Here are some step-by-step tips for getting started in the fastest growing hobby in the world, fish keeping. These 11 steps can help you to avoid many common mistakes and get you into a fish tank that you can live with and be proud of.

1. Determine what kind of fish you want to keep.
   The first thing you should do when you decide to keep fish is determine what kind of fish you want to keep. Different kinds of fish will require different care, different conditions, different space, and different equipment. If you get your equipment before you decide what kind of fish you are getting, you may find yourself with inappropriate or unusable equipment or insufficient space.
2. Research care and compatibility of those fish.
   This should involve your first purchase in the aquarium hobby - a book. It is very important to learn about the fish you want to keep. This will let you know what conditions they will need, what equipment you will want, and how to set up your tank. When you research your fish, you can determine how big they will get and thereby determine the size of the tank you will need to keep them happy and healthy (1" of healthy mature fish per gallon of water for small fish, 1" of fish per 3 gallons of water for large or messy fish, more than that for marine fish). Also, this will give you a chance to learn if the various fish you have selected are compatible with each other. If different fish's care requirements, size, or temperament are too different, they will not be compatible and should not be kept together.
3. Determine space.
   Now that you know a little more about the fish you wish to keep, you know how large of a tank you will need. Look through your home and select a location for your new aquarium. How much space can you allocate to the tank and accessories? Remember to account for space between the tank and the wall for filters tubing, and/or cords.
4. Determine budget.
   How much can you afford to spend on your aquarium? If this is your first tank, how much can you afford to spend on a new hobby that you are not sure you will be pursuing long term?
5. Select equipment.
   Visit your local pet store and determine what equipment is available and how much it will cost. If you do not see something that you will need for your system, ask about placing a special order. See if you can get a price (or at least an approximation) before committing to an order.
6. Evaluate budget/space constraints.
   How does your budget compare to the cost of the equipment you will need? Can you get a tank large enough for your fish that will fit in the space available in your home? You should address both of these questions, and then evaluate your fish selection, your space constraints and your budget compared to the new information you now have. Can you spend more? Is it a little more or a lot more? How close are you to fitting the appropriate tank into the space available in your home? Is another location available in your home? How committed are you to getting the fish you selected? Is one fish pushing your set-up into a different price bracket? Is that fish even available in your area?
7. Purchase equipment.
   Once you have reevaluated your fish selections, space limitations, and budget, it is time to purchase equipment. If you need to special order anything, do so early, as it may take a considerable time to get equipment by special order.
8. Setup Equipment.
   Now that everything is home, clean it all off and get ready to go. Expect to spend a couple of hours setting everything up if this is your first tank. Fill your tank with water once all of your equipment is set up, and let it settle for a couple of days so you can make sure that everything is working properly and that nothing leaks.
9. Select starting fish.
   During the first couple of days, while the tank is running without fish, you can go back to your list of fish and select a few starter fish. These fish should be hearty, inexpensive, relatively small, and something you want to keep in your tank in the long run. You only want to select 1" of fish per 10 gallons of water, but this time (and only this time) you can use the size the fish are when you get them to determine their impact. This is because your fish will not grow significantly in the 4-8 weeks it will take the tank to cycle.
10. Cycle your tank.
    Over the next 4-8 weeks, you must be patient. Be very diligent with tank maintenance, be absolutely sure not to over feed, watch your fish's behavior closely, do extra water changes as necessary, and DON'T ADD ANY MORE FISH. Until your tank has finished cycling, you should only stick with your few select starter fish.
11. Maintain your tank.
    Feed and observe your fish daily. Check your filters at least twice a week. Perform a 10-15%water change every week, and scrub for algae at the same time. Every month, check all hoses, fittings, clamps, cords, lights and other miscellaneous equipment. This may sound like a lot, but a couple of minutes a day could tell you months in advance of a disaster. Water changes usually take under 30 minutes for a tank, including checking all equipment and scrubbing for algae! Most people find their aquariums to take under 2 minutes a day to keep everything in good order.

Now you are ready to venture into the exciting world of fish keeping. Whether you just want to keep goldfish, or if you want to delve into the world of exotic tropical reefs, these 11 steps will get you started on the right foot.

 

What is Cycling?

Cycling your tank is probably something that you have never heard of unless you have been paying attention to the *.aquaria news groups, you have several friends with tanks, or you are working with a fairly good pet shop. The effects of the cycling process are sometimes referred to as "New Tank Syndorme."

