by Nobody Good

Created on: February 21, 2009

Do you have an aquarium? Are you sure that you have fish in your aquarium but you just cannot find them? Then you may be the victim of a cloudy aquarium. This is a common problem among fish owners, especially inexperienced fish owners. There are several reasons why your aquarium water might be a little (or alot) murky.

I always thought aquariums were too much work. I did not want to bother with the cleaning so I never had any fish other than Betta fish (which do not take much work). Well, about six months ago I got the urge to get one of those fancy aquariums. I trusted my husband who said he, "knew all about aquariums". He had fish when he was a kid, many many years ago. I guess his memory must be a little rusty because things did not go as I expected. We bought our aquarium and stocked it with many different varieties of fish. We set everything up correctly, I thought, but the water soon turned cloudy and the fish were dying.

I did some research and learned that the fish we bought were not compatible with each other. They were having a little "fish war" and killing each other off. Unfortunately there was nothing much we could do about that problem. So, I set out to learn about how to keep the water nice and clear. Here is what I learned...

1. Absolutely do not over feed the fish

How many fish you have will determine how much you should feed them. I have a fourteen gallon aquarium with about 12 fish in it. Each fish is about an inch or so. I feed my fish enough food to fill up the bottom of a small water bottle lid. This is about 7 small flakes. The fish should be able to eat all the food in about three minutes. If they have not eaten all of the food in three minutes then feed them a little less next time. If you still keep feeding them the same amount the water is guaranteed to turn cloudy.

2. Pick a high quality fish food

Getting a cheap fish food may save you some pennies but it will cost you in extra time spent cleaning that cloudy aquarium. Make sure your fish food says that it will not cloud the water when fish are fed properly.

3. Get a snail, plocostomus or other bottom feeder

These guys will eat all the algae and/or clean all the leftover food from the bottom of the tank. Just know that with snails they multiply quick so you will have to go in and throw some away after awhile!

4. Clean your tank regularly

If you see your aquarium start to get cloudy then you should give it a cleaning. I do this every week or at least every other week. You will probably need to buy one of those special vacuums for fish tanks. This works really well for clearing up the water in an aquarium.

5. Make sure to change the filter in your pump

Do not forget about that pump in the aquarium. It has a filter and that filter needs to be changed about every two weeks. Read the directions on the filter you buy for your aquarium and it will tell you how often to change it. This is very important! If you have a good filter you will be able to keep a clear tank most of the time.

6. If any of your fish die make sure to remove them promptly

A fish corpse is notorious for clouding the water. It is a dirty job but someone has to do it. I always make my husband clean out the dead fish from our aquarium :)

If you follow these steps you are sure to have a beautiful aquarium. Cleaning up cloudy water in an aquarium takes a little work but seeing those lovely fish clearly makes it all worth it!

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