How to Create a Safe Environment for Your Fish

Read about their preferences and where they come from. Make sure the other fish you plan to keep with them are suitable. Boisterous and aggressive feeders for example, are not recommended to be kept with shy retiring species that will not compete at feeding time.

Nutrafin test kits are simple and easy to use, allowing you to do this. Check your tap water to understand what is going in your aquarium. Adjust aquarium water to the correct pH and KH before you buy your fish. This is easily done with Nutrafin pH Adjust Up or Down as well as Nutrafin KH Booster. Note that Nutrafin KH Booster is usually only called for when keeping hardwater loving fish or when tapwater is extremely soft. Be aware that natural rocks and gravel will often affect both of these parameters. Some KH buffering is beneficial and may mean pH stays higher initially but over the long run slowly declines. Do not be concerned with small differences, if pH for example is best for the species you prefer at neutral, up to 7.5 initially is usually ok when KH is less than 70ppm (there are exceptions, Discus would be one; they sometimes react very seriously to higher pH values). Always introduce fish gradually, slowly acclimate them over a 30 minute period with small regular additions until the bag volume has at least doubled.

Make sure to treat it with Nutrafin Cycle and Aqua Plus. Tap water is treated with chlorine as well as other chemicals at times, and is harsh on fish protective membranes and gills. In fact, it does stress fish. Nutrafin Aqua Plus is a comprehensive tap water conditioner that will reduce stress and protect your fish.

New aquariums are not biologically ready to accept fish as they are not populated with friendly bacteria that ensure the toxins generated by fish are rendered harmless. Nutrafin Cycle contains dense populations of dormant live bacteria that are rapidly activated when introduced to the aquarium. Nutrafin Cycle is key to a healthy thriving aquarium. Just as in nature, these bacteria ensure toxic wastes are biologically neutralized, providing fish with clean healthy conditions.

Rapid growth plants will do better within 3 to 5 watts per gallon as a rough estimate for approximately 10 to 12 hours daily. Plastic plants mean even 0.5 watts per gallon should be fine. Providing strong lighting when it is unnecessary usually means you will have algae growth and more maintenance. Feed your plants with Nutrafin Plant Gro, it contains the micro elements not usually present in tapwater and will ensure thriving healthy plants.

For best results feed a variety of Nutrafin Max foods. Fish usually prefer multiple small feedings daily. The amount they consume in a minute or two, two to three times daily is optimal. Most aquarium fish that are commonly available are easy to feed. Make sure the foods you choose have significant vitamin content, and do not contain artificial colors or have a variety of ingredients. Cheap foods such as house brands of mass merchandisers often lack a variety of protein sources, choose a premium brand like Nutrafin Max that contains pre-biotics, rich protein sources and easily digested ingredients that help color and activity levels of fish. Some species may require more food and have more specialized feeding habits that dictate how an aquarium is ideally set up for them, such as discus. Know your fish, understand what they prefer, it will help you mix the right ones together and help avoid problems when looking after them.

The key to long term success of your aquarium and healthy colorful thriving inhabitants is water changes. 25% monthly is adequate, 10 to 15% every one to two weeks is preferable. This is really not much water but is sufficient to ensure a constant dilution of any dissolved matter can lead to long term unfavorable conditions - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Use a gravel washer to siphon any accumulated debris out of the gravel bed when performing the water change and make sure the new water is the same temperature as your aquarium. Always treat tapwater with Nutafin Aqua Plus. Always treat with Nutafin Cycle when setting up new aquariums; when adding fish; after medicating fish and follow regular dosing recommendations to ensure you maintain a stable biological habitat.