Water changes?

[fotografa]

Hello there. =)

I am relatively new to betta fish care (as well as message boards, so go easy on me ;)) and I wanna know more about doing water changes in the least traumatizing way possible.

I know about changing only a certain portion of the water at a time and conditioning the water and temperatures and all that, but I'm wondering if there's a specific method and what you guys typically do when you change your fishy's water. I changed Drowny's water today and cleaned his tank and was thinking to myself, "Is this really as complicated as I'm making it?"

Drowny has a 2 gallon tank with a filter/heater and live plants, if that helps your responses at all.

-Anna

[Oldfishlady]

Welcome to the wonderful world of betta keeping.....

In a 2gal filter tank with live plants and one Betta-I would make weekly 50% water changes-depending on the number and species of plants-careful not to disturb the roots when cleaning the substrate

In a 2g tank I found that giving the substrate a little stir to get the waste up in the water column and dipping half the water out with a plastic cup is the easiest (leave the betta in the tank)-you don't want to get all the fish waste because you want some of it left for the plants to eat (again depending on the species)

Un-plug both the heater and filter before you make your water changes-use a good dechlorinator (if on city water supply) with all new water added to the tank and try to keep the new water temp close to the tank water temp.

Once you re-fill and plug the filter and heater back in the water should clear after an hour or so-monitor the water temp for a few hours if it is a non-adjustable type

Give the filter media a swish/rinse in old tank water with a water change 1-2 times a month and when the water flow slows to get the big pieces of gunk off...you want the filter media to look dirty, this is the good bacteria

What kind of plants do you have?

Love to see some pic of your Betta and set-up.......

[fotografa]

Thank you kindly, Oldfishlady. =) That's pretty much what I've been doing except I was taking him out of the tank but I'll start leaving him in. And am I ever supposed to change the filter? Or just keep lightly rinsing it?

He's kickin' it with some green foxtails, I'll post a couple pictures

[Oldfishlady]

Nice job and great plant choice and what a lovely Betta you have....

I don't change my filter media until it is falling apart...maybe 1-2 times a year at most in all my heavy planted natural tanks-I don't use carbon, not needed-especially with live plants IMO/E-water changes will do the same thing as carbon-but if you like carbon and want to use it-it needs to be changed every 2-4 weeks-its a personal choice more than anything....