How Many Tanks And How Much Time Do You Spend On Them?

[xxBarneyxx]

I'm sure this has come up more then once here but I was just curious (read bored at work) how many tanks most people have and how much time people spend on them (water changes, feeding or just looking at them).

Personally for me at the moment I have two tanks (one planted and one nano reef) but in the past I had upto 5 or 6 going at a time (I have another 3 setups that I'm planning at the moment also ).

My planted tank seems to take up a lot of time and between the normal tank maintainance and dosing, pruning and scaping I probably spend about 4-5 hours a week on it. The nano tank is new and not yet stocked so only having to do water changes, top ups and water tests so only takes about an hour a week max in total.

I do spend quite a lot of time watching them though. Normally when I get home from work everyday I make myself a drink, feed the fish then sit and watch them for about half an hour.

All in all I think just my two tanks take about a good 15-20 hours a week which seems like quite a lot when I think about it

 

[Arfie]

I've got 4 running right now, water changes take about an hour or so a week if I can be bothered to get the hose out, a bit longer if I am using buckets, but I seem to spend about 3-4 hours per week in total with cleaning the class, rinsing filter sponges out, replanting everything the little **** have dug up etc etc, feeding 10-15 mins per day.

Arfie

 

[poopsydrew]

Around 18, Havent counted recently. I pick up a few more on friday. Probably 16-25 hours a week of work on them at the minimum.

Drew

 

[doresy]

Hi..........2 tanks (see signiture)

Both total

Water changes 1-2 times a week = 4 hours

They are next to computer at home so I guess you could say 2-3 hours a night looking at them

Message to self......must get out more!

 

[Elaine2]

I have one tank running at present approx. 54" X 18" X 20" which generally takes about 1 hour per week for water changes, glass cleaning trimming plants etc. Planning a big tank when I get the downstairs room sorted. I spend a couple of hours a night watching the fish.

 

[Alistriwen]

1x 55 1x 33 1x 30 2x 27 4 x 20 1 x 15 2 x 10 5 x 5.5 3 x 2.5 = 20 total.

My roomie and I do h20 changes 3 x a week. Monday and friday just on fry tanks, and then wednesday is the big water change on all the tanks. Probably takes 4 - 5 hrs a week total for that. I probably spend an additional 6 or 7 hours a week watching them and doing aquascaping. Another hour or two a week for random stuff that pops up like moving fish around. The bulk of my fish time though is the time I spend thinking about them and planning for them .

 

[flash22]

2 tanks soon to be 3 20-30 mins a day feeding and general flafing 3-4 hours on a sunday for water changes and gawd knows how long watching

 

[Meds081603]

Currently

2 55gallon
1 16gallon
1 5gallon
2 10gallon

I'd say I spend 10+ hours per week messing with them.

 

[arvlyn]

I have four as listed in my signature. Now that they're all set up and going strong, I maybe spend 2 hours a week on them - water changes/gravel vacuuming, checking/rinsing the filter material, etc.

 

[divisible by zero]

55g planted community(pictured below) about 1.5 hr a week. I've got the water changes down to about 20 minutes and rarely have to do any pruning or replanting, so mainly just feeding and the occasional test. this is in view of my PC so i watch it quite often.

29g community with platty, molly and transplanted RBS & CAE. If i throw this on the water change schedule with the 55g it's next to, i can get it done in about 15 minutes. I spend maybe 5 minutes a day inspecting and looking for fry or preggy platty. this tank gets a lot of attention from the girly and her son as they do school work next to it.

10g betta and glass cats, this tank is the biggest pain right now. The place i put it gets more sunlight than anticipated so i've had a few algae problems, and about to clean it all out for the 2nd time, but this time will be moving it. This tank is next to my PC so it gets quite a bit of visual attention.

55g Cichlid tank, the latest to be set up and stocked (pics below) Due to this being new and recently cycled this tank gets more attention than the rest currently, maybe 2 hrs per week other than feeding and the 30% water changes i'm dong every 5 days or so.

overall probably not as much as i should be, but all the tanks do get attention every day besides just feeding.

 

[black molly3]

first of all barney. i had a 45 liter nano not too long ago didnt look nowere near as nice as yours lol with all that live rock must have cost a fortune. (im only a studant and not earning lol) i had some live rock around £100 worth and a few corals. what are you planning on having in there. i had a neon velvet blue damsel a domino damsel and a clown fish (pushing it a little but they seemed rather happy) how long have you had it set up for.

anyway back on topic i have 2 tanks 1 has an oscar in and 1 has a silver shark in and a male fighterfish (dont ask me how that mix up happened but they are the best of buds) i have others but only very small.
i gave my marine fish back to the fish shop as i needed money to go out with friends but didnt give the hermit crab back or the two turbo snails back they are also in a small tank. all in all i spend about 5 hours a week on my tanks but most of this time its just looking at my oscar digging the subtrate and pretending hes the boss lol.
anyway thats me done
good luck with your nanno its real great fun and the world of marine is tottaly different, the way the fish behave ect

 

[fishman 1]

I have 58 tanks running in my fish house. It takes me 2 hrs per night just to feed them all.

As for maintenance it varies depending on if i have a fish show coming up at a weekend. If I have maintenance/water changes increase. I usually have a full day doing the water changes etc every two weeks, as well as standard daily maintenance, checking mops for fish eggs, looking at them to ensure all is well. I would say if you averaged it out about 22 hours per week.

 

[branjie]

I have one 4ft tank and a Betta Barracks. I'm having trouble with water stats in the big tank at the moment, and doing water changes nearly every day, so I think I'd depressed if I added up the time.

When a petless friend saw my fish tanks, she said, at least fish aren't as much work as a dog. If only she knew! My dog is so much easier in comparison.

Would I have started up with fish had I known in advance how much time and money it would cost? No way. Still, I love my fish and wouldn't part with them now.

 

[Straydum]

5 tanks in all if you count the fry tank. 1 hr average per day i would say.

 

[funkyhoney]

Four tanks all up including my Betta tank.

The most time consuming is my planted tank, it takes a lot longer to do water changes, prune, vac etc. All up I'd say about 4-8 hours a week on maintenance, sometimes less

Probably 10-15 minutes a day feeding and a few hours just looking for the sake of looking.

Will probably increase somewhat early next year, large cichlid tank in the works.