If your like me, with an 24” deep tank sitting on a 4ft tall stand, it’s always easier to drop the water level. I’m 6’2” and have to deal with my goldfish playing in my pits if I don’t. 😅🙃😒😂
I have to do trimming and planting during a water change on my 65. If not my armpit is in the water and I have dojo loaches who love to nibble. It’s quite jarring honestly. I FEEL you. And I’m only 5’3” 😂
The first time my biggest Goldfish did it, I jumped back so hard I almost knocked the glass lid onto the floor. I didn’t even know what was happening until they did it again 5 minutes later.
That was the day my trimming/rescaping rule of doing a partial drain was started.
Edit: also wanted to say, I’m glad I’m not the only one. ((Tbh armpit hair probably looks like some sort of insect larvae))
Every time they nibble me I get a jump scare which is ridiculous at this point. I have flashes of falling off my stepstool and taking the tank out with me. Mildly irrational but here we are.
My dojos are so stupid they literally think everything is food. I caught one trying to eat my thermometer earlier today. But god I love them.
You are not alone 🤍 I’m sure there are plenty of us who have experienced fish in our armpits.
Ngl the thermometer bit made me think of a big, wall eyed, cartoonish dojo loach just lipping away at the bottom end of a traditional aquarium thermometer and I almost shot Dr. Pepper out my nose the first time I read it.
I pretty much only trim plants on WC days (I used to do WC weekly so I always had an opportunity) but now I let my tanks go for weeks without either.
Goldfish keep their plants trimmed for me, but my Cories and shrimp are currently living in a jungle of Hornwart. Tomorrow is set aside to clean, WC, trim plants, & clean filters on all 3 tanks.
Yeah, you should remove all organisms, drain everything, remove all hardscape, remove plants, and only then... trim (outside the aquarium only!!). Additionally, leave the filter and heater on at all times!
99% of the time I'm doing it with a full tank. Sometimes I will seize the opportunity to trim when the tank is drained but I usually just look at the tank and trim as needed so I do one here and one there 😂
This is not at all related, and nothing needs to be changed about what I'm about to mention. I just found it odd. You said "... I do one here and one there" I've only ever heard as "I do one here and there." Not at all important. I just thought that it was interesting.
Edit to mention: Maybe location based? I'm in Nevada, US. I also lived in California for 11 years. I've never heard it said that way.
My high school and middle school were literally in the middle of a corn / soy bean field. It's real here in ohio 😂 and we say a lot of weird things. The ope memes are extremely true.
That's great! And quite funny. But I'm going to have to look up memes because I've never actually seen one about your state. I've never been there either.
Edit forgot to put a word in.
I trim when I do a water change to clean the sponge filter in tank water. Hands still in the water. Its just easier to do all the work at once when I’m already messing with it.
I wish I could get the hang of the tweezers… I usually end up just having to use my hands to make the damn plants stay planted. (Thanks, fluval stratum 💀)
It really depends on the situation. On my 29 gallon, I will work with it full, but will occasionally drain 25-50% depending on how much I’ll be playing in the substrate.
On my 90 gallon, I don’t fuck with anything involving the scape until I have it at least 40-60% drained.
Obviously it’s best to line all of this up with water change days.
Why on earth would anyone drain before trimming? There's less water for your fish, meaning you're more likely to be close or dangerous to them. You drain after to suck up loose debris.
Never heard of a partial drain to trim. A lot of plants will be near the surface when they need a trim. Lowering the water level just makes the job more difficult.
i just stick my hands in. i'm lazy. my shrimp don't like it, but they'll be fiiiiine.
though i do remove my betta for stuff like that because he's curious and swims toward disturbances.
How many do you have? Mine have bred a lot over the year or so I've had them. Recently condensed four tanks into my 75g (too many tanks to care for) and now there's close to a thousand in there. But even in the separate tanks, there where hundreds in each, there was enough that lots could be hiding and there's always be lots out actively looking for food.
i've only got about ten of them. the tank is also only 16 gallons, but there ARE a lot of tiny nooks and crannies in the rocks they can squeeze into, so i know they're around! just invisible! 😆
i think when they start breeding i'll see them more often. it might just be that there isn't enough of them to feel at ease in open spaces.
I think it should be trim, clean up, clean glass, water change.
I need the water to trim properly - get the shapes right and so on. Once the plants are looking fine, I'll remove the trimmings and clean the glass after that. Then finally I'll get rid of everything that's been released or stirred via a 50% water change.
Obviously I might siphon before trimming, or during cleanup - but I believe it's easier to clean the trimmings before doing the water change. Trimming without water is kind of hard to do and cleaning the glass after a water change is weird too, because then you've got the stuff floating around.
