BettaMomma
Fish Aficionado
I vacuumed and did a pretty big water change last night on my boys' divided 10G. Those of you with divided tanks know how so very much fun that was. Well, as much fun as it was *NOT* for me, Harvey HATED IT and now once again thoroughly despises me again for a while. I try to make events like that as easy on him as possible, but it never fails cuz he's SUPREMELY pissed at me afterward, no matter what I do.
He's very easily spooked and doesn't forget bad things very easily at all. I started out by shutting off the filter, then removing the 2 dividers so he had the whole tank to swim in. Then he swam over to the other side so then I put one of the dividers back in to keep him over there on Archie's side. (NOTE: Archie was swimming safely in a bucket OUTSIDE the tank) Harvey panicked. He swims all over the place all puffed up like someone's chasing him the entire time I'm vacuuming and taking out water. All the while i'm going as fast as I can and partially tipped over the bucket that held the syphoned out water and stepped in it. And I had socks on. In June - it was HOT outside - why I had socks on is beyond me. ANYWAY - I rinsed everything off, started vacuuming to realize there was a hole in the hose of the vacuum. THAT was really fun. SO... I got everything done, put back together and let him swim back over to his side, then put the dividers down. I had to stick my hand into his side of the tank to straighten out the dividers. I think he's now scarred for life. He's been hiding in the huge bushy part of his plant ever since the whole incident started. All I can see of him are two bulging eyeballs with a little scowl over top of them. This morning I came out to feed them and he looked at me and swam away with his tail in the air. He's mad.
My socks got wet, the carpet got wet with dirty fish water, I tripped over the fan cord almost sending the bucket of water flying across the kitchen, the fan fell over, Harvey almost had a heart attack, and the vacuum hose sprung a leak. All in all a pretty uneventful water change.
He's very easily spooked and doesn't forget bad things very easily at all. I started out by shutting off the filter, then removing the 2 dividers so he had the whole tank to swim in. Then he swam over to the other side so then I put one of the dividers back in to keep him over there on Archie's side. (NOTE: Archie was swimming safely in a bucket OUTSIDE the tank) Harvey panicked. He swims all over the place all puffed up like someone's chasing him the entire time I'm vacuuming and taking out water. All the while i'm going as fast as I can and partially tipped over the bucket that held the syphoned out water and stepped in it. And I had socks on. In June - it was HOT outside - why I had socks on is beyond me. ANYWAY - I rinsed everything off, started vacuuming to realize there was a hole in the hose of the vacuum. THAT was really fun. SO... I got everything done, put back together and let him swim back over to his side, then put the dividers down. I had to stick my hand into his side of the tank to straighten out the dividers. I think he's now scarred for life. He's been hiding in the huge bushy part of his plant ever since the whole incident started. All I can see of him are two bulging eyeballs with a little scowl over top of them. This morning I came out to feed them and he looked at me and swam away with his tail in the air. He's mad.
My socks got wet, the carpet got wet with dirty fish water, I tripped over the fan cord almost sending the bucket of water flying across the kitchen, the fan fell over, Harvey almost had a heart attack, and the vacuum hose sprung a leak. All in all a pretty uneventful water change.
wow, next time you do a water change, get the video camera rolling, you just might win some money 
Those pervs, I don't have that problem, my only problem is noise, seems no matter what time of day I do a water change it seems someone's asleep! ugh. the struggles of fish owners 
