Ornamental fish > Fancy guppy aquarium selection > Fancy Guppy aquarium – Equipments and ornaments
Now that you have decided on the purchase of aquarium tank for fancy guppy, you will also require to have some more equipments, fittings and ornaments.
Filter requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
Filters are essential requirements for keeping a healthy fancy aquarium. You can go in for easy to clean and inexpensive filters. Most popular filters are sponge filters, undergravel filters and box filters.
Mechanical filters like box filters have filter floss and some may also contain activated carbon. They should be weighed down with marbles or dolomite stones.
However these corner filters occupy fairly large area of the fancy guppy aquarium. When changing floss some old floss must be left behind so that the bacterial activity continues.
Sponge filter is the easiest to maintain and most popular among the fancy guppy aquarium hobbyists. It is an air-lift filter and squeezing and rinsing it in clean water once in a week will suffice.
By this cleaning not much of the beneficent bacteria is lost and there is no danger of recycling of the aquarium. Please note that bacteria are essential requirements of the fancy guppy aquarium and they control toxic by-products of feeding like ammonia, nitrite and nitrate from reaching lethal levels.
Undergravel filters are also very useful filters and are very efficient in providing large area for the bacteria. However while cleaning fancy guppy aquarium, care must be taken and whole gravel layer should not be disturbed as this can cause the water to turn cloudy.
If the aquarium is big, power filter can be used. Care must taken to see that the flow is not too fast, as fast flowing water will tear up the fancy tail of guppy.
Air pump requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
A good quality vibrator pump is one of the important requirements. The air flow can be used to operate the sponge filter or filter bed. Flexible air tubing can be used to supply air from the air pump. This system is easiest to install.
While selecting the air-stones care should be taken to have stones with fine diffuse flow with smaller bubbles. Air-stone giving smaller bubbles makes more oxygen to dissolve in the water in the fancy fish tank.
Gravel requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
Gravel is one of the requirements in having a beautiful fancy guppy aquarium. If undergravel filter is used the waste and the fecal matter gets trapped in the gravel. Gravel provides extensive surface for the bacteria to cling onto and grow.
Nowadays gravel is available in different fancy colors and sizes. However care must be taken not to use chemically treated and colored gravel as this may become toxic to fish. Up to 25kg of gravel may be required for a 50 gallon tank.
Lighting requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
Aquarium lighting is one of the important requirements for a successful fancy guppy keeping. For home aquarium, hood-lighting is the best. It is best to have natural lighting as there are many benefits from it.
Color lighting, though makes the fancy guppy aquarium appear colorful, is an unnatural and abnormal environment. Color lighting in many cases make the color of tails appear subdued.
It is preferable to have light on for about 10 -14 hours in a day. Guppy fish tend to be less active in a dark aquarium or an aquarium with poor lighting. This affects their feeding response as well as breeding behaviour.
The light should be set to switch on one hour before the first feeding of the day and switch off one hour after the last feeding. It is best to install an automatic timer to turn the aquarium lights on and off.
Temperature control requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
The predecessors of fancy guppy are tropical wild guppy. Their natural habitat is tropical and they require warmer waters for their healthy living. A water heater and thermostat becomes one of the essential requirements for keeping guppy, especially in colder regions.
Fancy guppy can withstand gradual temperature fluctuations from 65° F to 90° F, but getting slowly distressed at the extremes. If the temperatures hang around the lower or higher extreme for days together then the fish gets into stress and its normal biological activities are affected leading to its death.
Different hobbyists have reported of successful fish keeping in the temperature range between 72° F to 86° F. Most of the guppy breeders agree on the ideal range of 75° F – 82° F. 78° F is considered as the most ideal temperature.
One straight fact about temperature for guppy; At higher temperature the growth is faster fish age early and die. So the best way is to keep temperature around 80° F till the guppy are 3 months old and attain full growth.
Once they attain full growth bring down and maintain the temperature around 72° F to make the guppy live longer in your aquarium.
Plants and ornaments requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
Aquascaping is the latest trend in the aquarium tank keeping. Instead of dumping lot of fancy fish into the tank a small number of fish are kept.
More efforts are spent on creating a natural and pristine environment in the tank using natural aquarium plants, artificial plants, rocks, stones and other ornaments. Here is a place for showing and testing your creativity.
It is very interesting to have live aquarium plants and have them growing in your fancy guppy aquarium. Live plants are helpful in nitrogen cycle but require sufficient lighting and in the absence of they may die and decay bringing more problems.
As it requires more care and the risk of loss of water quality, it not advised for a beginner. You can go in non toxic plastic plants and grass beds. Take care to keep sufficient space and clearing for the fancy guppy to move about.
You can decorate your tank with rocks, stones and glass ornaments. Quartz, granite, slate and pebble make excellent ornaments. It always better to keep them on the sides leaving open areas in the middle of aquarium for the fancy guppy.
Medicines and test kits requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
One of the requirements is to have a kit of chemicals and test-kits for the maintenance of the aquarium. Keep test-kits for knowing the levels of ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
Requirements for treatment of fancy fish and prevention of diseases; basic water conditioner, formalin, salt, methylene blue, potassium permanganate, nitrofurazone, sulfa and tetracycline.
Essential accessory requirements for fancy guppy aquarium
Do not forget to buy at least two hand nets for transferring fancy guppy.
Buy one or two 4 gallon buckets for transferring fancy guppy and holding them before releasing into aquarium.
Buy a gravel vacuum with sufficient length of tubing for exchange of water and a bucket to collect siphoned water. Buy a small aquarium of about 2 – 4 gallon to function as quarantine/hospital tank for fancy fish.
Drum or bin (preferably plastic) are essential requirements to keep a reserve of conditioned and aged water which you can use for water exchange in normal course or in emergency.
Keep a diary of your fancy guppy aquarium schedules and activities for future reference and guidance. Buy quality feed for your fancy guppy and you can consult your supplier in this regard.