The aquarium is bought before the animal is chosen
Almost everyone buys the tank first. The kit comes with a filter, usually a light, sometimes a heater, and a leaflet that does not know what you are going to put in it. Then the species gets chosen, and the species has requirements the box was never asked about.
So this topic is written backwards from the usual order. Every record on this site carries a short list of what that animal needs and a starter kit leaves out, taken from the source and kept in the source’s terms. Gathered together those lists are the most useful setup page we can build, because not one line on it was chosen by us.
What the care records actually ask a setup for
One line per requirement, with the record it came from. Click through to see which source stated it and what the rest of that record says.
| Record | What it asks for | Why |
|---|---|---|
| African dwarf frog | A lid, because they climb out | one source calls them escape artists |
| African dwarf frog | A sponge filter, and shallow water | they get stuck in intakes and they must reach the surface |
| African dwarf frog | A feeding dish, in the same place every day | the animal hunts by smell and touch |
| Amano shrimp | A tight fitting lid, and covered cord holes | Aquarium Co-Op: expert escapers |
| Amano shrimp | No copper in food, medication or fertilizer | hemocyanin blood |
| Amano shrimp | Something to eat that is not algae | or they will not clear the algae |
| Amazon sword | Root tabs, every three to four months | all four aquarium sources call it a root feeder and one states the consequence of skipping them: the plant will slowly starve even with liquid fertilization |
| Amazon sword | Two to three inches of substrate | one source gives the depth and every source describes an extensive root system, which is a real constraint in a shallow tank and not a preference |
| Amazon sword | Patience for the first month | every source that mentions it says the plant is grown out of the water and that leaves die back after planting, so the plant you judge at week two is not the plant you bought |
| Angelfish | Height, not just volume | Seriously Fish: at least 50 cm tall |
| Angelfish | A filter rated four to five times the volume | 800 to 1000 lph at 200 liters |
| Angelfish | Gentle flow, against that filter | Aqueon: water flow should be gentle |
| Anubias | Something to glue it to | wood or rock, held 30 seconds to two minutes |
| Anubias | Shade, or distance from the light | too much light means algae on a leaf that lasts months |
| Anubias | No substrate over the rhizome | the one instruction all four sources give |
| Assassin snail | Pest snails, or a plan for when they run out | it is a carnivore and it does not eat algae |
| Assassin snail | Sand or fine gravel | it hunts by burying itself and ambushing |
| Assassin snail | Hard water, above 6 dGH | one source: snail shells are 95 percent calcium carbonate |
| Axolotl | A chiller, a basement, or both | one source calls a chiller needed, another calls it expensive |
| Axolotl | A sponge filter, or a canister turned away from the animal | three sources ask for low flow |
| Axolotl | Fine sand, or nothing at all | gravel is named as fatal by three of them |
| Betta | Adjustable 50 W heater | holds 80 °F |
| Betta | Frozen bloodworm | weekly |
| Betta | Live or silk plants | cover and a resting leaf |
| Black molly | A hardness test kit, not a pH strip | three sources agree on 15 to 30 dGH and that floor is the highest on this site, so this is the one record here where general hardness is the row most likely to be wrong in an untested tank |
| Black molly | Crushed coral or a mineral supplement | Aquarium Store Depot names what the water needs to contain, calcium and magnesium, and says the salt these fish require does not necessarily need to be regular aquarium salt |
| Black molly | A plan for the fry before the first birth | three sources give over 50, up to 100 and up to 150 young per birth, and the shortest gestation any of them states is about a month |
| Bristlenose pleco | Driftwood or bogwood | for the biofilm, or for the wood, depending which source you read |
| Bristlenose pleco | A cave per male | or a PVC pipe, says one source |
| Bristlenose pleco | Vegetables, and a sinking wafer that is not just algae | zucchini, cucumber, spinach |
