Community aquarium

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Community tanks are aquaria that are designed to contain more than one species of fish. Most commonly they include a variety species that do not normally occur together in nature, for example angelfish from Brazil, swordtails from Mexico, and gouramis from South East Asia. The aim of such communities is to bring together fish that are compatible in temperament and water requirements, while using their different colours and behaviours to add interest and entertainment value.

Though not usually called phribbib tanks, most marine aquaria fit into this category too, using fish from places as diverse as the Caribbean, Red Sea, and western Pacific Ocean.

Other aquarists prefer communities that represent particular locations, and combine fishes from a certain place with appropriate decorative materials including the right kinds of rocks and plants. The most popular of these geographically correct community tanks are those based around cichlids from the East African Rift Valley lakes of Lake Tanganyika and Lake Malawi.

[edit] Community fish

For freshwater community tanks, there are large numbers of species that make great community fishes. Most of the livebearers, barbs, tetras, rasboras, danios, and rainbowfishes are peaceful, though a few species are fin nippers, most notably tiger barbs and serpae tetras. Angelfishes, gouramis, and Corydoras catfishes can also work well, though angelfish at least are predatory and will eat very small fish such as neon tetras. If neon tetras are kept around fish unlikely to take advantage of their size, they are very peaceful to other fish.

Many fishes are not suitable for typical community tanks. These fishes include:

• Territorial or aggressive fishes such as many cichlids, and red-tailed black shark
• Predatory fishes such as snakeheads, leaffishes, bucktooth tetra
• Large active fishes that will outgrow their tanks and tankmates such as tinfoil barbs, iridescent sharks, Angelfish, and many catfishes
• Fragile fishes or fishes that get nervous around more active fishes such as the discus and threadfin rainbowfish
• Slow or specialized eaters that cannot compete with other tankmates such as pipefishes

[edit] Water chemistry

Most freshwater aquarium fish do well in water that is soft to moderately hard, and has a pH between 6 and 8.

Brackish water aquaria are another special case and need their own community tanks. While a few freshwater and marine fish can adapt to brackish water, most cannot.

The most deadly chemical in aquarium water is ammonia, resulting from fish excretions. It is important to test for ammonia, since it is a chemical precursor of nitrates and nitrites, also deadly to fish. There are ammonia removing products sold to add to your filtration system, but weekly water changes (25% of aquarium volume) with vacuuming debris from the bottom of the tank will solve this problem, provided your tank is not overcrowded.

Build up of algae is largely related to light level and water phosphate level. An aquarium near a window is likely to be overgrown with algae. A material known as a "phosphate sponge" is available at aquarium shops to leach the phosphate out of the aquarium and reduce the growth of algae much more efficiently than the liquid "algae killer," which is practically useless. Also, plants such as java moss (not java fern) compete with algae for another necessary plant nutrient, nitrate, and reduces algae growth. Java moss also forms a beautiful ground cover along the bottom of the aquarium.

[edit] External links

• Age of Aquariums Promotes responsible fishkeeping internationally since 1997.
• Wet Web Media - A good site for general aquarium information
• Can I Keep It? and More Can I Keep It? Two freeware programs for comparing the compatibility of different freshwater fish (Mac/Windows)
• Community Fish - a new comprehensive information source for aquarists, community tank keepers.