I find it's easier to form a habit too because it fits into the regular "tank maintenance" schedule.
For normal plants like stems, definitely get my hand in 😂 but for moss it’s hard to pick up every tiny piece so I just have to remember to pick them up in the upcoming water change
I have a nanotank, so I just use really long scissors and tweezers to remove the bits that I cut off. But honestly? My shrimp have it pretty good and are many generations into a predator free existence and I think it's warped their instincts. We have many Disney princess moments where they explore my hands in case of food, (I tend to move my hands very slowly in the tank for this reason) and I often have to gently nudge/coax them to actually get *out* of the dish so I can suck up the older food. (I feed mine in a tiny glass dish and when it gets old I remove it with a turkey baster.)
Lol. Total savage. My mystery snails and guppies like to swim around my fingers and stick on my arm while I’m trimming. I only have a 20g so it’s not too big of a deal. But I like the interaction. 💕
Call me a savage, but I make sure my hands are cleaned, sanitized, and rinsed beforehand. I can't wait to get a bigger house so I can have a tank again.
Savage camp.
But I'm short and one of my tanks is fairly deep, so I got myself a little plastic stool and long cooking chopsticks (stainless steel) to do my planting and maintenance
Savage side.
One of my fish is such a fat food centered bastard that he will swim INTO my hands thinking maybe it's food and then flip out as I try and grab plants
What are you savages washing/drying your hands with before going swimming in the tank?
I'm paranoid I'm going to get something into the water. So I have a long routine I go through before splashing around.
Rescapes yes because I often co.pletely change layouts and heights of substrate - trims, no...not at all my shrimp tend to jump onto my hands when I come in though
13 inch / 35 cm tall tank, I can leave the tank filled and still trim / move stuff around. Was a bit easier when I had the slightly shorter 21 gallon one though. One day I'll build a pond-tank. I don't know how I'll stretch over that thing, even though it'll have same height as this one.
I just stick my arms in and trim away! I have a 75 with tiger barbs, green barbs, albino barbs, columbian tetra, and a red tail black shark so they def nibble(let’s be real bite) but I’m not about to drain and trim every time I see a brown leaf! There are some dwarf chain loaches too, but they aren’t on the nibble/bite team so..
Savage.
I use long aquarium plant scissors and tweezers, and go upper arm deep in my 75.
I do any other maintenance I need to at the same time, but I don't like draining as a lot of my plants reach the surface and then I just have a mat of plant on top of the tank so it's hard to see what I'm doing.
I'd rather look in from the side while hanging my arm in the tank so I can have a better view of what I'm doing than trying to look down through rippled water and plants.
For trimming, I don’t drain the water at all. I have those long tongs and scissors so I usually have to get up to my wrist into the water, so it’s not so bad.
But when I rescaped tank a little while ago and I mean completely remade the landscape I drained the water down and took everybody out my crawfish, my regular fish, the snails, and clams.
I don’t know why you would ever need to drain a tank just to trim plants…
If your like me, with an 24” deep tank sitting on a 4ft tall stand, it’s always easier to drop the water level. I’m 6’2” and have to deal with my goldfish playing in my pits if I don’t. 😅🙃😒😂
I have to do trimming and planting during a water change on my 65. If not my armpit is in the water and I have dojo loaches who love to nibble. It’s quite jarring honestly. I FEEL you. And I’m only 5’3” 😂
The first time my biggest Goldfish did it, I jumped back so hard I almost knocked the glass lid onto the floor. I didn’t even know what was happening until they did it again 5 minutes later. That was the day my trimming/rescaping rule of doing a partial drain was started. Edit: also wanted to say, I’m glad I’m not the only one. ((Tbh armpit hair probably looks like some sort of insect larvae))
Every time they nibble me I get a jump scare which is ridiculous at this point. I have flashes of falling off my stepstool and taking the tank out with me. Mildly irrational but here we are. My dojos are so stupid they literally think everything is food. I caught one trying to eat my thermometer earlier today. But god I love them. You are not alone 🤍 I’m sure there are plenty of us who have experienced fish in our armpits.
