Fishkeeping is a freshwater fishkeeping blog for people who have just set up a tank and
suddenly have a lot of questions. Every guide here answers one of those questions properly, with
the numbers you need and without the padding.
The site started as a notebook: one keeper hitting the same problems every beginner hits,
and finding the same unhelpful answers online — forum threads that contradicted each
other, product pages dressed up as advice, and articles that took nine paragraphs to say
“do a water change”.
What we cover
Everything on the site sits in one of six areas. If you are still setting up, start with
Getting Started. If something has already gone wrong,
Water Quality and Algae & Problems
are where most answers live.
- Getting Started — first tank, first
fish, cycling, and the beginner mistakes worth skipping. - Water Quality — ammonia, nitrite,
nitrate, pH and water changes. The invisible half of fishkeeping. - Fish Care — stocking, feeding, behavior
and spotting illness early. - Plants & Aquascaping — plants
that survive low light and low effort. - Algae & Problems — algae, cloudy
water, and the smells nobody warned you about. - Equipment — filters, heaters, lights and
test kits: what matters and what does not.
How we write our guides
We base our guides on established aquarium science, not on marketing claims or paid promotions. Where a method has a trade-off, we
say so. Where the honest answer is “it depends on your stocking level”, we tell you what to
measure instead of guessing for you.
A few rules we hold ourselves to:
- Numbers, not vibes. “Ammonia above 0 ppm is a problem” is useful.
“Keep your water clean” is not. - Say when it is urgent. Some problems need action within the hour. Most
do not. Confusing the two causes people to make things worse. - No fear-selling. We will not invent a crisis so we can recommend a
product to fix it. - Corrections stay visible. If we get something wrong and a reader tells
us, we fix the guide rather than quietly deleting it.
We are not a substitute for a vet
We keep fish; we are not aquatic veterinarians. For a fish that is seriously ill, or for
anything involving medication and dosing, please speak to a vet who treats fish or to a
specialist aquatic retailer. Our disclaimer sets this out in full.
Say hello
Questions, corrections and photos of your tank are all welcome. You can reach us on the
contact page — we read everything, even when it takes us a while
to reply.