Welcome to our habitat builder designed to help you create and maintain the healthiest habitats for your small to medium-sized freshwater aquatic pets.
We understand how overwhelming it can be when navigating the vast selection of products available in the pet store. It’s not uncommon to receive conflicting or inaccurate advice from store staff who may be motivated by sales targets rather than your pet’s well-being. Likewise, online shopping can be an overwhelming experience, as it can be difficult to determine which products are of the highest quality.
From fish to shrimp, snails and other aquatic creatures, we’ve listed everything you need to provide them with the optimal living conditions they require to thrive.
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Habitat Builder Navigation
| Aquariums | Aquarium Stands | Heaters |
| Filtration | Air Pumps & Oxygenation | Substrate |
| LED Lights | Food | Live Plants |
| Driftwood & Rocks | Treatments & Medicine | Artificial Plants & Decor |
Best Aquariums
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Gallon Aquarium (All-in-one) |  | Aqueon Aquarium Fish Tank Starter Kit with LED Lighting | Good intro set, not very customizable however. Lights are weak and not good for growing plants. |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium (Standard) |  | Aqueon Standard Glass 10 Gallon Rectangular Tank | Inexpensive, good for picking your own lid/filters/ect. |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium (Rimless) |  | Lifegard Aquatics 10 Gallon Rimless | Low-iron glass is the best visibility in the hobby. No plastic edging or braces, very modern and sleek. Careful of fish that jump. Water evaporates quicker without lid. |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium (Kit) |  | Penn-Plax Water-World Vertex 10 Gallon Aquarium | A nice rimless desktop or other small space all-in-one kit that looks a little sleeker and modern. |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium Lid/Canopy |  | Aquarium Glass Canopy for 10 Gallon Tanks | Good if you want a lid on a bare tank, a place to set an LED light, stops most evaporation, and keeps jumpers in the tank instead of your floor. |
| Water Conditioner & Dechlorinator |  | Seachem Prime Chemical Remover and Detoxifier | Aquarium hobbyist staple. Makes tap water safe for fish. |
| Water Parameter Testing |  | API Freshwater Aquarium Water Master Test Kit | Another staple. Critical for easily testing water parameters like Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate. |
| Gravel Vacuum & Water Changer |  | Python No Spill Clean and Fill Aquarium Maintenance System | Save your back and skip the buckets. Connects to your faucets or showers and makes removing and adding water a breeze. |
| Fish Net |  | Marina Blue Fine Nylon Net | For catching or moving fish. |
| Algae Removal |  | SLSON Aquarium Algae Scrubber | For everything a metal scraper isn’t good for. |
| Algae Removal |  | HOTOOLME Aquarium Scraper | Keep your walls sparkling clean. |
Best Aquarium Stands
| Product Type | Image | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 10 Gallon Aquarium Stand |  | Aqueon Forge Metal Aquarium Stand |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium Stand |  | Ollie & Hutch Flipper Aquarium Stand |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium Stand |  | Ameriwood Home Flipper Aquarium Stand |
| 10 Gallon Aquarium Stand |  | Ollie & Hutch Farmington Aquarium Stand |
Best Aquarium Heaters
| Product Type | Image | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarium Heater (10 gallons) |  | Tetra HT Submersible Aquarium Heater | 50 watt. Needs to be completely submerged. |
| Aquarium Heater (10 gallons) |  | Fluval M50 Submersible Heater | 50 watt. Needs to be completely submerged. |
| Thermometer |  | Petbank LCD Digital Aquarium Thermometer | Probe is accurate and makes it easy to check temps without being an eyesore like stick ons or other permanent digital displays. |
Best Aquarium Filters
| Product Type | Image | Name | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Gallon Sponge Filter |  | AQUANEAT Sponge Filter | Good for breeding tanks, quarantine tanks, shrimp tanks, and other tanks where not a lot of waste is produced. |
| 10 Gallon Hang on Back Filter |  | Aqueon QuietFlow 10 Filter | Step above a sponge filter as far as filtration. Will keep your water clearer but requires occasional maintenance. Not good if you want floating plants. |
