The Cardinal tetra is similar to more frequently kept Neon tetra, but is much more difficult to breed in aquariums. Since both species look similar to each other at first glance, they are sometimes mixed up with each other and the Cardinal tetra is sometimes erroneously referred to as “red neon tetra”. Telling them apart is however not very difficult. Both species have a characteristic sparkling blue line that bisects the body, and under this line you will notice a red lateral stripe. If this red coloration extends only halfway to the nose of the fish, you know that it is a Neon tetra. If the red coloration instead extends much longer, you are looking at a Cardinal tetra. The red coloration of the Cardinal tetra was thought to resemble the long red robes worn by cardinals, hence the name. The scientific name of this species was given to it in honour of a highly regarded ichthyologist.

Since the Cardinal tetra is quite difficult to breed in aquariums, a majority of the Cardinal tetras in the aquarium trade has been wild caught. The native habitat of the Cardinal tetra is the upper Orinoco and Negro rivers in South America, where the water is acidic and very soft. Fortunately enough, the Cardinal tetra is very prolific in the wild and is not considered an endangered species. It is only reluctant to breed when kept in aquariums. In the wild, it is uncommon for a Cardinal tetra to grow older than one year. When you keep Cardinal tetras in aquariums without any predators around, you can however make them survive for several years.

The Cardinal tetra can be kept in community aquariums with other peaceful species that appreciates the same water conditions. It will usually stay smaller than 2 inches in length and a group of Cardinal tetras do not need a large aquarium to do well. This species is rarely found in beginner aquariums since it is quite scarce in the aquarium trade, but it is not overly sensitive and a dedicated beginner aquarium keeper that is prepared to monitor the water chemistry and perform frequent water changes can usually make his or her Cardinal tetras thrive. It is especially important to keep down the level of nitrate. The Cardinal tetra is a schooling fish and keeping at least ten specimens is recommended, since this will make the fish less shy and stressed. Cardinal tetras are also much more beautiful to watch when they form a big school, and living in a school makes them display a much broader variety of natural behaviours.

When you set up an aquarium for your Cardinal tetras you should ideally try to make it similar to the native habitat of the fish. A well planted aquarium that contains floating species is recommended, but you should also leave an area open for swimming. The water should be acidic and very soft. Keep the pH in the 4.6-6.2 range and the d G H under 4. Cardinal tetras can adapt to harder water and even alkaline conditions, but they will be much more sensitive and prone to illness. The recommended temperature range is 73-81° F (23-27 ° C) or even warmer.

Allen Jesson writes for several sites including two sites that specialize in
saltwaterfreshwateraquarium.com salt
water and fresh water aquariums and

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Before buying Koi, you must create a proper habitat for them. They can be kept in anything from small containers to large outdoor ponds. The traditional indoor aquarium is less desirable than an outdoor tub or pond. Koi are cold water fish, so it’s important to have a meter or more of depth in areas of the world that become warm during the summer. In areas that get cold winters, it is useful to have a pond that is a minimum of 1.5 meters deep so that it won’t freeze. The bigger pond is the better.

The pond should include a pump and filtration system to keep the water clear. There are 2 types of filtration: mechanical and biological. Mechanical filtration clears the pond of dead algae, insects, and Koi wastes. Biological filtration make a nitrogen cycle, which is wastes from your pond. Without biological filtration, the waste will turn into ammonia and kill your Koi within just a few days. To keep your Koi alive, you must have the proper water quality.

Koi are bottom-feeders and like the medium sized pellets. They can even be trained to take the food from the feeding person’s hand. It is important the variety, fresh and quality food for them. You can give them occasional fruits and greens also.

You need to protect them from the predators, such as cats, foxes, herons, kingfishers, raccoons and badgers.

Koi reproduce through spawning in which a female lays a vast number of eggs and males fertilize them. Spawning usually takes place 1, 2, 3 days. The temperature needs to be around 18 degree. Remove eggs as soon as they are laid to prevent parents eating them. Once the fry have hatched, after about 4-5 days, you will need to move them to the growing on ponds. The
Japanese breeders start culling generally at 4 weeks. As the fish get larger, cull out any with deformities, missing fins, two heads etc. Ideally you should cull several times in the season. The fry need live and natural food, for example: daphnia or infusoria. You do not give them dry or artificial food because of the ammonia, which can kill the fry.

To your success.

You can find some additional information on Koi Fish at koifish.mybebo.net koi fish site.

