Anyone have fish?

We now have a 5 gallon tank with 3 guppies inside. We have the aquarium kit.. but I notice the water is cloudy and kind of smelly. It is in DD's bedroom and I feel kind of gulty. Any ideas? We were feeding them gold fish food 2x a day.

Anyone have fish?

Message edited 3/11/2015 9:24:05 PM.

Re: Anyone have fish?

For fish tanks you have to do water changes and clean the filter usually there is a sponge or some kind or cartridge in the filter that needs to be changed

Re: Anyone have fish?

Fish seem like easy pets and they are once the tanks are established but until then, its hard.

The cloudy water can be from overfeeding, not doing a water change, a bacterial bloom, etc. But I'm guessing its overfeeding and the gravel is dirty from the food in it.

I know for a 5 gallon tank you probably don't want to go crazy but you should buy a test kit to measure ph, nitrates/nitrites, etc.

I have had fish tanks for as long as I can remember.

FM me if you want more info

PS - guppies should be eating tropical fish flakes, not ones for goldfish And a teeny pinch once a day is more than enough

Message edited 3/15/2015 9:27:13 AM.

Re: Anyone have fish?

Re: Anyone have fish?

You need to vacuum the gravel. Like someone said above you should feed them tropical fish food. You may be feeding them too much. Is it a new tank? If so, this is probably why it is cloudy-- bacterial bloom.

Don't change the filter medium every month! I went years without changing the medium (I had one fish for 10 years). You will disturb the ammonia levels, nitrites, and nitrates. The best thing to do is rinse it out with some old tank water (not tap because it will disturb the pH).

It is such a dirty trick that pet stores and filter companies say to change the filter medium $$$.

Look up cycling a fish tank if you can.

Message edited 4/11/2015 11:17:33 PM.