The importance of aeration for tropical fish

Everyone knows that the natural habitat for fish is a lake or rivers. Both have large surfaces where fish can get to receive their oxygen supply. As you can guess, an aquarium doesn’t offer fish the same possibilities when it comes to water surface. The habitat has less movement and the surface area where they can get oxygen is smaller. That’s why it’s important to make sure that fish can get oxygen from other sources as well.

Aeration is the artificial oxygen providing process. The process consists only of re-oxygenating the aquarium water. The system used for aeration usually consists of airstone, regulator diffusers or tubing clamp that pumps air.

There are plenty of types of air pumps, of different sizes and shapes. The one that most people use is a Taiwanese one, called tecax air pump. Another popular choice is the super 555, fabricated in India. They cost less but they’re not as resistant. You can also find versions built in France and UK, but they’re usually a bit more expensive.

The air pump should be hooked to a material that doesn’t vibrate and it’s above the level of the water. The aeration materials that I mentioned before can work well to aerate the aquarium. If the tank is small, you only need to use a simple air pump, through an air tube made of rubber, to an air stone. The air will be blown into the water by this system and provide fish with the oxygen they need.