Have you just purchased the aquarium and now you want to decorate it with all the essentials to transform it into a comfortable and welcoming environment for fish? If you are a beginner, you must know that there are some limitations about the objects to be inserted inside.
Putting objects without criteria into the aquarium could be very risky as some of these could expose fish to several dangers. If in doubt, always ask yourself these questions: could this object release toxins into the aquarium? Is it degradable? Is it sharp? Will it bring about chemical changes in the water?
Here are 4 items you should never put in the aquarium:
1. PLASTIC
There are those who dip figurines, dolls or toy cars into the aquarium, there is nothing more wrong: in fact the plastic objects that can be purchased in the shops are painted with toxic or not well fixed colors and the plastic materials with which they are made, soaked in water for long periods of time, could release chemicals that are potentially harmful to fish.
So if you want to insert decorations, be sure to buy certified ones, so that they do not become harmful to the inhabitants of the tank.
2. CERAMIC
Even ceramics can hide real pitfalls. Many ceramic decorations contain small quantities of lead, we can only imagine what it means for a fish to live in an environment contaminated by such a lethal substance! Other ceramics are glazed in copper and therefore can be highly harmful to some species such as shrimp. So always be careful and buy only ceramic objects in specialized pet stores, marked as “safe”.
3. UNTREATED WOOD
Do not try in any way to insert sprigs and sticks in the aquarium that you have recovered after a walk in the woods; even if they have a beautiful shape, remember that untreated wood is rich in bacteria that can alter the chemistry of the water, causing big problems for the little fish.
4. SAND OF THE BEACH AND SHELLS
Have you just come back from a beach holiday and brought some sand home as a souvenir to put it in your home aquarium? Bad, both because you have done something illegal, and because the sand coming from the sea is generally polluted and can contain chemical residues harmful to fish. The sea water, unlike the water in the tank, has a constant and continuous exchange.
There are special sands for backdrops, sterilized and non-toxic, such as those of Ferplast, colored and ideal for setting up aquarium bottoms.
The same goes for sea shells in freshwater aquariums: objects of this kind can drastically increase the presence of calcium and chipped can become sharp enough to mortally injure the poor fish.