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It’s A Small World After All

One of the areas of the aquarium hobby that has boomed in recent years is the phenomenon of the mini, or nano, aquarium. Many models of small complete systems have hit the market, and it is now easier than ever to succesfully keep these pint sized wonders.

There are a few important things to consider when planning your nano-tank set up. Small tanks are notorious for having unstable water quality. Water quality and temperature changes occur much easier, and faster, in a small tank than in a larger system simply because there is less water to buffer and absorb changes. Even a five gallon water change can take out a lot of good bacteria and may be causing the same “new tank syndrome” that many aquarists experience when setting up their aquarium. Cloudy water and a brown algae bloom typically mark the end of the cycling process as bacteria neutralize nitrites and create nitrates that feed algae. These blooms usually die off on their own within a few days, but try keeping your water changes small to avoid this “re-cycling”. For example, instead of changing 25 percent of your water a couple times a month, try changing 5 to 10 percent every week or two. If you have to do a larger water change, keep a product with a live bacteria culture like Biozyme or Hagen’s Cycle on hand to replace the bacteria you remove. Increasing the amount of water in your system can also help to keep the water quality more stable. A small pump, some tubing and an extra tank can make a simple refugium to increase the volume of your system, allowing for a more stable display tank . With the addition of a light source, this extra tank can also be used to grow macroalgae to eat up extra nutrients, as a nursery for copepods and other live foods, or even as a safe haven for harassed fish and invertebrates. An extra 5 or 10 gallons will help to stabilize your water quality and prevent algae and bacteria blooms. Between water changes, avoid overfeeding your fish and invertebrates by using a feeding station to contain floating foods and a feeding syringe to target-feed directly to your animals. Make sure that you are choosing size appropriate species of fish and other animal, while this is important in any size aquarium, it is crucial in small aquarium. Try to stick to community fish, and be conservative with the number of fish that you are keeping. Heavy fish loads require heavy feeding, and can quickly overtax small filtration systems. Small systems take a little extra TLC than large tanks but can be well worth it in the end.


It’s not easy being green, unless you are algae









Feed the Fish, Not the Aquarium

As part of my Aquarist training while working for a public aquarium, I would have all of my feeding duties closely observed by the aquariums curator. To make a long story short, this was much more like military boot camp than I care to remember, ever see the movie Full Metal Jacket? One of phrases that were repeatedly drilled into my head was “feed the fish, not the aquarium”; I still hear the voice in my head today every time I feed my fish.

What I learned then, and teach now, is how important observation is when feeding the animals in your aquariums. Overfeeding, underfeeding and inappropriate foods are the common mistakes made by hobbyists when feeding the animals in their aquariums, or adding a new type of fish to their tanks.

Overfeeding is the most common mistake made by aquarium hobbyists when feeding their fish. Leaving uneaten food in the aquarium for your fish to eat later is never a good idea, especially when feeding pellet foods, flake foods, and frozen or fresh foods you should only feed enough so that all the food is eaten within a few minutes. Some fish will require to be fed multiple times per day, but only as much as can be eaten each time. Uneaten foods quickly start to decay in tropical aquariums, which will result in unnecessary demands on your filtration, resulting in poor water quality.

Underfeeding and inappropriate feeding will require much more observation from the person(s) who take care of an aquarium. The results of underfeeding will show in long term loss of body weight, or behavioral problems such as loss of energy, or erratic swimming patterns.
When I say inappropriate feeding I am talking about a couple different things. First of all I am talking about reproducing a natural diet for the animals that are in your aquarium. Most animals in your aquarium can be classified as either Predators (meat eaters), Herbivores (plant eaters), and Omnivores (meat and plant eaters). You should always research and ask questions about the animals that you intend to keep as pets, you should know what the natural diet of your animals, and provide the correct food for them. The second thing that I mean by appropriate food for your aquarium animal is knowing how the animal eats. Fish in particular, have specialized mouth parts for feeding a certain way. Surface feeders have upturned mouths and prefer floating foods. Bottom feeders have downward turned mouths and prefer sinking foods. Others will have centrally located mouths and prefer suspended or slowly sinking foods. And some predators require hard foods to keep their teeth healthy. Food size is also important, too small of a food size may be difficult for some fish to capture. Food that is too large may be very difficult to swallow, and can even injure internal organs. So it important to observe your fishes eating so that you can be sure you are providing both the correct type and form of food to insure good health.

So remember, feed your fish, not your aquarium