Colorful tropical fish in a beautifully styled aquarium can be the center of attraction of a wall layout; they can even be part of the wall, a living picture outlined by a shadow frame. They can be part of a cocktail table, they can be used as a partition between rooms, they can be used as a bar or back bar or in any number of different ways depending upon the home decorator`s own ideas. The decorative style can be anything from traditional to modern, from handsome hardwood to wrought iron, knotty pine to polished chrome or plastic.

Thus, you can create a charming and distinctive room in your home by the addition of a colorful living picture of underwater life. Your aquarium will be the focal point of attention and conversations with visitors; they will be the source of much pleasure as you watch the beautiful and brilliant color combinations that are constantly changing as the fish swim about. The picture you see is calm and peaceful, quiet and restful, and you will find yourself relaxing as you watch your pets.

Today you can purchase an aquarium and style it to fit any decor from traditional to modern, from handsome hardwood to wrought iron, from knotty pine to polished chrome or plastic. You will find tanks finished so nicely that no other decoration is necessary rectangular tanks with smooth or stippled stainless steel frames, modernistic flared styles where the top is wider than the bottom and is supported from the top of the tank, even large glass balls some two feet in diameter. Make your choice. Your own taste will dictate the tank you want to fit your location and size.

There are a large variety of aquarium decorations available on the market today. Of course, the size of the tank, the type of the fish you keep and your own personal style will dictate your choices.

You can find aquarium decorations for your son`s five gallon tank in his room, complete with baseball regalia to the larger aquariums you would use as the conversation pieces in the living room

Besides decorations, you need to decide on what type of fish to keep in your tank as well.

More than twenty thousand kinds of fishes have been discovered, of which about a third come from fresh waters; new ones are being found every year.

Only a handful of the known species about 200 are familiar to the aquarist, and for him there is a much more useful classification. Firstly, fishes can be divided into tropical and cold water species. The tropical fishes can be divided again mostly according to the way they breed. First, there are the livebearers, which give birth to young ones much as higher animals do; secondly there are those that lay eggs and take no further interest in them perhaps even eating them as soon as they are laid; thirdly, we have those which lay eggs but take care of them, and these can be again divided into those that make a nest of bubbles at the surface, and those that protect them in other ways.

With so many types to choose from, it is wise to do your homework before starting out on putting together your fish aquarium.