A question re: filtration, water changes, and Tropheus sp.

[BrownBullhead]

A question re: filtration, water changes, and Tropheus sp.

I feel a li'l sheepish, dumb, whatever, in asking this question, but I am quite curious to see the opinions I will receive, so here goes.

For an "established" (running longer than 6 months) aquarium, 150-gallon, filtered by a Rena Filstar xP3 w/ 2 of 6 basket trays filled with biological media, and also filtered by 3 x Hydro-Sponge #3 sponge filters, my question relates to water changes...

Is it required to maintain 50% weekly water changes in a tank this size (75 gallons per week) when only 16 Tropheus Moorii Nkonde of 3.5" to 4.0" inhabit the setup?

I would like to think I could cheat a little because of the sheer volume of water versus the amount of waste produced by 16 fish. What do you people think?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

How messy are the fish? I do not have experience with them, but in general 25% water changes weekly is sufficient with adequate filtration.

 

[Apocalypse_Gold]

50% is more than you probably need. Many people do 20-30% once a week. What are your nitrate levels before and after the change? If they get very high by day 7, you may need to do large changes. Otherwise, you can probably cut back.

 

[jibboo]

I agree with Apocalypse ... just test your water to see how quickly your levels are going up. I sometimes go 2 weeks between water changes and only change about 30% in a 55g ... so I would think 50% every week is great ... but also a lot of work that you may be able to scale back a bit.

So, I think, check your levels to see how fast your nitrate levels rise. Use common sense ... when does your water "look" bad ... I know my tank basically tells me when I need a change ... algae, water doesn't appear as clear, etc ... also, know your fish ... see if they are having any negative reaction. That's the key ... is keeping your fish happy and healthy. If they appear unfazed by a 25% water change every 2 weeks ... then go with it. I wouldn't sacrifice any fish to find the limits ... but if your fish are healthy and hardy (which they should be in such a nice tank) ... then push your schedule back a bit and see what happens.

 

[BrownBullhead]

Thank you for the concise input. I am still trying to get this colony to breed and periodically they go through the motions after the large water changes, so I may keep it up for a few more weeks and see if I can finaly induce some breeding. I attempted to "vent" them during my last MAJOR maintenance (when I had to remove them from the tank) and it appears I have 9 males and 7 females, so I hope something will happen eventually. As I said I had never "vented" fish before so let's hope I was correct? They now have the tank to themselves as I removed my 24+ Syno. Petricola... mind you, a colony of Tropheus Black "Kiriza" that lived in the tank earlier this year with the Petricola didn't seem to mind and were breeding quite well until I had some maintenance issues and a bunch of Tropheus fry died off. These Nkonde are being super-finicky for me and I don't know why... the Kiriza were so "easy." It doesn't help ease my mind much when other Nkonde keepers on the forums are breeding them as easy as Kiriza bred for me. :x