Tropical Fish Forum
Tropical Fish Keeping Help and Advice => New Fishkeepers => Topic started by: Mervyn on November 21, 2012, 06:29:53 AM
-
Hi All,
Day 31 and my tank has finished cycling ;D It actually finished a couple of days ago but wanted to make sure!
I would like to thank all on here for their help and advice :-* I will do a large water change later this morning.
Now when I start stocking and I wish to stock with a shoaling fish such as Red Eye Tetra or Lemon Tetra...how many would you suggest for the first phase of stocking??
Once again thanks for the help.
Mervyn
-
With a fishless cycle, if you used ammonia dosage to give 5ppm you should be able to get 75% of your proposed stocking straight away. So you get het a shoal of both tetras and more fish. The only problem you might have is finding a shop that will sell you that many at once. Even if you say it was fishless cycled they may still object. One chain shop in particular (not the one you mentiobned in another thread ;D ) has a policy of asking how big your tank is and refusing to sell more than x fish at once regardless of tank size.
I say 75% to give your tank chance to mature, that is grow all the other micro-organisms needed to complete the eco-system. And any fish you want that tend to be a bit delicate are better left till the tank has been running 6 months.
If you used less ammonia than 5ppm, then scale that % down accordingly.
-
Thanks Sue,
I did the fishless to 4ppm so I will just get a shoal of 10 if they will sell them to me...would 10 lemon tetra or dwarf rainbow fish be ok???
-
This is a 180 litre tank isn't it?
Both of those would be fine. With 4ppm in a 180l tank, you could get both.
Of course, whatever you decide to do, keep an eye on both ammonia and nitrite daily for several days to be absolutely sure. It is good practice to do this every time you get more fish even when the tank has been running for years.
-
Thanks Sue,
I think I will struggle to get the LFS (not the big chain one) to allow me to get a shoal of 10 let alone any more!! I know they used to be very strict, but do not know how strict since they have been incorporated into the next door garden centre!!
-
Hi,
I have just done a 50% water change (10.4am) Now I will check my water in about 35/40mina.
I want to go and get fish between 4.30pm and 6pm. Do I top up my ammonia or not??
-
No. The bacteria won't undergo any significant die off in that time.
We were without power for 8 hours in spring due to maintenance work on the substation and I never saw a blip of ammonia or nitrite in any of my tanks, so yours will be fine for 8 hours till you get fish. I've even forgotten to plug the filter back in after a water change and only found it the follwing day without problem.
-
Thanks Sue!!!