What is the best thing to do for a beginner fish owner?

hey everybody. just got a 10 gallon fish tank a couple weeks ago. i have 5 different types of community fishes. 2 shrimps and 1 bottom feeder. i'm sorry i don't know their scientific names. anyway i have a heater, and a whisper filter. i clean the tank almost every week which is a pain in the *** because i'm a working student. i wanted to know what else i can do to keep them cleaner. i've fed them less than i did at first. i totally clean the whole tank. i took out most of my granite just coz it's so hard to clean them as well. i have a real shrimp bamboo, 1 fake short plant and 2 coliseum ruins as decor. they're real tiny though. i'm thinking of getting one of those auto feeders coz i'll be on leave for more than a week. i'm not sure which is best. can you guys advice what else can i do? and what else my tank needs? thanks so much!What is the best thing to do for a beginner fish owner?
First put the granite back in the tank. It's micro-pourious surface holds the normal floura that your fish can obviouly survive in. Learn about your fish. For example, is the ';bottom feeder,'; a plecosperous/plequeo. You want as many of these plecos as possible. Buy the pigme version. They are like tiny filters/ecosystem recyclers. Having different types of community fish won't necessarily stop them from trying to eat each other. If you cut back the food supply for to long then the hungry will surely do what then need to do to survive. Feeding cycles of the same amount are to make things eazy for us. What you really want to do is vary the food quantity in a regular cycle of over and under feeding with neither for to long. This is another great reason to learn your fish. No fish normally eats eats daily. Again this is done only for easy keeping. Each fish's eating period spans a different # of days and quantity corralates to there body mass and general health. Also, each bread of fish has its own perfered pH and you should cycle through the range of pH-es perfered in your tank. So, learn your fish, treat your tank like it's owen organism, test the pH regularly and get some mini-plequeoes. Last but not least, avoid putting your hands into the tank. Your normal flora will infect the tank. That's a real pain in the keaster.


Good luck.What is the best thing to do for a beginner fish owner?
if you have a filter you shouldnt be cleaning a big tank like that once a week
Uhmmm...a 10 gallon really isnt that big....and when it is less than a couple months old, then you should change about 50% of the water just about every week. Also, it is best to feed your fish very small meals, several times a day, because thats how it is in nature. Plus the nitrifying bacteria that get rid of ammonia and nitrates will be able to keep up more easily, because they have a continuous supply of nutrients, instead of being bombarded by it every few days.
FIRST OFF, WHEN YOU PUT THIS TANK TOGETHER ALONG WITH THE STRESSCOAT FOR THE WATER, THE TANK SHOULD HAVE BEEN VACANT FOR ABOUT 2 WEEKS. THEN, WHEN YOU DID ADD FISH, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN 4 AT A TIME. YOU HAVE A BIO WHEEL GOING WHICH IS GOOD, BUT ALSO YOU HAVE TO HAVE AN AIR STONE ALSO. FEED THEM ONCE A DAY, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CORY CATFISH TO TAKE CARE OF THE BOTTOM CLEANING, AND ALSO ALGAE EATERS TO TAKE CARE OF YOUR GLASS. MAKE SURE YOU TEST FOR THE PH, AMMONIA, AND NITRATES. AN AUTO FEEDER I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT. WHEN YOU HAVE A 10 GALLON, IT WILL TEND TO GET DIRTY FASTER SO YOU WILL HAVE TO CHECK YOUR FILTER AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK. ALSO, MAKE SURE YOUR FISH ARE COMPATIBLE.
I don't have a lot to add to the last answer, which I mostly agree with, except forget the auto feeder! Fish DO NOT need to be fed everyday either! The food falls to the bottom and this is what causes your water to become polluted w/ amonia, etc. %26amp; can surely kill your fish! Be sure to feed only the amount your fish will eat (requires watching) and do a partial water change (1/3) every 2-3 weeks.