Fighting Fish | Setting up your Fighting Fish Tank – Pt 2

Setting up your fishtank – part two

Often times people assume because they have bought a new tank that they don’t need to do anything to the tank except fill it with water; throw in a filter and a heating pad and then put the fish in it. These people have not heard of the term known as “New Tank Syndrome” in fish circles. New Tank Syndrome is when water is put into a tank that is yet to be tested for ammonia and nitrate levels; nor does it contain any good bacteria.

You see when fish are added to water they naturally excrete certain chemicals. Now a well prepared tank will contain bacteria that will help neutralize the ammonia and nitrate levels in the tank (the two by-products of fighting fish faeces) and help keep the fish healthy. The only way to achieve the type of healthy environment the fish will need is to firstly prepare the tank adequately before the fish are introduced to it and to then monitor the water regularly after they are installed in the tank to ensure that everything remains balanced and good for the fish.

So back to your start up procedures – you have a clean tank. Now you can put water in it – roughly fill it ¾ full. Now you need to test it. For this you will need a kit that tests ammonia levels, nitrate levels and the pH level of the water. Now in theory you should not have high ammonia or nitrate levels until you add the fish, but you do want to get into the habit of checking the levels anyway. Ideally you want ammonia and nitrate levels to be as close to zero as possible and your pH balance to be about 6.8 to 7.0. You can achieve this quite well with treated tap water – you don’t have to go buying fancy water from a shop, or distil it or anything like that. In fact some bought or distilled water can actually be harmful for your fish because they do not contain the type of chemicals that the fish need to stay healthy.

You can phone your local water authority to find out what chemicals are used to treat your tap water. Chlorine is a poison to fighting fish so in most cases the water will need to be treated for that. Another thing you can add to the water is some aquarium salt. This will help regulate the water and is good as a stress release for the fish. Now you want to “seed” your tank with good bacteria. You  can do this by either using some aquarium gravel from another tank or you can use Java Moss. Java Moss is a great natural product that grows without roots and it lives on the ammonia and nitrates that come from the fish. You can either buy some for your new tank, or use a bit from another tank – because it grows you will only ever need to buy the stuff once and it is good in any fighting fish tank.