I was excited & nervous at the same time when I had the first thought of getting a Fish Tank to set up a home aquarium.
I had no idea what should I buy?
What’s the best size to buy?
What should be the price range?
And it gets even harder to decide when you head over to Amazon or any online fish tank shops.
There are plenty of options.
But that’s not the worst part.
At that time, I had no one to guide me. So, all I could do was understand everything by asking questions in the respective sub reddits & forums.
Today, if you’re at my place, you would feel the same.
I understand your confusion. That’s why, I’ve decided to help you out in making the right decision. Let’s get started:
Why ‘Bigger is Better’?
With no prior knowledge of fishkeeping, when I asked online, multiple users recommended me to go for smaller fish tank.
I did some research & went ahead as per their recommendation.
But now I realize how fucked up that decision was.
The decision of getting a smaller fish tank was not all wrong per se.
Smaller Fish tank was:
- Affordable.
- A practical choice.
And I believe these 2 reasons are enough to convince a beginner.
But the question still remains – Which one should you get?
Well, if I’ve to give one answer I would prefer a bigger fish tank.
This doesn’t mean you can’t go on with a small fish tank. You can, if you’re on a tight budget,.
As for the reasons why you should consider a larger fish tank for home aquarium,
- It is easier to care.
- It lowers the chance of compatibility issues.
- There are wide variety of shapes & sizes available.
- It helps in maintaining natural fish behavior.
- Suitable for Large sized fish.
- It provides stable environement.
Why You Shouldn’t Buy Small Fish Tanks
Before we dive into deciding the right size for you, it’s important to reach a conclusion – Why you shouldn’t buy Small Fish Tanks.
Demands More Maintenance
The water in small fish tank tends to get awful quite easily.
Whenever this happens, you must change it ASAP otherwise your negligence can further complicate the matter.
Slowly but steadily, this process starts taking over your valuable time.
If you can’t stand this, go ahead & replace it with a bigger fish tank.
Hampers the Fish Growth
Sometime back I heard someone saying that the size of fish depends on the overall size of the tank.
That’s complete BULLSHIT!!!
As I’ve said before, this happens because a small fish tank requires more care than a big fish tank. If you’re not able to fulfill this requirement, unknowingly you might be hampering the overall growth of your fish.
Increases Stress & Illness
When living in a room of a normal household, you can get ill & stressed. And a fish inside a fish tank isn’t immune to this.
Naturally, fish lives inside in an Ocean, Pond & River. In short, they are more accustomed to live in an open habitat.
But now hen you take them out & that too in a small fish tank, it gets hard for them to live in a limited space without other aquatic animals. Instead of this, when a fish is in a bigger tanks with colorful fish, snails, & other tank mates, it elevates their mood.
And good health leads to happy life without any excessive stress & illness.
Provides Unstable Water
The way I’m saying, you might feel like it’s impossible to keep a fish in a small tank.
But that’s not how it is.
You CAN.
However, one thing you should admit – You’re a Beginner to all this.
And alike every beginner, you can make mistakes. So, if you want to avoid such unavoidable errors, you must opt for bigger fish tank. A bigger fish tank would make sure the quality of tank water is completely stable & suitable for fish or aquatic animals residing into it.
Final Verdict: What’s the Right Size?
With so many options available (Both Online & Offline), it’s really difficult to come to a decision as there are multiple variables in the mix. Still, I’ll trying my best to have an answer for you.
Before I suggest you the right size of the fish tank, do you remember what I said earlier in this post?
“Bigger is Better”
With this point in mind, a fish tank above 10-gallons is sufficient for a beginner. And if your budget permits, you can even go for anything over 55-gallons. However, a too big of a fish tank can turn out to be a nightmare for a beginner any day.
You know WHY?
Because all this can go overwhelming for you. You would have hard time:
Maintaining a large fish tank.
Maintaining stability.
Deciding the right aquatic animals.
Still, if you can’t stretch your budget for a bigger fish tank, you can go ahead with a relatively smaller one. Just make sure to keep the number of fish to a minimum.