Setting up your aquarium
First if you want tropical, salt or fresh water fish you should probably look on my first time page for good first time fish.If you get more then 5 fish you should get 5-10 gallons or more aquarium because in the aquarium their should only be 1" of fish per gallon for tropical freshwater.On the other hand, saltwater fish need more space.
Gravel
Place it evenly across the tank. Most pet stores or just some regular stores sell fish gravel.
Installing equipment
If you have a large tank you should place a filter in the aquarium. There are filters for appropriate sizes. If you get a filter that needs a filter cartridge than all petstores (or some regular)have filter cartridges. Make sure to get the appropriate size!!! Some stores carry small filters that don't need filter cartridges.
Water
You should put in distilled water,purified water, or regular water and go to any pet store and find something to declorify it.
Plants
Go to any pet store and heavily plant your aquarium with tons of water plants.
When your done go ahead and turn the filter on.For best results wait about 24 hours before you put the fish in.
If you have tropical fish you should have the following things:
a Filter
a Heater
Lighting
a hood
Gravel
Gravel Vacuum
Algae magnet(unless you have a plocostumus or an algae eater)
As long as you have all these things and keep changing the filter every 2-4 weeks, you shouldn't have a problem.If you have poor water quality you should probably change the filter and clean your tank out before your fish get sick. If they get sick you can check my fish disease page.
