Maintenance on a 10 gallon divided tank?

[kjwarren103]

Okay so I got my first betta fish a couple of weeks ago, and he is currently living in what I believe to be a 1.5 gallon tank. I want him to have more room, and I kind of want another fish. I have a 10 gallon and a filter, so I was thinking I may buy a divider and get two male bettas.

My question is, how often do change the water, and how do I do that since the tank is divided?

[littlegreen]

I do 20% weekly, and just siphon out the gravel gunk from all of the sections. I just have to take the siphon out for a few seconds to move it over the divider!

[DragonFish]

20/25-30% partial water change using a Siphon and a bucket or a Pyhton that connects to your sink, getting down and sucking out all the gravel gunk(or skimming over the top of sand to pick all the poo up)once weekly should be your regular maintenance for any standard larger cycled tank. A divided one is no different; you just have to move the siphon end over the divider xD

To start with though, be sure to look up some info in the Nitrogen cycle so you can properly prepare your tank for your current betta and his new future compaction :) Heres a nice little link to get ya started http://www.firsttankguide.net/cycle.php

[thekoimaiden]

Once the tank is cycled, you should do a 40% to 50% water change without live plants or a 20% to 30% water change with live plants. If you don't have live plants, you will need to use a siphon (I don't recommend getting a python for just one 10 gal tank as they are rather expensive) to clean gunk from the substrate. With live plants, all you will need to change is the water. It's easiest to use a siphon for this, too, just don't stick it in the gravel. Plants use the gunk in the gravel for fertilizer.

While you are cycling the tank you could potentially be doing as many as 3 or 4 water changes a week (if you choose to do a fish-in cycle).