Why Do Aquariums Get Cloudy?
There are a few things that can cause cloudy water, but the most likely culprit is bacteria. Keep in mind that fish tanks have good bacteria and bad bacteria. After the first setup, your fish tank will go through the nitrogen cycle. This is an important step that allows it to build up helpful bacteria in the water and the filter media.

Water Quality
The cloudiness occurs because your tank water doesn’t yet have enough helpful bacteria to clear wastes from the water. That cloudiness will clear away as the water quality improves, but it can take from 2 weeks to 2 months for this to happen.

Prevention is the Key
Learn how to test your tank water and understand the nitrogen process, which is also called the break-in cycle, nitrification process, or cycling. To speed up the cycling of your tank, use a product that boosts beneficial bacteria. Add these products daily or weekly, depending on your tank, to help balance bacteria for future maintenance as well.

Staying Cloud-Free
A few other mistakes can also lead to cloudy water in new tanks. The most common are over feeding fish, excessive water changes, and over populating the aquarium. To avoid these mistakes, feed your fish the amount they can eat in 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t keep too many fish either or your filter media won’t be able to keep up with water filtration. Lastly, limit partial water changes to 25% to 30% a month so your tank has a chance to build up good bacteria.

Learning the ins and outs of water cycling is the first step to becoming an experienced fish owner. Pet Supermarket can advise you about tanks and water conditioning products.

Water Quality is a Must
You’ll want to provide a healthy as well as beautiful environment for your new tropical fish. The most important factor is to keep the water sparkling clean and clear.

Bring on the Oxygen!
Did you know that bubbles do more than just add decoration to the tank? One of the keys to a healthy aquarium is water that is rich in oxygen. Bubbles “push” water to the surface and create circulation in the aquarium. So, not only do bubbles add a unique look to the tank, they add essential oxygen to the water.

Get Rid of the Gunk
We can recommend a filtration system that removes toxins and debris for the size of your tank and the kind of fish you’ve chosen. Pet Supermarket carries the right size filtration system for every aquarium.

Making Sure the Water’s Right
Tropical fish require water with specific biological conditions and a balanced pH level of acidity and alkaline. The quality of your aquarium’s water can be easily adjusted with water conditions and test kits available at Pet Supermarket.

Changing Water
Frequent water changes are essential to maintaining a healthy aquarium. We have the right tools to show you how to make water changes easy and convenient. We can also help you choose the proper conditioners and instruct you in their use. Plus we have informative books to help to learn more about fish’s needs and how to care for them.

The Right Temperature
Keep your aquarium out of direct sunlight. Tropical fish live comfortably at 78 degrees Fahrenheit—do not let the tank water deviate by more than 2 degrees in either direction. Keep your aquarium away from heating and cooling ducts.

Add Some Lights and a Heater
An aquarium heater with a thermostat is an important aid in maintaining proper water temperature and preserving the health of your tropical fish. We offer a variety of lighting options for our aquarium along with a range of light bulbs that promote healthy fish and plant growth.

Remember: at Pet Supermarket we’re committed to helping your fish thrive to give you hours of enjoyment!

What’s Best
Feed your fish twice a day with floating food. At Pet Supermarket we carry a variety of name brand premium and natural fish foods. Flake, tablet, and pellet foods are the most widely used food for aquarium fish for good reasons: they are generally inexpensive, easy to use, and well-balanced.

Start Small
Start by feeding your fish a very small pinch of food. Carefully watch them eat. If they eat it all quickly, then give them another small pinch. Feeding your fish slowly in small amounts will give you a chance to watch them and make sure they are all eating.

Watch Those Flakes!
Flakes can be fed one to four times a day, but only in small amounts which can be consumed by the fish in two minutes or less. Keep giving them small pinches as long as they eat all of it quickly. Feed them as much as they’ll eat without leaving any uneaten food.

Make Sure Your Fish Clean Their Plates
Food that sinks to the bottom and is not eaten will cause water pollution, so be sure all the food is eaten. Use your net to remove the food that is not eaten after ten minutes. Many new or casual fish owners are guilty of overfeeding fish. It may not seem like a big deal, but uneaten food could quickly pollute your tank water. Instead, feed your fish an amount they can eat within 2 or 3 minutes.

