Fish Tank Maintenance Tips

[EmilyS]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

When we had our guppy tank i used water out our rainwater butt, sieved it a few times to get rid of the floating debris and then warmed it to about the temp of the tank. I would find that about an inch of water would be lost through evaporation during a one to two week period and would just top up using the same process. I never did water changes, i washed the filter and only replaced it once a year and i used snails to keep the tank clean.

I would have constant breeding, lots of variety in terms of ages of the fish. When one died i Left it in the tank and let the snails/other fish eat it. I ran it this way for about five years, then i got into snakes and needed the space. I fed fish flake twice a week, just a generous pinch.

So i gave the tank to my father in law. He is totally anal about the tank being spotless, removed dead fish, switched 10% of water every week, changed the filter monthly etc, all the fish died within three months with NO breeding taking place at all.

This happened because your fish got used to the tank being horribly dirty. When they were given proper care, the clean water shocked them.

[jarich]

Originally Posted by Wildside

Both... Every time you mess with the tank you disturb the established ecosystem. Even doing water changes alters is slightly.

I wrote that quite a while ago and there are some more things I should've touched on. One being that dechlorination is a myth and a waste of money.
Honestly the small amount of chlorine that comes from your tap (you know the one that doesn't ever hurt you) evaporates within 24 hrs. I consider my "water change" refilling the tank after it evaporates a few inches. I do it straight from the tap. For those of you who are slightly appalled let me tell you why this is good. The small amount of chlorine you're adding to your tank doubles as pesticide. So anything that may come in off new fish/plants gets obliterated.

While its true that chlorine will evaporate, chloramines are pretty much there for good, and just as harmful to the fish. And while it may not kill them right away, it does stress them unnecessarily and could eventually lead to their death by lowering their immune system.

Anything new you add to your tank should get a salt water bath to remove any pests and parasites. The small bit of chlorine will not kill things like ich or other parasites.

[Lankyrob]

Originally Posted by EmilyS

This happened because your fish got used to the tank being horribly dirty. When they were given proper care, the clean water shocked them.

Dirty in what way? I know very little about fish at all but the tank looked clean to me?

[EmilyS]

Dirty in the fact that the nitrates were probably sky high (or ammonia/nitrite, if the tank wasn't cycled). Sorry, I guess I didn't mean "dirty", I more meant "unhealthy." I consider anything above a nitrate reading of 40 ppm unhealthy (and an ammonia and nitrite reading of above 0).

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Trent

Your first write up was sound,but this advise is just plain wrong.
After 25 years of fish keeping the one thing that I have learned if you want happy and healthy fish is WATER CHANGES.
It is the only thing that removes the fishes excretory products.Which are slowly killing and stunting your fish.No filter will remove them.
Removing 25% a week is a good idea..replacing with dechlorinated water.
As for your pesticide comment on chlorine..lol..I will leave that alone.

I agree with most of this.

From my limited fish knowledge it's that water changes are key to everything. A good filter is a must but so is the water change. Since we're keeping essentially an ecosystem going we need to get rid of the things that the system can't get rid of on it's own. It's the fish poop/un eaten food. I siphon the gravel as I do my water change.

[Lankyrob]

Originally Posted by EmilyS

Dirty in the fact that the nitrates were probably sky high (or ammonia/nitrite, if the tank wasn't cycled). Sorry, I guess I didn't mean "dirty", I more meant "unhealthy." I consider anything above a nitrate reading of 40 ppm unhealthy (and an ammonia and nitrite reading of above 0).

How ŵould this manifest itself?. Sorry for being a noob about it but i hope to get fish in the future (after lots more research ) and want to know what to look out for

[StudentoReptile]

In my experience as a pet shop grunt, aquarium maintenance technician, as well as having many of my own aquariums, I will say that EVERY aquarium is different. I had a nano reef tank that went well with a water change every 6 months.

