Fresh water aquarium/fish question

[Sonic dB]

I bought a 28 gallon Aquarium a few weeks ago.

The first week, I had 2 larger Tiger Barbs in it. After one week, I added 5 baby Tiger barbs. That night, one of them was found floating face up in the tank. I was very sad over this.

The 4 surving Tiger Barbs existed well together for the next week and a half.

Yesterday, I added 3 more baby Tiger Barbs, 2 Large Green Tiger Barbs and 4 baby Green Tiger Barbs.

That makes 13 fish total, most Tiger Barbs with several green ones.

Tonight, one of the baby green Tiger Barbs was found floating face up in the tank....

My question is over the water clarity. It tends to be pretty cloudy all of the time and a bit murky. Does this matter?

Its clear for a few hours after I do a partial water change + surface rock vaccum of the old food... however it clouds back up a bit. Water de-cloud chemicals dont really help.

Should I expect some kind of water clouding in this tank? Is this healthy? I do not want to do constant water changes + chemical additions and from what I have read, this is only necessary every 2 weeks or so.

[LeRoux Strydom]

What kind of filtration setup do you have? Is it adequate for the volume? The water should be clear, not cloudy.

Sometimes fish, especially smaller ones, do not adapt very well to a change in environment. It's kinda normal to lose one or two...



LeRoux

[jyl]

I second LeRoux. The water shouldn't be cloudy if you have a good filter setup, and must not be cloudy if you want the fish to be healthy.

Don't overfeed. 15 minutes after feeding, there should be hardly any food visible - the fish should have eaten it all.

Many freshwater aquariums include a bottom-feeder fish, who forages on food that has fallen to the bottom as well as algae that is trying to build up. The most common ones are called "pleicostomos" or something like that.

My most successful aquarium included an undergravel filter. The gravel sits on a raised, perforated floor. Water is drawn downward, through the gravel, through the perforations, under the raised floor, into the filter, and then pumped back into the tank. Does a great job of keeping crud out of the water.

With that setup, plus a regular filter (the kind that hangs over the edge of the tank), I never needed to regularly add chemicals to the water, and to be honest I seldom did partial water changes.

Post a pic of your fish and tank!

[928ram]

Not really much more to add, I'll echo jyl's coment about using the undergravel filter along with the standard filter; I use this setup and it's great.

If I read you correctly, you lost each fish the day after adding them which may be from adding them too quickly. The method I use is to float the new fish for about 10 min, open the bag and scoop in some water from the aquarium and allow that to sit another 10 min, repeat several times before releasing.

There's an awsome store in my area that has a pretty active forum here:

www.tidelineaquatics.net

[cstreit]

Cloudy water is typically an algae bloom.

Is the tank near a window? It should not be. Algae blooms tend to result from too many nitrates, a byproduct of ammonia decomposition. Your filtration setup probably does not have an established bacteria bed yet (takes 4-6 weeks to get going) you need to wait to add more fish.

[bell]

just a thought.....are you letting the water you add sit for 24 hours before you did your partial water change? this lets the clorine evaporate.....clorine is bad for fish.
it took my 20 gallon about 5 weeks before it's cycle stabilized.

[Z-man]

I used to have a fresh water aquarium - I also had an undergravel filter coupled with a standard filter - the two in harmony work very well, as well as a couple of algae eaters and you should be fine.

IIRC, Tiger Barbs are very aggressive fish - the adult ones may have attacked the baby barbs. You can always put a temporary barrier between the older and younger fish while the younger ones grow up a bit.

Hmmm - maybe I should setup my tank again. I need a pet. But fish are so unruly - no matter how much I've told them, they always seem to want to swim right after eating! (Sorry, that's a real, real bad joke!)

-Z-man.

[vash]

take some water to the aquarium store, let them test it (free). i bet you havent got enough of a biological filter built up yet. you seem to be doing it right with the slow introduction of fish, but maybe you are still staying ahead of the good bacteria. and your ammonium is building up. tiger barbs are feisty!

[Sonic dB]

Good info, thanks guys.

The Tank is on the countertop/bar area, far from the window. It has a mechanical filtration system that came with the unit. The system has a filter in place, a suction hose and a little wheel that spins around and around on top. There is gravel in the bottom of the tank and a mixture of mostly live and a few fake plants. there are two rocks and one 'castle' that the fish like to hide in.

Most of the time, the fish are docile, but sometimes they chase each other around. One baby fish was actually chasing the big one around once.