| Celestial pearl danio | Dense planting, not decoration | one source states it as a requirement rather than a preference, that keeping healthy stress-free CPDs is not possible without plants, and two more call the fish shy, nervous or easy to stress |
| Celestial pearl danio | More females than males | two sources ask for it and one gives the consequence of ignoring it, that males battling over females causes injury or in the worst cases death |
| Celestial pearl danio | A thermometer before a heater | two sources say the tank should ideally be unheated and a third specifies a 25 to 50W heater, so the only way to settle it is to know what your room actually does |
| Cherry shrimp | Crushed coral, or another mineral source | GH 4 to 10 |
| Cherry shrimp | A GH test, not just pH | the field that matters |
| Cherry shrimp | Cholla wood and moss | cover while molting |
| Chili rasbora | A sponge filter, or anything gentle | it may struggle if there is a fast current |
| Chili rasbora | Dense planting and dim light | java fern, java moss or cryptocoryne, named by species |
| Chili rasbora | Food small enough to fit in its mouth | and a mature tank, not a new one |
| Chinese algae eater | A five foot base | Seriously Fish asks for 150 by 45 cm as the smallest considered, on a fish sold beside two inch algae eaters |
| Chinese algae eater | Smooth sand or rounded gravel | two sources ask for it, and the mouth is the reason: it is built to hold onto flat surfaces |
| Chinese algae eater | No similar-looking tank mates | one source records particularly high levels of aggression towards similar-looking fishes, which is most of the fish it is sold beside |
| Clown killifish | A tight lid with the gaps covered | one source keeps them from jumping out that way |
| Clown killifish | Floating plants, and low flow | a surface fish from lushly planted still water |
| Clown killifish | Live or frozen food daily | dried food is accepted by two sources and sufficient to none |
| Clown loach | Five more of them, and space for six adults | one fish alone turns on similarly-shaped fish |
| Clown loach | Sand or fine gravel | the barbels are named as sensitive by one source |
| Clown loach | A container instead of a net | the subocular spines entangle in mesh |
| Common pleco | A tank you have not bought yet | 75 gallons is where three sources start and one of them says move up to 180 or even 500, so the honest kit item is the second tank rather than the first |
| Common pleco | Driftwood, as a food | two sources name wood in the diet and one gives the reason, fiber, so this is the one algae eater on this site that eats part of the hardscape |
| Common pleco | Filtration sized for the waste, not the water | one source raises output rather than volume, saying the grown fish produces enough waste to crash a 55-gallon tank, and no source we hold puts a number on it |
| Corydoras | Smooth sand, or smooth gravel | for the barbels |
| Corydoras | Sinking food, sized to the species | wafers, or crushed |
| Corydoras | Five more of the same species | six is the group |
| Damselfish | A refractometer or hydrometer | the row this site fills with hardness carries specific gravity here, 1.020 to 1.025 across both sources, and it is measured with an instrument no freshwater record on this site asks for |
| Damselfish | Live rock, and more of it than looks necessary | both sources describe a fish that claims a cave or corner and defends it, so rock is territory rather than decoration, and Fishkeeping World ties more rock directly to keeping more than one |
| Damselfish | A plan for catching it again | Aquarium Store Depot calls a damsel easy to add and nearly impossible to remove, and says to introduce them last for that reason, which is advice about the order of a stocking list rather than about equipment |
| Discus | A heater that will hold 86 °F | and a room that will not fight it |
| Discus | A water change routine, chosen and kept | our sources range from monthly to daily |
| Discus | Air stones | named by one source, and warm water holds less oxygen |
| Dojo loach | A lid, clipped or taped | four sources ask for one. Aquarium Source calls them cunning escape artists and Seriously Fish says cover the tank well as most loaches do jump at times |