| 10 Gallon Canister Filter |  | Fluval 107 Perfomance Canister Filter | Much more substantial filtration. Makes it possible to polish water and use several types of filter media. Drawback is hoses and slightly more maintenance. |
| Surface Skimmer |  | EHEIM Skim 350 | Keeps the oily surface scum off the top of your water. Also great for sucking up duckweed. |
| Filtration (Biomedia) |  | Seachem Matrix Biomedia | Use with a canister filter or an HOB that has space for biomedia. Massive surface area for beneficial bacteria, keeps your nitrogen cycle strong. |
| Filtration (Biomedia) |  | MarineLand Ceramic Filter Rings | Another bio media option for beneficial bacteria to colonize. |
| Filtration (Water Polishing) |  | Aquatic Experts Aquarium Filter Floss | Keeps your water crystal clear. |
| Filtration (Organic Filtration) |  | Seachem Purigen | When used with filter floss above, your water will be so clear your fish will look like their floating in air, as long as your aquarium walls are clean. Great for reducing tannins (dark water) from driftwood also. |
| Filtration (Organic Filtration) |  | MarineLand Activated Carbon | Removes odors and soaks up bad stuff in the water. |
Best Air Pumps, Bubblers & Oxygenation
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Pump / Bubbler |  | Tetra Whisper | Standard air pump. NOT SUBMERSIBLE. (Trust us, we’ve seen it.) |
| Airline Tubing |  | PENN-PLAX Standard Airline Tubing | Connects your air pump to your air stones. |
| Airstones (Cylinders) |  | Pawfly Aquarium 1 Inch Air Stone Cylinder | Small airstones for a little bit of concentrated bubbling. |
| Airstones (Discs) |  | Pawfly Aquarium 4 Inch Air Stone Disc | Bigger airstone for a larger bubble area. |
| Airstones (Bars) |  | Pawfly Aquarium 4 inch Air Stone Bar | Longer airstones for a small bubble wall. |
Best Aquarium Substrate
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Substrate (Black Sand) |  | Seachem Fluorite Black Sand | Needs to be rinsed thoroughly. Easy to maintain. Stops food/waste from falling in cracks like gravel. Won’t leach and mess with your water parameters. Lasts forever. |
| Substrate (White Sand) |  | AquaNatural Sugar White Sand | Looks great and super clean when you add it. Gets dirty easily and usually won’t stay white over time. |
| Substrate (Tan Sand) |  | Aqua Terra Sand | More natural sand substrate. Algae and detritus won’t be as obvious as it would if you used a pure white sand like the above option. |
| Substrate (Black Gravel) |  | Seachem Flourite Black Clay Gravel | Gold standard aquarium substrate. Lasts forever and easy to maintain. Won’t leach hardness into your water. |
| Substrate (Red Gravel) |  | Seachem Flourite Red Clay Gravel | Color variant of the above. |
| Substrate (Natural Gravel) |  | Carib Sea Peace River Gravel | Natural looking river rock type substrate. |
| Substrate (Aquasoil for Plants) |  | Fluval Stratum | Lowers pH. Contains nutrients for plants. Good for planted tanks. Plants grow best around pH 6.0. Make sure your species don’t need higher pH. Do not rinse. Put water in slowly/use bowl or ziploc bag to diffuse to prevent muddy water. |
| Substrate (Aquasoil for Plants) |  | ADA Aqua Soil Amazonia | Leaches ammonia when water first added. Gold standard aquascaping and planted tank substrate. Do not rinse. Put water in slowly/use bowl or ziploc bag to diffuse to prevent muddy water. |
| Substrate (River Rock) |  | Voulosimi River Rock Stones | Another natural type rocky substrate. |
| Substrate (Decorative) |  | GloFish Aquarium Gravel | Popular with beginners or for kids aquariums. |
| Substrate (Decorative) |  | Estes Spectrastone Special Blue |
Best Aquarium LED Lights
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-10 Gallon LED Clip On |  | hygger Nano Tank Mini Clip-on Aquarium Light | Good for small aquariums, especially rimless. |
| 10 Gallon LED Light |  | hygger 18W 24/7 Lighting Aquarium LED Light | Good for growing low light and beginner plants. |
| 10 Gallon LED Plant Light |  | Fluval Plant 3.0 LED Planted Aquarium Lighting | Has an awesome app and tons of lighting customization. Will grow anything. Expensive, however. Easy to use. |
| 20 Gallon LED Light |  | AQUANEAT LED Aquarium Light | Inexpensive light. Will grow low light plants OK. |
| 20 Gallon LED Plant Light |  | NICREW ClassicLED Plus Planted Aquarium Light | Will grow most plants quite well. Not as expensive as Fluval, but also harder to use and not as customizable. Read instructions carefully. |
