More Newbie Questions Re Fish Tank Cycling And Stocking

As a relative newbee myself,i will not attempt to answer your questions as i do not wish to
Give you incorrect info,however with regards to stocking your tank,at the top of the page you will
See Fish Profiles,open it then under community creator sign in to it and then enter your tank details and using
The fish profiles you can try the number and types of fish you would like and it will give you a wealth of info
With regards to minimum numbers which fish go well with other species etc etc,it really is quite clever

Here are some answers for you:

1/ how soon after the cycling has finished do I need to get fish in?

Once the cycle has finished you need to keep your newly raised bacteria in tip-top condition. This means they need to be fed with ammonia. Either from the bottle of ammonia you have used during your cycle, or "au naturel" from the introduction of fish. So, in theory, you don't ever need to introduce fish, just keep bottle-feeding the bugglies. Quite why you would wish to do something so perverse is beyond me but...

2/ will it be a problem if I only put a small amount of fish in to start with?

No... But... The bugglies in your filter will adjust their population according to the naturally occurring ammonia load; Few fish - low levels of ammonia - few bacteria. When you come to add further fish, you should only be adding around 25-30% extra fish at a time. The bacteria need time to build up their numbers to handle the higher bacteria level. So 25-30% of 3 fish is 1 fish; 25-30% of 30 fish is 10 fish. You add more fish more quickly. Your choice. Go at your own pace.

3/ how many fish can I stock in my tank? It measures 50cmx33cm and is 40cm high. If I'm right I can only put quite small fish in this length of tank but I really don't have a clue how many.

You are right, you can only put smaller fish in this size of tank. How many? Good question. ... ... No it's not, how many fish depends upon a lot of factors; What sort of fish is the main one. Male Betta splendens the answer is 1! Microrasbora sp. 'Galaxy' the answer may be as many as 10! Try and investigate your options using the Community Creator elsewhere on this site.

Thanks for reading !

No, thank you for asking...

Once the cycle is finished, you add the smaller dose of ammonia every couple of days till you get fish. If you read the cycling how to.. you'll see that there are 2 levels of ammonia dose used during the cycle, 3ppm initially and to test it's done at the end, and 1ppm doses to keep the ammonia eaters fed while the nitrite eaters grow. It is this 1ppm dose you use between completion and fish.
The reason 1ppm is used while the nitrite eaters grow is because high levels of nitrite encourages the wrong species of nitrite eaters. Using these smaller doses keeps the ammonia eaters from starving and also stops them making huge amounts of nitrite.

If your tank is 50cm long, you need to avoid those small fish which are fast swimmers. The most extreme example is zebra danios. They grow to 5cm but need an absolute minimum of 1m to swim in, preferable more. I have read people comment that they can cross a 4ft tank in under a second.
Have a look at the website seriously fish while the cycle is progressing. That gives the minimum tank size for each species.

Yes it is. It's called a bacterial bloom, but not the bacteria we want to grow in the filter.

The filter bacteria use nitrogenous chemicals as their food supply (ammonia and nitrite) and they grow slowly. Under the best conditions they can only double in 24 hours. Filter bacteria grow in the biofilm which is tightly bound to surfaces, there are virtually none of these bacteria free floating in the water.
There are other bacteria in the water that use carbon based chemicals as food - that's in the silicone holding the tank together, the plastic of the filter, traces of oil left on the glass from manufacture etc. These bloom bacteria live free floating and they multiply very quickly; so much that we see them as the cloudiness. Once they have used up all the carbon based chemicals they will die off and the water will clear. It could take a day or two or even a week or two. The bloom won't affect the cycle.