Top 10 Betta Fish Plants for Your Aquarium Looking for a way to take your betta fish tank to the next level? Give live aquarium plants a try. Not only do aquatic plants help purify the water from your fish’s waste, but they also provide a beautiful, natural environment for your betta. In the wild, Betta splendens are commonly found in tropical marshes and rice paddy fields chock-full of thick vegetation. Therefore, aquarium plants serve as excellent enrichment for your betta to explore, obstacles to block line of sight in case he gets...

How to Set Up a Beginner Planted Aquarium If you’re looking to level up in your aquarium keeping skills, consider adding live aquatic plants. Not only do they add a natural beauty to your tank, but they also help consume toxic waste chemicals and purify the water for your fish. Follow along as we step you through the process of setting up your first low tech planted aquarium. Before You Start: Gather the Planted Tank Supplies Let’s first form a shopping list of necessary materials. If you are new to planted aquariums or are working o...

How Many Fish Can I Put in a Fish Tank? One of the most common but hardest questions we get is “How many fish can I put in a 10-gallon tank? What about a 20-gallon tank? 55 gallons?” As you may guess, there is an infinite number of possible fish combinations for each aquarium size that we could recommend. To simplify things, let’s first understand the three factors that will most impact your fish stocking levels and then discuss our general guidelines for introducing the right number of fish to your aquarium. #1 Waste Load If you a...

10 Best Cory Catfish You Have to Try Corydoras catfish are one of our favorite bottom dwellers because of their peaceful personality, useful cleaning abilities, and adorable appearance. There are hundreds of species of cory catfish that all have different sizes, prices, looks, preferred water parameters, and more. To help narrow down your options, here are our top 10 favorite corys (in no particular order) that we can’t live without. 1. Sterbai cory (Corydoras sterbai) In terms of popularity, this is the cory that everyone gr...

What is Mulm or Detritus in Aquariums? Is there a brown or black substance that seems to collect like dust bunnies all over the floor of your fish tank? This dirt-like material goes by many names – such as mulm, detritus, and debris – and it’s a naturally occurring part of healthy aquariums. Keep reading as we dissect what mulm is made of, whether you should remove it, and how to minimize its appearance. What Is Mulm? Mulm starts off as fish poop, plant leaves, leftover fish food, and other organic materials that are decomposing i...

5 Easy Plants for Goldfish Aquariums Goldfish are notorious for munching on or digging up aquatic plants, which is a shame because live plants are both beautiful and beneficial, capable of consuming the toxic chemicals produced by fish waste. Thankfully, we’ve found several plant species that are not only easy to care for but also hardy enough to stand up to your goldfish’s curious nibbling. 1. Crinum calamistratum This slow-growing bulb plant is known for its long, crinkly leaves that can grow up to 4 feet (1.2 m) long. Like g...

How to Care for Hornwort in Aquariums and Ponds Hornwort is a popular aquatic plant for both fish tanks and outdoor ponds because of its fluffy-looking stems, extremely fast growth, and ability to consume excess nutrients from the water. Learn about the care requirements for hornwort and whether or not it’s the right plant for you. What is Hornwort? Ceratophyllum demersum is known by many common names, such as rigid hornwort, hornwart (a frequent misspelling), and coontail. It grows very tall in the wild and will easily reach all the way t...

Why is My Cryptocoryne Plant Melting? You just planted your new cryptocoryne (or crypt) plant in the aquarium, and it looks perfect for the first few days. Then you notice that one or two leaves aren’t doing so well. Maybe they are turning yellow-brown, have large gaping holes, or are simply withering away. Soon the whole plant looks as bare as a maple tree in winter. This phenomenon is very common with cryptocorynes and is often called “crypt melt.” Crypts (and many other live aquatic plants) are very sensitive to major changes...

How to Make Gel Fish Food in 7 Minutes Most fish foods fit into one of four categories: dry (e.g., flakes and wafers), freeze-dried, frozen, and live foods. However, gel food for aquarium fish is a unique addition to the hobby that is sold by companies like Repashy Ventures. It comes in a jar of powder that you mix with hot water and let solidify into a jello-like consistency. When dropped into a fish tank, the gel food quickly sinks to the bottom and is easy for both small and large fish to nibble on. Unlike many other fish foods...

How Often Do You Feed Fish (and How Much)? If you’re new to aquariums, figuring out how to feed your pet fish can be a little confusing. They always come up to the glass and beg for food, but does that mean you should give it to them? Keep reading to learn all about how much and how often to feed fish, what to give them, and how long they can go without food if you’re on vacation. What Do Fish Eat? When looking at rows and rows of fish foods at the pet store, it becomes clear that not all fish eat the same thing. The ingredients in be...

Care Guide for Platy Fish – Feeding, Breeding, and Tank Mates Looking for a colorful, hardy fish that’s easy to breed and looks great with live plants? Platies have always been one of our favorite livebearers to recommend to both beginners and veterans. Learn more about their care requirements when it comes to housing, tank mates, feeding, and of course breeding. What are Platy Fish? Platies are a popular livebearer in the freshwater aquarium hobby that are native to Mexico and Central America. The two species most commonly available in fish stores are ...

How to Care for a Dwarf Aquarium Lily Wish you could put lily pads in your aquarium? Check out the dwarf aquarium lily or Nymphaea stellata. This beautiful, easy-to-grow species hails from India and Southeast Asia and is often used as a midground or background plant. Its bulb spouts a compact bush of 4-inch, arrow-shaped leaves and then eventually extends long stems of lily pads that float at the water surface. Compared to your typical green aquarium plant, the dwarf lily provides unique textures and interesting colors ranging fr...

5 Best Schooling Fish for Beginners There’s something so peaceful and awe-inspiring about seeing a large school of fish swimming back and forth in perfect harmony. If you’re looking for a beautiful schooling fish to get started with, check out our top five species that are easy to care for and will look amazing in your aquarium. 1. Cardinal Tetras Paracheirodon axelrodi has to be on our list because of the striking red and blue stripes that run down the sides of their bodies. This 2-inch (5 cm) tetra is a fairly tight schooling...

How to Breed Aquarium Fish for Profit Fish keeping can be an expensive hobby, so many aquarists wonder if it’s possible to make money by breeding aquarium fish. Based on our experiences from running a fish store, speaking with many fish breeders, and personally breeding fish to sell, we’ve collected the most important things you need to know about the best fish to breed, what supplies to buy, and how to sell them. Can You Make Money Breeding Fish? The reality is that selling fish from home as a full-time job is not a very profita...

New Fish Checklist: How to Set Up a Fish Tank If you’re starting a new aquarium, the amount of information on the internet can be overwhelming. Wouldn’t it be nice if an experienced aquarist could lead you step-by-step through the entire process? Follow along as we share our best practices for setting up the perfect home for your new pet fish. While some of these instructions may seem overly detailed, please take them seriously to avoid the most common pitfalls for beginners. After years of running a fish store, we find that it’s very im...

10 Best Algae Eaters for Freshwater Aquariums If your aquarium is covered with unsightly algae, you need some hungry helpers to get the outbreak under control. In this top 10 list of amazing algae eaters, we’ve gathered animals that are not only safe for aquatic plants but can often work together for increased effectiveness. At Aquarium Co-Op, we’ve sold thousands of live plants, and one of our main concerns is keeping the plants as free of algae as possible. That’s why we utilize the most effective algae eaters in the aquarium hobby for...