Creature info: How often do you clean your freshwater fish tank?  You should be cleaning your tank about once a week.  But did you know that you shouldn’t dump all the water out and put new in?

Here is some info on how to clean your tank properly.  Depending on the size of your tank and how many fish live in it, take out 10-25% of the water about every week by using a suction fish hose.  For small fish bowls, take the fish out and pour out about 75%-90% into another bowl and save it.  The remaining 10%-25% toss out, this will allow you to get all that dirty water with the feces and old food out of the bottom.  By cleaning your tank this way, you will not loose all the good natural bacteria and other balances in the water.  If you dump out all the old water and place new water in, you could harm your fish and even kill them or at least shorten their life!  When using a suction hose, to do a partial water change, make sure you use the hose like a vacuum in the gravel/rocks to suck up all the debris.  Your fish will stay healthier and be less stressed out if you clean your fish tank this way instead off dumping all the water out.  Remember to use a fish water conditioner to make the new tap water safe for your fish.  Just add enough water conditioner to treat the new water (you do not need to treat the existing water, just the newly added water).

For the plants and décor, in your tank, take them out and scrub them clean as needed.  If your tank walls become dirty scrub them a day before you do your partial water change (this way all the debris from the take wall will settle down into the gravel and you can suck it up with the hose).  Don’t forget to change your filters when they get dirty.  Enjoy your fish!