Best Fish Food
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Food (Brine Shrimp) |  | Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Dried Brine Shrimp | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Krill) |  | Hikari Freeze Dried Krill | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Daphnia) |  | Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Dried Daphnia | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Blood Worms) |  | Hikari Bio-Pure Freeze Dried Blood Worms | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Tubifex Worms) |  | Hikari Tubifex Worms | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Insect Pellets) |  | Fluval Bug Bites Tropical Fish Food | Staple of a varied diet for almost all small fish. Easy to store and feed. Great to use with the other foods listed here. |
| Food (Spirulina) |  | Zoo Med Laboratories Spirulina Flakes | Great for digestion for most fish. Think of it like fiber for humans, keeps things moving when diet is high in protein. |
| Food (Commercial Mix) |  | Xtreme Aquatic Nano Fish Food | Nice well rounded pellet meal for most smaller fish. |
| Food (Algae Wafer) |  | Hikari Tropical Sinking Wafers | Great for bottom feeders like shrimps, loaches, and corys. Small sized wafers are nice when you have plecos or other bottom feeder bullies that like to hog bigger wafers and not share. |
| Food (Algae Wafer) |  | Hikari Algae Wafers | Much larger wafer size than the above option. Good for larger bottom feeders and plecos. Most fish will snack on these also and is an easy way to get some vegetable into their diet. |
Best Aquarium Plants & Accessories
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Java Fern | Do not bury in substrate. This is a rhizome plant and needs to be glued to driftwood or rock. Grows plantlets from dark spots on leaves (spores). |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Cryptocoryne Wendtii | Tends to melt when first added to aquarium. As long as bulb/root is white, it will regrow and grow well in almost any aquarium. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Amazon Sword | These grow very large and have big roots, but are nice natural filters. Can have some meltback from the spoon shaped leaves they tend to come with from being grown out of water. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Water Sprite | Easy to grow stem plant. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Vallisneria Spiralis (Jungle Val) | Fast grower and easy to care for. Can take over a tank if not pruned from time to time. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Anubias Nana | Slow grower. Fish love to rest on the leaves of these, like little hammocks. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Dwarf Sagittaria | Easy to grow grass like plant. Most viable carpet option for low tech (non-CO2) tanks. |
| Low Tech Beginner Aquarium Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Bacopa Monnieri (Moneywort) | |
| Aquarium Moss (No CO2 required) |  | Java Moss | Staple for rearing most baby fish and shrimp. |
| Aquarium Moss (No CO2 required) |  | Christmas Moss | |
| Low Tech Floating Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Red Root Floaters | Leaves only stay red if kept under strong lights, otherwise they will turn green under weak light. |
| Low Tech Floating Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Amazon Frogbit | Fast growing, hardy floater. Roots can grow long however and can be trimmed. |
| Low Tech Floating Plant (No CO2 required) |  | Dwarf Water Lettuce | Can grow quite large under strong lights. Does not like to get wet on top. Will rot easily if splashed constantly. |
| High Tech Stem Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Alternanthera Reineckii | |
| High Tech Stem Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Ludwigia Super Red | |
| High Tech Stem Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Staurogyne Repens | |
| High Tech Stem Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Rotala rotundifolia | |
| High Tech Carpet Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Dwarf Baby Tears | Likes to float up if planted in water. Best when dry started to get roots established. Any bottom feeders will uproot these constantly if not established before their introduction. |
