Any home will benefit from the beauty of an aquarium, and it is not difficult to maintain. Fish do require that you feed them and keep their home clean. By spending half an hour each week maintaining your tank, you should be able to keep it very clean.

Feed your fish every day. It is very easy to over feed fish so be careful. Many pet owners like to feed their fish flakes but there are alternative foods available. A varied diet can benefit many kinds of fish. Your choices include; live, frozen, pellets or freeze dried, depending on what type of fish you own.

Take a minute when you are feeding your fish to observe them and make certain that they are healthy. Watch to see if they are all eating and swimming the way they are supposed to. Check for any irregular coloration or growths on your fish. The faster you discover any problems in the tank the better the odds are that you will not lose any fish.

Every week you should test the chemical levels in your tank. You want to check the pH, nitrate and ammonia levels. Any major change in these conditions can result in potentially dangerous or toxic situations. You should also change at least 20% of the water.

To be certain that the equipment in your tank is operating at maximum efficiency check it every week. Check to ensure that your filter is in good condition. Not all filters need to be cleaned every week, some may only require cleaning every second week. Take a moment to make sure that all plugs and electric cords are in good shape.

You never want to clean everything in the tank at once. Each week you should clean only one or two items in your tank. Any more than this and you will cause spikes to happen in your water levels. Part of your cleaning should include the glass. Use an aquarium glass scraper and remove any algae on the tank.

If you do these things as part of your fish care routine, you will have a tank full of healthy vibrant fish, that will live a long time.

If you are thinking about keeping discus fish you need to learn as much as possible if you want to ensure they don’t get diseases and stay happy and healthy. Discus can be expensive to purchase so you want to make sure you know as much as possible. Despite what many people think discus are easy to care for as long as you know the right knowledge.

Discus fish in my opinion are one of the most beautiful fish to have in your aquarium, they do prefer to be in groups of 4 – 6 and it is best to make sure you have gravel, pieces or wood and plants in your tank. Discus are native to the waters of the Amazon and can be sensitive to their environment and you want to replicate their natural environment as much as possible.

Here is a great example of a discus fish aquarium.

A small 20-30 gallon discus fish tank with a couple of hiding spots and vertical spawning surface will suffice when you are thinking of breeding discus fish. An ideal discus fish aquarium should be large enough to accommodate two to four discus fish, where at least one breeding pair can mate, though the discus prefer to live in groups of four. With this large a discus fish tank, the breeding pair gets enough space to defend and clean the egg laying areas.

You would need to keep the water clean always as discus fish will breed more likely if the water is cleaned daily. Change five percent to ten percent of the water on a daily basis to keep it clean, which prevents stresses in the fish and keeps them happy to settle and choose a breeding partner. In case the water in the discus fish tank does not clean up, then you are probably feeding the fish too often and need to reduce the food amount. You would need to keep an eye on the temperature in the discus fish aquarium, which should ideally be about 80 degree. You could have a floating thermometer or install one on the side of the discus fish tank. Generally a florescent light is enough to keep the water at the required temperature.

Keep an eye for behavior changes in the fish, indicating the breeding is on. Once the breeding pair has been set up, they begin cleaning the area where they would lay the eggs. This is the right time to remove the breeding pair from the discus fish tank and place them in a separate breeding tank, which can be smaller in size. The breeding pair will guard the small area of the discus fish tank where the eggs are laid and fertilized. The parents feed the fry from their own bodies in the form of a slime coat. This carries on as long as the pair is ready to breed again, and you can make this out once the pair starts cleaning a new space for their eggs again in the discus fish tank. It’s time to remove the babies, who would have grown up by now, to go back with the rest of the fish in the discus fish aquarium.

So enjoy yourself and buy a discus fish aquarium to learn all about how to breed discus fish.