Yesterday, two babies, one green and one Tiger stripped were locked in battle....mouth to mouth spinning around and around. I broke the fight up. This is as aggressive as they have been...usually they are docile.

I still dont know why the water is cloudy... Ive cut back on the food and looks like I should cut back some more. Also, I should add an underground filter. Thanks for the tips on that.

[Z-man]

Sonic: are the rocks and plants from a fish store?

Often people put rocks from their backyard in their aquarium and it contaminates the water. (Don't ask me how I know this!)

-Z.

[Sonic dB]

Z-Man, they are from the fish store. I rinsed them before putting them in the tank.

Here is a small pic.

[vash]

your water will clear up, just as soon as your spinning wheel (biowheel) gets a nice colony of the good bacteria.

i feed my fish every 3-4 days. and they seem to live forever. and more live plants is a good thing. they take up the precious nutrients, in the water and keep the algae down. oh, a good rule is one inch of fish per gallon of water. guess the displacement of all the fish furniture.

[elwood-914]

I agree with all of the advice above. I think you need to let the tank stablize and get a good bacteria cycle going and add fish slowly. And don't add too many fish. Watch for over feeding. My mom used to take all the fish out and boil the gravel, scrub the tank and then everything was cloudy, she took all the good bacteria out of the tank! Live plants good, rocks from backyard not so good. Do not mix community fish with species fish, species fish tend to be very aggresive and will stress and beat up the community fish and they will die a slow undeserving death.

[targa911S]

it's because you don't have one of those skeletons in the treasure chest that blows bubbles. Actually all good advice above. filtration and letting chlorine settle out are the big ones. Fresh water is easy. I had a huge Oscar for a while that would eat hot dogs! Salt is a different story.

[bell]

not to bring this thread down.....but i came home to a dead oscar today, yeasterday he didn't get excited about food which he normally does, he was just looking glum and chilling out on the bottom. the other fish were fine and acting mischevious as usual.
today when i got home he was sleeping with his eyes open.........
i stirred up the gravel and triple checked for ammonia and the water is perfectly habitable.
he was gonna be big too.....he went from 2" to 5 1/2" in 2 months.

[elwood-914]

Bell; Sorry to hear about your Oscar. I had an Oscar named "Baby" since he was 2" when we got him. We had him over 10 years and we could pet him. He passed when the Mrs. and I were away on a trip, otherwise it would have been more heartbreaking. They are really cool fish, great personalities.

[Sonic dB]

Bell.... My sympathies go out to you. Death of a pet sucks, even fish.

One of my Green TBs has been just hanging out floating slowly near the top of the water for the past day. Hes barely moving and is not interested in food. I think he may be sick.

[bell]

once i get settled after i move i'm stepping up my setup.
i'm thinking 150 gallon, and a pack of at least 6 oscars.
anyone ever have a fish die cause it swallowed gravel?
i noticed a few times that when they were eating brine shrimp off the bottom that they'd eat then spit out gravel once and a while (they have big mouths)......but being they weren't that big yet couldn't pass it.........
just a thought, gonna have to do some research on this one.

unfortunately i already held the cerimonial flushing, it was a beautifull event........taps was playing.......172 gun salute.....etc
had i waited i could've investigated the gravel theory further.

[vash]

bell, bummer. sorry to hear about the death of your oscar.

but 6 oscars is too much, they are damn territorial and will fight when bigger. all is happy when they are small, but once they get big, look out. i think dropsy is the disease that kills fish that are plugged up. but i thought it was caused by a bacteria and not gravel. my fish dude, told me that oscars typically die because the owners get it all up in their heads that the fish needs live food. goldfish in particular, carry a myriad of badstuff. the breeding conditions to generate feeder fish are hideous. and that is how our fish get sick. hole in the head disease is the most common. i typically get the baby oscars used to pellets right away. no probs.

have you seen that "red sea" gravel. very pricey, but it is a medium with fertilizer that really gets plants going. but oscars and plants dont mix and play well.

[bell]

i think there is a problem with my filtration system.......i just picked up a 5 in 1 test strip kit and the water is hard, the nitrates are high, nitrites are normal and the ph is a little high.
gonna do a water change tonite (yes i have dechlorinator).

i've been doing some research as far as the number of oscars go......you can have 1......you can NOT have 2-5......but 6 or more and they'll live in a pack, a 150 gallon tank will do until they get over 7 inches or so. i got lucky with the 2 i had, they were best buddies....they were probably going to mate