How much time should I spent taking care of mi fish

[igongora]

I have a 20 gallon tank, with 2 angels, 4 goldfish, 4 cory, 2 guppies, how much time should I spent taking care of this tank?

Usually in the morning I leave about 7 am. so I just feed the fish and look at them quickly, just making sure everything is right.

Then at night, when I come back (around 8-9pm) and sit and spent about an hour or two lookin at my tank, feedind the fish, counting them.. lookin at the algaes(I have natural algaes) and sometimes about 2 times a week I make a partial water change..

Should I spent more less time at my tank?

I guess my wife doesn't like me to spent all that time looking at my fish

Has anyone of you gone through something like this?

 

[Billsgate]

Well, first of all you shouldn't keep goldfish in your tank, they are not tropical fish and are very messy (you should count 10 gallons per goldfish).
You are don't have to watch your tank for 2 hours every night, but I do agree that's it's more interesting then watching tv all the time

When I first started out I did watch it allot as well, but now it's just tossing in food, watch if they all get their meal, and change water once a week. Sometimes when I want to relax or am bored I'll look at my tanks for half an hour, hour....

Do you have any live plants? They are usually more interesting to watch then algae
What type of lighting do you have?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I agree about the goldfish. But the time you spend around the tank is a symptom of MTS. The disease can not be stopped, just let nature run its course and buy another big tank for the goldies, another big tank for some Cichlids, and then give in and upgrade that 20 gal tank to a 100.

 

[igongora]

Hey Fishy,

is it possible to upgrade a tank? or you mean buy a 100 gallon tank and get rid of my 20 gallon one?

thanks.. I will let nature run its curse.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I meant that you should buy a 100 gal tank but keep the 20 gal for other fish. There are so many species out there that you'll need a tank for each one. Give it time. We started with a 10 gal and 16 months later had two 10s, one 5, one 29, one 55, and one 150 gal. lol

 

[brant]

Looks like billsgate and fishyfanatic have you coverd on your fish as for the time, well let me put it to you this way latley my tv is very lonely and stares at me wanting to be turned on. But thats me. If I am not working I am watching my fish if I am not watching my fish I am here or reading fish books or magazines or planning some extravagant tank i cannot afford.LOL. if I am away from my fish to long start to wonder how they are doing and is sombody else watching and keeping them company. *sigh* I miss my fish. LOL.

I guess what I am saying it depends apon your level of addiction.

 

[igongora]

Hey brant,

I guess I am very addict to my fish.

Fishy:

How did you handle to afford all those other tanks? I barely afford my 20 gln one..

 

[DepotFish]

You definately need to get those goldies into a 25 gallon (minimum) cycled, coldwater tank. I spend about 15 minutes in a day testing water, doing a change, and throwing in food. I might spend any amount of time in the day watching the fish. Sounds like you are looking for something more high maintenence so you can spend more constructive time with the hobby. Definate multiple tank syndrome.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

We only purchase tanks that are good deals. For example, we bought the complete 55 gal setup for $175. Same thing with the 150. I think that one ended up being $500 for the setup. Maintenance is cheap since we use Prime for a dechlorinator and batting from Wal-Mart for the filter floss. Besides that, we don't really need anything else for maintenance. And after a while you start reusing things from each tank.

 

[igongora]

Fishy

I guess things are easier in the US, here in Nicaragua, a 20 gallon tank costs about $45.00 tank, if you purchase the whole set(filter, gravel,etc) it might cost about US$200, and it is hard to get a good deal....

As a reference... A good salary here in Nicaragua is about US$800, I am earning about US$900, So that means, that if I want to purchae a 100 gallon tank I would need to invest about US$1000 My wife would never let me invest that much in a tank....

 

[Zagz]

I generally spend about 8 hours minumum a week on my fish tanks. I have 11. I spend my time cleaning, rearranging, watching, feeding and sometimes talking to the tanks. I have accepted my MTS and am now accepting that a lot of my family and friends think I've just plain lost my mind!

 

[igongora]

Hey it is good to hear that I am not the only one with MTS I wish I had all the time in the world to be watching my tank..

 

[hashbaz]

Nice post. I am glad to learn that I am not only one who spends a long time just staring at the aquarium.

If you are looking for more work to do on your tank, you could go planted. But this is kind of hard to do without a lot of $.

 

[igongora]

Yes.. $$ is one of the problems I have.. I cannot afford another fish tank. I would like to go for 50 gallons one..

 

[DepotFish]

If you can't afford another tank you should sell the goldfish back. 45 dollars sounds good for a 20 gallon. Goldfish don't need gravel- in fact it can be dangerous if the gravel is too small. All you need is the tank, something to cover the top, and an hob filter.

 

[Zagz]

I'm obviously not familiar with your area but if you have a local aquarium society check with them on tanks. Quite often you can find better deals that way. Also classified sections of newspapers have been where I found most of my tanks.