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One unfortunate aspect of fish keeping is the possibility that your fishes will become ill at some point in time. If you are a responsible fish keeper then you probably worry about this and check them for signs of disease on a regular basis. While this practice is both responsible and wise, you should be far more focused on the prevention of disease than the treatment of disease. With this in mind, I have created a list of the 5 important tips to follow to prevent disease in aquarium fish. I call them “Healthy Fish Tips”.

Healthy Fish Tip #1 - Water changes, water changes, water changes: This is probably the most important of the healthy fish tips. Regular water changes remove contaminants and waste byproducts from the aquarium and replace them with fresh clean water. Typically you should perform water changes on a regular schedule so that all of your water changes add up to about 100% in a month. Some common examples are 25% water change once a week or 15% water changes twice a week.

Healthy Fish Tip #2 - Consistent Temperature: This is another important healthy fish tip. Unlike humans fish cannot regulate body temperature so variations in water temperature are very stressful to a fish. Research the recommended temperature range for your fish and make sure that all of the fish in your tank can live in the same temperature range. After finding out what temperature is acceptable to all of your fish species set your temperature there and try to keep it from changing much. Be especially careful when performing water changes that the water is not too hot or cold when you change it.

Healthy Fish Tip #3 - Don’t use too many chemicals or products: Using pH adjusters or chemicals to clear the water is usually not a very good method to keep healthy fish. Also keep in mind that most medicines are very harmful to the fish because they either stress them directly or kill the biological bacteria in your tank that is keeping it healthy. The only chemicals that go into my tanks are tap water, water conditioner to remove chlorine, charcoal in the filters and aquarium salt (if needed). If you need to adjust the pH of the water, you should use rocks or substrate to raise the pH or wood or plants to lower it. This will stabilize the pH and prevent wild swings in pH.

Health Fish Tip #4 – Use a quarantine tank: If you have an established tank with no real problems and follow all of the healthy fish tips above then the chances of the fish in your tank spontaneously contracting a disease is very little. The quickest way to raise this risk is to introduce new fish to your tank that have come fresh from the fish store. It does not matter how good the fish store has been in the past, the fact of the matter remains that fish stores have a lot of fish coming in and going out so the chances are greatly increase for the risk of disease infection. I always quarantine my fish in a 20 gallon quarantine tank for 3 weeks prior to introduction into an established tank.

Health Fish Tip #5 – Keep aggression under control: If you have an aggressive tank such as an African cichlid tank then there will be aggression and territorial conflict. This is normal and probably healthy for the fish because it is natural. However if you notice a fish that is too aggressive or one that seems to be getting picked on by all of the fish in the tank, then you need to find a way to resolve the problem. Sometimes merely rearranging the tank can change the tank dynamic and perhaps give a “picked on” fish some new hiding spaces. If rearranging the tank does not work, then consider removing the problem fish from the tank and placing it in a different tank or perhaps trading it in to the local fish store. Stressed fish are prone to disease and once a stressed fish becomes diseased it is more likely other healthy fish in the tank will contract the disease from the stressed fish.

The goal of following these healthy fish tips is to avoid having to treat the fish after they become sick. Happy fish keeping!

Article by Keith Pardee

Webmaster of Aquariumlife.net - aquariumlife.net aquariumlife.net

Article originally published at aquariumlife.net/articles/aquarium-care/110.asp aquariumlife.net/articles/aquarium-care/110.asp

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Have you always wanted an aquarium but are unsure about how to care for it? Maintaining a freshwater aquarium is actually really easy and taking care of fish doesn’t require much work at all. Before you get started though, you need to know what to do to keep your tank healthy.

The first thing you should do is choose what size tank you want. If you are a beginner, I would recommend that you start with a small aquarium, preferably ten gallons or less. This will cut down on the cost considerably and help you decide if you really like taking care of an aquarium. If you don’t have any problems maintaining it and really like it, then you can upgrade to a larger tank later on.

Choose a good spot in your house to place the tank. Make sure that the table you put it on is able to support the weight of the aquarium. Water weighs around eight and a half pounds per gallon, so a ten gallon tank would be at least 85 pounds, not counting everything you put in it and the aquarium itself.

The next thing you need to do is decide what type of equipment you want. You will need a filter. I recommend using an undergravel filter because it’s not very expensive and keeps debris out. Another popular type of filter is a hang-on filter. Either type will work. You should get an air pump too.

You can also get gravel, plants and decorations for your tank. Gravel comes in many colors, such as green, blue, pink and natural colors. If you have a small tank, then get small gravel. For plants, you can use real ones or fake ones. Plastic plants don’t require extra care and come in many varieties. If you want to do real plants, I would wait until you are familiar with taking care of the tank. Decorations for tanks include castles, mushrooms, bubble wands, ships and many other plastic things. Just make sure that whatever you put in your tank doesn’t clutter it up.

