Keeping an estuarine aquarium, brackish water aquarium, Chesapeake Bay aquarium (original) (raw)

Estuarine Aquarium Keeping

This information was created as an introduction to estuarine, or brackish water, aquarium keeping for the beginner using simple aquarium gear. Estuarine aquarium set up and maintenance is easy as long as you have access to brackish water to collect water and animals and you have time to devote to the tanks. The information in the following information has been obtained from practical experience gained while maintaining estuarine aquariums using basic systems. You can add more sophisticated aquarium gear and keep animals that require more precise water quality, food and care as your 'wet thumb' improves from experience and through information obtained from other sources.

You can learn a tremendous amount about marine biology and estuarine species by keeping an estuarine aquarium so don't be scared to try one even if you have had bad luck keeping fish in the past. It's never to late to develop a 'wet-thumb', especially once you know what to watch out for. The key concepts include:

• Age your aquarium properly before introducing animals.
• Don't overstock your aquarium with animals.
• Stock your aquarium with smaller animals if you can catch them.
• Don't overfeed.
• Watch, watch, watch. A close eye on the aquarium, especially during feeding, will give you invaluable information as to how everything is working.

The author is not professionally trained in aquaculture or aquarium keeping and is not responsible for problems that may occur from the use, or misuse, of this information.

"Estuarine Aquarium Keeping for Beginners", by Bob Carroll, is available here in Adobe Acrobat (.pdf) format. The manual was revised in July '06.