by Karl Dade

Created on: August 25, 2008

I have been a keen tropical fish keeper for around four years now. I started off with a tiny one foot long tank that had two goldfish, a chinese sucking loach and a tiny little plecoctomus. I now have three tanks in total and would have more if I was aloud.

*How to set up a freshwater tropical fish tank*
Firstly you must determine the size of tank you require. This really depends on how many fish you intend to keep and what species they are. If you only want a few small fish then a little 12x12x12 tank would be ideal. But if say you want to house a Oscar a much larger tank will be required. Ask at your local fish stockist for more information on this. I would suggest you get a big tank, because like the saying goes the bigger the better. Secondly you will need a heater, these are available from most fish stockist for around 15 and come with different wattage, the smaller the tank the lower the wattage.

Thirdly you will need a filter there are two main sort of filters, under-gravel filters and Internal filters. Under-gravel filters are probably the best, because they take the muck from the bottom of the tank, whereas an internal filter works by drawing in the water from the centre of the tank.
Fourthly you will need some sort of lighting to bring out the lovely bright colours of your fish. There are good variety of lights available, some to bring out the colours some to help plant growth and some for the nocturnal fish that don't like bright light.

Right now that I have covered the boring bit, lets put it all together. Firstly make sure that the tank is clean and has no cracks in. Then take your chosen substrate i.e gravel or sand and gently pour it into the tank. When I do this I place a plate in the bottom and pour the gravel onto it. this will help you to not crack it.
Now you have the gravel all in place, you can fill it with water. Take the plate that you have already used to put the stones in with and place it on top of your substrate and pour your water onto this. This will stop a lot of the sediment from rising and help keep the filter clean.
Hurray you now have the tank full and you are ready to add all the little bits and pieces that you may have bought into it. Put them in with caution not to crack the tank. After you have done this You can add the plants.
The tank is almost ready, but it will be a whole week before you can add any fish. This is because all the dust from the substrate must settle and the water must be dechlorinated. dechlorinators are readily

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