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How to Keep a Successful Aquarium

How to Keep a Successful Aquarium

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  • Jim Karanikas

    Marine Biologist, Tropical Fish World

    www.tropicalfishworld.com  
    (301)921-0000

    Jim has over thirty years experience working in a tropical fish store. He started cleaning aquariums for a local pet store at the age of 13. He has kept most every kind of aquarium fish and was one of the first people to successfully breed marine angelfish in captivity. His love for the water got him involved in competitive swimming and coaching. He still swims with a Masters program and recently started competing in triathlons. He earned a degree in Marine Biology from the University of Maryland where he is a founding father of the Maryland chapter of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. Jim has volunteered at the National Aquarium and has given many talks about tropical fish and live coral husbandry to local fish clubs. He opened Tropical Fish World in Gaithersburg, Maryland in 1989. It is a 3000 square foot local aquarium. Many people visit the store just to look around. It was featured in a Washington Post Magazine article, Things to Do off the Beaten Path which suggested walking around the aquarium after eating a meal at the local Dim Sum restaurant. Currently, Jim is involved in setting up and monitoring large custom aquariums that he installs in homes and businesses in the area. He uses an automatic water changing system which allows him to monitor the aquariums from a remote location. He resides in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his three children and can be found in the store most days where he continues to help people enjoy the hobby.

  • How to Keep a Successful Aquarium

    Jim Karanikas demonstrates the ways to maintain your aquarium and keep those fish happy.

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    Aquarium

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  • Transcripts

    Hi, I am Jim Karanikas. I own and operate Tropical Fish World in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I would like to show you how to have a successful aquarium. Alright, things that we are going to need to get going are obviously we are going to need to have something to put the water in. So, most aquariums are made out of glass, but some are made out of plastic and some are made out of acrylic. We are going to need a cover for the top of the tank, so the fish don't jump out, we are going to need some type of lighting so you can see the fish, so they can see to eat the food and also if you have live plants we need live plants. We are also going to need a filter, we are going to need a heater, we are going to need a thermometer, we are going to need some chemicals to dechlorinate your water, perhaps a net, we are going to need some gravel on the bottom of the aquarium. Things we will be going over today are the basic mechanics of an aquarium. How to feed your fish? What fish are compatible? Diseases the fish might get. How to add fish to your aquarium? How to clean your filter? Alright, before we get started, let us talk about some safety issues. You may want to get a ground fault circuit interrupter installed by electrician into the outlet that you are going to plug all your equipment into and then you are going to want to also make sure that all your electrical chords that are coming off the side of the aquarium have a drip loop in it, so that if any water ever drips out of the aquarium or off of the equipment, its going to drip to its lowest point, drip on the floor, not go in the outlet. When water gets into an outlet it can either cause a fire or it can cause some corrosion that may lead to an electrical problem. So, we are going to make sure that all the chords have a drip loop. I have a degree in Marine Biology from the University of Maryland and I have worked in an aquarium store for over 30 years. What I spend most of my time now is designing and installing custom aquariums in homes and businesses. So, if you have ever been to a big public aquarium, like the National Aquarium and seeing all these huge aquarium displays, I will put that in your house and I can even automate it, so you don't use any hoses or buckets, they will automatically do water changes and automatically feed the fish, so you can just sit back and enjoy it.

    Today, I want to teach you how to maintain and operate your own aquarium. So, let us go have some fun.

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