Cleaning Basics

Last week I received a comment from an anonymous reader who asked for some tips on fishkeeping. I will cover some of the basics in my next few blogs.

This was the comment from Gail :

I really love these yellow gouramis. They certainly do add color. Since you have such a great setup, I'm assuming you're pretty knowledgeable about tropical fish. So I have a question if you don't mind. I've had an aquarium for a about 4 years now and all of my fish have died except for Mr. Tofu (formerly Mabel). He's a hatchet fish which they said would be hard to keep but he's survived everyone else and keeps ticking. My aquarium really needs a good cleaning but I'm afraid to alter Mr. Tofu's environment since he seems to be doing okay. Do you have any recommendations? I'd really appreciate it.

First of all I must say that I have no experience with Hatchet Fish, but if you have kept one for four years you are doing pretty good. Fish do die unexpectedly, and for mysterious reasons all the time. However you should clean your tank before you add more fish.

On the subject of cleaning often people think that this means a complete teardown, which can be a big cause of fish death. I have never done a complete teardown except when I have moved. My current setup is 5 years old. Cleaning should involve the following basic steps:

1/ vacuum the gravel using a siphon tube that removes the fish poo and at the same time removes 10-15% of the water. Available from Aquarium Services or your Local Fish Store.

2/ Refill the water with fresh water that is the exact temperature of the tank water. Very important on the temperature or you will shock the fish. If you only change 10-15% you will not need to add any chemicals, or use distilled water, just watch the temperature.

3/ Rinse, clean, replace your filter material. Rinse with same temperature water so as to not kill the helpful bacteria in the filter material.

4/ Clean your glass with a magnetic algae brush so you can clean it from the outside. Available from Aquarium Services or your local Fish Store.

That is it! Should take about 15-30min and you will need to do this every 2-4 weeks depending on your tank size and amount of fish. Even if you have left it for longer, just do these steps and you will be fine.

By following these steps your fish will be happy with a refresh of water, and you will be happy to clean your tank so simply.

Remember fish do not like perfectly clean water.

More next week.

Here is the Big Shark that Megan and Josh picked out for our fishtank. 

These are my Yellow Gouramis. I have three of them and they make a great peaceful inhabitant in my community tank. As you can see they add great colour, and have been very hardy. I have had these 3 for two and a half years, and still going strong.  

Here is Ruby, our Ruby Shark. She is one of my favourite fish. I have had one of these in almost every setup I have had. Ruby sharks are much more polite to the other fish than a Red Tail Shark one of my other favourites. In fact I had a Red Tailed Shark before this one until it jumped out of the tank, and was found dried out on the glass top. 

Boy it is hard to take pictures of fish in a fishtank. If they would only just stay still. I hope I get better at this. This is one of my clown fish, who saw some flashes and came by for a pose. Better luck next time.