Aquariums… Why bigger is better

If you are shopping for an aquarium, then chances are your Petland pet counselor has told you to “buy the biggest aquarium you can afford”. This advice is based on the following well-known fish-keeping truths.

A long-held misconception among novice fish-keepers is that the smaller the aquarium, the easier the water quality is to maintain. In fact, the larger the aquarium, the slower the change is in water quality factors. Ammonia, hardness, nitrates, nitrites, pH, and temperature are common testable gauges for water quality in an aquarium. For example, a sudden change in temperature could be fatal to aquarium inhabitants. The temperature in a 10-gallon aquarium can change drastically in a couple of hours. However, the temperature in a 100-gallon aquarium may take a couple of days to change a couple of degrees. The same is true for all the other water quality variables.

New hobbyists also tend to unknowingly pollute their aquariums. Common mistakes include over-feeding, over-populating and under-filtering. Toxic conditions can arise quickly in small volumes of water, often resulting in the sudden death of aquarium inhabitants. Having a larger aquarium basically gives you more time to react when it comes to changes in water quality because, in essence, these water quality variables take a bit more time to change.

It isn’t uncommon for a fish-keeper’s interest to grow as soon as a small aquarium is set up and running. There will be more than 100 species of fish which you may select to keep in your aquarium. As a general rule, only 1-inch of fish should be kept per gallon of aquarium water. For a 10-gallon aquarium with gravel and decorations taking up 2 to 3 gallons of space, this translates into 6 or 7 fish, averaging about 1-inch in length, or 2 to 3 fish, averaging 2-inches in length. Chances are you will not be satisfied with that after a time. You’ll always long for more fish and bigger fish. Purchasing a larger aquarium from the start of the hobby will allow you to keep many more species of fish. It also will allow you to mix a few different sizes of community fish.

Large aquariums will command more attention from guests and tend to hold your interest much longer than smaller aquariums. The aquarium will be a decorative, lasting focal point in your living room or entertainment room. And larger aquariums allow room for growth of the hobby. Keepers who tire of a tank of community fish can easily convert to a species tank where, perhaps, they raise only Discus. The diversity of a larger tank allows for experimentation with many species of fish. Hobbyists who start with a freshwater aquarium may graduate to brackish water and then to marine fish-keeping. Small tanks do not allow for such growth.
 

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