| Dojo loach | Sand or fine gravel, deep enough to disappear into | all five ask for a soft bottom, one says some of its time is spent completely buried, and one warns that it uproots what is planted in it |
| Dojo loach | No heater, and a room that stays under 75 F | Seriously Fish: this is not a tropical species and should not be maintained as such for extended periods |
| Ember tetra | Sponge filter, or a pre-filter sponge | slow flow |
| Ember tetra | Food sized for nano fish | or crush what you have |
| Ember tetra | Plants and a dark substrate | the stated setting |
| Flowerhorn | A tank with nothing else in it | four sources, and all four say species-only |
| Flowerhorn | Twice-weekly water changes of 30 to 60 percent | the heaviest schedule any record here carries |
| Flowerhorn | Hard, alkaline water | 9 to 20 dGH and a pH that three sources will not take below 7 |
| German blue ram | A heater held at 84 to 85 F | the warmest record on this site except the discus, and one source ties the figure to disease resistance rather than to comfort |
| German blue ram | Sand or fine gravel to sift | two sources describe a benthic sifter, and one asks for a sandy substrate by name |
| German blue ram | A cycled tank, and no competition at feeding time | Seriously Fish will not put it in a general community aquarium, because it requires pristine water quality and is a poor competitor |
| Ghost shrimp | No copper, and no copper based medication | three sources call it fatal |
| Ghost shrimp | Food already on the floor | detritus, wafers, leftovers |
| Ghost shrimp | Stability rather than a number | pH 7 to 8 with no sudden shifts |
| Goldfish | Filtration rated well above the tank | PetMD: five turnovers an hour |
| Goldfish | Water changes on a schedule, not on a smell | no longer than a week |
| Goldfish | Plants you can afford to lose | Wikipedia: they eat live plants |
| Guppy | Hard, alkaline water, or a way to make it | 143 ppm and pH 7.0 as floors |
| Guppy | An adjustable heater, and a decision | the setting changes the lifespan |
| Guppy | Gentle filtration and plant cover | a sponge filter, for the fry |
| Honey gourami | Floating plants, or something at the top | salvinia or pistia, to dim the light and hold a nest |
| Honey gourami | A gentle filter and still water | a slow fish that is easily out-competed |
| Honey gourami | A lid, and air above the water | it breathes atmospheric air through a labyrinth organ |
| Hornwort | Something to weigh it down, or nothing at all | suction cups, or let it float |
| Hornwort | Scissors, on a schedule | 1 to 4 inches a week |
| Hornwort | Liquid fertilizer, because it feeds from the water | nitrogen and iron |
| Java fern | Driftwood or rock to attach it to | the rhizome stays above the substrate |
| Java fern | Gel superglue, cotton thread or fishing line | five sources, the same three answers |
| Java fern | Liquid fertilizer, optional | potassium, says one source |
| Java moss | Cotton thread or fishing line | off again after 3 to 4 weeks |
| Java moss | Plastic mesh, 7 to 10 mm, for a wall | and suction cups to hold it |
| Java moss | Scissors, on no particular schedule | or it becomes a blobby mess |
| Kuhli loach | Soft sand | so it can bury |
| Kuhli loach | Small sinking food | micropredator |
| Kuhli loach | Three more of them | five to six |
| Least killifish | A heavily planted tank, and slow water | Seriously Fish asks for a gently filtered, heavily planted setup with the flow kept to a minimum, which is the wild habitat it describes: shallow, heavily vegetated marginal water |
| Least killifish | Somewhere for the fry to go | two sources say population control is the main concern and one says it is nigh on impossible to prevent breeding, so the plan for the fry is part of the purchase rather than a later problem |
| Least killifish | Minerals in the water | two sources publish 5 to 20 dGH and a third asks for harder water with minerals, so this is not a fish for the soft acid water most of our plant records prefer |
| Mandarin goby | A refugium, or a copepod culture | Aquarium Store Depot says a mature tank cannot sustain the consumption rate alone and asks for a refugium under the display tank or a separate culture of a fast-reproducing species such as Tigriopus or Tisbe |
