A lot of us are into the old school hobby of fish keeping yet not everybody knows the thumb rules of it.
Fishes don't have feelings and they don’t feel pain but they can still tell you what's wrong with them and I can tell you how to go about it.
Let's start with the essentials.
1. You need a tank.
How big, that depends on which fishes you want to have.
Small schooling fishes like guppies, zebra danios, tetras, etc can live happily in a 10 to 15 ltr tank, which is quite small. But you can have only 5 to 6 of them in this small tank.
Let's say we need 3 liters per mini fish.
If you want to get bigger ones like the goldfish or angelfish, you should consider having a 30 to 50 ltr tank assuming you'll be getting 3 to 4 of them.
That gives you 10 ltr per fish.
If your dad is rich and you can afford to have a room full of tanks, and have a thing for monster fishes like the pearl Arowana or an alligator fish, etc you need
a 300 to 500 ltr tank.
These are just small numbers if you see.
Remember the fishes will poop and the poop can become toxic in the water if kept for long.
So the only way out is to have a bigger space so that the cleaning is required less often.
2. Air pump / Filter
There's no rocket science to this. Water gets dirty as I said and it needs to be cleaned up. Air filter helps you create movement in the water which allows more oxygen to enter into the tank. Also sucks out the dirt so that you have to clean the tank less often.
A decent amount of fishes can stay without the airflow because of their special respiratory glands like the betta fish (fighter fish), guppies, danios, endlers, etc.
But that doesn't mean we don't need to get the filter. Just saying. It's needed (you'll thank me later when your fishes will survive longer).
3. Heater.
Fishes like the discus and flowerhorn belong from the tropics and require a temperature between 28c to 32c to thrive.
A heater is very essential for them as it improves their metabolic rate and gives them a longer life in the tank.
4. Light
Yes, I’m sorry, I know this is obvious. But most of us don't know how to get the right light for our tank. You see, if the light is too bright, it produces green algae or diatoms (brown algae) in the tank over your substrate or the tank walls, and it can be really annoying to clean it up.
So, make sure it's not too bright and doesn't light up your entire room.
If you plan to have a planted aquarium, the light needs to light every corner of the tank for the plants to survive.
5. Substrate.
What you put in the tank in the name of decoration that looks like beach sand and fake stones are the substrates for your tank. You don't really need it, it just makes the tank look pretty and makes your tank difficult to clean. But we all like to have it and fishes find it interesting. So get that.
6. Siphon pump
This boy right here is a savior. It's a gravel cleaner that functions as a vacuum cleaner for your substrate and sucks out the dirt like magic.
This list can go on and will empty your pockets soon before you can even notice.
But these are some really cheap and necessary things you'll need for your hobby and won’t cost you a bomb, I promise.
There are other things like a Ph reader, TDS calculator, thermometer, water dechlorinator, anti-fungal liquid, etc. which also play a vital role in the fish keeping hobby.
These fall under the hospitality section for your fish which makes sure they are having a good time indoors. You’ll know more about it in the next one!
Just don’t buy anything online. It's mad expensive there.
Thanks.