Top 10 Common Mistakes for Aquariums

1. Overfeeding fish
Fish always look hungry. You should only feed your fish a small amount once or twice a day.  After feeding you should not see any food on the bottom of the tank.

2. Not letting your Aquarium Cycle
A new aquarium takes 4 to 6 weeks to go through the Nitrite cycle.  If you keep adding new fish to your aquarium during this time they will die. 

3. Not adding fish to start a Cycle
In order for your aquarium to go through a Nitrite cycle you must add some starter fish or if its a saltwater aquarium you can add live rock.  Just setting up a new aquarium by itself will not work.

4. Poor aquarium maintenance
The rule of thumb is to do at least a 20% monthly water change/gravel vac.  Of course this depends on what types of fish/invertebrates you are keeping and your aquarium set up.

5. Selecting incompatible fish or invertebrates
If you are reading this you have access to the Internet and have no excuse about not researching a fish or invertebrate before purchasing.  Do not just take a local fish stores employee's word for it.  Do your homework first!

6. Buying sick fish
Ask the fish store employee to feed the fish for you.  Make sure the fish is not showing any abnormal signs.  When in doubt do not purchase the fish and come back in a few days to see how it is doing. 

7. Beginning with a small aquarium
All too often beginners want to try out the hobby, by first getting a one gallon aquarium.  Which is really just a glorified fish bowl.  Small aquariums are hard to keep because of the volume of water.  I always recommend getting at least a 20 gallon aquarium for a beginner.  The volume of 20 gallons is a lot more forgiving to mistakes than a 1 gallon aquarium.

8. Poor aquarium set up.
Aquariums can be expensive but if you want to keep say a reef aquarium.  You need to get all the proper equipment required.  Do not try to skip out or go cheap.  You will only end up losing a lot of fish or corals and give up all together.  Remember you can find some good deals on craigslist.

9. Overcrowding
When purchasing a fish you should be thinking about how big the fish gets as an adult.  Also try adding more decorations instead of trying to fill your tank up with fish.

10. Not using a quarantine tank
This is a simple way to prevent your aquarium from getting disease.  Also you can medicate your sick fish safely in a quarantine tank.