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Ask the Expert
(Stephen Creech, owner of Adventure Pets, answers some common questions about pets)
Dear Stephen,
I just set up my tank and put some fish in it and now it is really cloudy. What is wrong with my new tank?
Nothing is wrong with your tank. When a tank is new, good bacteria that fish give off in their waste and that you may have also added sometimes "party" in the tank and they cause the white cloudiness that you see. This is completely normal and will usually disappear in three to four days as the bacteria settle down and go into the gravel and filter. There the bacteria go to work helping to break down ammonia and nitrites that fish give off as part of their wastes. You can help by not adding any more fish and not feeding too much food while the tank is cloudy. Tanks will also sometimes get a white cloudiness after a very large water change, a filter change, or when the gravel is replaced partially or completely. Again, it is just the good bacteria have been disturbed too much and so they get suspended in the water and cause the cloudiness. If your tank stays cloudy for more than four days or gets a green cloudiness (suspended algae causes this), then come see us to help you make your tank clear again.
Dear Stephen,
My child wants to get two baby hamsters and keep them together in the same cage,
but I heard that they will fight. Is this true? Are there any alternatives?
Yes, it is true that regular Asian hamsters (the most commonly kept hamster) and the new Bear variety will fight. These hamsters are solitary in the wild, so once they hit sexual maturity they will not get along and can cause serious injury (or worse) to one another, even if they are siblings. The babies can live together usually two to three months before this will happen, but then they must be separated. Even when breeding hamsters, the two are only put together for a very short time (like an hour or so) and then are separated again. The dwarf hamsters are not like other hamsters in that they will live in a group, or colony. Even if two are bought together they may fight as they mature, and so it is best to keep a close eye on them for a while. A good alternative to getting two hamsters is two gerbils if you wish to have more than one animal in a cage. They seem to enjoy each other's company whether they are two males, females, or a pair, and can be seen cuddling up when sleeping and even grooming each other on occasion. It is best to buy two gerbils who are living together in the same cage at the time, otherwise they need to go through a careful introduction period.
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