Introduction

If you have a freshwater aquarium, you need to do certain activities. These actions are so important they are considered the 3 Golden Rules of keeping freshwater aquariums!

What is a Golden Rule? Bing.com defines it as a basic rule that must be followed. Here are the 3 Golden Rules you must follow to keep a successful freshwater aquarium.

Golden Rule #1 – Water Replacement

Depending on whom you talk to or what book you read, you will get different opinions on when and how much water you should replace. But no matter how you cut it, you do need to replace some of the water in your freshwater aquarium.

I have kept a 75-gallon freshwater aquarium for many years, what I have done over these years is replace 10% of the water volume every week. Replacing 10% of the water every week has help make me successful at keeping my aquarium.

Golden Rule #1 is to replace 10% of the water in your aquarium every week.

Golden Rule #2 – Clean The Substrate

Placing your fish in an aquarium reduces the environment your fish are in to a very small space compared to their natural environment. In their natural environment, Mother Nature takes care of any waste generated.

When you bought your aquarium, you promoted yourself to the role of Mother Nature. This means you will have to remove the debris, such as dead plants, excess food and fish “poop”.

When you replace 10% of the water every week, you should also vacuum the substrate to remove the debris. By doing this you will prevent the build up of nitrates and help keep the water clear.

Golden Rule #2 is to vacuum the substrate when you do a water replacement.

Golden Rule #3 – Do Not Over Feed Your Fish

One of the biggest mistakes a budding Aquarist makes is to over feed your fish. Over feeding your fish results in high nitrates. Though your freshwater fish can tolerate high levels of nitrates, to many nitrates can stress your fish.

I tried all the recommendations from the pundits who claim to be experts on keeping aquariums, what I found that works is only feed your fish what they can eat in 2 minutes, once a day.

Golden Rule #3 is to only feed your fish what they can eat in two minutes, once a day.

Conclusion

There are more actions you should take, but if you follow these three rules, weekly water replacement, cleaning the substrate and not overfeeding your fish, you will be successful at keeping your freshwater fish happy and healthy.