Give It a Try
Some specific fish species do best with certain foods. Our associates can help you choose an all-purpose premium food or a food specially formulated for your finny friends.

Feeding Fish When You’re Gone
Do your fish need to eat every day? No they don’t, but most fish that you buy are very young, and like all young animals, they need food at least twice a day, every day. Fish can survive a short while without food, but you don’t have to put them on a diet while you’re on vacation. Consider using a food block or automatic fish feeder instead. Pet Supermarket associates can help you choose a fish feeder that will keep your fish properly fed until you come home.

Fish in Your Home
Fish make wonderful pets for busy people, and we’re sure you’ll enjoy your new fish. A tropical aquarium can bring beauty and tranquility into your life. Fish are both fun and soothing to watch and can help eliminate tension after a stressful day. They don’t require a lot of space and will create an exotic focal point in your home.

Creating Underwater Atmosphere
You can be creative setting up a tropical world in your aquarium with mosaics of colorful stones, gravel, plants, and tank backgrounds—even a mermaid or two. At Pet Supermarket, we have everything you need to create your one-of-a-kind water wonderland.

Choices Galore!
There are many varieties of tropical fish in various sizes, so you may want to add new kinds. Our knowledgeable associates can help you choose compatible species and explain how to create a healthy environment for your fish.

Our mission at Pet Supermarket is to provide the aquariums, filters, and premium food you need to help your new fishy friends flourish. We’ll be sending you additional emails in the future with fish and aquarium tips and product recommendations. If you have any specific questions, feel free to visit us and ask. We look forward to seeing you soon!

When beginning a hobby, it’s usually best to start small: planting a few plants before growing a garden, for example, or running a few miles before trying a marathon. But in the world of fish tanks and aquaria, it’s best to start big.

For beginners, bigger fish tanks are better. By big, we mean tanks of at least 20-gallons, which are larger than the 10-gallon tanks usually chosen by first timers. Here’s why…

• Small tanks are prone to quick changes of temperature and pH. Having a stable ecosystem is vital, but is harder to maintain in a smaller tank.
• With a smaller tank, you’ll have a smaller margin for error. It’s easier to overstock or overfeed, which leads to more waste and more problems with water quality.
• Certain types of fish, like goldfish, generate more waste, which could also affect water quality.
• You will have to change water more frequently with a smaller aquarium.
• Fish grow. What might have seemed a manageable number at first, could lead to an overstocked aquarium later.

A small aquarium may seem easier to manage, but may actually handicap you when it comes time to correct any problems. If you’re a beginning aquarist, play it safe. Get a larger fish tank for healthier fish and easier maintenance.

Need help? Speak to a Pet Supermarket associate for help choosing an aquarium.

At Pet Supermarket, we hear that question in stores all the time. It’s especially common in the beginning of the year, when new fish tank owners come in for help with tanks they got for Christmas. What follows is the advice we provide on how to deal with cloudy aquarium water, often called “new tank syndrome.”

How does aquarium water get cloudy?
There are a few things that can cause cloudy water, but the most likely culprit is bacteria. Keep in mind that fish tanks have good bacteria and bad bacteria. After the first setup, your fish tank will go through the Nitrogen Cycle. This is an important step that allows it to build up helpful bacteria in the water and the filter media.

The cloudiness occurs because your tank water doesn’t yet have enough helpful bacteria to clear wastes from the water. That cloudiness will clear away as the water quality improves, but it can take from 2 weeks to 2 months for this to happen.

How you can prevent cloudy water
Learn how to test your tank water and understand the nitrogen process, which is also called the break-in cycle, nitrification process or cycling. To speed up the cycling of your tank, use a product that boosts beneficial bacteria, such as Stability, Tetra Aqua Safe, Cycle or Stresszyme. Add these products daily or weekly, depending on your tank, to help balance bacteria for future maintenance as well.