"Cycling the tank" means that you are establishing a bacteria bed in your biological filter to remove the toxins that the fish's metabolism creates. There are right and wrong ways to do this, and several things you can do to slow this process (which you don't want to do). There are two steps to cycling, but you don't have to do anything special for either of them. First, your filter will grow a culture of bacteria that digest ammonia and turn it into Nitrite (which is more toxic than the ammonia in hard water or water with a higher pHb, then your filter produces bacteria that digest Nitrite and turn it into relatively harmless Nitrate. However, Nitrate will contribute to loss of appetite and stress in your fish, as well as contributing to algae growth, so it is important to do regular small water changes to keep your tank in best condition. Read more on water changes while the tank is cycling.

How Do I Cycle MY Tank?

You should cycle your tank with a small number of fish. They should be hearty fish, and something that you will want to have in your tank in the long run. Do not cycle your tank with lots of feeder goldfish. Do not cycle your tank with any goldfish unless you intend to keep goldfish. 

What Fish Should I Use?

For a tank of small community fish, White Clouds or Zebra Danios are good cycling fish; Cherry Barbs or Tiger Barbs are good for a slightly more aggressive tank; or Pseudotropheus zebra is a good choice for an African Cichlid tank. Your local pet shop should be able to point you toward some hardy fish of the type you are looking to keep. Purchase a small number (the number will depend on the size of your aquarium and type of fish and -to a lesser degree- the type of filter) of these fish and introduce them to your tank. For a ten to twenty gallon tank, two or three small schooling fish or one small cichlid would be more than sufficient. Let the tank sit for a couple of days, feeding your fish carefully to prevent excess food from decaying and fouling the water. There are several reasons that you do not want to cycle your tank with a large number of fish, here are a few:

1. Cycling a tank with many fish will produce a lot more waste, which will be stressful to your fish, resulting in higher pH off and greater susceptibility to disease.
2. Cycling with a large number of fish will increase water problems incurred during the cycling process.
3. Cycling with a lot of fish can contribute to a foul smell coming from the tank.

Every couple of days, do a 10%-15% water change, and after about a week, take a sample of your water to a fish store to get it tested. Most pet shops will test fresh water for a minimal fee, or even for free! If the store you got the fish from won't, check to see if there is another local store that will. At this point, your water should test with high ammonia and maybe a trace of nitrite. If it isn't, don't worry. Just give the tank time. The cycling process usually takes four to eight weeks.

After about eight weeks, your ammonia and Nitrite levels should be acceptable (about trace levels), and you can add more fish. Do not add more fish until the ammonia and Nitrite levels have both dropped. Remember to add new fish a few at a time to prevent over-stressing the filter. If you add too many at once, your tank will have to cycle again, yet if you add a few at a time, your bacteria growth rate will just increase for a short time, with minimal effect on your fish.

What if I am Still Having Problems?

If, after six to eight weeks of cycling, your ammonia and nitrite levels aren't satisfactory, you need to trouble shoot your situation.

• Did you treat the water you added to the tank to remove chlorine and chloramine? If you didn't the chlorine you added to the tank may have killed the bacteria who were trying to start the filter. Or the ammonia in the chloramine could be more than your new bacteria colony can handle.
• Did you do water changes regularly? This will remove excess waste before it kills the fish or the bacteria.
• Did you do moderate (10%-15%) water changes rather than large (20%-50%) water changes? Large water changes will stress the bacteria and fish, causing inadequate filtration, as well as removing the ammonia and nitrite the bacteria are trying to metabolize.

Cycling the tank takes between two and eight weeks depending on several factors including:

• Amount of ammonia in water for bacteria to digest
• Availability of bacteria in atmosphere to colonize filter
• Frequency and relative amount of water changes
• Reliability of source of waste (ammonia and nitrite)
• Amount of excess decaying matter in tank (dead fish, extra food, plant leaves, etc.)
• Presence of toxins/anti-bacterial agents/sanitation chemicals in tank water
• Use of chemicals to remove ammonia from the water.

What about Chemicals?

You should not need to use any chemical to stop unwanted increases in ammonai levels. Your biological filter should take care of that for you. If you have ammonia problems or see signs of ammonia stress after the tank has cycled, then your tank is overpopulated under-filtered or overfed. Ammonia in the tanks is a sign of a promblem,  not something that is easily treated with a chemical.  Use of a chemical to remove ammonia will very often result in starvation of your biological filter leading to more ammonia problems and meaning that you will need to cycle the tank again. Remember, if your ammonia levels are high, you need to treat the problem that is causing the high ammonia levels, not the ammonia itself, which is just a symptom.

