My first rodeo - 3 days and still swimming!

[CillyNM]

So I finally got brave and actually purchased fish for my son's tank. It is a 10 gallon which we set up shortly after Christmas. He now has 5 tiger barb, various sizes and that is all we are going to do for a year or so - just so we can get the hang of this!

I have read that if I used tap water, it will get cloudy after a couple of days and I was waiting for that to happen but it never did. Now that I have fish in there - it is day 3 (and we are all still alive!!! mom, son & all) and I do notice a difference in the water, it is getting cloudy.

My question is do I need to do something to the water, or will it clear up shortly as I have read?? I am not feeding the fish according to the food container, it says 3 times daily, I am only feeding them once a day, is this good? bad? I am doing this because I read that when you put fish into a new environment you don't want to over feed them.

On a side note, I was going to go with neon tetras because I thought they were cute (lol) but every time we went to the fish department, I noticed my son paying more attention to the tiger barbs, I guess they are easier for him to see. They are cute tho! ..uhm, they should do ok by themselves, right?

 

[dirtydogg]

Good Reading!

The cloudiness is most likely a bacterial bloom. Perfectly normal. Since this probably means that the tank was not fully cycled prior to fish you should be doing frequent water changes to keep the ammonia/nitrites down. check the pinned topics at the top of this forum.

Tiger Barbs are an awesome fish. Very active and fun to watch also reasonably hardy. You'll get lots of enjoyment from them.

 

[CillyNM]

Well darn! I was just sure I was fully cycled. OH well, guess I missed the boat there. At least those little guys are still with me and haven't gone. . . overboard (sorry lol). )

Thanks for the information. We are enjoying them, they move around quite a bit! of course that makes my son think they are hungry. . . so we hide the food

 

[Jediagh]

I feed my corries once a day 1 pellet. I notice that if I contiune to drop food the fish will continue to eat and eat. Sort of like my dog. That boy can eat and eat and eat and then feel so sick he throws up.

So once a day is more than enough. Note that if you have LIVE plants in your tank and you overfeed the fish pertty soon you will see an influx in snails in your tank.