Re: [GSAS-Member] Water Changes

[matt kaufman <igotadose@hotmail.com>]

Think abit about the betta breeders. 1 fish per 4 to 8oz jar, 100% daily water 
changes. No problem. Lots of big 'basement' breeders and fish farms in FL use 
continuous water change or daily (but gradual) massive changes. The discus 
farms in Thailand et al. do 90% water changes daily; drain the tanks down till 
the fish are laying on their sides, and refill. Feed heavily with live foods 
(typically daphnia, mosquito larvae and red tubifex worms from the abundant 
sewage).
 
So, it's hard to generalize. As a long-time killi breeder, I do big daily water 
changes on very crowded, unfiltered containers, and maybe 20% weekly water 
changes on smaller breeding groups. As these relatively short-lived fish age, 
they don't like as much disturbance in their tanks.
 
so, YMMV. But, water changes, in general, are good. If you had a spare hour, 
your fish will appreciate an extra water change rather than an extra feeding 
(despite their begging at the front of the glass.)> Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 
08:56:19 -0800> From: haika@drizzle.com> To: gsas-member@thekrib.com> Subject: 
Re: [GSAS-Member] Water Changes> > I bet you'll get a bunch of different 
approaches to this (wink). My> approach would be to take into consideration 
your critter bioload and the> kind of filtration you are or are not using. 
Also, whether you have and> plants to process some of the nitrogenous wastes. 
For instance, I have a> small sponge filter in a 10g planted tank with 7 
growing koi in it. I do> water changes daily at about 30-40%. Since that 
provides indoor plant> water, I have incentive and I don't have larger tanks 
set up yet for these> growing koi. I could probably do this weekly and they'd 
live, but I'm> trying to give them better conditions than baseline survival 
(wink). On> the other hand, I have a densely planted 10g tank with a small 
sponge> filter and one pair of peacock gudgeons. I rarely do water changes in 
that> tank....just when there is an accumulation of mulm that is distracting> 
from the looks. Probably once every 2-3 months.> > I could probably add some 
nitrogenous waste testing to see if I'm> accumulating nitrates or whether I'm 
controlling ammonia and nitrite with> the sponge filter's biological filtration 
but I'm too lazy. I start doing> that when I have problems or other questions 
I'm trying to answer.> > And I have a 29g tank and a 20g long empty in the 
garage and a stand for> them outside in the carport that I just have to lug 
into the family room> and set up for the baby koi. But it hasn't happened yet 
(weak grin).> > Betty Goetz> > > I do a 50% water change every Sunday on each 
of my tanks. Is this too> > much> > or too often? Why?> > 
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