Is this correct?

[New2Fish]

My fiance and I invested in a 20G tank last week. We have had fish in it since last Wed., 5 tetras to be exact. I brought one back because he was too aggressive. They were happy for about 2 days and then the water started to get cloudy. We were told by the pet store (what's LFS stand for anyway) that it will get cloudy but it will clear up on it's own. I have a ph test kit, Novaqua, a water clearer and a de-stresser. I do not have anything to test nitrites/nitrates or amonia. We feed them once a day. What else do you need to know?

The fish looked like they were having problems the other day but I think that was b/c it was too hot. They were all hanging out at the bottom of the tank barely moving and breathing heavy (Fiance laughs at me for this description). Once I lowered the heat they were doing much better.

My question is, am I doing everything correctly? I will be adding more water (conditioned of course) to make up for what's evaporated.

[ChilDawg]

You do need to do some partial water changes in order to reduce the ammonia content of the water...but the water will get cloudy during the cycling process.

[New2Fish]

Thanks! I will be able to do that this weekend! And the cycling process will last a few weeks?

[ChilDawg]

Mine took between 6 and 8 weeks. Here is a thread on how to finish a "fishy" cycle: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3194

[New2Fish]

Thanks. I've been skimming through that thread and the common mistakes thread. Apparently, I really need patience right now. Fiance is the one that wants to add fancy fish, I'm happy w/ the tetras for now.

[val]

LFS = Local Fish Store

Oh, and welcome to Aquaria Central:) We're glad you're here...

Val

[GEV83]

yeah LFS is local fish store there is a section in this forum somewhere that tell you what all the abreviations mean.

[GEV83]

Heres the link for the abreviations.

http://www.megapathdsl.net/~fmariani/abbreviations.htm

[New2Fish]

Ah, that's a lot of abbreviations! So, I removed some water last night and put new water in. It hasn't cleared up at all but I will patiently wait and watch and see what will happen in the next few weeks.

Thanks for everyone's help.

[ArkyLady]

I read somewhere that ammonia can become more toxic at higher temps, so that may be why lowering the temp seemed to make them feel better.

[New2Fish]

Thanks Arkylady!

Another thing my fiance keeps harping on is that it's so claoudy he can't even see the fish. We don't have any real plants in the tank that need a certain amount of light. Will keeping the tank light on help reduce the cloudiness and enable the fish to see better?

[New2Fish]

Ooh, another question. When should I change the filter sponge?

[carpguy]

The cloudiness (white haziness) seems to be a pretty normal occurence during cycling. It'll disappear on its own after a little bit. The fish will find their way around with or without the lights.

When you do your weekly water change take the sponge out and rinse it out in the bucket of water you just removed, then put it back in. Repeat until the sponge is shot. A lot of the nitrifying bacteria live on the sponge and you'll want to protect them. Rinsing under the tap could expose them to chlorine, which hey don't care for -- the waste water from the tank is already dechlorinated.

My aquaclears have space to hold more than one sponge. Assuming that your filter does as well, when your sponges are finally shot replace one at a time. This will give the bacteria a chance to colonize the new sponge while the old one is still taking care of things.

[New2Fish]

Carpguy, thanks. The thing is, after I looked a little closer, it seems the cloud in our tank has a more greenish tint to it. My fiance thinks I'm crazy and not being patient enough when I tell him I'm going to change the water once a week. It doesn't look like there's an extra place for another sponge but I'll check again and then get another sponge.

[New2Fish]

Yay! The cloud has lifted and fiance bought a bala shark. He's a bit of a tool but I think he's still adjusting to the tank. I changed the water last week and I"ve added more water today to replace the evaporated water. How is everyone else doing?

[carpguy]

I hate to be the wet blanket, but…

The bala (http://www.fishbase.com/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?genusname=Balantiocheilos&speciesname=melanopterus) is going to out grow the tank in a few minutes. They grow to be a foot or more and like longer tanks that they can cruise in. Six foot long tanks are normally the minimum size recommended.

There are other sharkminnows that stay much smaller (4-5") and would be a much better fit for your tank. The Siamese Algae Eater (SAE), redtail shark, rainbow shark, flying fox all are related, all are cool looking and interesting fish and all stay much smaller. And even they will be biggish in a 20, but not unreasonably so…

HTH

[New2Fish]

Well, I guess I'll have to tell fiance about that. Thanks.