Help me not kill my guppies

[Zerileous]

To make a long story short, my guppie's sub gallon tank got really cloudy. I am a total noob and have had these fish for about a month. Perhapse with a bit of overkill, I got a filter, and API Stress Zyme, and a gravel cleaner (siphon type). I think in my noob brilliance I had been over feeding them and improperly cleaning the gravel (causing the cloudy water). Anyhow, I am not so sure about this filter. It is for a 1-3 gallon tank, but the intake is nearly in the gravel and it can't sit any higher.

Further, and this is what worries me, the fish seem to be strongly effected by the current from the filter. I have seen them get sucked down towards the intake, and sometimes appear to be "stuck" down there. I also have one of those grate things with a tube and an air stone. Are my fish going to get strong fighting the current, or are they more likely to be unhappy at best and injured/killed at worst?

Sorry for the noob question, I know forums like this are riddled with them, but I am pretty worried about this filter, though it seems to be doing a really good job cleaning up the water.

[Drumachine09]

To make a long story short, my guppie's sub gallon tank got really cloudy. I am a total noob and have had these fish for about a month. Perhapse with a bit of overkill, I got a filter, and API Stress Zyme, and a gravel cleaner (siphon type). I think in my noob brilliance I had been over feeding them and improperly cleaning the gravel (causing the cloudy water). Anyhow, I am not so sure about this filter. It is for a 1-3 gallon tank, but the intake is nearly in the gravel and it can't sit any higher.

Further, and this is what worries me, the fish seem to be strongly effected by the current from the filter. I have seen them get sucked down towards the intake, and sometimes appear to be "stuck" down there. I also have one of those grate things with a tube and an air stone. Are my fish going to get strong fighting the current, or are they more likely to be unhappy at best and injured/killed at worst?

Sorry for the noob question, I know forums like this are riddled with them, but I am pretty worried about this filter, though it seems to be doing a really good job cleaning up the water.


Our forums are here to help the people. There are no stupid questions. The fact that you want to provide a better habitat for your creatures says something about you.


First of all, you need probobly a 10 gallon tank. MAYBE 5 gallon if you could get away with it.

To solve the intake problem, you could saw off a couple inches of the uplift tube.

As for the cloudyness, thats a chrona/hobbs question

[Zerileous]

the cloudiness went away really quickily after I cleaned the gravel, plus it seems that I was fairly heavily overfeeding. Putting 2 and 2 togather that was probably the culprit.

Are you sure I NEED a larger tank? I only have 4 fish in there, and I don't really have the money or space for a larger one. College budget and living arangement here.

As for cutting the filter, I already looked but the plastic on the pump end is a little smaller where it fits into to the pump, and on the intake end is the whole deal with the hose and everything, which seems necessary.

[Drumachine09]

the cloudiness went away really quickily after I cleaned the gravel, plus it seems that I was fairly heavily overfeeding. Putting 2 and 2 togather that was probably the culprit.

Are you sure I NEED a larger tank? I only have 4 fish in there, and I don't really have the money or space for a larger one. College budget and living arangement here.

As for cutting the filter, I already looked but the plastic on the pump end is a little smaller where it fits into to the pump, and on the intake end is the whole deal with the hose and everything, which seems necessary.

It isnt even a 1 gallon, correct? Anything would be a step up. the bigger the better. The only thing IMO that can go in a sub gallon is shrimp.

[Zerileous]

well, I would guess that the tank can hold a gallon, if water was all that was in there, but it certainly wont take a gallon otherwise. If I had to guess it would be exactally 1 gallon capacity.

[Drumachine09]

well, I would guess that the tank can hold a gallon, if water was all that was in there, but it certainly wont take a gallon otherwise. If I had to guess it would be exactally 1 gallon capacity.


Do you have the measurments? or is it an odd shaped tank?

[Chrona]

Are they fancy guppies? If they are getting sucked into the intake, it's because they are weak (esp if the filter is only for 1-3 gallons). You do need a bigger tank though. A 5 or a 10 gallon is really not that much....probably like 3 trips to Subway. Is this tank heated btw?

The cloudiness is probably because of the overfeeding. You need to drastically cut back on overfeeding (one small meal every other day), do a large (75%) water change - make sure incoming water temp is the same - and vaccum the top of the gravel for any rotting fish food (do not disturb it too much) You need to keep cutting back on feeding until the cloudiness goes away. After that, you can go back to feeding a small meal a day. Do not touch the gravel or the filter for a month. In the meantime, I would recommend downloading the ebook to the left and reading about the nitrogen cycle.

[Zerileous]

The tank is an odd shape. Irregular pentagon in particular, and the sides are not even vertical. Mathematically figuring the volume would be a nightmare.

Chrona, I am not sure what sort of guppies they are, probably the cheep kind whatever that is. Also, I should mention that 3 of the 4 are not adult, but are a little under an inch in length. The tank is not heated.

I actually had the fish out of the tank earlier and cleaned the rocks, along with about a 75% change in water. So lucky me, I stumbled through the right steps, or hopefully close enough.

Right now I have removed the filter, it was making me nervous and I wasn't sure if it was overkill. The water is definately alot clearer now. I don't know that this filter works for the long term for a few reasons. First of all, it takes up alot of space. Secondly, it barely fits vertically. The intake is like a quarter inch from the gravel and I can't do much about that. I am pretty sure that the grate-tube-air stone setup is what is called under gravel filtration, will that be adiquate assuming I fix my feeding technique?

I know that I am falling well below a hobbiest standard as a fish keeper, but right now I can only really afford to worry about their basic well-being. Hopefully this can develop into a healthy hobby (err addiction) in due time (err cash).