Introduction

I had an aquarium when I was a little child and had it full of guppies. Back then I knew very little about managing an aquarium plus there was very little information available on how to establish and maintain an aquarium. But despite my inexperience the guppies survived.

Several years ago I studied up on how to establish an aquarium and then developed a 75-gallon freshwater aquarium. I filled it with Kissing Gourami, Three Spot Blue Gourami, African Featherfin Catfish and Tiger Barbs.

I am glad I read up on how to maintain an aquarium because there was so much to learn to be successful. But why would I want to develop an aquarium? Here is why.

Health

Having retired many years ago, maintaining my health has become a priority. Having an aquarium has been shown to help people keep their blood pressure down.

It has been said that observing fish swim for at least ten minutes a day has been shown to help lower your blood pressure. If all it takes is ten minutes, I put the aquarium in my office where I spend seven to eight hours a day.

It must be correct because my blood pressure is still normal.

Hobby

This is a great hobby for me; just ask my wife who is glad to have me out of her hair. It is great fun and does not take that much work. I like to learn about the different types of fish and the aquatic plants that I have put in my aquarium.

I even consider my fish as pets and have named some of them. When I enter my office they come to the side of the aquarium to greet me. I can also hand feed the Kissing Gourami..

I also garden as a hobby and find that the water I take out of the aquarium, I replace ten per cent of the water weekly, is an excellent source of fertilizer.

Learning Experience

I enjoyed learning about establishing and maintaining a freshwater aquarium. There is much more to an aquarium than filling a tank with water and throwing some fish in it.

If you are going to develop and maintain an aquarium do your homework. Close to 75% of aquarium owners’ fail in the first month they have it. The main reason they fail is because they did not do their homework before launching off on this new hobby.