Crazy Fish Lady

[Bec]

So after reading the thread for the next Melbourne meeting (in the wee hours of the morn ... never a good time to make a rash decision), I decided I needed 10 more baby giants. They all arrived yesterday and OMG they are stunning (plus the extra bonus fish Jack always adds ).

And today my Thai fish arrived ... all safe and well . Clearly I am going to be doing a lot of water changes as in total that is 36 fish (My kids are now calling me the crazy fish lady ... like a crazy cat lady only with fish ). I have all the fish in quarantine tanks of around 2 liters each.

Can anyone tell me if I can get away with a daily fifty percent change. Usually I set up two tanks for each fish (in the same large tank so heat is constant) and just pop the fish from one jar to the other jar every day. Too easy, water is aged for 24 hours and always the same temp. I can't do that this time as I have too many fish and not enough jars.

I am thinking a fifty percent change daily, with IAL, prime, melafix and pimafix and a twice a week 80% change. Will this be enough or am I better to do a 100% daily change (worried about shocking the fish).

Any other ideas on keeping the water fresh with out shocking them two much (I have barrels of aged water so that is not an issue)... after two weeks they will go into their permanent homes but the water is shared in them, albeit with a UV sterilizer. After loosing the last lot, they are all staying apart for at least two weeks .

Bec

[SFF1]

Congratulations on your purchase Bec. I'd love to see the photos.

I've been doing 50% water changes every second day with my week and a half old fry and it doesn't seem to adversely affect them. In fact I think they're actually better for it as they're growing really well.

If your water is aged and treated they should be ok.

[Neffy]

Nice ! i dont envy the water changing :P

[zhong89]

I had fish in 2L tanks for a while with 100% water changes every three days and it was fine. The male has never being better (don't know if that's because all the live foods i've being feeding or the water changes), I also had java fern in each of the tanks to help with the water quality. I did not put any melafix or primafix, only aquarium salt, prime and sometimes IAL. So it's possible and achievable and for me there were no side effects.

Good luck

[Bettarazzi]

If you don't mind doing daily changes, I'd just do about 20-30% daily and don't worry about the 80% change. I would have thought that even in such a small quantity of water the daily refresh would be sufficient to keep water quality up. Bettas aren't that messy. I'm not sure about the melafix/pimafix. Fine with the IAL but I prefer to reserve anything else for when they're actually sick.

[Bec]

The pimafix was recommended to me by someone for the first week after transporting (when I bought my first fish), and I do the melafix just to be on the safe side as well. I think it is in case they have sustained any injuries during transport and to guard them against low immunity after the shock of the two trips .

I am happy to do any amount of water change every day, so 30% sounds too easy . After the first week I will change water conditioners to amino lock to assist with any ammonia build up, stop the pimafix and melafix.

[bewarebrunette]

pics! pics! pics!!!!! :D

[Bec]

Every day at work I think ... tonight I will take some photos ... but by the time I have changed the water and done a bit of general housework it is way to dark!

This weekend I plan to take some photos, even if it is only a few of them :photo: