Setting Up Your First Aquarium

Hold onto your water hose before filling up that aquarium. A fair number of decisions need to be made prior to purchasing the supplies necessary to create an aquatic environment suitable for your fish, plants, and invertebrates. Whether you’re a parent launching your child into his or her first pet project or a seasoned hobbyist branching out in new directions, selecting and purchasing the right supplies for your aquarium is important. It can be the difference between a toxic sea of dead fish or a thriving community of aquatic life in a clear and clean watery habitat.

We don’t like re-inventing the water slide. So we’ve identified several good educational resources with excellent advice for going through the options available when you set up your fish tank.

• Welcome to The First Tank Guide takes the enthusiast through the process of determining what kind of fish you want to have in your tank. Whether you choose freshwater, brackish water, or saltwater fish, this site guides you through the steps necessary. This ensures your fish, plants, and invertebrates live in an environment that supplies the pleasure of watching their antics while impressing your friends and family with your aquatic knowledge for years to come. This site, which has been up since 1994, isn’t affiliated with any of the Online Aquarium Supplies sites, so the lack of any affiliation should provide a measure of unbiased information.

• The Online Aquarium Supplies site "TopTenREVIEWS Silver Award" winner, Drs. Foster and Smith, shows the reach of their tremendous customer support. They have (at least) 44 articles related to aquarium set-up and the decisions that need to be made on individual aquarium components. So vast is their customer support and pet education information, they’ve set up a special pet education site. On the pet education site, search on “setting up your aquarium” to find the articles. The Drs. Foster and Smith homepage or LiveAquaria are only a click away from all the supplies you need. LiveAquaria is home to the fish offered by the doctors. A nice feature of LiveAquaria is the list of additional aquarium-related articles at the bottom of the homepage. Need even more? Don’t forget the education videos available. They cover a host of aquarium-related topics, including how to set up a saltwater aquarium.

• ThatFishPlace was the "TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award" winner during our evaluation of Online Aquarium Supplies sites. If you still need more information about setting up the perfect tank, don’t miss their Pet Information Center. There you’ll find a link to ThatFishPlace videos on YouTube about fish care, setting up your tank, and new supplies that you might find at ThatFishPlace. This information could make your tank the talk of the neighborhood. And don’t forget the online blog for additional information. Finally, the site offers access to a number of forums to pose those remaining questions to fish enthusiasts and aquatic experts.

Come on in! By taking the time to review the fantastic information supplied by these sites, your aquarium's water will be fine for you and your aquatic livestock . Setting up your first aquarium might just lead to a lifetime passion for you and your watery friends.

Take the plunge with your fish, and remember us for more information in the future. At TopTenREVIEWS We Do the Research So You Don't Have To.™