Cycling 54 Litre Tank For Betta

Hi there

I started up my first tank 3 weeks ago, it is 60cm x 30cm, 54 litres. I went to my local aquatic shop and purchased a Aheim filter and heater- set to 24 degrees, though it is consistently reading 26. It has gravel, 4 plants and an ugly plastic ornament my 4 year old picked!

I used fish food as an ammonia source, I realise now pure ammonia would have been a better option, but am not sure if I should now go down that route or carry on as I am. I had ammonia in the tank, which never went above 3ppm. The tank now reads:
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 10-20ppm

I have done 3 water changes in the 3 weeks. 1 of 20% then 2 of 50% each. After the last one yesterday, the Nitrite went down to 0.25-0.5 then today went back up to 1.

I added a small sprinkle of fish food every 3 days or so and every few days scooped up what I could from the gravel with a net. Should I continue to add fish food or hold off? Should I go and buy pure ammonia instead? Should I continue water changes or is this bad for the cycle?

In the 2nd week Nitrite and Nitrate were off the chart but are now lower - could I be nearing the end of the cycle or is this only as a result of the water changes and the nitrite consuming bacteria still has a way to go?

I plan to just keep one Male Betta in it, so my bio load should not be high if that makes a difference to how much bacteria I need.

Any advice appreciated! 

Thanks Sue, yes, the plants are live, in addition to the 4 in the gravel I have 1 floating one (not sure what), I will certainly get a few more now knowing they remove ammonia.

I dont have the fish yet. I collected what food I could at the last water change, if there is any more, I can't see it. The thermometer reads 26 and is a glass, in-tank one, so I will trust that.

I have read that Bettas fins can tear on ornaments, I find it hard to know if the ornament is too rough or not. To me it doesnt seem rough, but it is a small fake rock with plastic plants and rubbery fake anemone attached to it! The rock I could sand down, possibly not the plastic bits. If it were down to me I would take it out, but my 4 year old thinks it is great and would be livid if I removed it. I already had to have a hard conversation with her that she couldn't have a 3 platys and 10 neon/cardinal tetras, which is what she wanted. I was worried about the platys breeding and the tetras seem to be better in soft water, and I'm in a hard water area.

So am I right in thinking I need to leave it alone and keep testing now for a drop in nitrites? And should I add a small amount of fish food or leave it be until it cycles?

Thanks again!

You can do the tights test 

Find an old pair of tights or sacrifice a new pair and gently run them over the ornament. If they snag, that's the place to sand down.



I'm pleased to read you said no to neons/cardinals and platies - but not for the reason you would expect.
Platies are hard water fish and neons/cardinals are soft water fish. Something shops don't seem to realise, nor many websites is that we should keep fish which originate in water with roughly the same hardness as our tap water. We can usually find our tap water hardness on our water company's website though some (like mine) don't give numbers, just misleading words. Mine says my water is slightly hard when in fish keeping terms it is soft which is an example of why we can't trust the words they use.






Just one thing to caution you about for the future. If your 4 year old thinks there should be more fish in the tank, it is not advisable with a betta. They are not community fish and should be kept alone. if there is any chance of a demand for more fish, think about whether you do want just one fish in there. I used to have a tank the same size as yours but we had the kitchen altered and I had to get rid of it. But I did have a small community in there, just not with a betta. There are fish which are suitable for that sized tank, both soft and hard water fish.




@Littlefish did you meant to type that nitrate will drop? It's nitrite that drops 

Thanks Donna, I think I understand it now, I'll wait for the Nitrites to drop and expect some Nitrate to remain.

Well my water company says the water in my area contains 295 ppm Calcium Carbonate. I know in terms of drinking water it is a hard water area, is it also hard in aquarium water terms? Will a Betta be okay in this hardness?

Yes, I had read in some places they would be okay with Harlequin Rasbora's or Panda Cory's, but sounds like it could all go wrong depending on the Betta, so I will keep him alone. Would shrimp be okay or would he eat them?

