CS> Once cycled, a tank needs about 10 mins every 2 weeks to 
 CS> filter out fish poop from the gravel and change the filters.

FWIW: i don't even do this... maybe possibly once every 6 to 12 months... i
view my tanks in the same realm as a pond... however, i only feed my guys
once every two or three days so i don't have the problems that others do
who feed their's every day... i also don't have a lot of sunlight available
to my tanks in addition to all of them having timers for the lighting which
are only one for roughly the same amount of bright daylight as one gets in
nature ;)

[trim]

 CS> Fish load is the most common new tank keeper mistake.  Rule of
 CS> thumb is about 1 gallon per inch of fish so in a 10G tank, you can
 CS> reliably hold 10 small fish of 1 inch.  This starts to shift though
 CS> with fish over 2 inches and they need more room.  Don't look at the
 CS> fish's current size, but what it will grow to be.  If the tank
 CS> depth isnt twice the size of the final adult fish, think 3 times
 CS> before getting it.

you should see how big the four "goldfish" a friend got me are in
my 30g tank... they're in there with the 4 remaining feeder guppies that i
have... i'm about to move those guppies over to my 20g beta tank and get
some more... ya just can't beat $1US/dozen and they're the same ones that
you pay higher prices for because they're "pretty" :?

at one time i had some fishing minnows that i purchased at $1/dozen... they
were around for 4+ years... the largest was larger than a big sardine you
get in a can... fast and mean, too... very aggressive but they
wouldn't/couldn't eat the snails and other things that came in with live
plants... however, the one or two goldfish were quite happy to take care of
those :lol:

)\/(ark