Decorating A Freshwater Aquarium: The Dos And Don’ts

Owning a pet doesn’t need to be as big and extravagant as owning a dog or cat. While those are the two most popular domestic animals to have in your home, there are plenty of other options out there for people, one being fish. A fish, or multiple fish, is a good pet to have because it’s a lot less maintenance to take care of, but there are still some things to know.

A very sensitive thing that must be taken care of when owning a fish is to ensure their tank or aquarium is up to snuff and is a suitable environment for them. What this means is giving them plenty of decors to make it come to life, and make sure it doesn’t look barren in your home. 

Here are some dos and don’ts of decorating a freshwater aquarium.

Dos

Buy Products from Trusted Sellers

Who exactly is a trusted seller of aquarium products and decor? Not some random person you met on a buy-and-sell page, that’s for sure. It might seem attractive to buy second hand or cheap decor, but it can harm the fish. If you’re looking for good fish tank decorations, you need to buy them from fish pet experts and anyone that can provide useful advice. It might be a little pricier, but your fish will be much happier.

Clean the Decorations Often

The decor is only as good as the person can maintain it, which means you have to be doing a good job of cleaning off the gunk and build-up that comes with a freshwater aquarium. There are not as many or any cleaning agents you will be putting in this tank, so it’s up to you to make sure the bacterial growth is cleaned off. This helps the water stay clear and prevents the harmful build up in the tank for your fishy friends.

Pick Natural Materials

Cheaper decor like plastic towers, ships, fake plants, fake logs, and even artificial substrate might be useful for you, but it could also harm your fish. Some of the chemicals and coating used in these plastic decorations can seep off and into the water, which over time may seriously harm your fish or even become fatal. It’s always a good idea to find real, natural materials as long as they are considered safe because they will react better with the freshwater and prevent harm to your pets.

Don’ts

Add Products That Can Seep Into the Water

Continuing on, it’s good to know what products can seep into the water and harm the fish. Surprisingly, many of the natural materials you can find can be harmful too so it’s good to continue on this topic. Wood, unless pretreated, may be extremely chemically harmful to the fish, and many rocks have minerals that can change the balance of the water content. Plastic is also a no-brainer to not put in the tank because of the concern for chemical leakage.

Crowd the Tank

Your fish need space to swim and roam in their little habitat. They don’t have much free room as they would in the wild which means you shouldn’t crowd the tank. Putting in enough decorations to make it seem lively is fine, but it’s not okay when the fish have very few lanes to occupy when swimming. They end up bumping into each other, the glass walls, and the decorations. It can be claustrophobic for them to be crammed in there and it doesn’t make for a safe or healthy environment.

Pick Safer Decorations

Safer decorations don’t just pertain to the inclusion of material makeup like chemicals and byproducts, it also means the condition they’re in. As mentioned, don’t buy second-hand stuff because it could be damaged in a way that harms the wish. Cracks can lead to breaking parts floating in the water that the fish come in contact with or eat. Another big concern is that the decorations have sharp edges, like glass or metal, which can seriously harm them. The softer the edges and less potential there is for bodily harm to the fish, the better the aquarium will work for your pets.

It might not be as difficult to take care of a fish compared to a dog or a cat, but there is still plenty of advice you need to know before setting up an aquarium in your home. Using these tips, you’ll know the dos and don’ts of setting up their little home with the right decor.