I recommend against using a bacteria booster or any kind of chemical when cycling your tank. These tend to leave you with a less stable tank in the long run. A tank cycled slowly and carefully with a few fish will usually cycle in four to eight weeks. A tank cycled with a baceria booster or chemical supplements will take between two days and eight months to cycle, usually completing the cycle at about eight weeks, and these tanks usually do not stabilize for about six months after the last treatment. Do not use these products if you want a stable, easy to care for tank.

 

For the simplest setup, I would recommend that you purchase a fifteen, twenty, or twenty-nine gallon glass tank with an air driven under gravel filter, plastic top with a fluorescent light, one pound-per-gallon of aquarium gravle, an air pump and a hanging heater. To save a little money in initial setup, you can get an incandescent light rather than the fluorescent. If, on the other hand, you have some extra money, get a power head rather than the air pump and replace the hanging heater with a submersible model. For beginners I recommend a selection of plastic plants and plastic, resin, wood, ceramic or stone decorations available from most pet shops. Most pet stores will have setups similar to this at a discounted price (decorations not included). You will also need a stand which can support the weight of a tank (about 10 pounds per gallon of tank capacity). Larger tanks are much less work than smaller tnaks or bowls, can hold many more fish, provide more stable water conditions and will generally lead to a much more pleasant experience with the fish keeping hobby. small tnaks and bowls will require a great deal of maintenance and more expert care to keep the tank stable and your fish healthy and happy.

Setting up your aquarium is easy, now that you have your equipment. Take the stand and put it someplace in your home where you will be able to enjoy your fish, and where you will be able to take care of them. You will also want to put it someplace where it will look nice for quite some time, since it is quite a bit of work to move the tank, and you should place the aquarium where it will not get direct sunlight (this will help control algae).
Place the tank on the stand, and make sure that there is solid contact between the tank and the stand. Warped surfaces can break the glass bottom of most fish tanks.
Check to see what kind of filter you have, if you have an under gravel filter, you will need to place that next. The UGF goes on the bottom of the tank. Place the lift tubes in their sockets. For most smaller tanks one lift tube will be plenty if you are using a power head to run the filter. If you are using an air pump to run the filter, you will probably need two. Check the setup instructions on the filter container to see if you need to do anything else when setting up your filter; for example, plugging unused lift tube ports or attaching bubble walls. You want to leave the tops off of the lift tubes for now.
Thoroughly rinse the gravel and put it in the tank. Spread the gravel out so that you have a relatively even layer. You want the lowest point in the gravel to be near the front of the tank, so detritus will collect there, where you can see it to clean it out. Make sure that the gravel does not have many dips in it as it slopes to the back of the tank, to simplify your cleaning job.
If you have a filter other than a UGF which goes inside the tank, set it up and place it in the tank now. Thoroughly rinse everything with cool running tap water before you put it in the tank.
Now you can add the heater and water pumps (if necessary). If you have a hanging heater, hang it off the back, someplace where you can still see it. You want to be able to see it so you can tell when it is on. If you have a submersible heater, place it near the bottom of the tank (heat rises), and approximately horizontal. Find a location for your air pump. It should be placed above the water level, because water can drain back out through the air tube if the power goes off, damaging the pump, and maybe damaging other things. If you cannot place the air pump above the water line, you should probably check into getting some check-valves for the air line. You will probably also need a gang valve for the air line, which will let you run two lift tubes off of a single outlet air pump. Run a piece of air line from the air pump to the gang valve. Run another piece of air line from the gang valve to each of your lift tubes. Check the instructions for your filter to see exactly how to attach the air line to the air stones (this varies from model to model...). If you are not using a UGF, check to see if your filter needs an air pump attached, and how to attach one. If you are running your filter with a power head, rather than an air pump, place the power head on top of the lift tube following the instructions on the package. Make SURE that your pumps and heaters are all UNplugged. You can break your heater or air stones by having them running when you add water, and your power heads can easily overheat without water to cool them. At this point, your lift tubes should be closed off so that fish cannot get into them.
Now you should place your decorations in the tank and see what they will look like (more or less) without getting your hands wet and making a lot of mess. Remember that many ceramic or plastic decorations will trap air and either float or tip over as you put water in the tank. (Just a warning, so you won't be surprised when it happens.)
Once your decorations are in place, you will want to put the top on the tank. If you bought a kit from a pet shop, you should either have a glass top with a light strip, or an integrated plastic top. However it is made, the back section should be made of light weight plastic which you can cut to accommodate power cords, heaters, filters, and air lines. With a pair of scissors or a utility knife, carefully cut out notches as necessary for your setup.
At this point, you should be ready to add water. You can just pour water into the tank without treating it at this time, since you have no fish, plants, or biological filter to worry about. Just add treatment after you have the tank full. If you are just pouring the water in, you probably want to pour it over a rock or some other ornament to keep from digging a hole in the gravel. If you don't have an appropriate ornament, get a bowl or plate from your kitchen and use that. Once the tank is full, let it sit for an hour or so, to saturate your air stones and to equalize the heater temperature, then turn everything on. Wait a day or two before getting any fish, this way you can stabilize the temperature, make sure that nothing leaks, and insure that all of your equipment is working properly.