| Mandarin goby | Twelve months of tank, before the fish | do not buy one until the tank has been established for at least 12 months with a healthy, visible copepod population, which is the only purchase instruction on this site expressed as a date |
| Mandarin goby | A retailer who knows the provenance | both care sources say prepared food is rarely accepted, and Fishkeeping World notes that captive-bred fish especially can be gradually transitioned onto pellets, so wild caught or captive bred is the question that decides the feeding regime |
| Marimo moss ball | A sealed bag and a freezer, before the tank | the US Fish and Wildlife Service response to the 2021 zebra mussel finding gives freezing in a sealable plastic bag for at least 24 hours as one of three approved methods, and station 05 has the other two |
| Marimo moss ball | Your hand, once a week | Wikipedia notes the round shape is maintained by gentle wave action that occasionally turns it, and a tank has no waves, so turning and squeezing the ball is the whole of its maintenance |
| Marimo moss ball | Shade, or a spot out of the beam | two of three sources say direct intense light produces brown patches, and Wikipedia places the wild form on the shaded sides of rocks at the bottom of lakes |
| Nerite snail | A tight fitting lid | it climbs to the waterline |
| Nerite snail | Crushed coral, or a mineral supplement | if your tap water is soft |
| Nerite snail | A GH test, before either | no source gives a figure |
| Nerite snail | Algae, or a substitute when it runs out | wafers, zucchini, green beans |
| Oscar fish | Length, not just volume | Aquarium Co-Op: 5 to 6 feet for two |
| Oscar fish | Filter media measured in cubic feet | half to one cubic foot per 12 inch fish |
| Oscar fish | Decor you can afford to have moved | they rearrange it and uproot plants |
| Otocinclus | A tank that has been running long enough to grow algae | the fish arrives starved |
| Otocinclus | Algae wafers and blanched vegetables | green beans, zucchini, spinach |
| Otocinclus | Driftwood and catappa leaves | surfaces that grow biofilm |
| Pea puffer | A source of small snails, shell on | regularly, per the source |
| Pea puffer | Frozen bloodworm and brine shrimp | dried food is refused |
| Pea puffer | A densely planted tank | sight breaks between puffers |
| Pea puffer | A gentle filter | slow flow, both sources |
| Platy | Two or three females per male | every source publishes a ratio, not a count |
| Platy | Hard water, 12 to 18 dGH | 214 to 321 ppm, which three of our records cannot share |
| Platy | Cover for the fry, or a plan for them | adults display no parental care and will happily eat them |
| Rabbit snail | Sand deep enough to disappear into | four sources ask for fine sand, and one describes resting with just the head emerged |
| Rabbit snail | A heater set higher than most of this site | the row starts at 78 °F, which is above every band on the site except four |
| Rabbit snail | Hard water, and calcium in the food | soft water erodes the shell and stops the animal building new shell material, and one source lists calcium supplements among the foods |
| Ramshorn snail | Hard water, above 8 dGH | low dGH or pH cause shell weakness and decay |
| Ramshorn snail | Calcium, in the water or the food | sufficient calcium gives thick, crack-free shells |
| Ramshorn snail | No feeding at all, per one source | ramshorn snails can thrive with no additional feeding |
| Redtail catfish | A room, not a tank | 12 by 8 by 4 feet on the most technical source, which is 10,368 liters and a floor no domestic stand carries |
| Redtail catfish | Filtration at four to six times the volume an hour | one source publishes the turnover, and on 10,000 liters that is 40,000 to 60,000 liters an hour |
| Redtail catfish | A plan for the fish you cannot keep | one source names the outcome directly: a large number of redtails end up surrendered to public aquaria or rehomed under difficult circumstances |
| Siamese algae eater | Flow, and a lot of it | 430 to 755 liters per hour is named by one source |
| Siamese algae eater | Hardscape with biofilm on it | it feeds on aufwuchs in nature |
| Siamese algae eater | A tight lid | one source keeps it in a tank with a tight-fitting lid |
