Fish Tank Care

Fish tank care is not difficult and it is one of the most important parts of owning a home aquarium. Proper fish tank care is vital to maintaining healthy fish. Your tank won’t look nice for very long, either, if you neglect cleaning tasks. Here we have laid out a fish tank care and maintenance schedule that will keep your fish happy and your tank beautiful.

Fish Tank Care – Daily Maintenance

If you have a home aquarium, you have to give it some attention every single day. Since you feed your fish once a day, that is the perfect time to tend to a few minor issues daily. Always check the temperature of the water. This is easy to do if you have an easily visible aquarium thermometer in the tank. If you have a freshwater tank with tropical fish, the ideal temperature is around 77 degrees. If the water in your tank is too hot, you may wind up with an algae problem. Check the appearance and behavior of your fish every day too, and remove any sick fish from the tank so the rest of your fish aren’t affected. It is also a good idea to make sure all of the systems – air pump, filter – in the tank are running properly.

Fish Tank Care – Weekly Maintenance

You should do a basic cleaning of your home aquarium every week. This means removing left over food and waste from the bottom of the tank, using a siphon if necessary. If the siphoning process takes out too much water, make sure you bring the tank back to its previous water level. Take this opportunity to test the water and add any chemicals needed to achieve the proper balance in your tank.

If you have live plants in your aquarium, they need weekly attention as well. This is the time to trim them up, removing any dead leaves and repositioning any new growth into the bottom of the tank. We also recommend that you do a snail check. Snails are easy to get out of your aquarium. Just float some lettuce in the water and they will be drawn to it. Then you can get them out with an aquarium net.

Fish Tank Care – Monthly Maintenance

The monthly maintenance tasks are similar to what you will do each week, just a little more involved. Monthly cleaning means siphoning out approximately one quarter of the water in the tank and replacing it. Check to the chemical balance of your aquarium water and make adjustments as necessary. You should also change and clean the filter every month. When you clean it, though, don’t go overboard because the filter houses good bacteria that actually help with healthy aquarium maintenance.

This is also a good time to remove any algae from the tank walls and bottom. If algae is a problem in your aquarium, check the temperature and light sources. If your tank receives a lot of direct sunlight, this might be the cause of your algae issues and you may want to consider moving the tank to a not-so-bright spot in the house. Or you can just get an algae eater and hope they can devour the problem.

Fish tank care is not rocket science, but it is vital to maintaining an attractive and healthy home aquarium. If you follow our recommendations for what to perform daily, weekly and monthly, you will be happy with the results. So will your fish!