# Question about water changes for people who live with family.



## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

Ugh I guess this is part rant and part question... does your family ever make a fuss about water changes?

Mine does. No mater when I wanna do it, my mom, my brother, ect, will tell me to wait and wait and wait cause it's 'annoying'. They'll try to make me wait until it's too late cause everyone's going to bed and augh.

And then my mom's alwyas on me, telling me I'm changing my water too much and it's going to kill my fish. That kind of bugs me, no matter how many times I explain to her she holds firm. After all, my grandma has a fish tank that's been running for YEARS and she only ever tops off evaporated water (without even using a declorinator). My mom's always telling me I spend too much on my fish, they don't need the things I get them, ect. Just in general. She likes them, and likes looking at them. But not me doing things.

I guess this is just kinda half rant, too. I live at home, but I have my own job and I don't ever ask my mom to pay for any of my fish stuff, and it's starting to make me feel bad how much I get talked down to about my tanks.


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## purplemuffin (Aug 12, 2010)

My family thinks I spoil the heck out of Dionysus (the call his 5 gallon tank a mansion, lol) but they've never stopped me from doing water changes before! Any way you could do it in a way that's less 'in their way' and annoying to them? I don't know how someone changing the fish water would bug someone!


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## betaguy (Sep 15, 2011)

i know EXACTLY what you mean.
ive never personally tried to correct a pet store employee, but on here it seems they usually hold firm and go with their opinion on better fish care. my parents have 0 clue about fish, but they act like they are professionals when i do 100% water changes 1.5 times a week. (3 times every 2 wks)


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## Bambi (Sep 11, 2011)

Well. I'm 20 so there isn't to much of an issue with being told ican't change my fishe's water.

My dad loves how dedicated i am to caring for my fish.

He does hate me actually doing the water changed though..Because It's an all day process with only a two gallon bucket and a gallon water jug to hold fresh water in.(fill, add all the stuff i need, let sit for a couple hours, add slowly to tank siphoned through a small air hose..siphon out bad water from the bottom, dump, repeat.><)

My dad was also one of those"just top it off" kinda people untill he saw me caring for my fish.


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## Littlebittyfish (Jan 5, 2011)

I live with other people who like to pretty much live in the kitchen and I usually use the sink to fill my gallon jugs so it can be a bit of a hassle when everyones home...I plan my water changes on days when theyre at work or busy...usually saturday morning and friday morning.


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## Leeniex (Aug 14, 2011)

I would be thrilled if any of my sons showed so much dedication to anything besides baseball and facebook.


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## BettaMiah (Sep 12, 2011)

Ugh, same here. I used to have to have my dad do them because he knew how to get it sucking and I didn't, but I got a new gravel vac that you just squeeze a pump and I have just been doing it on my own.


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## Dragonlady (Nov 29, 2010)

The only complaints I get is when I forget to unscrew something from a sink, or convert an entire spare room to mimic a tropical habitat.;-)


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## BettaMiah (Sep 12, 2011)

Ahahaha! Does anyone else get water everywhere? 

I have this problem where the Gravel siphon tube that the dirty water poors out of misses the bucket, and dumps a couple of gallons of water on my carpet floor in my room. Oops... At least they didn't notice the leaking ceiling....


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## Lighterman (Oct 6, 2011)

Godd, same thing with my parents. One minute my dad would say CLOSE THE LIGHT IN YOUR ROOM! Then, YOU ONLY PUT THAT WATER FOR A DAY, THEY'LL DIE. After a while then my sister would holler, FISH FREAK! And then when I dump out the water in the sink my mom would say, Hey! Your gonna disease us with that water....


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## RoranicusPondicus (Sep 22, 2011)

I have never had a problem with water changes. My family are Big animal lover and everyone loves Rory. My mom even got him a new bucket, she said it had Rory written all over it. Plus I have my own bathroom, so that make things easy. And I do it on Sunday mornings, dad busy watching football, mom at work, and brother play some game.


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## SnowySurface (Apr 25, 2011)

I live on my own now. But when I was home with relatives they considered my 1 gallon set-up to be over kill. So I know what it's like to be told you spend too much time and money on fish. It gets better when you move out on your own. Now a chunk of my living room is set up just for my fishes. XD


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## ArcticRain (Aug 11, 2011)

My mom gets so mad at me when I do water changes! She understands that I need to do water changes but she says I "take too long" and that I "do it too often". It has gotten to the point were she told me that she is thinking about getting rid of my fish! When I asked her why she said that I'm "Wasting" too much time on them. I guess she is just mad at me because I didn't buy the little half gallon tank the pet store guy suggested and that i do twice as many water changes as he said was needed. She thinks that if the pet store people say its true, then it must be.
Sorry for my rant!


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## RobotFrog (Sep 23, 2011)

My father gets annoyed at me for water changes too, he's a big fan of the "You're going to disease us with that water!" line :roll: and also thinks even my 1 gallons are too big, when I feel bad keeping them just as QTs lol.

Luckily I'm moving by the end of the month, and my room just HAPPENS to be directly across from the bathroom. Boo-ya!!!


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## Indyfishy (May 31, 2010)

As long as I don't do any water changes while anybody is using the kitchen, then I don't get any flack lol. But I have to be really careful about spilling any water, or having rocks go down the sink, I've gotten an earful for that a couple times XP


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## BettaMiah (Sep 12, 2011)

Oh yeah, I get rocks everywhere. Especially when I do my 1 gallon shrimp set up so I have to clean everything. Rocks spew...

My cat helps me. Lol.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

xD When I had my first betta, my mom didn't like it... but she never told me to NOT do water changes... actually now she asks "how's your fish?" which makes me giggle... And I use the bathroom sink. Still trying to find the sink hose! THAT would be sooo much easier (and less spilling of water... heh heh) than usinga container to scoop into a bucket, to haul to my room, and put in... lol.


