Video:How to Maintain a Mini Aquarium

Transcript:How to Maintain a Mini Aquarium

Hi, I am Dan Thornton, owner of Reef Encounters in Erie, Colorado, and I am here today for About.com to tell you how to maintain a mini aquarium.

Mini Aquariums are Less than 10 Gallons

I would call anything under 10 gallons, a mini aquarium; and you really want to stick with something larger than one gallon. Anything smaller than one gallon, really isn't suitable for any fish. It's going to be hard to find heaters and filters that will fit in anything that is that small.

Mini Aquariums Require Frequent Maintenance

Something to consider with a mini aquarium is it is going to require more frequent maintenance. It's very easy to overstock a very small aquarium. With a mini aquarium, the temperature can change, the water chemistry can change. You have to be very diligent about watching your aquarium and testing it. You have to be careful how much food you feed. A mini aquarium can be very easy to maintain, and the process can be very quick, but you have to keep up on it, because things can go bad quickly. Maintenance of a mini aquarium isn't really any different. For the most part, all aquariums are maintained the same way.

Water Changes for Mini Aquariums

Water changes, that is the most important thing. Usually that is done in combination with some algae cleaning, some filter maintenance, and things like that, depending on how your aquarium is set up. When you change the water, you should vacuum the gravel, if you have gravel. When you clean the algae, you just want to make sure you are using something appropriate for aquariums. So use something for glass, for glass, and something for acrylic, when you are cleaning acrylic.

Fish for Mini Aquariums

You have to stick with fish that stay very small, for very small aquariums. When doing your weekly water tests on a mini aquarium, you want to test for, pH, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, hardness, and alkalinity. The most important of all of those are pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Before you purchase any fish for a mini aquarium, you want to do your research, and make sure there are fish that will stay small enough to live in the mini aquarium for their entire lifespan.

Thanks so much for watching. For more information on fish, please visit us at About.com.