Type and Size of Aquarium

Whether you want to set up a Freshwater or a Saltwater aquarium, to start you would need to ask yourself what type of fish you want.

1. To determine the fish you want you can go to our fish fact library database and take a look at Saltwater species or freshwater species just by selecting the “Water Type” and pushing the “Apply Changes” button.
   
   
2. When you see some of the species available for the type of water you chose, you could narrow it down to the type of setup.
   Explore all the possible combinations of fish, by selecting the 2 types of freshwater aquarium setup and the 3 types of saltwater aquarium setups under “Aquarium Setup” Select Menu and then pressing the “Apply Changes” button.
   If you get no results, it could be because you are selecting a water type that would not allow that setup to take place, such as ; Saltwater water type and Freshwater Cold Water Aquarium setup type.
   All the possible types of Aquarium setups are:
   
   

For Freshwater Fish:

1. Tropical Aquarium (Planted Aquarium):
   • Freshwater fish, freshwater plants, freshwater rocks, Bogwood, Driftwood and all types of safe artificial decoration.
   • No artificial decorations not suited for freshwater aquariums, No metals that could rust.
   • Pebbles or smooth gravel.
   • Water temperature of 72 to 82 Degrees Fahrenheit.
     
     
2. Cold Water Aquarium:
   
   • Artificial Plants Only (Live Plants would be eaten by the fish).
   • All types of safe artificial decoration.
   • No artificial decorations not suited for freshwater aquariums, No metals. Metals could rust. Inadequate decorations can release toxic substances that could kill your fish.
   • Pebbles or smooth gravel.
   • Water temperature of 50 to 86 Degrees Fahrenheit.

For Saltwater Fish:

1. Fish Only Aquarium:
   
   • Saltwater Fish, some motile invertebrates.
   • No live Rock, No corals or Sessile invertebrates (Anemones).
   • Water Temperature of 75 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
     
     
2. Fish Only with Live Rock Aquarium (FOWLR):
   
   • Saltwater Fish, some motile invertebrates.
   • No live Rock, No corals or Sessile invertebrates (Anemones).
   • Water Temperature of 75 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.
     
     
3. Reef Tank (or Mini-Reef Tank) Aquarium:
   
   • Contains Saltwater Fish, Sessile invertebrates (Anemones), motile invertebrates and Corals.
   • Water Temperature of 75 to 82 degrees Fahrenheit.

   
   
   

3. Then using the “Compatible to” Select Menu box and select the fish, animal or coral that you would definitely like to have in your aquarium and then push the “Apply Changes” button. (Note that if you don’t see the species you selected among the species in the list, it is because some species are not compatible with their own species when captive in an aquarium.).
   
   
4. From those compatible species choose the ones that you think you would like to have in your aquarium and in a piece of paper write down the “MAXIMUM SIZE OF SPECIES” in inches of each and every species you want and add them up.
   
   
5. Right after that go back to the species list and check what is the “PREFERRED MINIMUM TANK SIZE” for each of all the species you want to have in your tank compare them and write down the largest Preferred Minimum Tank Size.
   
   
6. Now compare the number that you added of all the fish sizes with the largest preferred minimum tank size.
   Take the largest number to be the minimum tank size (in gallons) you will need to buy to have all the species you chose.