Aquarium Fish Blog

2008 has been designated as the “Year of the Reef”.  Coral reefs around the globe are taking direct hits from many different directions.  Tourism, shipping, diving, pollution and locals destroying reef structures for infrastructure projects are all to blame.  It’s been estimated that the aquarium industry takes a toll, albeit a very small one on the coral reefs.  We have to do our part if we want our industry to remain unregulated and if we want to save the reefs.  Regulations could mean higher prices for the saltwater species that come from the reefs. [Read more →]

As a frequent browser of several fish and aquarium forums, I frequently come across many things that make me go “Huh?”. You’ll even see this one inch of fish per gallon of water rule (or guideline) advocated on some of the fish and aquarium websites on the net. Let’s talk about why this rule doesn’t hold water. [Read more →]

The idea behind this post comes after reading several boards on various fish and aquarium forums across the great wide web. I’m always coming across posts that start off like this: “I recently set up a new tank and now I think all the fish have ich”. Or, “My fish has fin rot what can I do?”. Then you see all the responses from the others on such and such medicine and such and such treatment. Why do we think medications will fix our shortcomings as aquarists? [Read more →]

Question: What is one of the best things you can do to ensure that you will be successful keeping freshwater and saltwater fish in your aquarium?

Answer: The partial water change of course. Performing regular partial water changes has numerous benefits and we’ll review them here. [Read more →]

The Zebrasoma flavescens, or more commonly known as the Yellow Tang has been a favorite fish of mine (one of many) since the beginning of my saltwater hobby. The bold yellow color along with the white scalpel like blade on the caudal peduncle (base of the tail) that can be used as a weapon for defending itself or its territory is one of the many great aspects of keeping these tangs. They can be quite hardy once they get used to the environment and make a great pet fish. There are some things to keep in mind though if you’re interested in keeping one of these Yellow Tangs in your saltwater aquarium. [Read more →]

A very important part of keeping fish in aquariums is testing the water periodically. There are many different types of aquarium test kits out there and it can be confusing in deciding which ones to get and what to test for in your fish tank.

If you have a newly setup fish tank, you will want to get and test for at least the following:

Test Kits For Freshwater Aquariums: [Read more →]

If you spend any amount of time browsing the fish forums you will soon come to the realization that there are many pet fish keepers that are totally unprepared and not very responsible when it comes to keeping aquariums. It’s unfortunate that fish are not afforded the same level of care as other pets such as dogs or cats.

Many people think less of fish for some reason. Maybe because fish is a part of our diet? I don’t understand why they don’t care more deeply for the animals they are keeping. So, what does it mean to be a “responsible fish keeper”? [Read more →]

Several months ago I bought a 15 watt AquaStep UV Sterilizer for my 110 gallon saltwater aquarium and I was hoping that it would help me in a couple of areas:

• The Powder Blue Tang (Acanthurus leucosternon) was THE fish that I wanted to keep but after reading about how difficult it could be to care for them I stayed away from them. It can be very difficult to get them eating aquarium foods and they are prone to ich (cryptocaryon) like most tangs. I was hoping that the UV Sterilizer would give me a “leg up” and finally I would attempt to keep one of these Powder Blue Tangs.
• I was getting a minor cyanobacteria outbreak in the back corners of this fowlr saltwater tank. I increased water flow in those particular areas, performed regular water changes with Reverse Osmosis water and slow dose with Kalkwasser to help keep alkalinity and calcium levels at the right levels. Perhaps the Ultraviolet Sterilizer would be the straw that broke this slime algae’s back. [Read more →]

I think most aquarium keepers go through some sort of algae problem at least once when keeping a fish tank. There are some things that you can do to fix these algae blooms and you can even prevent them from happening in the first place.

[Read more →]

About 2 months ago I upgraded my lighting on the 55 gallon reef tank to the Nova Extreme T5 lights. I got the 48 inch fixture that comes with 8 T5 bulbs, each rated at 54 watts for about $400. This should give me a total of 432 watts over the tank. This aquarium is about 24 inches deep with about a 2 inch sand bed. I researched the T5’s for many days before buying them and from what I was reading these lights should allow me to keep SPS (Small Polyped Stony) corals. [Read more →]

Have you ever been listening to your mp3s and a new song from your play list comes on that is way louder that the other mp3s? You have to quickly reach for the volume knob to keep from breaking your ear drums! I listen to mp3s all the time at work, in the car and at home and I had to find a program that would NORMALIZE all these files. I did find one. [Read more →]

Here are a few of the saltwater fish that I’m keeping in the 110.

[Read more →]

Hello World! This is my first blog post, just to test the waters. I’m working on uploading some saltwater fish photos. I just need to crop and resize them for quicker loading on the website. [Read more →]