There is a new hobby captivating the interest of artists and creative workers. The idea of creating something using nothing but natural elements. Specifically creating aquatic environments.

This hobby is known as fishkeeping, and it inspires artists around the globe to use their creative talent in fun and unique ways.

In this article, we’re going to look at what fishkeeping is and how you can start this creative hobby!

What is Fishkeeping?

So what exactly is fishkeeping? Simply put, It’s the art of creating, terraforming, and decorating an underwater ecosystem to your liking.

From adding beautiful freshwater plants to colorful fish, the idea around fishkeeping is that you act as mother nature and create an entire ecosystem underwater!

This has captivated many creative artists, as they now use this hobby as a way to express their art style in a unique way using nature’s elements. It’s a pretty cool approach to art if you ask me!

Should I start fishkeeping?

The simple answer: YES!

Fishkeeping is a cheap, fun, and extremely rewarding hobby you should try! It adds a unique approach to art that you simply can’t get with the standard pencil and paper form.

You’ll get the satisfaction of growing an ecosystem that you created, which is an amazing feeling to have!

So whether you want to build a simple fish tank with a couple fish, or a larger blackwater aquarium with more “natural details”, fishkeeping offers you the flexibility to create pretty much anything you want!

How do I start fishkeeping?

So how does one get into the fishkeeping hobby? Well its relatively simple, the steps to starting a successful aquatic ecosystem are:

  • Buy equipment, decorations, and tank
  • Clean everything
  • Setup equipment and Add water
  • Adding fish

Buy equipment, decorations, and tank

Before you can set up your tank, you’ll need to buy all the equipment and accessories.

Generally, I recommend going with an aquarium kit as everything you need will be in there, however if your buying equipment on your own, you’ll need each to buy some things, those are:

  • Tank
  • Aquarium Filter
  • Aquarium Heater
  • Aquarium Substrate
  • Aquarium Lights

Tank

The first thing you’ll need to buy is the aquarium tank. Whether you want a large 100 gallon tank or a small 5 gallon betta fish tank, you’ll need to purchase the tank that’ll hold everything together.

Aquarium Filter

After purchasing the tank, you’ll need to buy a high quality aquarium filter. Generally, the best aquarium filters have 3 stage filtration so make sure the one you choose comes with that! It’ll help filter your tank the best!

Aquarium Heater

Keeping consistent water temperatures is crucial for a safe aquarium. To make sure you have stable water temperatures, purchasing an aquarium heater is advised.

Aquarium Substrate

The substrate is the carpet, or bed of the aquarium. Choosing a high quality substrate is important as it’ll be doing the job of holding everything in place.

Generally there are two types of substrate for aquariums, those are aquarium gravel and aquarium sand. Each having their own purpose.

Aquarium gravel serves best for aquariums that have a lot of larger fish, while aquarium sand is best for aquariums with more live plants.

Whatever substrate you do choose, make sure to research it before making the decision.

Aquarium lights.

Finally, the last thing you’ll need to buy for your aquarium is some lights. In my option, going with some high quality LED Aquarium lights is a great idea.

These types of lights are efficient and do a good job at lighting the entire aquarium.

Clean Everything

Once you’ve bought all the necessary equipment and accessories for your fish tank, you’ll now need to clean it.

Cleaning your aquarium equipment is relatively easy, as giving everything a good rinse should get the job done.

However, there are a few DON’TS when cleaning an aquarium and its accessories, those are:

DON’T Use Soap: Using soap is one of the worst things you can do when cleaning anything for your tank. This is because there is a likely chance that some of that soap will stay in your aquarium, resulting in you poisoning the fish.

DON’T Use A Multi Purpose Towel: When wiping down excess water, make sure you have a dedicated rag/towel to do the job. You don’t want to use the kitchen towel to get the job done, because chemicals may seep into the tank.

DON’T Skimp On Cleaning: This may sound obvious,, but don’t skimp on cleaning the equipment. At the end of the day, your fish’s health is on the line so make sure to do a good job in the cleaning process!

Setup Equipment and Add Water

Once you’ve cleaned everything, it’s now time to set up the equipment and add the water into the tank.

We won’t go into too much detail on setting up the equipment, however install all your necessary equipment like the filter and heater before continuing.

For an in-depth tutorial on how to set up the equipment and add the water, check out this guide on how to set up a fish tank for beginners.

For adding water, make sure to use a dechlorinator if you’re using tap water.Once everything is set up inside the tank and water is filled, you can then go onto the last stage: ADDING FISH!

Adding Fish

Your tank is essentially complete, at this stage you can now add your fish to the tank.

The End

Congrats, you now know what fishkeeping is and how to get started.

Once you set up a fish tank there’s no going back! You can decorate the tank to whatever you like, adding your own unique touch on the aquatic environment.

So, what do you think? Will you set up a fish tank of your own? Let us know in the comments below!

The Author

Hi there, my name is Gunnar Kennedy! I’m a fishkeeping enthusiast and owner of smartfishkeeper.com. I love sharing new ideas and helping others care for their aquatic friends!  I Hope you enjoyed this article and learned something new!