| Sparkling gourami | A tight lid, and Seriously Fish means it | for breeding it asks for the tightest-fitting cover you can find, because the fry need a layer of warm humid air above the water for the labyrinth organ to develop |
| Sparkling gourami | Still water, not just filtered water | a bubble nest does not survive surface current, and every source describes the habitat as slow rivers, rice paddies, ditches and small ponds |
| Sparkling gourami | Infusoria or a green tank for the fry | Seriously Fish asks for infusoria-grade food for the first few days, which is smaller than newly hatched brine shrimp and has to be ready before the eggs hatch in 24 to 48 hours |
| Vampire shrimp | A pump aimed at it, not just a filter | Aquarium Breeder asks for a moderate current and for the secondary pump to be installed near or on the bottom, and Store Depot says the shrimp cannot be spot-fed and needs strong flow near a return or powerhead |
| Vampire shrimp | Powdered food, not pellets | the fans catch microscopic particles, so Aquarium Breeder asks for phytoplankton, zooplankton and powdered food and Aquarium Care Basics for finely ground pellets, algae wafers or small flakes |
| Vampire shrimp | Stable minerals, for the molt | Store Depot says molting problems are a common killer and that consistent general and carbonate hardness is the prevention, and Aquarium Care Basics notes a molt happens once every couple of months |
| Water sprite | Light at 50 PAR or better | two sources publish a figure, and one publishes the consequence of going under it: yellowing and melting within weeks |
| Water sprite | Scissors, weekly | one source says trim weekly or it takes over the surface, and two say do not cut the main stem |
| Water sprite | A tank of 10 gallons or more | the only volume any source gives for this plant, and the reason is growth rather than size |
| Water wisteria | A light you can measure, not describe | three sources publish PAR and no figure sits inside all three, so a number on a meter is worth more here than any of the four sources that publish an adjective |
| Water wisteria | Scissors, and somewhere for the cuttings | six sources call the growth fast and one warns it can deplete a tank of nutrients, so the trimming is not optional and every trimming makes another plant |
| Water wisteria | Root tabs, if the substrate is inert | two sources say the substrate does not matter because the plant feeds from the water column and four ask for a nutrient-rich one, and a tab is the cheapest way to satisfy both readings |
146 items across 48 records. Nothing on this list is a product, and none of it is chosen by us: each line is a thing a source stated the species needs, kept in the words the record uses.
Where the list agrees with itself
Read it down and the same three things keep appearing in different words. Substrate is named on three records: smooth sand or smooth gravel for the corydoras barbels, soft sand so the kuhli loach can bury, and a dark substrate for the ember tetra because that is the setting its source describes.
Food that reaches the animal is named on five. Sinking wafers sized to the species, small sinking food for a micropredator, food sized for nano fish or crushed to fit, frozen bloodworm weekly for a carnivore, and algae wafers or blanched vegetables for a grazer in a tank that has run out of algae. A single tub of flake satisfies none of them, and that is the item every kit does include.
Where it pulls in opposite directions
The flow line is the interesting one. The ember tetra record asks for a sponge filter or a pre-filter sponge, for slow flow, and it is the only record on this site that states anything about current. A kit filter is sized for the tank rather than for the fish, which is exactly the mismatch a record can catch and a box cannot.
Three lists ask for minerals, and two of the three are invertebrates. The shrimp asks for crushed coral, a hardness test rather than a pH test, and cover to molt under. The snail asks for the same minerals, the same test, and a tight fitting lid, because its source says it climbs to the waterline to eat mineral deposits and may leave the tank. The guppy is the third: its record asks for hard, alkaline water with 143 ppm and pH 7.0 as floors, which is the same request from a fish. Every other fish record here is indifferent to hardness.
