I have a ten gallon peacock fry tank going. I do 50 percent water changes every morning and syphon excess food. I feed about three times per day. I have pothos in the tank and my nitrates are always at 0 ppm throughout the day no matter how much they poop and how much excess food is left over. Will lowering the amount of water changes I do stunt their growth or should I keep doing the same amount of water changes? I ask in order to see if excess hormones and excess things left over from less water changes can stunt their growth other then giving them fresh water everyday. Or will the pothos also suck out any excess things from doing less water changes.
Can I slow down on water changes?
- Thread starter Michaelscarn23
- Start date
Best way to get fish to grow is plenty of food and fresh water. What about the other byproducts? Are your waterchanges removing the other ones and not letting the nitrate a chance to form? Would cutting back cause issues with those? I'm sure you understand the nitrogen cycle but have you thought about that? Just food for thought. I doubt it'll be an issue but if what you are doing is working why upset the balance?
I'm not sure what levels of nitrate actually begin to stunt a fishes growth or whether actual hormones that the fish release themselves can indeed stunt growth of fellow tankmates.
What I do know is that it must take all of what, literally 5 minutes to do a water change on that 10g? Along with good nutrition you are giving your fry the best possible start so why not just carry on as you are?
What I do know is that it must take all of what, literally 5 minutes to do a water change on that 10g? Along with good nutrition you are giving your fry the best possible start so why not just carry on as you are?
I just wanted to hear other people’s knowledge on the question. I was gonna continue doing them everyday either way. I actually enjoy doing water changes it makes feel really good every time I know my fishes water is fresh
My approach with fry is completely different, so it's hard to relate. I often use a 50 or 55 gal tank for fry (divided if need be for a mix of species or multiple generations) and matching filter-- daily water changes not needed.
I'm not critiquing what you're doing or saying you should do it my way, everyone has their preferences, not everyone has the available tank space, etc. Only mentioning it because it does make fry rearing easier imo in terms of need for water changes and plenty of time before you need to move fry to a bigger tank.
I'm not critiquing what you're doing or saying you should do it my way, everyone has their preferences, not everyone has the available tank space, etc. Only mentioning it because it does make fry rearing easier imo in terms of need for water changes and plenty of time before you need to move fry to a bigger tank.