The Marchant Family Times: New Member’s of the family coming

Scroll down I went on a blog spree today so there are more blogs

Well the news is not as exciting as most of you would probably like it to be. We are happy with our two kids and aren’t looking for more. Thats why we ruled the thought of a dog. But we are getting pets. Some people may say that fish aren’t pets, but I do. Well over the week we have gotten our fish tank setup. First with the marvelous help of (Brother) Brian, building a stand, to buying the tank, to picking what gravel we wanted and then aquascaping our tank (that is seriously the word used online). We have all been involved in the process of getting the tank setup and ready to go. I have learned so much researching our new activity.

Step One – Find the tank and an appropriate place in your home for the tank to sit. The tank cannot be in drafty areas or in direct sunlight. Sunlight promotes algae growth and makes it hard for fish to live there. The larger the tank the better chance your fish have to survive. This is because there is more surface area for air to enter the water. A narrow tank that is tall, is going to have a harder time than a longer tank that is shorter.

Step Two – Aquascape your tank. Fish need room to swim. Some breeds need more room than others. Fish need places to hide or they get stressed out. Thats why they need caves, plants or decorations to hide behind in.

It is also important two provide surface disruption of the water. If the water does not break than air has a hard time entering the water. When a bubble pops, or there are ripples in the surface, the nitrogen is released from the water and oxygen enters the water. Generally a filter that flows into the tank like a waterfall can cause enough surface disruption to keep healthy fish, but better safe than sorry, and it won’t hurt the fish to have more

(Lesson learned: it is a major pain to bury airlines under gravel after the tank is filled with water)

Step Three – Patience. Fish cannot live in water out of the sink. Special conditioner has to be added to the water that deactivates chlorine, flouride and other man made chemicals. Generally a tank should run for 48 hours with the water conditioner inside it to ensure the water is healthy to add new pets. Also depending on the type of fish you want, you have to make sure the water is at the correct temperature (We are getting freshwater tropical fish. We chose to get community fish that are not aggressive to other fish, their water needs to be 72 to 82 degrees warm)

Step Four – Add fish. This is the stage we are at! We each have our favorite fish that we want in our aquarium. I am going to try and get three kinds of fish, top swimmers, middle swimmers and bottom swimmers. This way when you look at the aquarium there are fish all over. Also I want color, I love the vibrant colors of fish. Brian has fallen in love with Marble Molly’s. I like swordtails. Natalie and Kallie like the rainbow colored fish. I want to get a couple of each so that they can swim in schools and have buddies. Hopefully it will turn out wonderful.

So here are some pictures and videos so you can see what I am talking about.

(Below: Here is a pic of the house we put in the center of our tank. We knew the wheel would turn when we plugged air into it, but were pleasantly suprised when the chimney started bubbling as well)

(Below: Originally our plan was going to be having a large volcano instead of the house, like Mt. Juanahuckaloogee on Finding Nemo, but we elected to get the house and have a small volcano instead. I love the Volcano we got.)