What the aquarium itself has to provide
Four fields, read as a specification for the glass box rather than as care information: how much water, which part of it the animal uses, what has to reach it, and what the heater is for.
| Field | African dwarf frog | Amano shrimp | Angelfish | Assassin snail | Axolotl | Betta | Black molly | Bristlenose pleco | Celestial pearl danio | Cherry shrimp | Chili rasbora | Chinese algae eater | Clown killifish | Clown loach | Common pleco | Corydoras | Damselfish | Discus | Dojo loach | Ember tetra | Flowerhorn | German blue ram | Ghost shrimp | Goldfish | Guppy | Honey gourami | Kuhli loach | Least killifish | Mandarin goby | Nerite snail | Oscar fish | Otocinclus | Pea puffer | Platy | Rabbit snail | Ramshorn snail | Redtail catfish | Siamese algae eater | Sparkling gourami | Vampire shrimp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minimum tank | 5 gal per frog | 10 gal | 55 gal | 10 gal | 20 gal | 5 to 10 gal | 20 gal | 20 gal | 10 gal | 5 to 10 gal | 5 gal | 50 gal | 5 gal | 120 gal | 75 gal | 10 to 20 gal | 30 gal | 75 gal | 55 gal | 10 gal | 70 gal | 20 gal | 5 gal | 20 gal | 10 gal | 10 gal | 20 gal | 5 gal | 30 gal | 2 to 3 gal | 75 gal | 10 gal | 5 gal | 10 gal | 10 gal | 5 gal | 2,700 gal (10,368 L) | 40 gal | 10 gal | 20 gal |
| Water column | Bottom, and it surfaces to breathe | Substrate | Mid water | Substrate, and buried in it | Bottom | Surface | Near the top, on the one source that says | Bottom, and awake at night | Middle, and one source says the bottom | Substrate | Mid water | Bottom, and on the glass | Surface | Bottom | Bottom, and awake at night | Bottom | Around rock, and it defends a corner of it | Mid water | Bottom, buried, and the surface for air | Mid water | All levels | Bottom, and it sifts the substrate | Substrate | All levels | Mid water | Mid water, and it surfaces to breathe | Bottom, and buried | Top to middle | The bottom, and it walks on it | Substrate, and every surface above it | All levels | Substrate, and every flat surface above it | Mid water | Mid water | Substrate, and tunnels through it | Every surface, and it breathes air | Bottom, and awake at night | Every surface, and it wants flow | Not the bottom, which is all any source says | Wherever the current is, and low on one source |
| Diet | Carnivore, and it will eat anything under an inch | Algae, and it prefers not to be | Omnivore, and it eats small fish | Carnivore. It hunts snails and does not eat algae | Carnivore, and earthworms are the staple | Carnivore | Omnivore, and the vegetable half is not optional | Herbivore, and every source says algae is not enough | Omnivore, and not on flake alone | Algae, biofilm and detritus | Micropredator, and it is easily out-competed | Aufwuchs grazer, and it takes mucus off other fish | Micro predator. It takes dried food and wants live | Omnivore, and a snail eater | Omnivore, and it needs wood | Sinking, not an algae eater | Omnivore, and it will eat almost anything | Omnivore, and small mouthed | Omnivore, and it eats snails and shrimp | Omnivore, tiny foods | Omnivore, and a heavy one | Omnivore, and a substrate sifter | Omnivore and scavenger | Omnivore, live plants included | Insectivorous in the wild, most foods in a tank | Omnivore, and an insect eater in the wild | Micropredator, sinking | Omnivore, and it browses algae | Live copepods, almost exclusively | Algae, leftover food, decaying leaves | Predatory omnivore, and it eats fish | Algae, biofilm and diatoms | Live and frozen, and snails with the shell on | Omnivore, and it grazes algae | Algae and detritus, and it eats java fern | Algae and detritus, and live plants when the rest runs out | Predator, and it eats fruit in the wild | Algae grazer, and it will eat plants | Omnivore, and dried food alone is not enough | Filter feeder. Particles in the current, not pellets |
| Temperature | 73 to 79 °F | 72 to 78 °F | 78 to 84 °F | 75 to 80 °F | 61 to 64 °F | Around 80 °F | 72 to 78 °F | 74 to 79 °F | 73 to 76 °F | 59 to 86 °F | 72 to 82 °F | 77 to 79 °F | 68 to 79 °F | 82 °F | 72 to 86 °F | 72 to 82 °F | 73 to 81 °F | 85 to 86 °F | 68 to 72 °F | 72 to 82 °F | 80 to 86 °F | 84 to 85 °F | 72 to 80 °F | 68 to 74 °F | 63 to 82 °F | 74 to 81 °F | 74 to 79 °F | 75 to 78 °F | 76 to 82 °F | 72 to 79 °F | 75 to 80 °F | 70 to 79 °F | 74 to 82 °F | 70 to 77 °F | 78 to 84 °F | 70 to 78 °F | 72 to 76 °F | 75 to 79 °F | 77 to 80 °F | 74 to 84 °F |
Volume is the first decision and the hardest to undo
Our smallest recorded minimum is two gallons, on the nerite snail, and our largest is seventy five, on the oscar, then fifty five on the angelfish, and then twenty on the kuhli loach and the goldfish. Between those two numbers sit the five gallon and the ten gallon, and the choice between them decides what you can keep for as long as you own the tank.
