Setting up a Freshwater aquarium at your home in Delhi.

If you are reading this, its possible that keeping an aquarium at home has crossed your mind. The reason could be because you saw one at a friends place or a restaurant and thought that you can keep one too. To which I say yes you can!

Fish unlike other pets such as dogs and cats are not as demanding in terms of time, but in terms of care, they need to be cared for as much as you would care for any other pet.

Keeping fish in Delhi is not an easy hobby as the local fish stores (LFS) are not really run by people who know about the hobby but by people who think of it as a business and can’t be trusted as all they care about is making a sale, it is very similar to how dog breeders are, for them it is about the money.

The big challenge in setting up an aquarium in Delhi is the weather.

How weather contributes to keeping fish:
1. Fish are very sensitive to temperature change and can’t be exposed to thermal shocks. Different fish have different temperature requirements.

2. Delhi Winter (November — February) and Delhi Summer (March — July) is a bad time to think of setting up an aquarium unless you have been in the hobby too long and know how to setup everything perfectly to minimise the trauma for your fish.

3. Placement of the aquarium in your home is also important, you must consider a corner in a room that does not heat up during the summer and get too cold during the winter. This is why placing the aquarium against walls that are next to a window or walls that directly gets sunlight is a very bad decision. If you stay on the top floor of the house that could be fatal for your fish.

Having said that it’s not impossible to keep an aquarium in Delhi, though there are a few thing I wish I knew about when I set up my first aquarium. Which is what I want to talk to you about.

The best time to set up your aquarium in Delhi is between the month of August until October. Setting up an Aquarium IS NOT a one day task. I urge you not to buy your fish the same day you get the aquarium.

Before you can add fish to your aquarium you must wait for at least 5 to 6weeks. This period is known as “cycling the tank” this is a time when you have added water to the tank and have switched on the filter, but no fish have been introduced to the tank.

The nitrogen cycle is the process that breaks toxic nitrogen waste products in an aquarium into less harmful components. For this cycle to develop, beneficial bacteria that feed on these waste products need to grow in the aquarium’s filter system. Introducing fish to an aquarium without a healthy nitrogen cycle in place is a bad idea — buildup of waste chemicals can put major stress on the fish, even potentially killing them. Thus, “cycling” is something that every new aquarium owner needs to do to ensure the health and safety of their fish.

Let us Begin! What you will need is:

1. A Tank — start with a tank not less than 3feet (36 inches): A myth about fish tanks is that the smaller the tank the less maintenance it will be. However the smaller the tank the sooner it will get dirty due to the waste produced by the fish. Consider this you have the same number of fish in two tanks, Tank 1: has 10 liters of water and Tank 2: 20 liters of water, in a period of 1 week there will roughly be the same amount of waste produced, which tank do you think will be dirtier and need more cleaning. Never select a background that has a scenery on it that will only steal the show from the actual beauty of the tank, always select solid colors for the background of the tank as they will let the beauty of your fish and plants pop out.
2. The substrate (optional) [not more than 2inches]: This is the material that is at the bottom of the tank, it is often used to alter the water chemistry, BUT as a beginner, you do not have to think too much about it. Gravel is the best choice for beginners since it is easy to clean. To prevent damage to fish, gravel should not be sharp. If you want to set up a planted tank with live plants then you will need a soil substrate, but don’t start with this. If you don’t add any substrate it is called a bare bottom tank, it is the easiest to clean and often done when keeping big fish (They produce more waste, with a bare bottom tank it becomes easier to make water changes.)
3. Water: Add tap water to the tank, leaving 2 inches from the top. Since we are not adding any fish right now we would not have to add anti-chlorine (but this should be kept handy.)
4. Air stones and air pumps (optional): This is what creates bubbles in the water and oxygenates the water. I personally find it annoying that my tank looks like a 7up bottle. Which is why I depend on my filter to do that.
5. Plants and rocks, etc.(Optional): This is where you can get as creative as possible and unleash your creativity to create an aesthetically pleasing aquarium. Don’t create spots that will become inaccessible later when you have to clean.
6. Add filtration system: This is the most important decision you will need to make. There are 2 options the Internal or external filter. I personally prefer external filters. Internal filters a housed inside the main aquarium or are hung at the back of the main aquarium, these are inexpensive and have way too many options but you must pick a decent size and motor power to be able to filter all the water in your tanks water columns. External Filters are kept under the aquarium where they remain well hidden and are not an eyesore, they are also easy to clean. There are two options here; Canister filter and Sump. A Canister filter is a commercial version of the sump, whereas a sump is another smaller tank that you will have to assemble by adding filter media to it to ensure filtration of the water from the main tank. Canister filters can cost anywhere between INR4000 to INR10000 depending on the size of your tank. A sump can cost you anywhere between INR3000 to INR5000 again depending on the size of your tank. If you are setting up a sump you will need help with plumbing (I took help from a fellow hobbyist) with a canister you will just have to connect the parts correctly.
7. Heater: Like I said it is essential to keep the water temperature stable, for this you will need a water heater during all seasons. What this heater does is it reads the temperature of the water and if your water temperature is less than what you have set for the heater it switches on and switches off when the temperature is achieved.
8. Lights: for a non-planted tank 18wt LED light would do, the color of the light can either be white or warm white (yellow), avoid using blue or red color lights. There is light that can be clipped on the side of the aquarium glass. If you have oped for a planted tank then T5 lights will do best.
9. Power strip: This is to plug in the heater, filter, lights and air pump.

Once you have all of this ready.
1. Place the tank on a stand in the carefully chosen spot in your room.

2.Wash the substrate in a bucket to clean the dust and soil from it, a few washes ought to do it. Then carefully place the substrate on the glass try not to break it. Spread the substrate across the bottom of the tank forming a layer of gravel not thicker than 2inches.

3. Place the plants and rocks in the aquarium based on what aesthetically pleases you, though try not to create tight spaces that will be difficult to clean.

4. Setup the desired filter, do not switch it on until the tank is full.

5. Time to add water; connect a pipe from the tap to the tank. Place a plate anywhere in the tank and aim the water at the plate and not the gravel, otherwise, the gravel will be displaced. leave 2inches from the top.

6. Put the lights on the tank.

Now once everything is setup keep the filter on for the next 5 to 6 weeks and let nature takes it course.

IF YOU ARE USING A SUMP, you only need to clean the foam used for filtration and nothing else from the sump needs a wash else it will kill all beneficial bacteria that have populated the filter media.

— — — — — — 5 to 6 weeks later — — — — —
Now is the time to select the fish that you want to keep, this is especially challenging in Delhi as we are far away from places where fish breeding happens or where fish are imported to from various parts of the world. I will have to stop here since that is just an altogether different topic that I want to cover.

Until then good luck with setting up and cycling your tank.