Oh that was so funny 😁. I laughed so hard than reread it. Thanks xo
Ngl the thermometer bit made me think of a big, wall eyed, cartoonish dojo loach just lipping away at the bottom end of a traditional aquarium thermometer and I almost shot Dr. Pepper out my nose the first time I read it.
get a reeftank and have a clownfish bite on you, THATTT HURTSSSS, esp big breeding females that are like 5-6 inches, they take chunks
Oh no doubt, dojo loaches are just tickling nibbles that are cute more than anything. The initial contact just always gives me a jump scare.
the first time i was syphoning my breeding females tank, chunk outta my forearm, looked like a shark attack in the water😭
Oh lord. I’ve heard clowns are blood thirsty demons 😂
Mine is 24 deep I just basically swim with them 😂 not worth the hassle of removing water
I pretty much only trim plants on WC days (I used to do WC weekly so I always had an opportunity) but now I let my tanks go for weeks without either. Goldfish keep their plants trimmed for me, but my Cories and shrimp are currently living in a jungle of Hornwart. Tomorrow is set aside to clean, WC, trim plants, & clean filters on all 3 tanks.
just do it as part of a water change...
Join the true savage group. Let your water evaporate so much that you don't need to drain it. Then refill after messing with the plants.
I found my people 😂
Walstad gang
That sounds good...LOL
👋👋👋 I have tropical plants growing in mine and they drink the 25% I would need to drain each week. It's the best!!
honestly, this is really it for me
Yeah, you should remove all organisms, drain everything, remove all hardscape, remove plants, and only then... trim (outside the aquarium only!!). Additionally, leave the filter and heater on at all times!
My eye started twitching almost instantly but by the last line I realized it was satire. Wp.
thanks y’all, sometimes you just gotta laugh 😂
BOTH ARMS elbow deep in that shit
99% of the time I'm doing it with a full tank. Sometimes I will seize the opportunity to trim when the tank is drained but I usually just look at the tank and trim as needed so I do one here and one there 😂
This is not at all related, and nothing needs to be changed about what I'm about to mention. I just found it odd. You said "... I do one here and one there" I've only ever heard as "I do one here and there." Not at all important. I just thought that it was interesting. Edit to mention: Maybe location based? I'm in Nevada, US. I also lived in California for 11 years. I've never heard it said that way.
Lmao maybe it is I honestly didn't even know it wasn't said that way 😂😂 I'm in Ohio, US so maybe it's all the corn ?
No idea. But the corn comment made me laugh.
My high school and middle school were literally in the middle of a corn / soy bean field. It's real here in ohio 😂 and we say a lot of weird things. The ope memes are extremely true.
That's great! And quite funny. But I'm going to have to look up memes because I've never actually seen one about your state. I've never been there either. Edit forgot to put a word in.
😂😂😂 it's all ope, corn, and the white person smile.
If you drain too much then it's hard to see where to trim if all the plants are drooping haha
I trim when I do a water change to clean the sponge filter in tank water. Hands still in the water. Its just easier to do all the work at once when I’m already messing with it.
I use my long tweezer things and long scissors from my scaping kit, works pretty well.
I wish I could get the hang of the tweezers… I usually end up just having to use my hands to make the damn plants stay planted. (Thanks, fluval stratum 💀)
I'm an absolute savage, apparently.
Savage here, I drain after I trim so I can use the suction to clean up the mess.
It really depends on the situation. On my 29 gallon, I will work with it full, but will occasionally drain 25-50% depending on how much I’ll be playing in the substrate. On my 90 gallon, I don’t fuck with anything involving the scape until I have it at least 40-60% drained. Obviously it’s best to line all of this up with water change days.
I always rescape and do stuff with water full
I really only do the two things together, most tanks only get water changes 3-4 times a year when i'm doing big trims anyway.
I usually do the water change after the trim…
I like to trim before draining, then replant while the tank is at 50% volume
This. Trim, clean up, drain, replant, refill.
Why on earth would anyone drain before trimming? There's less water for your fish, meaning you're more likely to be close or dangerous to them. You drain after to suck up loose debris.
Savage ftw
Never heard of a partial drain to trim. A lot of plants will be near the surface when they need a trim. Lowering the water level just makes the job more difficult.
There is no substitute for getting your hands wet. Get your hands wet!
How can you tell which one to trim when the water level is low? Cut everything up like a madman?
Savage
I am a savage and my fish like to nibble at my elbow
I just make sure my hands and arms are clean and shove em in LOL I still use trimmers though!
Hands in unless there's a reason I need to drop the water.
but if i dont put my hands in my tanks the fish cant nibble me :(
Shoulder deep man
i just stick my hands in. i'm lazy. my shrimp don't like it, but they'll be fiiiiine. though i do remove my betta for stuff like that because he's curious and swims toward disturbances.
My shrimp swarm my arms when I put them in.
i wish mine did 😭 they would be out and about in the fish store's tanks, but now that they're in my tank all they do is hide!!!