Ten gallons is where this site stops refusing. Below it, eight of our records are out; at ten, ten of the forty eight are available and four of the five layers can be filled. That is the one figure worth carrying away from this page if you are still shopping.
The heater is a room question
Until recently every record with a temperature range on it shared one degree, 74 °F. The angelfish record ended that: it does not go below 78 and the goldfish does not go above 74, so there is now no temperature that suits every record on this site. The band that suits the most of them is still the band a mixed tank can run at. Whether you need a heater to hold a number in that band depends on the room the tank is in, not on the animal.
The one thing worth buying deliberately is adjustability. Our betta record asks for an adjustable heater specifically, because a preset unit gives you whatever the manufacturer chose and no way to move it into the band your build actually needs.
What this topic does not carry
This is the largest topic on our list by search demand and the one where the temptation to write from memory is strongest. Four things it will not do.
Best fish tank filters is the single largest search on our whole list for this topic, and we have nothing to say about it. None of our sources compares filter models, and a ranking we invented would be a product page wearing a database’s clothes.
Cycling a tank is the first real task in this hobby and it needs figures we do not hold: what reading, on what test, after how long. Until a source we trust states them, this site has an empty space where that guide goes.
Layout is a craft and it is also taste, and our records state cover and substrate rather than composition. What we can print is which animal needs sand and which needs a leaf to rest on, which is a smaller and more checkable thing. The plant silo holds the schema a plant record will carry and what our animal records already say about plants.
Where a record names an item, it names the item and the reason. If a link ever appears beside one it will be disclosed on the record, and the reason will still be a source’s and not a seller’s.
Questions about aquarium setup
What size tank should I start with?
Ten gallons, on the evidence of our own records. Below ten, the corydoras, the ember tetra, the otocinclus, the guppy, the kuhli loach, the goldfish, the angelfish and the oscar are all out and three of the five layers can be filled. At ten, ten of forty eight records are available and four of the five layers this site can fill are filled.
Is a 5 gallon tank too small?
Not for everything. Nine records state a minimum at or under five gallons: the nerite snail at two to three, the betta and the cherry shrimp at five to ten, the pea puffer, the ghost shrimp, the chili rasbora, the ramshorn snail and the clown killifish at five, and the african dwarf frog at five per frog. It is a real tank with a short list, and our records refuse five of the pairings on that list.
What substrate do I need?
It depends on the animal, and three of our records are specific. Smooth sand or smooth gravel for the corydoras, because of the barbels. Soft sand for the kuhli loach, so it can bury. A dark substrate for the ember tetra, because that is the setting its source describes.
Do I need a sponge filter?
One record asks for one: the ember tetra, for slow flow, and it accepts a pre-filter sponge on an existing filter as the same answer. No other record on this site states anything about flow at all, so for the rest we have no recommendation to make.
Do I need a heater?
