How To Persuade Oneself To Clean The Fish Tanks Weekly?

[The Haunt]

Yeah, so, I'm back! And I know TONS more. >.<; I kinda lied when I first joined about not having any fish tanks, as it's sort of a family sharing thing. XD

Anyways....

I have a fish tank of my own, a 10 gallon, and I'm currently in the process of setting up another one (another 10 gallon, I mean). The thing is, I can never persuade myself to clean it until the whole tank is dirty, green, and full of algae! D:

Is there any way to persuade yourself to remember every week? Because, as I'm sure you all know, you sort of give the job a lick and a promise, vow to do it, and, then... nothing. One thing comes up. BAM! You do that. Another thing. BAM! That one. One thing leads to another, and then.... It's midnight, and you haven't done a single thing on the fish tanks that day. Any way to make myself remember?

 

[PaBucsFan]

Just get on a set schedule. Personally I change my water every Tuesday and Saturday. I don't mean to sound rude but not cleaning your tanks weekly is like not feeding your dogs, cats, other pets, etc. It is neglect and can cause harm to your fish.

 

[The Haunt]

'Kay, that's a great idea, thanks! :3

What time of day do you generally change your water? I might try, like, every evening. Since I'm not allowed to go out Sundays (school night! D: Ah, the joys of high school.... XD), I can probably do it, then! :3

 

[SlyPolak]

I clean my tanks every wednesday and add ferts on thursday and sunday.....

Just think of it this way, you spend all this cash on the tank, media, fish, etc. (plants if you have any) Because you like to have an aquarium and then if you dont clean and let it degrade, then the fish may suffer with lack of health because the unsanitary environment.. and worse of the worse lose fish. That just means you wasted all that time and money for no reason..

 

[The Haunt]

That's good advice. I tend to forget about these things, but that's just me. Hopefully I'll be able to persuade myself more during the school year! :3

 

[chrisrm]

Yeah, so, I'm back! And I know TONS more. >.<; I kinda lied when I first joined about not having any fish tanks, as it's sort of a family sharing thing. XD

Anyways....

I have a fish tank of my own, a 10 gallon, and I'm currently in the process of setting up another one (another 10 gallon, I mean). The thing is, I can never persuade myself to clean it until the whole tank is dirty, green, and full of algae! D:

Is there any way to persuade yourself to remember every week? Because, as I'm sure you all know, you sort of give the job a lick and a promise, vow to do it, and, then... nothing. One thing comes up. BAM! You do that. Another thing. BAM! That one. One thing leads to another, and then.... It's midnight, and you haven't done a single thing on the fish tanks that day. Any way to make myself remember?

Why should you have to persuade yourself to clean your tank? you choose to keep fish so therefore you chose to care for them!
you only have to change 2-3 gallons of water per week, i and many others change 30-40+ gallons per week it takes me about an hour, so it would only take you 20 mins or so. Do it on a sunday afternoon when thers not much else to do!

what is your stocking?

 

[Twinklecaz]

I never thought I'd say this (seriously) but I remember coz I kinda....like doing it! I can't stand to see the tank dirty(the joys of sand!) and to be honest I actually have to stop myself doing it too often sometimes. My tank's quickly become my pride and joy really.

Are you sure fish are for you though? Coz your tank shouldn't get "green" before you do it. Maybe you'd be happier with something else? Though something I will say is it did seem a really chore to me at first coz I was so new to it and had stress with syphoning etc but they more you do it, the better you get at it and the less time it takes you. and the less hassle it seems!

 

[james_fish]

Similar to Twincklecaz's response, I don't know what it is with me, I just simply enjoy cleaning my tank. But it's the same at work, I enjoy doing it.
But I only need to water change my 55 gal every 3-4 weeks. And algae doesn't grow much.

I think its interacting with the fish & just enjoying them swimming around your arm

James.

 

[justjon]

To be honest, I have to wonder why you're getting another tank when you fail to maintain a decent quality of life with the first. Personally, I love seeing my tank spotless all the time, a slight amount of dirt anywhere will annoy me to the point where I have to just leave alone for a bit longer as I think I'm doing the fishes heads in ;p

 

[CrystalClear16]

For me cleaning the tank is part of my weekly routine. Weekend chores = tidy apartment, hoover apartment, clean fish etc.

If you have pets you can't 'forget' about them. If you find yourself struggling to remember either a) find a way to remember (e.g. setting alarms) or b) don't have them. I mean, would you forget to bath a baby?

Having said that I do understand what you mean about 'a lick and a promise'. If I am particarly busy I just do a quick water change and don't have time to move all the ornaments and get all the muck underneath. However I then ALWAYS do it properly next time (which is usually only a few days later because I hate mucky sand!).

Pets require care, there are less than pleasant jobs when keeping any animal. If you don't want to do the dirty work then get a tamagotchi!

 

[Bretzz]

For a 10 gallon it literally takes like 5 minutes. I fill up one bucket, dechlor., suck out another bucket from the tank (2 Gallon buckets), dump the new bucket in, dump the old bucket out, done.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol I don't move my ornaments atall (bogwood). TBH I have all my plants and stuff grown round it and it would probably mess everything up to move anything.

 

[elisew]

Same as Twinkle and james.....

I enjoy cleaning my tank and could never imagine it being grotty and full of green water

For one thing it`s not fair on the fish, for another I`m a tidy, clean person who has a lovely tidy home, (drives hubby mad sometimes) and for another.... I can stand back and take pride in knowing I have a healthy, clean tank with healthy, happy fish

 

[CrystalClear16]

Lol I don't move my ornaments atall (bogwood). TBH I have all my plants and stuff grown round it and it would probably mess everything up to move anything.

That works unless you have clown loaches that enjoy digging underneath and chucking all the mess everywhere. I have to clean under the bogwood etc otherwise they will mess up the tank within 10mins!

 

[crazychris]

Most stable cycled tanks don't need servicing weekly though. I do partial water changes and gravel vacs once a fortnight and that seems to work okay.