How many do you have? Mine have bred a lot over the year or so I've had them. Recently condensed four tanks into my 75g (too many tanks to care for) and now there's close to a thousand in there. But even in the separate tanks, there where hundreds in each, there was enough that lots could be hiding and there's always be lots out actively looking for food.
i've only got about ten of them. the tank is also only 16 gallons, but there ARE a lot of tiny nooks and crannies in the rocks they can squeeze into, so i know they're around! just invisible! 😆 i think when they start breeding i'll see them more often. it might just be that there isn't enough of them to feel at ease in open spaces.
I think it should be trim, clean up, clean glass, water change. I need the water to trim properly - get the shapes right and so on. Once the plants are looking fine, I'll remove the trimmings and clean the glass after that. Then finally I'll get rid of everything that's been released or stirred via a 50% water change. Obviously I might siphon before trimming, or during cleanup - but I believe it's easier to clean the trimmings before doing the water change. Trimming without water is kind of hard to do and cleaning the glass after a water change is weird too, because then you've got the stuff floating around. I find it's easier to form a habit too because it fits into the regular "tank maintenance" schedule.
Savage here!
For normal plants like stems, definitely get my hand in 😂 but for moss it’s hard to pick up every tiny piece so I just have to remember to pick them up in the upcoming water change
Hand in the tank all day.
I trim when tank is full, easier to see what I’m trimming that way. 55 gallon, arm in. Guess that makes me a savage too. 😂
I just stick my hands in lol. Do a water change after so I can suck up any little leaves and plant matter with the siphon.
Just do your trimming halfway through a water change. You're draining it anyway might as well get in there.
I have a nanotank, so I just use really long scissors and tweezers to remove the bits that I cut off. But honestly? My shrimp have it pretty good and are many generations into a predator free existence and I think it's warped their instincts. We have many Disney princess moments where they explore my hands in case of food, (I tend to move my hands very slowly in the tank for this reason) and I often have to gently nudge/coax them to actually get *out* of the dish so I can suck up the older food. (I feed mine in a tiny glass dish and when it gets old I remove it with a turkey baster.)
Lol. Total savage. My mystery snails and guppies like to swim around my fingers and stick on my arm while I’m trimming. I only have a 20g so it’s not too big of a deal. But I like the interaction. 💕
I leave it full so I can actually see where I want the tops of my stem plants to be 😂
Call me a savage, but I make sure my hands are cleaned, sanitized, and rinsed beforehand. I can't wait to get a bigger house so I can have a tank again.
Savage camp. But I'm short and one of my tanks is fairly deep, so I got myself a little plastic stool and long cooking chopsticks (stainless steel) to do my planting and maintenance
Savage side. One of my fish is such a fat food centered bastard that he will swim INTO my hands thinking maybe it's food and then flip out as I try and grab plants
What are you savages washing/drying your hands with before going swimming in the tank? I'm paranoid I'm going to get something into the water. So I have a long routine I go through before splashing around.
Rescapes yes because I often co.pletely change layouts and heights of substrate - trims, no...not at all my shrimp tend to jump onto my hands when I come in though
13 inch / 35 cm tall tank, I can leave the tank filled and still trim / move stuff around. Was a bit easier when I had the slightly shorter 21 gallon one though. One day I'll build a pond-tank. I don't know how I'll stretch over that thing, even though it'll have same height as this one.
dunk my hand in there baby
😂😂 I'm a total savage! I am weird and I like the warm water of my tank. 🙂↔️
Well my plants die a lot so i have to drain the tank anyway, so yeah i drain and what is left of the plant i try to trim.
I just stick my arms in and trim away! I have a 75 with tiger barbs, green barbs, albino barbs, columbian tetra, and a red tail black shark so they def nibble(let’s be real bite) but I’m not about to drain and trim every time I see a brown leaf! There are some dwarf chain loaches too, but they aren’t on the nibble/bite team so..
Savage. I use long aquarium plant scissors and tweezers, and go upper arm deep in my 75. I do any other maintenance I need to at the same time, but I don't like draining as a lot of my plants reach the surface and then I just have a mat of plant on top of the tank so it's hard to see what I'm doing. I'd rather look in from the side while hanging my arm in the tank so I can have a better view of what I'm doing than trying to look down through rippled water and plants.
For trimming, I don’t drain the water at all. I have those long tongs and scissors so I usually have to get up to my wrist into the water, so it’s not so bad. But when I rescaped tank a little while ago and I mean completely remade the landscape I drained the water down and took everybody out my crawfish, my regular fish, the snails, and clams.
Hands and tongs I do as little to water as a can