It depends on your room. The shared band across every record with a temperature is 74 to 79 °F, and if your room holds a number in that band without help, no. The betta record asks specifically for an adjustable unit, because a preset one cannot be moved into the band your build needs.
What does a starter kit usually leave out?
On the evidence of the table above: the right substrate, food that reaches the animal, cover, a hardness test, a lid, and often the heater. Kits reliably include a filter, a light and a tub of flake, and flake satisfies none of the diets our records state.
Which filter is best?
We do not know and we will not guess. It is the most searched question in this topic and none of our sources compares filter models. What our records do state is one requirement about flow, on one species, and that is the whole of what we can honestly print.
Does a shrimp tank need different equipment?
Yes, and both invertebrate records say so under their own headings. The shrimp asks for crushed coral or another mineral source for GH 4 to 10, a hardness test rather than a pH test, and cholla wood and moss for cover while molting. The snail asks for minerals if your tap water is soft, the same test, and a lid it cannot climb out of. None of those appears on a fish record here.
Do I need live plants?
Two records ask for cover and accept alternatives. The betta record names live or silk plants, for cover and a resting leaf. The ember tetra record names plants and a dark substrate as the stated setting. Neither source asks for a planted tank as a project.
What order should I do this in?
Choose the animal, then the volume, then the rest of the list. Doing it the other way round is how people end up with a five gallon tank and a species that asks for twenty, which is the most common and least fixable mistake this site can help with.
What is not here yet
One guide is filed under this topic and it is here for a reason that fits the topic rather than the fish: a gourami breathes air at the surface, and that one fact decides the flow, the lid and the plants for about 133 species at once. What is still missing is the equipment half: filters, tank sizes, sponge filters, substrate, aquascaping, backgrounds. Several of those are answerable without a species record, which makes this the topic most likely to fill next.
What will not happen is a filter ranking. The guides written here will be the ones our sources support: what a species needs the tank to do, and what a kit does not provide. Everything above this line came out of the records, and everything written here later will have to as well.
The part of an aquarium setup that is time rather than equipment
Everything above this station is a thing you can buy. This one is not, and on the evidence of our own records it decides more outcomes than any item on the list.
Aquarium Science, which this site cites on the nerite record, states that an aquarium needs to be established for three or four months before zero ammonia and zero nitrite can be achieved. Most beginner setup advice measures cycling in weeks. We are not going to adjudicate between them, and the water and health topic prints both positions side by side with the figures.
Two records argue the same thing without mentioning chemistry
- The cherry shrimp record names a brand new tank as its second most common failure, on the grounds that biofilm is the base of the diet and biofilm is something a tank grows rather than something you add.
- The otocinclus record puts it first: a tank with nothing growing on its surfaces is a plate with nothing on it, for an animal that arrives already starving.
- Neither is talking about ammonia. Both are describing a tank that has not been running long enough, which is the same constraint arriving through the animal instead of through a test kit.
- Which reorders the shopping list. The stable, boring, unglamorous part of a setup is the weeks nothing happens in it, and no piece of equipment shortens that for a grazer.
What our records do state about a setup, and what they never will
The grid above is built from fields, so it holds what a source stated for a species and nothing else. Read across it and the setup requirements that actually appear are physical rather than electrical: smooth sand rather than sharp gravel, gentle flow rather than a rated filter, cover and shade rather than a lighting schedule, and in one case dense planting attached to a stocking figure.
What no record here holds is a wattage, a turnover multiple, a filter model or a bulb. Not because those do not matter but because no care source we compile from publishes one for a species, and a number this site invents is worth less than a blank it admits to.
The one figure a beginner is owed
Not from us: from the stocking calculator, which prints the heater setting a given build needs by taking the overlap of every temperature range in it. That is arithmetic on fields we hold rather than a recommendation, and it is the only equipment figure anywhere on this site.
Everything else about an aquarium setup that this topic will not tell you is listed on the station above, in the order the sources leave it out.