# Tanganyikan water change practices



## felixc (Mar 17, 2014)

Lately I've been wondering if my water change practices are typical to what everyone else is doing for Tangs. I question what I am doing because some fish don't seem to be happy until day 3 after the water change. Perhaps I am changing too much? Weekly I replace 40-50% water and add Seachem Safe (equivalent to PRIME). My tap water is slightly hard 8.0KH and I use slightly cooler temp when replacing. These are the tanks I have.

75g 6 Calvus + 8 Foai = 40% weekly, fish are doing fine
75g 15 Tropheus = 50% weekly, fish are happy
180g 12 Frontosa = 40% weekly, fish are happy
60g 18 Cyp + 3 Alto = 40% weekly, fish are not happy til day 3

Would love to hear what your water change practices are for Tanganyikan fishes. Please indicate the type of fish, percentage of water replacement weekly, and the additives you use. Cheers.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

When I first had foai, tropheus, frontosas, cyps, many years ago I did one-third to 40% change every 10 days with no issues.
Now I have tropheus, frontosas, cyps, E kilesa (sand sifters) and am doing 40% weekly and have not noticed any difference.


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I typically do a 50 -75% change on my Tropheus tank weekly. They go nuts after the change - spawning and flaring activity everywhere.

All that I add is NovAqua.

I've done as much as a 90% change - leaving about 2" of water above the sand bed, but that is rare as it takes a long time to refill 160 gallons.


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## felixc (Mar 17, 2014)

I wonder if the cyps are more sensitive than most other Tangs, they seem to be finicky with anything greater than 30% weekly change. Their activity level drop and they start to spit out food.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

felixc said:


> I wonder if the cyps are more sensitive than most other Tangs, they seem to be finicky with anything greater than 30% weekly change. Their activity level drop and they start to spit out food.


Not that I have found. My cyps get a min. Of 50% weekly in a 210g tank. The only fish I have ever found to be sensitive to large water changes have been calvus and comps.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I did 75% when I had cyps, no problem, but I have a well and no chlorine. I have heard from people with chlorine that they do better with smaller water changes...I guess even with dechlor they can be sensitive. Not cyps in particular...but Tangs in general.


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## felixc (Mar 17, 2014)

I agree with you on their sensitivity to chlorine and I wish I had the space to store water to aerate and dechlorinate before using. For now I'll cut back on the volume changed and using more dechlorinate.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

In the US many/most companies have switched to chloramines which cannot be eliminated by aeration.

Even with well water, I never had luck keeping cyp fry alive...but did have good luck with calvus fry by keeping main tank pristine and changing water in fry tank with water removed from the main tank only.


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## DNK (Jun 8, 2007)

I find my cyps are most sensitive to water changes. Mostly the juvies.
A month or so ago I had around 17 juvies most around 2 months old in a grow out tank with ancistrus fry. Did a 50% water change as per usual using Prime. 
Half an hour later most were dead with a few twitching.
Quickly dumped them all in to a bucket of water from my main tank and only the 2 largest ones (around 4 months old) picked up. So 15 were dead. The ancistrus didn't bat an eye lid. No issues.
I now do a smaller water change more frequently on Tang tanks of around 25% at most. 
Adults have been generally OK with changes, maybe acting a little bit off for a few hours on the rare occasion. 
A female just spat out 6 last night in to the main tank, they've been there over night and all day today and have been fine so am going to leave them to it.

I'm guessing the levels of chlorine and chloramine vary from week to week with my water company.

With a new much larger Tang tank that I'm setting up I think I'll get a barrel and treat and store the water for a day or so before doing the change.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Fry are a whole different ballgame. Both calvus and cyp fry have given me problems, but 75% changes with adults no problem at all.


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## fishguy1978 (Aug 10, 2018)

How are water changes accomplished with fry in the tank? My multies have been busy and with over a dozen fry swimming around their shells I am leary of sucking them up. I have been changing 30% around 10-15 days. I fill a trash can a day or so before and add buffer, a powerhead, and a heater.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

There are a couple ways to avoid sucking up the fry during a water change though the methods can change depending on how you do water changes.

If you are just using a hose and manually siphoning, your finger over the hose end can stop the flow near the fry or you can just not siphon in their vicinity. I use these methods when siphoning near the substrate and into a bucket. I also made a PVC pipe extension that attaches to my vinyl hose siphon so I don't get my hands wet and can better control the area I want to siphon near. I still check the waste bucket for any fry that may have accidentally gotten sucked up.

If you are just doing a water change, a coarse sponge over the end of the hose works great. I found an old filter intake strainer that fits over the end of the hose I use and just put a coarse pre-filter sponge over the end.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

A drip system for automatic water changes has made a huge difference for me. You can change as much water as you like, and it is never a big change. Your water parameters are always perfect, never fluctuate, but are totally constant. Plus it's a huge time saver. Changing 50% of water in a 240G with a garden hose takes a looong time! And there is no stress for the fish from you rummaging around in the tank and them being confined to the bottom half of the tank for a while.


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## FarmerDan (Aug 7, 2016)

Having stressed out fish after a water change doesn't necessarily mean they are sensitive and if they are it still doesn't mean that the only problem is them being sensitive. If your fish are stressed from a water change there is something about the water stressing them. You can think you did everything right but your fish are stressed so that's your proof that you didn't. When a water change is performed correctly you can change 100% of the water in any tank and not have issues with stressed out Cyps, Calvus, Comps, or whatever else. If I can change 100% of my water on tanks with those fish everyone above mentioned are "sensitive" to water changes then what are these others doing differently than me?

If you feel like your fish are "sensitive" I suggest finding out what they are sensitive to and start avoiding that behavior. With "sensitive" species are you putting your hose directly into the tank or are you mixing your water thoroughly first? Are you putting in enough dechlor? Are these one off scenarios where you're really not sure what happened and you're guessing? If you've got fish stressing out because of a water change you should start asking yourself why instead of just chalking it up to sensitive fish...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

My understanding is that when a water authority shocks the system with chlorine, the recommended amount of dechlor may not be sufficient.

I agree if you are talking about adult fish and water that has no chlorine or chloramines added, and you keep your nitrates low (like < 10%).

I do have issues with certain fry...have had success raising calvus fry by doing small, frequent water changes using "new" water for the fry tank from the adult tank.


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## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

With my hard water well and with a whole house carbon block filter to remove metals and chlorine, I have done 99% water changes about once a month or sooner if there are fry loose in the tank. I have not yet put a whole house carbon block filter in the new house so I stay at about 50 to 60 %. Julidochromis are more sensitive to changes so very frequent small changes seem to work for them.


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## KitumbaKing (Sep 22, 2018)

I do 50-60% weekly water changes on my 3 tanganyikan aquariums. I use Seachem Safe, Tanganyika Buffer, and Rift salt.

In my experience featherfins and sandsifters are sensivite to temperature change and when I had them I would only do about 25% as big water changes killed them sometimes.


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## Halfcopy (Sep 25, 2018)

I do 60 gallon flush every three days on the large tanks. The smaller tanks get 50% weekly. Using a large reservoir I age and heat the water before changes to one degree below tank temp of 77F. My fish typically swarm the incoming water they love it.


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