I think I have my mind made up, but are there any good aquarium fish you can recommend for a 60cm tank with my water hardness? If I did go for Platy's, guppy's or Molly's is it true they could reproduce too many young for the tank given there's hiding spots and plants?

As for the tights, I did try this, but did think it depends a lot on the tights, 15 denier snag on the slightest bump, 100 denier don't snag at all! 

You read of a lot of people keeping bettas with other fish but it is not advisable. Even if there is no physical conflict, fish secrete pheromones and allomones to communicate with each other and aggressive allomones from the betta can be stressful to the other fish.
Bettas have been known to snap and go on a killing spree.
Bettas and panda cories are not really compatible temperature and water flow-wise. Bettas need a temp of 26 to 27 Deg C while panda cories like it cooler; and panda cories are one of the cory species which like a strong water flow while bettas need is slow.
295 ppm is 16 dH which is quite hard. Panda cories and harlequins are soft water fish so they are not a good mix.


There are a few small species of rainbowfish which would do well at your hardness - without a betta if you decide a single betta means the tank would be too empty. or Littlefish's suggestion of dwarf puffers, but these have to be kept with just them as they are nippy fish.

Gouramis are soft water fish, I'm afraid. But cherry barbs would be fine. They do come in an albino form as well - I once got some from Maidenhead Aquatics.

The rainbowfish that would suit your tank are in the genus Pseudomugil. Search for P. furcatus. Tiny fish with plenty of colour.

Your tank is the same size as mine, so fish suitable for that tank size are very much on my radar. I've been through numerous species profiles on here and on another 'bona fide'/reputable and up-to-date source (Seriously Fish) lately. If you opted not to have a betta, then a couple of comments on existing suggestions and potential alternatives for hard water include:
* the dwarf puffer suggestion by Littlefish (provided that you'd be able/willing to get them snails, worms, etc, which forms part of their diet);
* neon dwarf rainbowfish, in line with / as an extension of Sue's suggestion (however, they get quite large, and I see MA's fishkeeper.co.uk website recommends a 3-foot-long tank which I'd be inclined to agree with, much as I'd love to have them myself);
* shoal of x-ray tetra (can tolerate up to 357 ppm);
* shoal of cherry barbs as you've mentioned (can tolerate up to 357 ppm);
* group of platies - maybe a group of males;
* group of male endler livebearers;
* a group of white cloud mountain minnows - these also come in a gold colour [temperate tank temp];
* a shoal of danio erythromicron (emerald dwarf rasbora) [temperate tank temp].
Some others may have comments on these suggestions based on their own experiences.  [I've kept x-ray tetras which were lovely.]

Ultimately, I think your best bet is EITHER the betta on its own (NB there are shorter-finned plakat bettas as well as long-finned ones) OR one of the options above (or the pseudomugil furcatus suggested by Sue).

Edited to add (and sorry for being back to front): Welcome to the forum! 

One lesson we've all had to learn the hard way is never trust a shop. So many of them either don't know or don't care and will say any rubbish.

Always do your own research.

FWIW I keep soft water species despite my water being hard out the tap (also high nitrate too!  )

When I set up the tank I used around 75% RO and 25% tap water to fill 120L.

I buy 25L of RO water for £3 from my LFS and do a 25L water change every fortnight removing 25L of tank water and replacing with RO.

I top up the tank as the level drops due to condensation with water straight out the tap, this means there are some minerals being added occasionally.

I've kept Cardinal Tetras into a ripe old age (4 - 5 yrs) using this method.

The problem with altering the water, either softening hard water by adding RO or hardening soft water by adding hardness minerals, is that every water change has to be done with the altered water. An emergency water change with just tap water can never be done, so some RO or mineral salts have to be on hand at all times. Some fishkeepers have their own RO equipment as they use so much it is cheaper to buy the equipment than buy it ready made.


Don't forget that once you have fish we all expect photos