Once you have your aquarium equipment all set up, and you are sure that the equipment is operating correctly, and that the temperature is stable and set correctly, you are ready to introduce your first fish and begin the cycling process.

Cleaning your aquarium is a simple and straight forward task, and should not take very long (Unless you have a particularly small tank or  bowl, in which case care can be quite cumbersome and time consuming). The better care you provide for your tank, the healthier your fish will be, the nicer your tank will look and the easier your tank will be to care for in the future. You should not need to take all the stuff out of the tank when you clean it, in fact, I would not recommend it. Every surface in the tank will grow some beneficial bacteria that are part of the biological filter. By removing and cleaning the decorations you stress (and may even kill) some of this bacteria, reducing the quality of your filtration.

When cleaning your aquarium, you should just remove part (10-15%) of the water and replace it with fresh, dechlorinated tap water (bowls and vases require larger water changes more often). While you are doing this, you should use your siphon to suck up some of the gunk that collects in the gravel and decorations. If you have an under gravel filter, it is very important to clean the gravel when you do your weekly water changes, this will prevent detritus and other decaying organic matter from blocking the passages between the pebbles and restricting water flow. Generally, you can clean 25-33% (1/4-1/3) of the gravel while siphoning out 10-15% of the water.

If you have algae growing on the surface of the tank or ornaments, you should get an algae scraper of some sort and scrub the glass before removing water. Many varieties of algae scrapers or scrubbers are available at your local pet store. For additional cleanliness, you could get algae eating catfish and/or scavengers to pick up some of this work for you, however, having catfish in the tank does NOT mean that you don't need to clean. In fact, algae eaters and catfish, like any other fish, will add to the biological load of your tank and increase maintenance requirements.

Catfish or no catfish, I recommend doing 10-15% water changes once a week for the life of your aquarium. Once you get into this habit, it is not really that much work.

If you have to clean out the filter do not change all the media (cartridges, sponges, carbon packets, etc.) at once, as this will remove the majority of your biological filter, causing the tank to have to go through a cycling period again to get bacteria reestablished. Rinse any new filter media in cool running water before introducing it to the system (unless the instructions for the filter media specifically state not to).

Once you have siphoned 10-15% of the water from your tank, you will need to fill it again. The easiest and neatest way to do this, is to use a siphon to siphon water from a bucket into the tank. This will tend to reduce spilling and messing up the gravel and decorations. Use a bucket that has never had detergents or household chemicals in it (we recommend getting a bucket specifically for use for aquarium chores) and fill it with water. The water should be close to the temperature of the tank water that you just took out (the average person can tell temperature differences within 1/2 degree Fahrenheit with their hand, so just feel the water to see if it is the same). Use a chlorine or chloramine remover to prepare the water for introduction into the tank. Place the bucket somewhere higher than the top of the fish tank, and get your siphon going again and in just a couple of minutes, you should have a full tank. Be sure to watch the siphon, in case the hose gets bumped out of the tank, or if there is enough water in your bucket to overfill the tank. Remember, there needs to be some space between the top of the water and the aquarium cover, because your fish rely on oxygen exchange at the surface of the water in order to be able to breathe.

Do not just "top off the tank" to replace water that "disappears." This water that is disappearing is evaporating, and it leaves behind all the impurities that were in it to begin with. This means that as you just top off the tank, you are making your water harder until it will eventually no longer be able to support fish. Additionally, if there are even trace amounts of heavy metals or other toxic substances in the water, you are giving your fish more and more of these every time you top off the tank. Most municipal water systems have at trace levels of at least one potentially hazardous substance, but in minuscule amounts these should never be trouble for you or your fish. Furthermore, by not removing water from the tank from time to time, you allow build up of waste products not removed by the filter (such as Nitrate), which are potentially hazardous to the fish and encourage algae growth.

Remember, cleaning your tank is easy. Scrub for algae, remove 10-15% of the water while cleaning the gravel and top off the tank with dechlorinated water.

These cleaning tips are intended for tanks that are already cycled and are over about 10 gallons in size. Care requirements may vary for tanks that are still cycling or for small aquariums and fish bowls.