Getting into a schedule for school?

[Jrf456]

I had one betta when I was about 9, and after he died, I quit.

SOOO, I started back up somehow this summer.. Now I have 8 healthy beautiful bettas in their own one gallon bowls.

I do 2x weekly 100% water changes, and it usually takes a few hours with so many bowls, letting the water conditioner set, replacing the plants and the gravel, etc.

So.. Basically, I've never had bettas during the school year. I want to keep doing 100% changes 2x weekly, but I want to know if any of you have any ideas so I'm not stressed out staying up all night because of homework, clubs, sports, etc. which will take up time also.

And.. I'm a freshman. LOL.

So yeah.. Any advice?

[Bettabites94]

i have that concern too! (im going to be a senior lol) i have my boys in a 5 gallon (divided) and a 3 gallon all filtered so i dont have to do as frequent water changes. my best advice would be to invest in a larger tank and divide it to save you time with water changes. that or work it so you do one change mid week and another during the weekend? :/ i hope that helped!

[bahamut285]

Stagger the changes. Since you have 8 Betta:

Mon: Bettas 1 and 2
Tue: Bettas 3 and 4
Wed: Bettas 5 and 6
Thu: Bettas 7 and 8
Fri: Bettas 1 and 2
Sat: Bettas 3, 4 and 5
Sun: Bettas 6, 7 and 8

This way, each betta will go a MAXIMUM of 3 full days without water changes. Saturday and Sunday have an additional tank to do because I assume you'd have more free time (no classes and such) to do an additional tank.

[bahamut285]

Of course getting divided, filtered tanks works just as well

[laughing]

I have that problem. I am switching my 10 gallon to a 20 and hopefully will put my 2 bettas into 5 gallon planted tanks to ease water changes... This way the 5s only need about 50% water changes about every 10 days and the 20 can be left 2-2 1/2 weeks. Much easier!

If I were you, I would consider getting 10 gallons or 20 gallon longs and split them. If you split (2) 20 gallon longs into 4s you have all your fish covered. Then every 2 weeks you can do 25-50% water changes on them and you're done! If you only do 25%, you can even leave the fish IN!

It's something to consider, in my opinion.

If not, set specific days to doing them and don't skip! If you do Wednesdays and Saturdays, set aside a specific time to do it and don't make plans that will interfere. By now you should know how long it takes you, so this wont be a problem.

Good luck!

[1fish2fish]

Um... well I just gave up on the notion of sleep LOL.

There's a saying when you get to college

Party, Study, Sleep. Choose Two.

For me it's more like Fish, Study, Sleep. Choose Two. LOL

[bahamut285]

lol 1f2f, sadly I chose Party and Study, LOL.

Potentially going out to a club tonight. However, school hasn't started yet haha

[quyllur]

If you kept a few gallons of water aside to pre-condition, ie in milk jugs, that might save you some time

[Vizja13]

I think when I go to college (3 more years!) I'm going to have to either divide my one tank or figure out how to just bring one XP

[Jrf456]

Bahaha and I thought I had problems just in high school. xD

Thanks for all of your tips everyone! I like your idea about dividing the changes, Bahamut! I might do that actually.