Other common mistakes that can lead to cloudy water
A few other mistakes can also lead to cloudy water in new tanks. The most common are over feeding fish, excessive water changes and over populating the aquarium. To avoid these mistakes, feed your fish the amount they can eat in 2 to 3 minutes. Don’t keep too many fish either or your filter media won’t be able to keep up with water filtration. Lastly, limit partial water changes to 25% to 30% a month so your tank has a chance to build up good bacteria.

Learning the ins and outs of water cycling is the first step to becoming an experienced fish owner. Let us help you get started with advice and water conditioning products.

Too many fish, too much food and not enough tank. If you’ve owned fish for a few years, some of these blunders may sound familiar. You may have even committed a few yourself. But whether you’re an old hand or a new fish owner, it wouldn’t hurt to read this list to make sure these mistakes don’t happen in the future.

Adding fish too quickly
In your excitement to set up your tank, you may want to fill it with water, fish and plants right away, but that would be a quick way to lose fish. After treating the water to neutralize harmful additives like chlorine and chloramines and regulating the temperature, add just a few hardy fish to begin the biological cycle process. Testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels will help you determine when it is safe to add to your aquarium population.

Starting with a small tank
This isn’t always a bad thing… if you’re an experienced fish owner. But even hobbyists find it hard to regulate water chemistry and temperature in a small tank. The smaller the tank, the less room you have for mistakes. For this reason, a 20-gallon tank is a good starting point.

Overfeeding fish
Many new or casual fish owners are guilty of this. It may not seem like a big deal, but uneaten food could raise the level of ammonia in your tank water. Instead, feed your fish an amount they can eat within 2 or 3 minutes.

Adding too many fish
Setting up an aquarium takes patience. If your tank just went through cycling, give it some time to build up good bacteria and add fish slowly.

Buying incompatible fish
Bettas are pretty fish. They’re not compatible with Cichlids, however, and you don’t want to find that out after you buy them. Do a little research before you buy another species or ask a store associate for advice.

Not keeping up on tank maintenance
To maintain a healthy aquarium, we recommend frequent partial water changes of 25%-30% a month. Use a gravel vac to remove waste from the gravel and make sure to check the temperature and treat the water you are replacing for removal of harmful additives.

Don’t skip this step as weekly and monthly maintenance will ensure the beauty of your aquarium. Test water consistently and review your tank for signs of algae, diseased fish or malfunctioning equipment.

Owning an aquarium may take a little more work and research, but creating this small ecosystem can be both visually and mentally satisfying.

Make sure you’re prepared with aquarium supplies from Pet Supermarket.

Going away for the holidays? Thankfully, there are products available to help care for your fish while you’re away. They won’t replace a pet sitter, but they could keep your fish fed and warm while you’re traveling.

Overall, it’s best to have a friend or neighbor drop by to check your tank. But even with a pet sitter, follow these tips to prepare for your fish for your absence.

Food

Fish can survive a few weeks without food, but you don’t have to put them on a diet while you’re away. Consider using a food block or automatic fish feeder instead.

A food block (also called a vacation feeder) is a block of Plaster of Paris mixed with fish food. Place it in your tank and the plaster will slowly dissolve, exposing bits of food for your fish. An automatic fish feeder on the other hand, is powered by a battery and will dispense food at timed intervals. You can program it to feed your fish daily and can adjust it to prevent overfeeding as well.

When a caretaker or pet sitter is involved, a major concern is overfeeding, which can erode water quality in your tank. One way to prevent this is to get a pill container with compartments for each day of the week. Fill each compartment with the amount you would normally feed your fish and ask your pet sitter to only feed that amount each day.

Lighting

Is your aquarium lighting on an automatic timer? If not, you may want to buy one for your trip. For plants or saltwater corals, it’s a good idea to use one full time to make sure they get adequate light. If you don’t have a timer, it’s safer to keep your lights off while you’re away. Just make sure your home will keep warm in the winter or cool in the summer.

