tons of little flies in my 55gal!!!

[ufvj217]

It could be a number a factors like for example location if you live in an area where there are lots of insects like if you live near the Great Dismal Swamp. Or terrestrial potted plants near the aquarium due to rotting pot soil or even that you don't use screens on your windows.

The most likely cause however is that IF like most people your tank is overcrowded and you are overfeeding your fish. make sure you are honestly follow the 1 inch per gallon fish rule OR that you are feeding your fish no more then when they can eat in 15 minutes once every 3 days (my method), and I guarantee you you'll have a healthy looking tank and fish..From the photo of what appears to be a tank not overs-stocked. overfeeding is probubly the cause unless the drift wood you placed in the tank is too soft and the wrong species if you found it and is rotting all the way through fast over-reproducing bacteria bloom.

Those are rocks, and artificial plants. I probably do overfeed. So you only feed once every 3 days?

I don't believe that its over crowded. If it is, I don't think it is by much at all. like i said, i've got about 17 fish i think. most are maybe 3-4" long, some are less, and theres 2 that are maybe 4-5" long, so might be a little over the one inch per gallon (55gal tank)

I'm going to clean the algae on the underside of the lids, and change 75% of the water today or tomorow, and start feeding them less, and keep changing the water until i can get it clean again. hopefully itll clean up in time!

 

[Sigrid]

Halli, hallo,
"Little flies" who enter the premises without permission, hm?
If you keep houseplants, and perhaps you repotted them recently, you might have imported little "fungus gnats". They are present in most potting soil mixes because, unless you sterilize the mix, will have the larva grow into flies.

I am having a similar problem in the house because I repotted some plants in the Fall. The flies do not bother the plants, HOWEVER, I become rather annoyed when these critters buzz around my nose - need to inhale cautiously. My little hand-held vacuum is my terminator-machine for these guys.
Happy hunting.

 

[ufvj217]

My little hand-held vacuum is my terminator-machine for these guys.
Happy hunting.

hahahahaha:lol:

 

[rufioman]

Fruit flies or daphnia? Whichever lol. That's a strange deal but someone did have ants in their tank about a week ago as well.

 

[Fyurae]

Maybe get a frog?

 

[angel fresh]

ufvj217 flys can't kill your fish but fish can kill flys( their larvas), if you are developing larvas in your aquarium there is definetly something wrong with filteration or something else, better check the filter first and as said above overstocking is another possible reason.
frequent water changes always help mostly 20% as aroutiine but it depends on water quality, effective filteration and bioload you have.!!
if the flys resemble mosquitos they might be bloodworms larva( midge), your fish would love eating them, but it is a surprise to know you developed larva's in a cichlid fish aquarium for they are very good scavangers and don't let any larva escape, only possibility IMO would be poor visibility due to poor water conditions if this is the case
you better address it. good luck.

 

[Piranha86]

I had a fruit fly problem in my basement, here's a trap I used that pretty much cleared the problem. Just place it wherever is convenient, and make a new one every few days. In the bottom, I used bits of orange, but anything without the skin still on will probably work. Also, a little yeast sprinkled at the bottom with the fruit will attract them faster. If the things you have aren't fruit flies, this may or may not work.

(I swear, my real cursive is better than that.)

 

[ufvj217]

Maybe get a frog?

i've got 6 (not frogs) but fire-bellied toads.

ufvj217 flys can't kill your fish but fish can kill flys( their larvas), if you are developing larvas in your aquarium there is definetly something wrong with filteration or something else, better check the filter first and as said above overstocking is another possible reason.
frequent water changes always help mostly 20% as aroutiine but it depends on water quality, effective filteration and bioload you have.!!
if the flys resemble mosquitos they might be bloodworms larva( midge), your fish would love eating them, but it is a surprise to know you developed larva's in a cichlid fish aquarium for they are very good scavangers and don't let any larva escape, only possibility IMO would be poor visibility due to poor water conditions if this is the case
you better address it. good luck.

Im sure they do eat alot of it, but i still have about 30-40 flies above the water line at any given point in time.

would a pleco be good to get? i used to have a huge one, and it kept the glass clean, but he pooped all in my tank ALOT, so i gave him away lol

I had a fruit fly problem in my basement, here's a trap I used that pretty much cleared the problem. Just place it wherever is convenient, and make a new one every few days. In the bottom, I used bits of orange, but anything without the skin still on will probably work. Also, a little yeast sprinkled at the bottom with the fruit will attract them faster. If the things you have aren't fruit flies, this may or may not work.
View attachment 145553
(I swear, my real cursive is better than that.)

ill try that out, and LOL at your cursive! :raspberry:

 

[ufvj217]

heres the best pic i could get of some of the dead flies by my window

 

[Jspigs]

It could be a number a factors like for example location if you live in an area where there are lots of insects like if you live near the Great Dismal Swamp. Or terrestrial potted plants near the aquarium due to rotting pot soil or even that you don't use screens on your windows.

The most likely cause however is that IF like most people your tank is overcrowded and you are overfeeding your fish. make sure you are honestly follow the 1 inch per gallon fish rule OR that you are feeding your fish no more then when they can eat in 15 minutes once every 3 days (my method), and I guarantee you you'll have a healthy looking tank and fish..From the photo of what appears to be a tank not overs-stocked. overfeeding is probubly the cause unless the drift wood you placed in the tank is too soft and the wrong species if you found it and is rotting all the way through fast over-reproducing bacteria bloom.

The 1 inch per gallon "rule" is pretty much completely false with almost every (if not every) species of fish.

I am no expert on flies in aquariums but I believe I read that keeping the lid free of condensation might help.