cleaning 6 gallon tank

Question
QUESTION: how often should i do water changes in my six gallon tank and what percentage of water should be replaced?  also what precentage of the gravel should be cleaned?  i ve read once a week but also read that smaller tanks should be done more often.

also, same question, but during the cycling process.
ANSWER: Hi Julie
Well, depends :)  

How many and what kind of fish are in the tank/will be in the tank?  

Does the tank have a filter?

Are you cycling with fish or without?

Let me know and I'll get back with ya!!

Christy

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: i am cycling with 2 guppies, i plan on adding a third guppy, a couple cories, and maybe a few mollies.  it has an undergravel filter.  i am decorating with fake vegetaion and coral/rock thingies.
ANSWER: Hi Julie
Well, I would nix the idea of the cory cats and mollies.  Your tank isn't big enough for all them.  Once you figure in the gravel and decorations, and you figure it's usually not filled up to the top, it's actually less 6 gallons.  I think one more guppy would be fine, maybe a few ghost shrimp for cleaning the bottom, and a snail for algae control(if you go with that, add the guppy, shrimp, and snail after the cycle is done).  

Once your tank is cycled, I'd do a 25% water change once a week, vacuuming the gravel as well.  You can vacuum all the gravel at once, just when you change out your filter(I'll get to that in a minute) don't do a thorough gravel vac.  

I'm not a big fan of undergravel filters.  I personally think they cause more harm than good.  A lot of times the food and poop gets stuck under the plates, and they don't suck it out as well.  This can cause ammonia spikes or high nitrates.  And the only way to clean that out, is to totally take the tank apart and clean it.  I'd recommend going with a hob(hang on the back) filter.  Penguin makes one that's perfect for that size tank.  I think it's rated up to a 10 gallon.  Just my 2 cents on that :)

As for cycling with fish, here's a great link on the cycle process.  You'll want to be sure to buy a good test kit, one of the dropper kinds so you can monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels.  You'll need to do small daily water changes about 10% during this time for the fish, to help dilute the toxins.  You could also use a product called Prime, it's a water dechlorinator, but it converts ammonia and nitrites to a non toxic form, but doesn't remove them so the tank can continue to cycle.  You would use it during water changes.  It's expensive as well, so is pretty much everything related to fish keeping lol, but a bottle lasts a long time.

Good luck with your new tank, and let me know if you have any questions along the way!

Christy



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you so much, your answer is awesome.  i have one more question.  it was suggested that i get a few pygmy cories because they are smaller.  would those be okay?  so i was thinking when its all done: 2-3 guppies, 2-3 pygmy cories, 1 oto catfish.

Answer
Hi
I've heard of pygmy cories, never seen them anywhere I've lived.  So did a quick search on them, not much info on them.  Did find this site though with basic info on them:

http://www.petresources.net/fish/catfish/cor_pyg.html

I didn't realize they stayed so small-duh I know they're pygmies lol, just didn't realize it :)  Now this site says they prefer groups of 6 or more.  That would be too many for your tank.  I do usually recommend with the larger varieties at least 3 of the same kind, but more is better.  So they might do ok with 3 of them in your tank.  That with 2 or 3 guppies would be all I would add to your tank.  I wouldn't go with the oto cat, they're really sensitive fish.  I just bought 2 for a 10 gallon tank-water quality was perfect, one died within 6 hours-no clue why.  The other is doing real good, and cleaned up my tank real good as well.  I know they also prefer to be in groups as well.  I wanted to wait a few weeks before trying another to make sure they could handle my water.  But now I look at my tank and how clean the one did, I'm having to add lettuce and algae wafers and such for the 1 to have enough to eat.  So I would stick with a snail or two for your tank.  The otos are almost too good of cleaners lol.

Hope that helps!!

Christy