That said, I feel that what determines how much regular maintenance is required is directly related on how the aquarium was set-up and the first 2-3 weeks after. If it was a noob who knows nothing and throw a ton of fish in a small tank, feeds them too much, etc...they're pretty much setting themselves up for a lot of maintenance down the road, as fixing all that tank's issues will be a constant uphill battle, aside from simply starting over from scratch.

Now if you're a more knowledgeable aquarist, who is patient, and let's the aquarium cycle properly before adding fish, adding the correct species/amount of fish, etc...you can eventually have a tank that is bulletproof that requires very little maintenance. And of course, a lot depends on the type of fish, etc.

One thing about tap water....chlorine and chloramines aren't the only thing to worry about. pH can be a factor as well, depending on the fish and/or plants you intend to keep. For example, the pH in my tap is naturally around 7.8-8.0. It was an uphill battle trying to keep it low for my FW planted tanks. Sometimes, it can simplify things to just keep species that prefer that pH range.

[Corey209]

Weird.. I never had problem with fish dying when I purchased them from an actual place that focuses on fish. I was little so I'd feed them multiple times throughout the day without any dying. We also had fresh water crab at the bottom and some of the sucker fish to clean up which may have helped.

[EmilyS]

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

How ŵould this manifest itself?. Sorry for being a noob about it but i hope to get fish in the future (after lots more research ) and want to know what to look out for

Are you talking about nitrates? Here's the nitrogen cycle in a nutshell:

Fish produce waste that gives off ammonia; fish can only tolerate a very small amount of this (they'll start showing symptoms of ammonia poisoning even at a concentration of .25 ppm; in an established aquarium, there should be 0 ppm). To help get rid of ammonia, there is a naturally occurring bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrites. Well, nitrites are similar to ammonia in the fact that they are bad for fish in even small numbers. So, there's a bacteria to turn nitrites into nitrates, which fish can handle much more of (I wouldn't allow a tank's concentration of nitrates get above 40 ppm, unless that is the amount found in your tap water). Only water changes can get rid of nitrates. The amound of fish you have in an aquarium, and their bioloads, determines how often a water change in necessary. In a fully stocked aquarium, that's generally around 25% per week.

Originally Posted by StudentoReptile

In my experience as a pet shop grunt, aquarium maintenance technician, as well as having many of my own aquariums, I will say that EVERY aquarium is different. I had a nano reef tank that went well with a water change every 6 months.

That said, I feel that what determines how much regular maintenance is required is directly related on how the aquarium was set-up and the first 2-3 weeks after. If it was a noob who knows nothing and throw a ton of fish in a small tank, feeds them too much, etc...they're pretty much setting themselves up for a lot of maintenance down the road, as fixing all that tank's issues will be a constant uphill battle, aside from simply starting over from scratch.

Now if you're a more knowledgeable aquarist, who is patient, and let's the aquarium cycle properly before adding fish, adding the correct species/amount of fish, etc...you can eventually have a tank that is bulletproof that requires very little maintenance. And of course, a lot depends on the type of fish, etc.

One thing about tap water....chlorine and chloramines aren't the only thing to worry about. pH can be a factor as well, depending on the fish and/or plants you intend to keep. For example, the pH in my tap is naturally around 7.8-8.0. It was an uphill battle trying to keep it low for my FW planted tanks. Sometimes, it can simplify things to just keep species that prefer that pH range.

I've found that many fish, even the less hardier ones like neon tetras and german blue rams, can adapt to a large pH range. If the change is drastic, however, a longer acclimation process will be required. I keep fish that prefer many different pH ranges acclimated to the pH of my tap water, and they do fine.

