Filter


Heater


Fish Tank (Obviously ^_^!!!)


Gravel


Light/Hood

The items listed above are a must. Well, you might get away without the gravel, but the rest of the list are definitley neccesary for a good and healthy/clean aquarium. The only exception is if you want to buy a Betta Fish. For a Betta Fish, you don't really need a filter (just change the water once a week). I had two Betta fishes in the past, and they all lived healthy without a filter. The water for Bettas should be at least 72 degrees farenheight, so if your room temperature is around there, you're good. If not, get a heater!

Things You Want to Consider Buying:

Plants
Driftwood
Decoration
Background/Wallpaper
Root Tabs

Root Tabs are only neccesary if you're looking for a planted tank that's full of green and healthy plants. For most beginner plants, root tabs will not be needed. Below is an example of a planted tank.

How to Set up a Tank

First thing you should do is to put in the decorations, gravel, filter, heater, and plants. After doing so, let the water cycle through the filter for about a week before putting in your fish. A dechlorinator is also recommended to make the water safer for fish. After that week, make sure that the temperature in your tank is right before putting your fish in. There is a rule of thumb, that each inch of fish should get a gallon of water. That means that if a fish is two inches long, then your tank should be at least two gallons. Twenty one inch fish means twenty gallons, and so on. If you put twenty fish in a ten gallon tank, then they would be stressed out and might die. Anyways, after adding in the fish, moniter them for signs of bad health. Make sure that the light is on at least eight to nine hours a day, but NEVER keep it on 24/7 because the fish need to sleep and rest too. If your aquarium has no fish and is only a planted aquarium, then you can keep your lights on longer because the plants will grow faster. Have fun with your new aquarium, and I hope that this page was helpful to you! Good luck!!!

The one on the top has daytime lighting, while the bottom one has night time lighting. (I do turn off the lights at ten in the night to let the fish rest. ^_^)

The images that you see above is one of my own fish tanks! It's a twenty gallon, filled with guppies. You can see the heater on the left and the filter on the right. Gravel is at the bottom. For decoration, I have terra cotta pots, rocks, shells, and two pieces of driftwood. On the driftwood are Java Ferns, beginner plants that I would DEFINITLEY recommend for you. Anchored underneath the smaller piece of driftwood, there is a Hornwort and a Water Sprite. Both look amazing! I also had a Jungle Val, but recently moved it to the planted tank in my room. You can see the thermometer taped to the front of the aquarium, whcih is pretty cool. My temperature is a nice warm 82 degrees farenheight, which is ideal for tropical fish and plants. Hope you can find my information to be helpful, and thanks a lot for reading through this whole thing!