Things You'll Need:
- Aquarium Canopies/hoods
- Aquarium Filters
- Aquarium Fish Nets
- Aquarium Gravel
- Aquarium Heaters
- Aquarium Lights
- Aquarium Plants
- Aquarium Stands
- Aquarium Thermometers
- Aquarium Water Test Kits
- Aquariums
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Step 1
Determine the number of fish you can house by the size of your tank. A general rule of thumb is to allow 2 inches of fish per gallon of water.
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Step 2
Buy your fish from a reputable dealer who will back up his product. You want clean fish that won't get each other sick. A good sign that the seller knows what he's talking about is his show tank. Do the fish seem happy? Is it the way you imagine your tank looking when it's complete? If you see dead things floating in the tanks, look elsewhere.
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Step 3
Read about the fish you want. Some have particular needs, whether temperature, chemical, dietary, or compatibility-related.
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Step 4
Get school fish. Compatibility problems are minimal and it will be easy to see if any of the fish are behaving oddly (indicating illness). Try neons or cardinal tetras, Corydoras catfish, any of the small barbs, rasboras, loaches, or pearl and zebra danios.
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Step 5
Resist the urge to get one of everything you like, particularly with school fish.
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Step 6
Try a bristle-nose or clown plecostomus, or a pair of otocinclus catfish to help control the algae.
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Step 7
Raise killifish, which are excellent for a beginning aquarium, but difficult to find.
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Step 8
Ask your fish dealer about compatibility with other fish in your tank. Be careful of cichlids ' some grow quite large. Angelfish require tanks larger than 10 gallons. Stay away from Oscars, which tend to eat the other fish and are particularly messy.
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Step 9
Avoid the urge to impress people with a piranha. This shy fish has the unfortunate honor of eating many of those unhealthy goldfish. This is not only expensive, but unless you want to quarantine every feeder fish you buy, you're likely to have issues with disease and parasites. They are school fish but need to be well-fed or they will eat each other.
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Step 10
Think about Bala sharks, which are cool-looking non-sharks. They grow to more than 12 inches, however, so unless you're ready to accommodate that much fish, it's best to leave these alone.
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Step 11
Avoid catfish in general. They are nasty predators and tend to grow. And grow. And grow '









Comments
jbenedek said
on 10/11/2009 Cory catfish are fine, but I had a different kind of catfish that ate the fins off my betta. Those are nice fish, but they chase the other ones around sometimes. Mine used to come out of hiding as soon as he saw me. He took food from my finger too. He was like a dog.
irishfish12 said
on 6/30/2009 I don't support your instruction step 11.
Yeah you can say that the catfishes are predators but what about the cory cats !! they are beautiful community fishes and very good for the beginners. I have never seen or heard about a cory cat ever to kill any other fish.
sunshineandrose said
on 3/16/2009 Really good article.
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Let the tank get a little dirty on the bottom, (about 2 weeks) and then add an algae eater. Apple Snails, Black Mystery snails, and some catfish are okay. Be cautious with catfish and sucker fish, some grow very large (12"+).
Anonymous said
on 8/8/2006 Many people have addressed the topic of making sure the fish you have purchased will be polite to the fish one already has. This is a very important part of setting up your tank. Be sure the fish you purchase are compatible.