Water

Since you won’t be around to check water quality, you should prepare your tank with a partial water change. Do this a couple of days before you leave and put in a clean filter cartridge. This will give your fish a cleaner, healthier environment and will allow you to top off the water level. Don’t have time? Then at least top off the water before you leave. While you’re away, your pet sitter can check the water temperature and call you if it rises above a certain level.

Going away for more than a week? Ask someone to check your tank at least once. They should look for leaks, check the water temperature and water level, and look over your fish. Even if they don’t know how to care for an aquarium, they can call you if they see something unusual.

Get ready to enjoy a stress-free trip. First prepare your tank with fish feeders, lighting and filter media from Pet Supermarket.

You brought home a beautiful new fish and you’re eager to add it to your aquarium community. How will you do it? It would be best to put him in a quarantine tank first. Not only will this prevent your new fish from getting thermal shock, it will also protect your aquarium from possible diseases or parasites.

Here are the top reasons for having a quarantine tank:

1. Help new fish adjust to new water and food
2. Protect your aquarium from parasites or infectious diseases introduced by new fish
3. Use as a breeding and hatching area for fish
4. Isolate and treat sick fish

Setup

The tank size depends on your needs, but a ten-gallon tank is sufficient for a quarantine tank. Set it up so that it’s easy to clean and disinfect. This will include using fluorescent lighting, a filter, a heater, and rocks and plastic plants that are low maintenance. Substrate is not necessary as you want to keep the tank easy to clean.

New fish should be quarantined for about two weeks before being introduced to the main tank. This should give you enough time to look for symptoms of potentially harmful organisms. Of course, you should acclimatize the fish in water that comes from the same source you use for the main tank. Use the same products you would use to condition the water in your main tank and adjust the temperature to match as much as possible.

Once you’ve introduced the new fish into your aquarium, you can clean, disinfect and store the quarantine tank for later use. Clean and rinse the tank with water or use a mild, diluted bleach solution to disinfect it. Rinse well and allow it to dry completely to kill any suspected pathogens.

Follow these tips and you’ll have an easy-to-use quarantine tank that will help protect the beauty of your aquarium.

Talk to a Pet Supermarket store associate, who will help you find everything you need to set up your own quarantine tank.

The water in your fish tank may look clean, but stir the gravel or substrate and you’ll see a surprising amount of debris. Just like your home needs a weekly house cleaning, your aquarium needs scheduled water changes.

The build up of food particles, fish feces and other detritus in a tank creates an unhealthy environment for your fish. Higher nitrate and phosphate levels can also stunt fish growth and promote algae. Replacing the tank water is the best way to avoid this kind of build up and keep your fish healthy.

Full or Partial Water Changes?

New enthusiasts may think they need to empty the tank for a good cleaning, but that’s too stressful for fish. Partial water changes are recommended instead. In fact, changing smaller portions of water more often provides the best results, especially if your tank is small and well stocked.

How much water?

A rough guideline is to replace ten to twenty-five percent of the tank’s water at one time. Keep in mind that topping off the tank with new water isn’t the same as changing it. You may be replacing water that evaporated, but the waste is still there.

How often?

Replace water every one or two weeks. For smaller tanks, weekly water changes are best. Bigger tanks or those with less fish and plants can last for two weeks, but you shouldn’t let it go for longer than that as the water quality will deteriorate.

Tips for Changing Water

• Let the new water age before adding it to the tank. To do this naturally, let it sit for a day so gases dissipate. To do this chemically, use a treatment to instantly age and dechlorinate tap water.
• Make sure the new water is the same temperature as your tank water (or within two degrees Fahrenheit) to lessen the stress on your fish.
• Try to shoot for small shifts in your tank’s water chemistry with each change. If your pH shifts more than .2 units, replace less water next time.
• Clean or vacuum the gravel to get rid of some of the detritus. If you do this, don’t clean the filter the same day as this would remove too much beneficial bacteria. Wait a few days to clean the filter.
• Don’t forget to unplug the water heater, which can crack if the water level drops too low.

As you change water more often, you can tweak the amount and the frequency for the best results. With practice, you’ll become a pro at maintaining a clean, beautiful aquarium.

Ready to start? Get your aquarium maintenance tools from Pet Supermarket.