the tank. Biological filtration uses bacteria to transform ammonia into less toxic substances. Chemical [...]

Conservation status of the Cherry Barb (Puntius titteya)

The Cherry Barb originally comes from Sri Lanka. It is very common in the aquarium trade, as it is hardy, easy to breed, peaceful, small and quite pretty. The vast majority of individuals seen in pet stores are captive bred.
In the wild it is threatened by habitat destruction (Ekaratne, 2000). The cherry barb lives in [...]

How to Make the Most of Your Aquarium Water

When keeping fish, you use water. There is no way to avoid it, but there are plenty of ways to make the most of the water you do use. Dirty aquarium water can be used to water plants, the aquarium can be covered to lower evaporation, filtration systems can be used to remove particulate matter [...]

Fish Tank Decorations: a Fish’s Perspective

There are many ways to decorate a fish tank, and an almost infinite number of objects one can buy as decorations. This can make choosing difficult, especially if this is your first aquarium.
Decorating the tank is important because it will affect how much enjoyment you get out of looking at the tank, and it will [...]