Petco Advice

[Tony]

So I clicked a link on another thread where someone was selling a light and noticed this in the description below the item:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12319439&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

Successful Tips:
Lighting: Only keep aquarium lights on for 8-10 hours during the day, then turn it off at night.
Feeding: Give your fish one small pinch of food 2-3 times daily.
Water Changes: Only change 25% of the water once per month.


Advising against doing more frequent water changes? Seriously? I would think that a company as large as Petco would have at least couple of people who actually have kept fish before and understand the requirements.

 

[mchambers]

To be fair, that's from PetSmart, not Petco. This is what Petco says:

You should replace about 10 to 20 percent of the water in your aquarium every one to three weeks or so. For example, if you have a 50 gallon tank, you need to regularly remove and add back about...

The ellipsis is on the web page. I didn't add it.

http://www.petco.com/Content/ArticleList/List/28/3/Aquarium-Maintenance.aspx

That advice is far more frequent than it should be. Maybe they want to make fishkeeping seem easy, to facilitate sales. Seems shortsighted to me, however.

 

[hollyfish2000]

I was told by Congressional I only needed to do 25 percent water changes every three weeks or so, by one of their most senior people several years ago when I got my first tank. So it's not just the chains.

 

[mchambers]

It's definitely not just the chains. Aqueon and Drs. Foster & Smith each give similar advice.

 

[verbal]

I was told by Congressional I only needed to do 25 percent water changes every three weeks or so, by one of their most senior people several years ago when I got my first tank. So it's not just the chains.

That actually works out to about the same as 10% weekly water changes in terms of the level of accumulated wastes. Both will approach 9 weeks of waste. I bet people do a lot better at a 25% - every 3 weeks than they do with the old recommendation of 10% weekly.

 

[jonclark96]

I'm sure someone thought that if you put out "Do 50% to 75% water changes on a weekly basis" would scare folks off from keeping tanks. Although, could you imagine if your only tank maintenance was doing a water change on a single tank once a week? That's a far cry from the 6+ hours a week I spend changing water.

 

[Rasta Fish]

Or maybe advise on 1 or 2 fishes in a tank i know i cant feed a pinch to my army ...possible

 

[Becca]

I'm not sure the advice is intended for fish tanks stocked the way many of us keep ours. I was taught 1/3 once a month if you have the "inch of fish per gallon" or less type of stocking, but bump it up to every week if you've gone over.

Of course, these days, I try for 30-50% a week, though if I'm short on time it might be a little less water. Some tanks I do 3 or 4 times a week now because there are baby fish growing out.

 

[AndyNarwhal]

That advice is the same as Aqueon uses in our setup guides and is actually really good basic advice for the novice fishkeeper.

We actually did a focus group of several dozen people years back that owned a fish tank (not necessarily hobbyists) and found out that many people actually were either never doing water changes (just topping off), or breaking down their entire tank periodically and scrubbing and bleaching everything. As any hobbyist would tell you this is something you absolutely should not do as your tank will never become established that way.

One couple was actually doing this with a 55 gallon that they would take to their bathtub and scrub monthly.

In addition we were finding out that many people left their lights on 24/7 (parents would often use the fish tank as a night light for children) which led to algae growth, which leads to tanks being broken down completely and cleaned, etc...

You have to remember that this advice is focused at novices who are the primary customers at a Petsmart, Petco, or of small kits like Aqueon Minibows, etc...

More experienced hobbyists will learn on their own from the internet, other hobbyists, or by trial and error, that changing the water more frequently, or in greater volumes (but not the entire tank) will improve the quality of the water. But there is only so much you can put in print before novices just stop reading or caring what you are trying to say. So you have to keep it simple.

When I am trying to get a fish to breed or growing up fry I try to change water about 50% every 1-2 weeks. When I am just housing fish I often go months without water changes. Keep in mind that there are very few absolutes in fishkeeping. What works for one may not work for another. But the basic advice you see from Petsmart, Petco, etc... will work well for most.

Andy

PS. Tony, the "only" refers to the volume of water removed not the frequency. Although I can see it both ways.

 

[daninmd]

I guess I am a bad fish owner. I don't change the water on my 125 too often. its not very heavily stocked though. I check the water every once in a while and if nitrates are below 40ppm I don't do anything. my Africans don't seem to mind and never stop breeding and showing great colors.

when I do a water change its probably 75% or so though.

 

[gravel_digger]

i cant imagine feeding all my parachromis family members a pinch. No offense but maybe this is strictly guiadnace for gold fish owners

 

[verbal]

I guess I am a bad fish owner. I don't change the water on my 125 too often. its not very heavily stocked though. I check the water every once in a while and if nitrates are below 40ppm I don't do anything. my Africans don't seem to mind and never stop breeding and showing great colors.

when I do a water change its probably 75% or so though.

Over 50% can make a huge difference in required water change frequency. If you assume that your tank is producing 10 ppm/Nitrate per week, you can keep it in check with monthly 75% water changes. If you do 25% water changes, then you have to do them weekly to keep Nitrates in check.

For the beginning hobbyist with a 20 gallon tank, I think 25% is a good recommendation because that is 1 5 gallon bucket.

 

[Localzoo]

i cant imagine feeding all my parachromis family members a pinch. No offense but maybe this is strictly guiadnace for gold fish owners

Lol one mans pinch is another NAND handful. Do they reference size and type of fish?
I have an image of someone owning a Red Tail catfish feeding it a pinch lol


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app