10 Mistakes Beginner Aquarists Make Personal Experience. Photo

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10 Mistakes Beginner Aquarists Make Personal Experience. Photo
10 Mistakes Beginner Aquarists Make Personal Experience. Photo

Video: 10 Mistakes Beginner Aquarists Make Personal Experience. Photo

Video: 10 Mistakes Beginner Aquarists Make Personal Experience. Photo
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When I got an aquarium, almost everyone who saw fish in my house asked the same question: "Does it calm your nerves well?" But alas, at first the aquarium was a source of constant stress for me. I did not observe the peacefully swimming fish, because I constantly separated their fights. I could not rest next to the aquarium, because it exuded an unpleasant smell. She constantly changed the muddy water in it and treated sick fish. Having studied specialized forums, I realized that I was following in the footsteps of my predecessors and making standard mistakes. What difficulties a novice aquarist faces and how to avoid them, I will tell you in my article.

10 mistakes beginner aquarists make
10 mistakes beginner aquarists make

1. Buying a small aquarium "for trial"

Aquariums are expensive and take up a lot of indoor space. For these reasons, as well as being guided by the idea that it is easier to care for a small container, novice aquarists buy containers of a small volume: 10-20 liters, or even less.

In fact, caring for such an aquarium is much more difficult. After all, the smaller the volume of water, the more difficult it will be to establish a natural balance in it, and the more precarious this balance will be later. Waste products also accumulate in such aquariums faster and require cleaning.

Plus, you will "grow" out of this tank very quickly. That is, you will probably want to acquire more and more new aquatic life that will not fit in a small aquarium.

Over time, the question will arise about selling it and purchasing a little more capacity, and then a little more … Therefore, think about whether it is better to immediately purchase a rather big aquarium? Indeed, in case of loss of interest, it will be easy to sell it.

2. Acquisition of fish without regard to compatibility

Coming to the bird market, you will certainly find that it is not easy to make a choice - all the fish are so bright and beautiful! Most novice aquarists sin by choosing fish based on external attractiveness, regardless of their characteristics, including the type of temperament.

Representatives of the cichlid family are considered one of the most aggressive aquarium fish. Moreover, they have an incredible color and pattern on the scales of almost all colors of the rainbow. Naturally, these fish are very popular. Knowledgeable people to keep such fish most often start separate aquariums, called "cichlids". But inexperienced aquarists can clumsily combine them with representatives of other families, as a result of which the aquarium turns into a battlefield.

The well-known representatives of cichlids - triangular scalars - have a less violent temperament and, in principle, can be compatible with other fish species. But during the mating season, and especially when the female has laid eggs, these fish will keep the whole aquarium at bay.

And there are also such melancholic fish that will suffer even from the neighborhood with relatively calm scalars. In my case, it was a big mistake to house a scalar with goldfish, as a result of which the latter were in constant stress. Before you buy another beautiful fish, ask the seller about its character, habits and compatibility with the inhabitants of the aquarium you already have.

Housing a scalar with goldfish was a big mistake
Housing a scalar with goldfish was a big mistake

3. Overpopulation of the aquarium

The aspiring aquarist with great zeal begins to populate a new glass house. After seeing the rich variety of fish offered by the sellers, it can be very difficult to stop without buying every one that catches your eye.

Even if you decide to keep only one species of fish in the aquarium, this is not a guarantee that you will be able to stop in time. There are so many colors and shapes of goldfish alone that your eyes run wild!

Often, the problem of overpopulation is associated with the fact that we determine how many fish "fit" into the aquarium, literally by eye. There are established norms for the number of liters per fish, which vary greatly depending on the size and type of fish. And before you go to the pet store, it is better to estimate in advance how many and what kind of fish you can settle in the volume of the aquarium you have.

These numbers cannot be neglected, because overpopulation will seriously complicate the care of the aquarium. The water will become more polluted, the fish will fight more often and are under stress, diseases and epizootics will begin. As a result, the weakest fish will die, and the number of inhabitants that will be optimal for a given volume will finally remain in the aquarium. But isn't the price high?

4. Purchase of fish simultaneously with the aquarium

An aquarium is, of course, an interior decoration, but do not forget that this is not a picture, but a living system. And even when there are no fish in the aquarium yet, but water has already been poured, invisible life already begins in it, thanks to which the water will become suitable for plants, fish and other aquatic inhabitants.

We will talk about how to properly run an aquarium in a hotel article. For now, I just want to warn you against buying fish at the same time as the aquarium. It will take at least a week for the new glass house to be balanced. And after that you can safely go to the pet store.

Many novice aquarists think that the fish just need water, which means they will calmly wait in the shipping containers while you fill in the soil, plant the plants and fill the aquarium with fresh water that they "will definitely like".

But, firstly, you need to release the purchased fish into the aquarium as soon as possible, because there is no aeration in the containers, which means there is a large lack of oxygen. And secondly, in many respects, fresh water will not be to the liking of fish, and they will experience serious stress, or even die.

