Tank Always Dirty

[Blackdawn70631]

I have a yellow african male cichlid, from Walmart. He's a couple of years old and now in a small, two gallon plastic aquarium because the big one sprung a leek. We had other fish but he killed ALL OF THEM. Named Killer for that reason.
Anyway, he has a submersible filter, submersible heater that stays on year round and a single air rock and he's fed a pinchful of cichlid fish flakes once a day. I replace the water with fresh jug spring water or water used with reverse osmosis, remove the junk off the bottom by sucking it up with a turkey baster, clean the air rock and sides of the tank with a toothbrush, replace with a new filter, tear the filter apart and brush it under running water, dump cleaning chemicals in it and four days later it looks like I haven't cleaned the tank in a month.
I can't buy any other algae eater/bottom feeder cause he'll kill it. I want to buy a snail since it'll blend in more with his surroundings but our Walmart hasn't brought any in for longer than a year.
I have no idea what I'm doing wrong for this tank to look so nasty in just four/five days. I even have the air rock placed on the opposite end of the tank from the filter to help keep a moving current going.
And I can't get anything bigger placed in the tank because his living space is so small and he's so big. He also has a house/stump he lives in and that takes up most the space.
Can anyone tell me what I'm doing wrong? Or does anyone have a suggestion on a different cleaning method?

 

[baker360360]

1) as you know the tanks way too small.
2) you should never clean your filter under running water. It's destroying the good bacteria making your filter useless.

 

[sawickib]

Well first of all your cichlid probably produces to much waste for the 2 gallon, and should probably brought back to another fish store, not walmart, not a fan of what walmart do to fish but on a different note. You can either get a new tank 55 gallon+ I would suggest and see if he can survive the nitrogen cycle or you can do the best option and return him. You should clean the filter with aquarium water as well if possible or dechlorinated water, also what chemicals are you using, because household cleaning supplies is very poisonous esp for fish, and should be avoided due to killing needed bacteria to breakdown harmful chemicals in your tank.. Sorry if i came across as rude just giving my opinion.

 

[BerryAttack]

tank is too small, rehome him or get a larger tank, having him in there is way to cruel. 
read up on cycling a tank on the site.

 

[Blackdawn70631]

Chemicals as in the water treatment for fish. Need to see what they're called again. As for the size of the tank, he and some others were placed inside as a quick make-shift home when the 10 gallon started leaking everywhere. Then he killed the the fish shortly afterwards and then he got big. We had no idea he would get as big as he did. We have no room for another tank and I can't get my husband on the program to go with another 10 gallon tank. I've been looking for at least a 5 gallon tank that would fit into the spot he's currently sitting on. But he sure loves it when I give the tank a thorough cleaning and fresh water.

 

[sawickib]

Even a 10 gallon is to small for a full grown yellow cichlid, he most likely killed his tank mates because cichlids are very territorial, so with a larger tank he could be kept with a algae eater and similar sized fish 30 gal min i would say.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

if you have the fish I think you have, a Yellow Lab Cichlid, then you need a 55g tank MINIMUM. They are extremely aggressive and should only be kept with other african cichlids around the same full grown size.

 

[baker360360]

30g would be ok for him on his own, it would stay clean as long as you stop cleaning your filter. ( only clean the filter in aquarium water if it's getting blocked, filters should look dirty).

Cichlids should be kept with other cichlids really. They are generally aggressive and require very hard water.