Newbie questions --- water change procedures

[Hholly]

Hey everybody! Since I'm a total newbie, please excuse my ignorance. When you do water changes, do you leave the fish in the tank? Doesn't it jostle them around a lot? Are there any videos that demonstrate techniques for this? Do you leave your filter running?
Thanks!

 

[00youknowit00]

Yep, you leave them in, turn your filters off. Make sure the new water is dechlorinated and temp matched. You could try searching youtube for videos.

 

[jsoong]

Leave the fish in the tank, it is much less stressful. If you do frequent small (say 10-20%) pwc, you won't stress the fish at all. They quickly get use to your presence, and the smaller amount of water removed means they have more room to swim in during the change.

You can leave the filter on if you are doing a small pwc (as long as the water level never goes below the min water level). Otherwise just turn it off to prevent burnout of the motor.

 

[Hholly]

Great! Thanks!