3 months?

[Luke_e]

Hello, i was told it is required to wait 3 months after starting a fish tank up before its suitable for a 'general' catfish to be put into the tank.. can anyone shed some light on this?
Thank you.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

You need to read up on how to do a fishles cycle and new tank sydrome in the pinned articles at the top of the beginners section as leaving your tank empty for a couple of weeks will do nothing in preparing it for fish.
Whatever fish you buy you need to research its dietry requirements, tank size requirements, personality and other aspects of its life- the fish index on this forum has many fish and their profiles with pics of them already listed if you want a quick search on whats generally available .
By the way there is no such thing as a "general catfish" but the 2 main groups of catfish are corys- which are generally small growing catfish- and plecs, of which most of them sold grow huge and far too big for most tanks.
Before you start up the tank with the filter, heating, lighting and substrate after you read the articles though you will also need test kits for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and also dechlorinator/water conditioner as well- you'll find out more on these in the pinned articles .

 

[Luke_e]

You need to read up on how to do a fishles cycle and new tank sydrome in the pinned articles at the top of the beginners section as leaving your tank empty for a couple of weeks will do nothing in preparing it for fish.
Whatever fish you buy you need to research its dietry requirements, tank size requirements, personality and other aspects of its life- the fish index on this forum has many fish and their profiles with pics of them already listed if you want a quick search on whats generally available .
By the way there is no such thing as a "general catfish" but the 2 main groups of catfish are corys- which are generally small growing catfish- and plecs, of which most of them sold grow huge and far too big for most tanks.
Before you start up the tank with the filter, heating, lighting and substrate after you read the articles though you will also need test kits for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and also dechlorinator/water conditioner as well- you'll find out more on these in the pinned articles .

[snapback]902206[/snapback]​

Thanks for the quick reply.. i've had my tank up and running for approx 4 weeks, and i bought it from 'pets at home' and according to them, it will be fine to introduce fish into after 4 weeks of having the system running. I've declorinated the water, and the filter has been running for 4 week straight, they said that will be all that is needed to get the tank ready, they did a test on my water a week ago and my ph level was 6.8 and they said they want it to be 7.0 before they would allow me to buy any fish, so she said wait one week before coming back to buy the fish. And i wont be buying many, maybe a small group of neons or tetras (the small fish) and maybe one or too others (also small fish) as not to overload the filter.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Thanks for the quick reply.. i've had my tank up and running for approx 4 weeks, and i bought it from 'pets at home' and according to them, it will be fine to introduce fish into after 4 weeks of having the system running. I've declorinated the water, and the filter has been running for 4 week straight, they said that will be all that is needed to get the tank ready, they did a test on my water a week ago and my ph level was 6.8 and they said they want it to be 7.0 before they would allow me to buy any fish, so she said wait one week before coming back to buy the fish. And i wont be buying many, maybe a small group of neons or tetras (the small fish) and maybe one or too others (also small fish) as not to overload the filter.

[snapback]902208[/snapback]​

Nope, you have to cycle the tank. Of course the water will be fine, its just tap water . Cycle the tank before you even think about getting fish, after all, who's making the money when you have to go back for replacements by putting fish in an uncycled tank?

 

[Luke_e]

So my tank isnt cycled? I thought what i was doing was cycling the tank )

 

[OohFeeshy]

If you've just left it running, no. You need a source of ammonia to begin the cycle, whether from fish or by adding ammonia. I'd go fishless cycling TBH.

 

[Luke_e]

If i add a small number of fish, do you think it would be enough and not too much, (6 or 7 neon tetras), as i have waited for ages, but how long would a fishless cycle take, vs a fish cycle?

 

[OohFeeshy]

Fishless should take.... 2 weeks or less. If you have a friend with a tank, ask if you can borrow some filter media. Cycling with fish may let you have fish quicker, but if you don't use really hardy fish you have to watch them suffering from all the spikes.

 

[Luke_e]

I'll see if pets at home will let me have some, if not and the fish die i'll make sure i get a refund as they didnt tell me to use amonia or anything like that.
Cheers.

 

[Tolak]

Sounds like fish at home has their head in their....

Anyway, the ph is fine for any fish I can think of except old world cichlids. You do need a source of ammonia to cycle a tank, whether it's fish or ammonia.

If you are going to cycle with fish, start with no more than 1" of fish for every 5 gallons, and keep an eye on ammonia, you may have to do frequent water changes.

I would cycle fishless, as you can fully stock the tank with the fish you want once it's cycled, as opposed to starting with a few hardy fish, like zebre danios, that you may not want to keep long term.

Tolak