Garden & Animals
Aquarium Keeping
The water has to be living before any fish go in
The commonest way beginners kill fish is haste: stocking a new tank before the nitrogen cycle establishes, so the fish are poisoned by their own waste. The right order is running the tank empty for weeks until nitrite reads zero. Bigger tanks are more stable, and small ones are harder rather than easier.
First stepSet up a tank of sixty litres or more with a test kit, cycle it empty for a few weeks, and add the first fish only once nitrite reads zero.
Barriers
Cost to start
$50–300
Going deep → $2k–10k
Alone or with people
On your own
Effort
Light
Without a teacher?
Self-taught
One session takes
Under 30 min
Where
At home
Why people take it up