A Maintenance Schedule...

[timmystood]

It's easier to prevent disease, than it is to cure sick fish. This page contains a list of tasks and a maintenance schedule for doing these tasks that will prevent stress and disease.

Daily Maintenance

Check all your fish for Signs of Stress and Disease. The earlier you spot a sick fish and begin to give that fish special care, the sooner it will recover, and the less likely that disease will spread to other fish.


Is the water cloudy or foamy? Does the water have an unusual odor? If so take immediate action.


Check the thermometer to be sure the temperature of the water is in the correct temperature range for your fish.


If your fish's home has a filter, check it to be sure that it is clean and the water is flowing at the usual rate.


Feed your fish at least twice a day. Don't feed them more than they will eat. Remove all uneaten bits of food after 10 minutes. Be sure all the fish are eating. Loss of Appetite is a Sign of Stress and Disease. If any of your fish do not eat, look at them closely for other Signs of Stress and Disease.

Weekly Maintenance

Change 20% of the water twice a week in your fish's home. This is one of the most important ways to care for your fish, keep them strong and vigorous, and prevent them from becoming sick.


Wash your Gravel. When you change 20% of the water in your fish's home, you should wash your gravel, if your fish's home has gravel.

Monthly Maintenance

Clean your fish's home thoroughly. Wash any ornaments or fake plants and do any underwater gardening that needs attention.

 

[SamUK]

needs to be more detailed before its pinned.


u say what to look for but not how to cure it if you ever find it.

 

[timmystood]

it's only a rough guide to - I thought it would be good to stick up next to your tank so you can always see it if your just starting out...

 

[demonmagus]

Great guide.

If you want to make it more detailed then I suppose you could have a link to a disease spotter site.

 

[leafs]

You make some good points, but I don't agree with twice a week water changes and feeding a least twice a day. I change my water once a week and feed once a day with one day of fasting per week. There's different factors that should be considered.

 

[whip]

I posted earlier about feeding, and was told I'm over feeding at twice a day. Your post says AT LEAST twice a day. I personnaly fell that two small meals is better than one bigger one, but I'm trying the once a day approach, to see if it makes a difference. If it's available, I would love to see any type of research done on this.

 

[dwarfgourami]

The advice on feeding needs to be more nuanced. A lot of fish do better being fed once a day, if fed more often they need to be fed very small amounts at each feed (so you need to mention this). Some fish take longer than 10 minutes to find and eat their food, some foods take longer than 10 minutes to eat (like cucumber). Many fish benefit from a weekly fasting day, and pretty well all fish can cope with the occasional longer fast, say if you are away for the weekend. From the advice as currently worded, a newbie might get the idea that disaster is going to follow if you miss a day's feed, or even a morning's feed. In fact, it's unlikely that most fish will suffer very much even if you go away for the week.

Most people are fine with one water change a week, unless heavily stocked or keeping very sensitive fish.

What do you mean by washing your gravel once a week? If you mean, hoovering it with the gravel vac, then that is good advice but not very clear. If you mean actually take it out and wash it, then I don't approve at all. Some of the beneficial bacteria do live in the gravel; I'm not washing them away once a week!

 

[morgan]

Hi, I change 10% water once a week and feed my fish twice a day (they are not delicate fish). I have never had any disease whatsoever in the tank. Whether that's good luck or the schedule works I wouldn't like to say! I also keep a log book so I don't forget things.

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hi, I change 10% water once3 a week and feed my fish twice a day (they are not delicate fish). I have never had any disease whatsoever in the tank. Whether that's good luck or the schedule works I wouldn't like to say! I also keep a log book so I don't forget things.

Your schedule sounds fine to me.

I didn't mean to say it's wrong to feed twice a day- I do myself with some of my fish, but it is not necessary, there are fish species that certainly do not need it, and it requires the disciplined approach (not overfeeding!) that you obviously have, but not everyone has. My problem with the original post was that it set out twice a day as something you had to do (lots of successful fishkeepers don't), and that it made no attempt to differentiate between the needs of a guppy and an arowana.

 

[love_fish]

Very good, but dont forget, monthly you should clean your filter out to get good preformance and longer life from it.

 

[Bloo]

Nice little summary, but just a couple of things :

Twice daily feeding in general is not such a good idea. Over feeding leads to excess waste, leads to build up of nitrates, leads to illness.
Once a day, 5 - 6 times a week for your average adult (non breeding or conditioning) community fish is absolutely fine.

Secondly, by washing gravel, do you mean just a gravel vac ? because physically removing gravel and washing it is unthinkably stressful for the fish.

 

[morgan]

Your schedule sounds fine to me.

I didn't mean to say it's wrong to feed twice a day- I do myself with some of my fish, but it is not necessary, there are fish species that certainly do not need it, and it requires the disciplined approach (not overfeeding!) that you obviously have, but not everyone has. My problem with the original post was that it set out twice a day as something you had to do (lots of successful fishkeepers don't), and that it made no attempt to differentiate between the needs of a guppy and an arowana.
[/quote]

I didn't think you were criticising me! Don't mind if people do anyway, good to hear different opinions. Just adding my 2p worth! I do think I overfeed a bit. I have a Common Pleco which has grown from 2-3" to 12" in 9 months so he is obviously well nourished!

 

[dwarfgourami]

quote I didn't think you were criticising me! Don't mind if people do anyway, good to hear different opinions. Just adding my 2p worth! I do think I overfeed a bit. I have a Common Pleco which has grown from 2-3" to 12" in 9 months so he is obviously well nourished! quote

He sounds great! Can you post a pic?

 

[timmystood]

Yeah - I should clear myself up a bit!

With the feeding, I just put down twice a day because I feed 2 twice a day and then fast for a day a week.

With regards to the gravel cleaning. I meant to simply gravel vac not remove the whole lot and wash it.

 

[morgan]

He sounds great! Can you post a pic?
[/quote]


Hi here are a few pics of Buster. I have posted pics before and I don't want to get boring. But since you asked, any excuse! You can guess his size , the silver Mollie in one of the pics is 2". I replied to a website which I found and I don't think the person believed how big Buster has got in a short time. Hope you like the pics. PS It took a while as I have to ask my son to put the pics on for me!