How often should I clean my fish tank?

Question

I have a 2.5 gallon fish tank and 3 very small fish that won't get much larger. I have a filter, gravel, and 2 small plants in there. It's all brand new so I havent put my fish in the new tank yet. It says the filter should operate 24 hours prior to putting the fish in the tank. How often should I clean it once my fish are in there?

the fish are a 3/4 inch goldfish (who is about to die), a 1 1/4 inch black moor (who according to the salesman won't grow more than a 1/2 inch bigger), and a 1/2 inch longfin rosy barb

I have a 5 gallon tank. Should I use that too and split them up until I get a new tank that will be bigger and better for them?

Answer 1

Doing a small water change every week will really help keep the water clean, fresh, and stable. Buy yourself a small gravel syphon with a thin hose (since it's such a tiny tank) and vacuum the gravel when you do your water change and it will help keep waste from building up too.

When you buy the fish, ask them for a handfull of gravel or filter media from one of their tanks and put this in yours, it will add the good bacteria to the tank so the cycle won't harm the fish.

Answer 2

so you have 2 goldfish (coldwater fish who both could EASILY reach MUCH more than 10 inches) and a rosy barb (tropical fish, gets to 6 inches) and plan to put them in a 2.5 gallon?

you were extremely misinformed. the fish will get MUCH larger. you will be torturing your fish if you put them in there.

get a 55 gallon for the 2 goldfish. get air pumps and an extra filter to increase surface agitaion, and therefore increasing the level of oxygen in the water. get a heater and set it to 65F.

get a 29 gallon for the barb, and a heater set to 77F, and a filter.

they cannot be kept in the same tank, nevermind a 2.5. nothing, i believe, should be kept in a tank so sooo small, not even a betta.

if your fish do not grow anymore than they are, they are stunted. this is when the surroundings are much to small for them and their body stops growing, but their internal organs continue to grow. painful for the fish, and VERY inhumane.


the tank should be set up many WEEKS before getting fish and should be properly cycled.

you should definitely return the fish and ask to talk to a manager of the store you got them from. explain to him how you were so terribly misinformed.

after you return the fish, research them, and the nitrogen cycle and how to properly cycle a tank.

if you choose to keep the fish and put them into the 2.5 gallon, they will die quickly and painfully due to stunting and ammonia/nitrite poisoning.


you should really research these things BEFORE investing in them.

i hope all works out well.

Answer 3

no, no, no, no and no
You don't put any kind of goldfish into a 2.5 gallon fish tank, way to small

All your fish will get very big.

And you're suppose to cycle your tank at first as well
Here are 2 links, one for fishless cycling and 1 with fish
http://www.aquahobby.com/articles/e_fishless.php
http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

you can put these goldfish into a 10 gallon tank until they reach about 3 inches in length after that you have to move them to at least a 20gallon, 40 gallon preferred

Once your tank is cycled and you have fish in there, you're suppose to do a partial waterchange of 25% once a week with a gravel siphon



Hope that helps and you're smart enough not to put these pour goldfish into that small tank



EB

Answer 4

I clean my five gallon fish-tank once every week to get rid of algae and to do a 10% water change. once a month i do a 20% water change, clean my gravel and plants. hope i could help!! Oh yeah a question for you, what kind of fish do you have in there?? because you may go over your bio-load if they get any bigger.

Answer 5

Change 10 percent of the water weekly,and a total water change maybe once a month or less.Your fish aren't very large,so maybe a complete change every other month.

Answer 6

once every 2-3 weeks when you see algeastart to build on the side of the tank, you know you need to clean it

Answer 7

to prevent from having to clean it all the time you should purchase some alagie eaters they help keep the dirt out. Also if your tank is by a window or by any sun light it will get dirty much faster. I would say it depends on the type of fish. Never purchase gold fish they are very dirty

Answer 8

a small algae eater mite help..