[Lankyrob]

Originally Posted by EmilyS

Are you talking about nitrates? Here's the nitrogen cycle in a nutshell:

Fish produce waste that gives off ammonia; fish can only tolerate a very small amount of this (they'll start showing symptoms of ammonia poisoning even at a concentration of .25 ppm; in an established aquarium, there should be 0 ppm). To help get rid of ammonia, there is a naturally occurring bacteria that turns ammonia into nitrites. Well, nitrites are similar to ammonia in the fact that they are bad for fish in even small numbers. So, there's a bacteria to turn nitrites into nitrates, which fish can handle much more of (I wouldn't allow a tank's concentration of nitrates get above 40 ppm, unless that is the amount found in your tap water). Only water changes can get rid of nitrates. The amound of fish you have in an aquarium, and their bioloads, determines how often a water change in necessary. In a fully stocked aquarium, that's generally around 25% per week.




I've found that many fish, even the less hardier ones like neon tetras and german blue rams, can adapt to a large pH range. If the change is drastic, however, a longer acclimation process will be required. I keep fish that prefer many different pH ranges acclimated to the pH of my tap water, and they do fine.

So would having the tank planted with live plants help or hinder the fish?

I had sand and gravel substrate on top of an earth layer, i had plants planted into the soil covering three quarters of the tank. Snails cleaned the glass and pebbles and the guppies ate the "moss" that grew on the ornaments. The tank was approx two foot square, and there was an eight hour "daylight" bulb each day. I also had a couple of small catfish type things that fed off the bottom

[EmilyS]

Plants are good, they help remove some (but not all) nitrates and ammonium. They also look much better than fake

[Wildside]

Alright so lol at me being called a noob first of all... Somebody didn't compare stats.

Anyway I should clarify what I meant. Pesticide may not have been the right term but in my experience adding chlorinated water will take care of those pesky little worms keepers often find clinging to the glass as well as few other things. Also that's just in my experience. As a matter of fact every post I've ever made on this forum is based on MY experience. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

Anyway, StudenttoReptile makes very good points as always. Maybe I don't have problems with chlorine/chemicals because of my excessive filtration habit. I've got 4 Aquaclear 110's on my 180. Or maybe my tap water isn't as chemically processed as others. This is still a pretty rural area. The point(s) I'm trying to make is fish keeping isn't as difficult as the internet sometimes makes it out to be.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by Wildside

Alright so lol at me being called a noob first of all... Somebody didn't compare stats.

Anyway I should clarify what I meant. Pesticide may not have been the right term but in my experience adding chlorinated water will take care of those pesky little worms keepers often find clinging to the glass as well as few other things. Also that's just in my experience. As a matter of fact every post I've ever made on this forum is based on MY experience. I'm pretty sure that's how it works.

Anyway, StudenttoReptile makes very good points as always. Maybe I don't have problems with chlorine/chemicals because of my excessive filtration habit. I've got 4 Aquaclear 110's on my 180. Or maybe my tap water isn't as chemically processed as others. This is still a pretty rural area. The point(s) I'm trying to make is fish keeping isn't as difficult as the internet sometimes makes it out to be.

I went online to forums for fish help. It was rough. Worse than the reptile crowd. I was wrong in some aspects but overall, it's literally a job to keep the smallest of tanks to some people. Or so they make it out to be.

Right now though, we've gotten my daughter's tank down to just guppies. She enjoys them, and enjoys the new babies that pop up from time to time. It's simple enough for me to maintain when she's not around and for when I'm just too busy with work/life.

Personally, I'd like a tiger barb aquarium or to try my hand at breeding rams.

[Wildside]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I went online to forums for fish help. It was rough. Worse than the reptile crowd. I was wrong in some aspects but overall, it's literally a job to keep the smallest of tanks to some people. Or so they make it out to be.

Right now though, we've gotten my daughter's tank down to just guppies. She enjoys them, and enjoys the new babies that pop up from time to time. It's simple enough for me to maintain when she's not around and for when I'm just too busy with work/life.

Personally, I'd like a tiger barb aquarium or to try my hand at breeding rams.

LOL Fish people are usually extreme pragmatist

[EmilyS]

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

I went online to forums for fish help. It was rough. Worse than the reptile crowd. I was wrong in some aspects but overall, it's literally a job to keep the smallest of tanks to some people. Or so they make it out to be.

You should try fishlore