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## HatsuneMiku (Jul 29, 2011)

i don't know why you have to use the kitchen ? .. bathroom tubs/drains .. are way more efficient .. all u need is a good 3g bucket .. siphon water .. dump water in bathtub drain .. take sand toys whatever u need to rinse .. put in bucket .. take to tub .. get in tub .. and rinse rinse rinse rinse rinse ^_^ .. put all things back in tank .. take bucket to tub run the water till it's 80 .. de-chlorinate water in bucket and pour back in tank .. at most it will only take u 3-5 trips to the bathroom (each tank .. depending on how big ur tanks are) .. if 3g bucket is too much for you to carry at one time .. u can use a small container and scoop water from the bucket into the tank till u can manage to hold the bucket to pour in the rest of the water


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Haha I have sooo many buckets >< and now I do not even have a shower. So only time someone gets upset is if they have to pee and I am using the sink with the container to the bucket xD


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## Pataflafla (Jun 2, 2011)

I usually wait until nobody is home, same with my sister. We'll do water changes late night/early morning when everyone else is asleep. My mom is usually the one that questions us, but just saying "Yes, we're doing water changes again." is usually enough to get her to stop. She's not one for pets despite having a cat (The one that likes to eat fish), so she doesn't really understand caring for anything extensively.


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## Wyvern (May 19, 2011)

Question, do any of you have gardens? If you do even if its just a windowsill with plants on it, use the water to water the garden. I have been watering my mum's garden (I actually save my water from water changes in 25L water drums) and take it to her place and water her plants - her orchids and her lemon trees as well as her olive tree - since I have started doing that she had the best ever blooms on her orchids and the trees are growing beautifully!

So using the water to water some plants in the house will show your families that you dont waste water and that its good for the plants.


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## GreenTea (Jan 31, 2011)

Leeniex said:


> I would be thrilled if any of my sons showed so much dedication to anything besides baseball and facebook.



Hahaha! Yeah, my sister too...


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

That's what I've done (not during winter...aka most of the year XD yaaay canada...) mainly because well... where else does it go? sink? tub? toilet? plus less mess and less water spillage


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

My mom point blank does not allow me to use a sink for the fish, or the toilet. I have to carry my 5 gallon bucket outside and away from the house and pour it. I'm also now allowed to clean gravel, really, since she thinks it'll go down the sink. If I wanna clean it I've got to pour some in my bucket, add water, agitate it, then take it outside, dump, and repeat. >> It makes getting a new tank done fun.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Get yourself a nice mesh colander that's what I use =D catches even the small gravel pieces.... and you can use the bucket indoors even. I do this in my room, since well, it's my room  just have a towel for the bottom and then yeah ^^


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## elijahfeathers (Oct 15, 2010)

I do use a bucket. For me I have a 5 gal bucket that's just for fish water, and gravel vac, and a milk jug with the top cut off to scoop water with.

I pull out water with the gravel vac, then take it outside once the bucket gets full. Then I fill the bucket in the tub with water of the correct temp, bring it back to my room, and use the milk jug to pour it into the tank once I put my conditioners in.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

My goodness lots of work


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## Bombalurina (Oct 10, 2011)

I don't get told off for water changing my tanks (which I do by removing the water and vaccuuming the gravel with the siphon, then replacing it with clean dechlorinated water), but I do get told off if I attempt to clean the goldfish tank. The poor thing (he's a comet) is stuck in a 23 gallon with a snail, no plants or anything. He gets a water change once a month if he is lucky. I offer to do it whenever I do my own betta tank, which is next to his, but get told no. One day I did it anyway, and was told off because I wasn't doing it the way it "should" be done (all manner of pH adjusting crud, a cheapo water conditioner (I use Prime!) and conditioning salts and far too much cleaning of the filter). Well, actually, I'm doing at right - in fact, at least I'm doing it at all!  He's such a beautiful fish. I love my family, but they are not doing right by him.

And I do get scoffed at for spending so much money on my fish, going to the local aquarium society etc, but hey, I'm 20 and it's my money.  And I spend far more on my ratties.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yeah once a month in my own 20 is not enough! At least 20% once every two weeks for mine and I do not own that big of a bioload.... for him he'd need 30% water changes every week and then probably a 50% the last week of the month.


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## Persica (Jul 14, 2011)

I get told by my boyfriend I'm doing too much work for my fish... He once said, "Why don't you treat it like a betta?" I then had to explain to him in extensive detail why a betta's hardiness is also his downfall.. And just because a betta can survive in poor conditions doesn't mean he should have to. I was pretty upset at him. My boyfriend's dad has a betta in a 2.5 gallon with no filter and no heater and it survives just fine, and even makes bubble nests, which is why my boyfriend thinks it's okay to not do much work for them. -SIGH-

My mom is a big animal lover and she admires how well I care for my fish. 

My college roommate doesn't really say anything about it. When my baby, Persica, was really sick, she was extremely supportive about everything, and even more supportive of me once he died. So she understands how much a fish can mean to me.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

Yeah my bf won't ever figure out WHY I care for these bettas I have... ever. and I don't think he'll ever care.

You're lucky to have a supportive college roommate


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## Persica (Jul 14, 2011)

I sure am!  She's really sweet.


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## Sena Hansler (Aug 24, 2011)

I'm by myself in my betta rescue :/ nobody I know irl care lol


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## Jrf456 (Jun 23, 2011)

Story of my life!


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## LaLaLeyla (Aug 17, 2011)

lol I bet my mom is glad I clean their tanks.
Years ago when we had bettas their tanks were never cleaned x.x


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