I guess this is sort of a continuum of my last thread, but I decided the other one was more of me being desperate for advice, but now things are settling and I'm learning to be a MUCH better fish caretaker.
The update: I've gotten the hang of using the siphon, I found a video on Youtube that demonstrated how easy it really is. So I've managed to get time to make water changes and clean the bottom of the tank about an average of once a week.
Also got a water-heater, it gets really cold here so that'll throw one worry off my list.
The things I still need are:
1. More plants (thinking about real ones, but not sure if I can grow them without him uprooting them and killing them.)
2. Driftwood (I read plecos REALLY like driftwood. I can't seem to find it at Walmart though, so I'm going to check when I look for Prime)
3. I need to take a sample of the water to Petco and get its pH levels tested (they offer it for free.) Walmart does have test strips, but I've heard they're inaccurate. They don't have any other test methods so Petco will have to do.
4. Either list him on craiglist or find a bigger tank. I've been moving stuff around in my room, going over my schedules and trying to calculate if I can manage the time to take care of him and if I can swing the money for it. I think I can, and so I really want to do the right thing and get him a bigger tank. 120 gallon minimum is what I'm looking for, but no one in my area on Craiglist is selling or looking to trade. I might check newspapers and such.
This begs the question, however; how long do I have? This little guy isn't 6 inches anymore. I recently measured him again and he's about 7 inches, give or take. The tank is 10 gallons.
I also wonder, will 2 or more water changes a week, consistently, be bad for him? I want to try and clean up this water REALLY bad, it's bugging me, but I don't want to harm him.
Here's some photos of him and you can see the water's color tint. The water's color hasn't changed much since I started siphoning, but I have removed a lot of waste from under the rocks. I feel really ashamed for not knowing and being fully prepared to take care of a tank before getting fish.
Thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate it.
The update: I've gotten the hang of using the siphon, I found a video on Youtube that demonstrated how easy it really is. So I've managed to get time to make water changes and clean the bottom of the tank about an average of once a week.
Also got a water-heater, it gets really cold here so that'll throw one worry off my list.
The things I still need are:
1. More plants (thinking about real ones, but not sure if I can grow them without him uprooting them and killing them.)
2. Driftwood (I read plecos REALLY like driftwood. I can't seem to find it at Walmart though, so I'm going to check when I look for Prime)
3. I need to take a sample of the water to Petco and get its pH levels tested (they offer it for free.) Walmart does have test strips, but I've heard they're inaccurate. They don't have any other test methods so Petco will have to do.
4. Either list him on craiglist or find a bigger tank. I've been moving stuff around in my room, going over my schedules and trying to calculate if I can manage the time to take care of him and if I can swing the money for it. I think I can, and so I really want to do the right thing and get him a bigger tank. 120 gallon minimum is what I'm looking for, but no one in my area on Craiglist is selling or looking to trade. I might check newspapers and such.
This begs the question, however; how long do I have? This little guy isn't 6 inches anymore. I recently measured him again and he's about 7 inches, give or take. The tank is 10 gallons.
I also wonder, will 2 or more water changes a week, consistently, be bad for him? I want to try and clean up this water REALLY bad, it's bugging me, but I don't want to harm him.
Here's some photos of him and you can see the water's color tint. The water's color hasn't changed much since I started siphoning, but I have removed a lot of waste from under the rocks. I feel really ashamed for not knowing and being fully prepared to take care of a tank before getting fish.
Thanks for all your help so far, I really appreciate it.