Help Please Cloudy Tank

[TammyF]

Hello everyone,

I'm very new and clueless when it comes to fish, so i thought i would give it a try. After setting up my tank and putting the fish in its very cloudy and does not seem to want to clear.

My set up is :
30 gal
whisper 30-60 pump
heater

Any help would be great...thank you very much
Tammy

 

[MemnochsKat]

how long has it been set up? It will take at least 24 hours to clear up after first being set up. Longer if you've used sand as a substrate.

 

[MemnochsKat]

P.S. What kind of fish do you have in there? Also, is there a reason you have the water lvl so low?

 

[MissFishy]

Ok, first of all, the fish I see in there should NOT be together. It appears you have either a pacu or piranha and some type of cichlid together in a 30g. They will kill eachother, NOT a good idea. Please take the time to visit my website linked below in my signature. There is a lot of information there about how to set up a tank properly. Welcome to the site!

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

1st: Read the stickies at the top of the page
2nd: Change half the water with dechlorinated water.
3rd: Net the fish and take them back to the pet store.

Those fish are way too big for your tank and will grow even larger, causing their growth to stunt, and for them to die.

 

[TammyF]

Its been setup for a week or so and these fish i just bought on Saturday. They all lived in the same tank at the pet store and i asked if they are okay to live together....they said yes. I also told them the size of my tank and they never said that it was too small....so as i said i'm new the the entire water world....reptiles are my thing...by the looks of it i think i should stay on dry land lol The fish are cichlids and pacu. I'm not sure why the water level is low...i wasn't sure how full i should fill it.

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

The problem with most stores is that they are out to get your money. Give those fish back to your petstore, and read the stickies at the top of the page.

 

[TammyF]

from what i read a pacu can live with Cichlids....is it the certain cichilds that can't live with each other?

 

[Lotus]

Welcome to the site

To give you an analogy, basically, it's like putting the ball python and a hamster into a "Critter Keeper." There isn't enough room, and the fish aren't compatible.

Unfortunately, it seems that the store gave you some bad advice

The cloudiness you're seeing is from what's called the nitrogen cycle. Basically, bacteria need to build up in a fish tank slowly to make it habitable for fish. There are several methods for cycling, and the fishless method is described in the stickies. There's a really nice article on cycling with fish here: Aquamaniacs :: View article - Cycling Safely - by Clint Tisher

I'd advise you to take your current fish back, and do some research before deciding what fish you would like and will be compatible. Fishkeeping isn't that hard, but there are a few things that need to be thought out and a few guidelines to follow.

 

[TammyF]

hehehe thanks...ball and a hamster in a critter keeper...lol

thanks for the advice....i'm gonna see if they'll take them back and try and clear the water...should be interesting lol

 

[GeraldTheMouse]

Just don't fall for any more of those 'tricks' you LFS (Local Fish Store) will play on you. Do your research first, then buy.

 

[nealio]

What has been said is true to a point. BUT!!!! Some fish that aren't supposed to get along do sometimes. Depending on the situation and how they were raised as fry. More importantly, if the water conditions are the same for all the fish and they are used to it, no worries.

Most people here on this forum are by the book and thats it. When you take fish that are SUPPOSED to be in the wild and stick them in the tank, even "tank mates" can get to each other. Usually a pecking order is established right away so you will see a "floater" soon enough if they do not get along. Or pieces of fin missing.

just my 2

Yeah and the cloudiness of your tank is due to it cycling, you added all your fish at once, so its gona get worse before it gets better.
(edit)
This means that its going to get cloudier before it gets cleaner, you have to wait for the bacteria to build up)

Good luck!

 

[homebunnyj]

What has been said is true to a point. BUT!!!! Some fish that aren't supposed to get along do sometimes. Depending on the situation and how they were raised as fry. More importantly, if the water conditions are the same for all the fish and they are used to it, no worries.

Most people here on this forum are by the book and thats it. When you take fish that are SUPPOSED to be in the wild and stick them in the tank, even "tank mates" can get to each other. Usually a pecking order is established right away so you will see a "floater" soon enough if they do not get along. Or pieces of fin missing.

just my 2

Yeah and the cloudiness of your tank is due to it cycling, you added all your fish at once, so its gona get worse before it gets better.
(edit)
This means that its going to get cloudier before it gets cleaner, you have to wait for the bacteria to build up)

Good luck!

First of all, that tank is still overstocked any way you slice it, by the book or not; you just need a bigger tank or smaller fish there. Putting fish in a tank that's not big enough just makes the tank difficult to maintain and keep clean and nice-looking. Not a way likely to lead a beginner to success in fishkeeping.
Secondly, once you learn to keep fish 'by the book', you begin to get a feel for just what you can and can't get away with. Otherwise you end up killing a bunch of fish in the learning process. Money wasted, IMHO. We do have some here who 'break the rules' of fishkeeping, but this is after they learned enough to understand just exactly what they were doing and why it works or doesn't work

 

[nealio]

Don't want to flame this up but you obviously didn't read my post clearly enough.

First of all, that tank is still overstocked any way you slice it, by the book or not; you just need a bigger tank or smaller fish there. Putting fish in a tank that's not big enough just makes the tank difficult to maintain and keep clean and nice-looking. Not a way likely to lead a beginner to success in fishkeeping.

That is a personal opinion and I respect that. I have been keeping fish for quite some time with little to no casualties and to quote myself; I never said it WASN’T overstocked, did I?

She could be "successful" in fish keeping in many different ways, from many opinions, not just yours. That is something that should be said and taken for consideration when viewing EVERYONES opinions here, including mine.

There are many forums and sites dedicated to fish keeping that have varying opinions to “successful fish keeping”. I suggest you look around and take a general consensus of what experienced fish keepers are saying and go with that. Sometimes things that are impossible can work. That is the beauty of the design of nature. Again, things can go terribly wrong as well.

To quote myself again:

Most people here on this forum are by the book and thats it. When you take fish that are SUPPOSED to be in the wild and stick them in the tank, even "tank mates" can get to each other. Usually a pecking order is established right away so you will see a "floater" soon enough if they do not get along. Or pieces of fin missing.

Is a very strong statement and is a very TRUE statement. Some fish that are supposed to get along with each other don’t, and you end up with floaters, EVEN if you go by the book. Touché!

Tammi,
Research around and don’t take one opinion, take many opinions and make your own decision on how you want to raise your fish. There are right and wrong ways to do it, but there is also tolerances that Mother Nature allows when you take something that is supposed to be in the wild and stick it in a tank.

AGAIN, just my .02