When you go to fill up the tank, there are several water options to choose from. You can use distilled water or tap water. If you decide to use tap water, you will need to purchase a product that removes chlorine and use it before adding the water to the tank. Add the water slowly so that everything in your tank doesn’t move around or float to the top.

You must make sure that the temperature of your tank stays around 80 degrees. Get a thermometer and see what the temperature is. If it is not acceptable, you may need to purchase a heater for the tank. Just don’t put the heater by any air bubbles. Another thing you will need is a hood and light for the aquarium. The hood will keep the fish in the tank while providing light at the same time.

The most important maintenance to do on the tank is water changes. Every month you should change about one-third of the water. Use a siphon hose with a suction tube and siphon out about one-third of the water into a bucket. Replace with clean freshwater. Just make sure that the water you replace with is the same temperature as the tank.

A major mistake many people make is adding too many fish. Fish need space! You can get three to four small fish per gallon, or one to two medium fish per gallon, or one large fish per gallon. Make sure that the fish you get can be housed together so that you will not have any fish fighting. When you bring your fish home, float the bag in the tank for about twenty minutes so they will adjust to your tank’s temperature. After that you can put them in the aquarium.

There are many different types of fish foods to choose from but flake foods seem to work the best. Just make sure you don’t overfeed because this can make your tank very dirty. Just feed like twice a day.

This is the basics of starting a freshwater tank. Once you have it going, it’s very easy to maintain as long as you remember to do water changes, feed the fish and make sure the temperature is okay.

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to

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Wall mounted aquariums offer a unique, dramatic effect, without occupying precious floor space. In both professional and home settings, wall mounted aquariums create the fresh ambiance of living art. Combining the elegance of art with proprietary technology proves a worthy investment in any home or office. With easy installation and maintenance, you can enjoy your very own masterful work of art.

Conveying energy, vibrancy, and personality wall mounted aquariums are often affectionately referred to as living art or portrait aquariums. Aquariums add life to your space, choosing a wall mounted aquarium inspires a fresh, forward look with sophisticated style. The vast array of choices available in selecting a wall mounted aquarium only serves to increase its value in any room or office. Consider a wall mounted aquarium as an alternative to traditional art.

Wall mounted aquariums are just that, aquariums mounted on the wall, something visible like a living picture. Most wall aquariums are inserted into your wall sometimes leaving you stressed and inconvenience with all the preparation involved. With the wall mounted aquarium system, only certified safety brackets are used a wall mounted aquarium are very safe, and no part of the wall needs to be removed and all fixing brackets and mounts are thoroughly tested to ensure that your aquarium stays on the wall.

Aquariums have been a popular conversation piece for decades. Wall mounted aquariums are quickly becoming the rage as they are becoming more available and easier to install. Unlike traditional aquariums wall mounted tanks require no floor space, so those in apartments or small offices are now open to enjoy the effects of aquatic life. From customizable designs and sizes to “wall like” furniture options, just about anyone can make a wall mounted aquarium the newest addition to his or her space.

When assessing the location for installing a wall mounted aquarium a few things are important. Determining tank size, placement, and design can seem tricky compared to a traditional aquarium, but with a little attention to detail anyone can do it. All the systems include detailed instructions pertaining to the rightful installation and maintenance of your aquarium.

Customization offers more variety in wall mounted aquariums than the traditional box style. Once you’ve decided on a wall mounted aquarium you’ll quickly find it becomes the treasure of the room. Select glass or acrylic, and a variety of colours with wood veneers and stainless steel finishes, aquatic life, lighting and filtration to suit your style. Have fun with your wall mounted aquarium, it is sure to be the hit of any room.

Once you’ve decided to upgrade and show off your uniqueness with a wall mounted aquarium, have fun with it. From column tanks to full walls to simple styles any design you choose will add ambience, enhance sophistication, and provide a living work of art all your own. Enjoy the flexibility and effect wall mounted aquariums provide. Who knows? If your not already you may become an aquarium enthusiast yourself once you’ve experienced the pleasure of your very own, customized and designed wall mounted aquarium.

About the Author:
David Yearwood is the webmaster for systems-unlimited.co.uk systems-unlimited.co.uk a website that is aimed at people in the UK that are looking for something different in aquarium design. This article may be freely distributed without modification and provided that the copyright notice and author information remain intact.

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