An aquarium is, of course, an interior decoration, but do not forget that this is not a picture, but a living system
An aquarium is, of course, an interior decoration, but do not forget that this is not a picture, but a living system

5. Buying sick fish

At first glance, this advice seems trivial, but everything is not so simple. A sick fish is not always the one that swims on its side or belly up. To be able to visually distinguish the signs of a disease, it is necessary to study the information on what the manifestation of the main diseases of aquarium fish looks like.

Unfortunately, not all fish sellers are conscientious, and I often saw fry infected with ichthyophthyroidism on sale. This is a very dangerous infectious disease of fish, which manifests itself in the fact that small white balls in the form of semolina are formed on the body of the fish.

An inexperienced aquarist may well mistake such grains for breed characteristics. Having released a fish sick with ichthyophthyroidism into the aquarium, you will probably very soon see that an epizootic has arisen in the tank. And the treatment of this disease for a beginner is by no means simple, and besides, it will require certain financial costs.

6. Complete replacement of water and boiling stones

Cloudy, bad-smelling water makes the inexperienced aquarist panic. In this case, there is a natural desire to change the water as much as possible and rinse the stones as quickly as possible, as thoroughly as possible.

Now I already find it amusing to remember how, at the dawn of my hobby for the aquarium, I ran with buckets of water and boiled the soil. From him the "unique aroma" of boiled fish waste products was carried through the house. But, alas, I was not the only one who made such mistakes, and my friend taught me such manipulations, who was also advised by someone in her time.

Much later, I learned that doing such things is not only difficult, but also harmful for all the inhabitants of the aquarium. Once the biological equilibrium in the water has been established, when changing the water once a week, only 25% of the available liquid is drained. It is not necessary to scoop out and wash the soil at all, because there are specialized "vacuum cleaners" - siphons that help to eliminate the accumulated excrement.

And if at the same time the water in the aquarium still becomes cloudy and smells bad, then you need to look for the reason. A complete water change is a return to the very beginning of the start-up process, which will only temporarily solve the problem and become unnecessary stress for the fish.

A complete water change is a return to the very beginning of the aquarium start-up process, which will only temporarily solve the problem
A complete water change is a return to the very beginning of the aquarium start-up process, which will only temporarily solve the problem

7. Poor fish feed

Even a child knows that the fish are fed with dry food. But how do you choose the most balanced feed for your particular species? Sometimes you can find dried Daphnia and Cyclops on sale. The cost of such food is relatively cheap, but it is still not useful to feed the fish only with these marine inhabitants.

It is best not to skimp on the health of your pets and buy balanced professional or semi-professional food. They are not so cheap, but they will be the key to rapid growth, well-being and brightly colored aquarium fish.

Live food pleases the fish very much, and they enthusiastically catch up with moving prey. Most often, fish are fed with bloodworms or tubifex. But sometimes, along with live food, an infection is introduced into the aquarium, so caution should be exercised here.

8. Aquarium without cover

In most cases, aquarium covers are an additional option for some money. Wanting to save money, some inexperienced aquarists decide to purchase an aquarium without a lid. In this case, the aquarium is placed in a well-lit place or household fluorescent lamps are hung over it.

I did the same. And everything would be fine, but an aquarium without a lid caused problems such as jumping fish out of the water. This happened for various reasons. But most often gourami fish were susceptible to this, which periodically poke their noses out of the water in order to gulp air. Sometimes I had to collect fish from the floor even at night. And once a snail crawled out of the aquarium and laid eggs on the shelf. Therefore, it is still much better to keep the aquarium closed.

The lid of the aquarium will prevent the fish from jumping out of it
The lid of the aquarium will prevent the fish from jumping out of it

9. Storing books and things that suffer from moisture under the aquarium

Oftentimes, aquariums are sold complete with a bedside table that is supposed to store fish care equipment. But in this configuration, aquariums are not always purchased. Most often, glass containers are inserted into existing furniture. I did the same, placing the aquarium in the niche of the furniture wall.

Since I knew how heavy a fully filled aquarium would become, we thoughtfully reinforced the shelf in the middle. But after a few months something went wrong and the aquarium started to run down the seam. When I came home from work in the evening, I found that the water had significantly decreased, and the books stored in the lower nightstand were seriously damaged. Since then, I have only kept things under the aquarium that will not be affected by moisture.

10. Aquarium in the bedroom

My aquarium was located in the bedroom, since at that time I lived in the same room of my parents' house. But when you have a choice, it's better to find a more suitable place for the aquarium.

The biggest problem is the noise from a running compressor. Modern aerators are much quieter than older models, but still make noise. Sometimes the compressor interfered with my sleep so much that I had to turn it off at night. However, by morning in such cases, all the fish rose to the surface, suffering from lack of oxygen. And if the balance is out of balance in the aquarium, then the bedroom will also smell bad.

However, there are also adherents of installing aquariums in the bedroom as a means of relaxation and interior decoration, so the choice here, of course, is yours.

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