| High Tech Carpet Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Monte Carlo | Likes to float up if planted in water. Best when dry started to get roots established. Any bottom feeders will uproot these constantly if not established before their introduction. |
| High Tech Carpet Plant (CO2 Required) |  | Dwarf Hairgrass | Get a lot and plant a lot if you want a carpet. Spreads slowly. |
| Aquarium Fertilizer (Root Tabs) |  | Seachem Flourish Tabs | Insert tabs into substrate under root feeding plants. |
| Aquarium Fertilizer (Water Column) |  | Seachem Flourish | Dose water column to keep plants green and healthy. |
| CO2 System for High Tech Plants (Tank) |  | 5 lb. Aluminum CO2 Cylinder with CGA 320 Valve | Inexpensive cylinder that will last quite a long time once filled with CO2 from your local gas store. Much more economic in the long term over CO2 cartridges. |
| CO2 System for High Tech Plants (Regulator) |  | CO2 Art PRO-SE Series Aquarium CO2 Dual Stage Regulator | Regulator that screws onto the tank above. You might be tempted to go with the cheaper FZONE regulators on Amazon but we’ve had a lot of problems with them (Sorry FZONE.) |
| CO2 System for High Tech Plants (Diffuser) |  | JARDLI Pollen Glass CO2 Diffuser | For diffusing your CO2 into a fine mist. |
| Aquascape Tools (Planting, Trimming, Scaping) |  | Capetsma Aquascape Tools | For scaping and shaping your substrate, planting small or delicate plants, plants, and regular trimming. |
Aquarium Hardscape (Natural Driftwood & Stones)
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aquarium Hardscape (Slate Rocks) |  | Small World Natural Slate Stone | |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Dragonstone) |  | Lifegard Aquatics Aquascaping Dragon Ohko Rock | |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Seiryu Stone) |  | Voulosimi 12 lb Seiryu Stones | Can leach hardness into water. |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Mopani Wood) |  | Fluval Mopani Natural Driftwood | Will leach tannins into water and make it brown, like a blackwater aquarium. Use purigen to counteract. |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Malaysian Driftwood) |  | Estes Malaysian Driftwood | Good for plecos that need driftwood to munch on. |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Cholla Wood) |  | My Pet Patrol All Natural Teddy Bear Cholla Wood | Great for shrimp to graze on. |
| Aquarium Hardscape (Spider Wood) |  | WDEFUN Spider Wood Driftwood | Can make some elegant and cool designs by mixing and matching pieces. Be careful of sharp edges or points that your fish might accidentally run into. |
Best Fish Medicine & Aquarium Treatments
| Product Type | Image | Name | Staff Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treatment (Dropsy, Fin Rot, Popeye) |  | Seachem Kanaplex | Good to have on hand to use at first sign of illness. |
| Treatment (Ich, Velvet) |  | Hikari Ich-X | Good to have on hand to use at first sign of illness. |
| Treatment (Flatworms, Tapeworms, Fish Lice, Skin Flukes) |  | Hikari Prazipro | Good to have on hand to use at first sign of illness. |
| Treatment (Fungul Infections) |  | API PIMAFIX | Good to have on hand to use at first sign of illness. |
| Freshwater Aquarium Salt (Disease Recovery) |  | API AQUARIUM SALT | |
| Stress Reducer & Slime Coat Protection |  | Seachem StressGuard | |
| Planaria Removal |  | No Planaria | Can and will kill snails also. Some aquarists will use this to purge snails. Be careful of ammonia spikes. |
| Cyanobacteria Removal |  | Ultralife Blue Green Slime Stain Remover |
Best Artificial Plants & Aquarium Decor
Our experts have taken the time to carefully curate this collection of products that have been recommended by the most trusted sources, including aquarium shop owners, industry professionals, hobbyists, and influencers. We have scoured forums, clubs, and social media platforms to find the most effective products that will make your fishkeeping journey as enjoyable and stress-free as possible.
We understand that as a new fish keeper, it can be daunting to decide which products to use. That’s why we’ve kept our list as simple but also comprehensive as possible. Our goal is to make it easy for you to find everything you need to create the perfect environment for your aquatic friends. We are committed to providing you with the best advice and top-quality products recommendations.
We are confident that our product suggestions will help you to create an ideal living space for your aquatic pets, one that both you and they will love. Start your fishkeeping journey with confidence!