Getting Tired!!!

[troublesum]

Hey MFKers,

I'm getting tired of WC i tend to do 2-3 80% a week on a 125 gallon with a 10in Male Midas and a 8in Female Red Terror plus i have a 36 gallon bow front with a 6in Female Red Terror it takes me 1.5 hours per WC on both tanks then there's the cleaning of the glass doing maintance on my FX6 then moving all the sand back in place 75 pounds
Then dont let me get started about being bit and attacked during WC.
So my question is i would like to switch stock what are some easy to take care of but some nice fish that i can do WC on lets say 1 every 2 weeks or even up to 1 month
I have been eyeing Angel fish maybe get like 5 or 6 and maybe like 10 cory cats that would be it
I also have noticed bichers they seem pretty cool maybe 4 or 5 on the bottom and then maybe about 10-15 bosemoni rainbows or filamint barbs for the top
Would any of these set ups work with the schedule maintance i would like to do

 

[troublesum]

I'm also open to other peoples suggestions

 

[Conchonius]

I'd personally go with the angel idea, and heavily plant the tank as well. I think of plants as devices that convert nitrate into biomass that can easily be pulled out of the tank. The more you have, the less you have to do water changes, since the nitrogenous waste is already removed from the water column (some plants can even metabolize ammonia and nitrite directly, they're such nitrogen gluttons they won't even wait for the cycle to finish). I've yet to see >10 ppm nitrates in my heavily fed pleco tank, as long as I remove handfuls of water lettuce and rotala trims every week.

Floating and emersed plants are especially good at this, since access to atmospheric CO2 gives them a leg up when growing. The aquascaping side of the hobby is also very well-established with many visual references and how-to guides available (e.g. people like MD Fish Tanks and Serpa Design on Youtube), so you can check some and find a design you like. Just don't get duckweed as it's small, coarse, rough and gets everywhere, it's very good for keeping nitrates down but removing it is more of a hassle than doing a water change.

Bichirs + filament barbs sound like far more bioload than angels + cories. Also, filament barbs (or rather mascara barbs in my experience) become utter bullies when feeding and may outcompete the bichirs if they discover they can get away with it.

 

[troublesum]

Thanks but i should have mentioned i can not grow plants nor do i want to try i know Angels prefer plants but they would be ok with fake plants. also i use PFS and i barely have 1 in cover of sand on my bottom.
As i was thinking the bichirs wont work i see they get pretty big hence why i posted i was open to suggestions
But thanks for the long response

 

[esoxlucius]

If your ultimate goal is to try and aim for monthly water changes, without a live plant in sight, then that's going to take some doing to be honest. Even fortnightly water changes will need some careful stock consideration.

Your probably looking at small fish, your typical community type fish, and not many of them either, with a skimpy feeding regime to boot. That would be the type of scenario you're looking at to really stretch out those water changes imo.

Sounds daft doesn't it, well it is! I wager very few of us on here aim for monthly water changes, especially if live plants are off limits.

If I was you I'd look at it from another angle. That is, how to make your current water changes quicker/more enjoyable. For example, i've never had fish that attack me during water changes, that would piss me right off and they'd be gone!

Cannister filters are well known to be a pita to maintain too, is there a change to be made there which would benefit you?

Sand can also be a pita, a change of substrate maybe?

It certainly sounds like your getting fed up so a bit of a revamp to freshen things up seems in order to me.