[bellasia]

Well did water change today have been sucessfully catching him in the cup after trouble getting him in the net, today he decides hes going to play hide and seek and so i was unable too catch him and decided to change water with him in the tank he seemed ok and when i was done i gave him a couple of pellets which he ate happily. Question is how many people do changes with fish in the tank? im thinking of doing that in future although it does make it slightly more difficult to do a more thorough clean up and im always worried in case i suck him up.

 

[Tamyu]

I never remove any of my fish from their tanks for water changes unless there is something drastic that requires immediate attention... And even then, chances are I am not going to take them out.

I never do 100% water changes though. The most I do is 75%, so there is always enough water left in the tank for them to be alright. I also have a tiny suction tube with mesh on the tip so even my tiniest fish don't get sucked up.

If you are concerned about not cleaning up enough, try doing two back to back partial water changes. Any debris that is stirred up when you add the new water can be sucked up in a second smaller change.

 

[MaisyDawgThirteen]

I don't take my fish out. My rasboras hide (as always) and the guppies just swim around like nothing is happening. xD

 

[Pitluvs]

I do 100% changes, and I cup my boys. It's to the point now where they pretty much jump in the cup. What I did was give them a pellet at the start, and scoop them when they came to the top. For sick Bettas, I siphon the water out with airline tube, and add it back the same way. Leaving about an inch of water at the bottom of the tank.

 

[Sheldon31]

I don't take mine out. It's a 2ft long tank with 60 ltrs of water so it seems pointless to take all the tetras out and Kyon for just a 25% change. Bettas ain't sold in cups here either so I haven't got one suitable. Occasionally I take the goldyout of his if it needs a deep clean but I put him in a large spare bowl or bucket.

 

[bellasia]

Thanx everyone, nice to know there are other people who do leave them in i suppose its just what works best and what set up you have, i think Blaze gets more stressed when im trying to catch him hes so quick i keep missing him as soon as he sees the cup hes off lol have tried to tempt him with food but hes wise to me now think hes to clever for his own good

 

[styggian]

I never remove fish for water changes either. It'd be more stressful for mine, I think.

 

[lvandert]

I dont take my fish out unless I'm doing a 80-100% water change, or moving them to a different tank. I just siphon some out and siphon some in. The only thing my fish seem to notice is a slow current.

 

[Leeniex]

My tanks are only a couple gallons, so I take them out. Once I couldn't get Rex in his cup to save my life, so I left him in and sucked the water out around him. I felt guilty all week, lol.

 

[Bombalurina]

If your tank is unfiltered and under 5 gallons, you kind of have to remove the fish to do the necessary 100% change. All my tanks are over 5 gallons, so I don't have that issue, but when I do do a 100% change because I want to change my aquascape, I do remove my fish.

Afte trying to catch 5 tiny tetras, 12 little Endlers, heaven knows how many shrimp and 3 extremely wriggly cories, catching some bettas is a breeze.

 

[Tikibirds]

I can't lift the 5G so the water gets siponed out and the betta stays in the tank.

 

[Tamyu]

If your tank is unfiltered and under 5 gallons, you kind of have to remove the fish to do the necessary 100% change. All my tanks are over 5 gallons, so I don't have that issue, but when I do do a 100% change because I want to change my aquascape, I do remove my fish.

I guess that is probably the big difference. I can't imagine having an unfiltered tank! Even when I had my female in a temporary plastic case (only 5 liters) I picked up a tiny sponge filter for it. They are incredibly cheap, so I couldn't justify not getting one. The sponge from it now lives on the intake of the filter for her 6.5 gallon. :-D

I recently tried to catch all the white cloud mountain minnows I have in one of my tanks because for some reason ammonia was going up... The tank was cycled so I was panicking trying to figure out what was going on and why my cycle had crashed. I planned to take everything out and wash the substrate. I gave up after only getting about a fifth of them after an hour of trying. :lol:
They just had to deal while I removed things. (I found the cause pretty quickly - one of them had died and was rotting caught in a decoration just where I couldn't see it and normal cleanings didn't dislodge it.)

 

[MadameDesu]

I always cup my betta when I do 50 and 100% changes. she's hard to catch, but I usually end up catching her in the corners. I wouldn't have a problem leaving her in for the 50% change, but I add water in directly from the tap which she wouldn't like.
I may try it differently for my water change tonight. Or maybe not. I'm more worried about the water sending her into shock than I am about her being stressed.

 

[MadameDesu]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am such an idiot! Here I am posting about how I cup my betta, and I cause disaster.
I went to cup her and accidentally tore her beautiful little spade tail

 

[Aus]

It'll heal! Just do the AQ salt thing a few days...

MY daughter's HM boy is a real pain to catch - he sees a cup and dives for cover under the heater or wherever will prove least convenient, every single time.

I found using a larger cup works, as the drag of the current from it is greater and sucks him in more quickly, and I notice this has reduced wc-time stress a lot.

Luckily my red VT female has not yet worked out that cups can be avoided - she's so fast, I'd never catch her! :lol:

I have smaller tanks (3-3.5g) and I find cupping convenient and better for re-acclimating. If I had larger tanks where the temp difference to new water wouldn't be so dramatic, I would probably leave them in.

 

[MadameDesu]

I don't have any AQ salt ... And I'm going away this weekend.
*sigh* Shame on me.

 

[Bombalurina]

When I do need to catch my fish, I generally use baking measures, ranging from 1/4 of a cup for my shrimps to 2 cups for my bettas.

 

[bellasia]

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I am such an idiot! Here I am posting about how I cup my betta, and I cause disaster.
I went to cup her and accidentally tore her beautiful little spade tail

Oh no this happened to me once when i was using the net, after ditching that i thought all would be well with the cup but it does happen especially when you are having to try several times like me, that can stress them out more i think.

 

[bellasia]

It'll heal! Just do the AQ salt thing a few days...

MY daughter's HM boy is a real pain to catch - he sees a cup and dives for cover under the heater or wherever will prove least convenient, every single time.

I found using a larger cup works, as the drag of the current from it is greater and sucks him in more quickly, and I notice this has reduced wc-time stress a lot.

Luckily my red VT female has not yet worked out that cups can be avoided - she's so fast, I'd never catch her! :lol:

I have smaller tanks (3-3.5g) and I find cupping convenient and better for re-acclimating. If I had larger tanks where the temp difference to new water wouldn't be so dramatic, I would probably leave them in.

I did try a larger cup but hes still to fast for me and manages to get away, i tried about 6 times then gave up this time as he was getting stressed and so was i lol

 

[bellasia]

If your tank is unfiltered and under 5 gallons, you kind of have to remove the fish to do the necessary 100% change. All my tanks are over 5 gallons, so I don't have that issue, but when I do do a 100% change because I want to change my aquascape, I do remove my fish.

Afte trying to catch 5 tiny tetras, 12 little Endlers, heaven knows how many shrimp and 3 extremely wriggly cories, catching some bettas is a breeze.

I have a 4 gallon and its filtered with just Blaze my Betta but hes so fast it took me 6 attempts before i decided to give up