Regulating the water temperature for your tropical fish

When you buy new fish for your aquarium tank you need to know what water temperature they'll need to be kept at, so that they thrive and grow into bigger happier fish.


Most community tropical fish (Live-bearers and egg-layers) prefer to have their water temperature to be kept to at least 78-82 degrees at all times. They can become sick with ICK and ICK to a fish is pretty much what the common cold is to us humans. It comes from drastic water temperature changes, stressing from over crowding, drops in their immune system from having a dirty aquarium and over feeding. All of these reasons or just one of them, could and will bring down your whole community of fish. 


That's why it's best to always maintain your water temperature by using a thermostat that either hangs from the top of the aquarium, or sticks on the side to view it from any angle or even a floating thermostat that comes with suction cups if  you prefer. This will help you to  regulate the temperature of their water to your fish's requirements, and the size of your tank. You don't want to buy a heater meant for a 100 gallon aquarium tank which would be too large and heat your tank too high causing you to "cook" your fish if you only have a 10 gallon tank.  What I found to be a good rule of thumb to go by is using 5 watts per gallon, so a 50-watt heater would be fine for the average home for a 10 gallon aquarium tank.


If after 5 minutes of you feeding your fish you find that there's still food floating about, remember to scoop it up and out of your aquarium with the help of your fish net, to ensure  that it doesn't create debris in your tank which leads to poor water quality. To ensure your fish don't become stressed from over crowding, remember my saying of "1" of fish per gallon of water" to maintain their overall health and happiness.

Below you will see some products that I've used in my aquariums in the past and found them helpful and useful, and thought you would also.

Your First Aquarium

When you start to think of all the beautiful fish and relaxation that you get from having an aquarium, it's no wonder you see them every where you go from your personal physician's and dentist's office, to beautiful serene restaurants, personal office suites and to your friends home.

But I feel there is no better place to watch the amazement of life under water than in your very own home where you can sit, relax and let your imagination take you to far off places where it's so serene and breathtakingly beautiful that it seems like you've been there for hours, feeling calmer and stress free when you get up and walk away.

To me, there's nothing more relaxing and comforting than to hear the water coming into the aquarium tank like a small waterfall. And then to see the bubbles that they create and see the fish so happy to be in their own underwater world, that you've built just for them.

I've seen them installed in everything imaginable, and my personal favorite that I saw was an aquarium tank installed into an old wooden television frame. Of course, all the guts and wires had to be taken out and totally gutted, before they could thoroughly clean it from all the dust and debris. They also had to make sure what ever they were going to be using on the inside of their new found aquarium tank, was  safe and hospitable to their fish.

There are all types of aquariums to keep your fish in, from a small bowl for a single fish like a Beta fish (one of my favorite fish) or a gold fish, to an enormous aquarium that holds hundreds of gallons of water to be installed into a wall, or on a large strong display stand. 

Always remember that your aquarium tank has to be large enough and suitable enough to hold the weight of the water, its equipment, the sand, rocks, plant matter, and all the other decorations that will go inside the tank. 

But let us concentrate on a 10-gallon aquarium tank for now. When you're thinking of what types of fish you'd like to put in your tank, you have to know if you want a community tank where all your fish are non-aggressive, and their needs are about the same such as water temperature, the types of water they prefer, the foods they like to eat and which part of the aquarium they like to feed from. Remember a community tank is one in which you can have different types of fish from all over the world living in tranquility with one another, and the entire community is happily thriving together! There will be no bullies or intimidating fishes allowed in our new found community of happy fishes. 

But for now let’s continue talking about the types of fish you’d like to have in your tank.  
Now there are two types of tropical fish, live-bearers or egg-layers. It’s always best to separate the female before she has babies, and then place her back in to the community tank after the babies arrive, as the adults will with eat the babies … Yes, even the mom & dad will unfortunately. L

Please keep in mind that when you’re picking out your fish, you’ll want to ensure that you have a ratio of 3-6 females to 1 male, (in a 10-gallon aquarium I've had great success with a 3 to 1 ratio) with the male fish always looking the more striking and fancier of the two. For instance, the male sword-tail fish has the long sword coming from its anal area where the female does not. She has what they call a gravid spot (a little window where you can see her uterus) and if you see this getting bigger and darker, it means she will have babies (fry) within 28 days. 

Egg layers include Barbs, Danios, Cichlids, Tetras, and Gouramis. There are also ornamental fish that are very popular that you could purchase at your reputable aquarium store or online merchants, such as Damsel fish, Angel fish, Wrasses, Gobies, Sapphire Devil, (Aka Blue Devil) Surgeon fish, Whitetail dascyllus, Threespot dascyllus, Clown Anemon-fish and the Butterfly-fish, but these ornamental fish are more aggressive and I wouldn't want to put them in my community tank. You could put these types of fish in an aquarium with fish like themselves, and they too will thrive to be healthy and happy.

You need to keep in mind that the size of your aquarium tank needs to be able to accommodate all your fish. Rule of thumb; For every inch of fish you have, you'll need 1 gallon of water. So try to keep your fish in a big enough tank to give them plenty space to grow and thrive. Most fish love aquatic plants that they can nibble on, hide under, and finds a place to rest (they don't sleep) and it gives your aquarium the look and feel of their natural habitat. You can look into and discuss what types of plants that your fish usually would have in their natural habitat from your local fish store that is reputable and trustworthy, (I can't stress that enough) the library (Always a great source for knowledge!)  even online stores have the products that you'll be looking for when needing information regarding your fish, aquariums, filters, heaters, thermostats, decorations and informational books. 

Keep in mind you'll want to do weekly water changes, and keep your aquarium tank as clean as you can, remembering to vacuum the bottom of your tank as this is where debris, bacteria, and parasites (they lay their eggs in the substrate) falls into the stones and or sand and starts to mess with the pH balance in your tank. You will need to get a freshwater testing kit, that allows you to test your aquarium water to ensure your pH, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia are at the proper levels at all times. Having just one of these off just a little could cause havoc bringing your fishes to stress and thus become ill.

You can have a lot fun setting up your tank, picking out the color of rocks and or sand (called substrate) that you'll be decorating the bottom of the tank with, and maybe want to decide on a theme, so you'll be ready to pick out one of the many background images that you can tape to the back of your tank. They usually come printed on both sides, so if you want to change things up a bit, you can always turn the image to see a new scenery.  

Remember to always wash everything before you decide to  put it in your aquarium tank,                                         especially your hands  :) and please for the life and safety of your fish do not ever use any kind of soaps in your your aquarium, just rinse your decorations in lukewarm water   with the help of a toothbrush (not your siblings) to help you clean them. It's best to wash all your pieces and rinse them in the same water you just vacuumed out of the tank. I know it sounds gross, but you don't want to make your tank too sterile as it needs nitrifying bacteria. *1) Unlike many other bacterial additives, fish can be added immediately after use, eliminating the new tank syndrome, instantly creates a biofilter, and naturally removes toxic ammonia and nitrites. Use when setting up a new aquarium, or after water changes and disease treatments to quickly establish a natural biological filter. to jump start and then to continue to help with the pH balance.

There are many online stores that will help you decide on the design of aquarium tank, types of fish, types of filtration you will need along with the types of food your fish will require. 

I TRULY HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR  NEW AQUARIUM!

Please let me know if there's something I can help you with.

*1)DrTim's Aquatics Quick Reference Guide PDF - Use this handy reference guide to select the best product to solve your aquarium situation or problem.
(Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 4.0 or later - get it here for free)