Adding Fish To Cycle My Tank.

[Holly12]

Hello to all I really to have someone tell me that knows about this the pet store is telling me that I have to have fish in my new tank to get it to cycle well is this true or false? I do not want to do that if it is going to hurt my tank in anyway I want to do this the right way so if anyone can help me on this please feel free to do so because Iam not sure on what to do.

 

[Wills]

Hi there are two ways to cycle a fish

First one is fish in cycling which is where you use the fish to cycle the tank - the cycle is started by the fishes poo creating ammonia which starts the nitrogen cycle. During the early stages of a tank the levels of Ammonia and Nitrite get way to high and easily kill fish in the tank at the time. But you can control this with daily water changes but that is a lot of work to be honest.

The other way is the fishless cycling. Here you use house hold ammonia in small doses added each day - the ammonia in the bottle is exactly the same chemical as that created by fish poo so you dont need to expose fish to what is essentially poison to them. But very very few fish shops will ever recommend this method firstly because they dont know or understand about it.

Wills

 

[Holly12]

Ok I see now I have heard that Danios are great for new tanks all because they are so very hardy could I get like 5 of them to the cycle going? I was looking at geting Danios to put in my tank anyways. And like wait for 1 to 2 weeks then get some cory cat fish.

 

[Rynofasho]

Most everyone on here will urge you to cycle fishless, however if you do choose to add fish, Danios are a good choice. I cycled with 5-6 (lost one due to aggression from the others picking on him).

Bear in mind that you will more than likely be cycling for 6-8 weeks however, not 1-2, and that during this time you will have to perform VERY frequent water changes to keep from harming your fish -- I changed 30% of my water daily during this time.

If you are unable to make this sort of commitment, I'd advise to do a fishless cycle which is quicker, obviously doesn't harm any fish, and is less intensive on you as an aquarist.

 

[GrayScale]

It would be best for the fish and your pocket to do the fishless cycle using household ammonia.

 

[Holly12]

Okay then tahts what I will do but I do not have any Ammonia in my house lol.

 

[Wills]

Yeah bottled ammonia is not a common thing in most households now but you can still buy it it costs around £2-£3 for a bottle.

If you choose to add in some Zebra Danios to cycle the tank just make sure you keep up on the water changes each day otherwise your risking some serious problems. Get an APi liquid test kit as well so you know exactly what the levels are in your tank that way if they get high you can deal with them rather than just guess and hope everything is okay then when a fish dies its weird and you have no idea what happened....

Also just remember the fish that you cycle with should they survive will then be in your tank for life (unless you rehome them) but yeah if your just using hardy fish for cycling purposes given that a tank costs lets say at least £50 for a set up your instantly compromising your choices for the life of your tank.

Wills

 

[Katty]

You can find the ammonia in a hardware store. Make sure it does not have any scents like lemon or anything else in it besides ammonia and water. Your profile says you live in the US, so try Ace Hardware, that's where I found mine. It has red and white Ace brand packaging and says Janitorial strength on the bottle.

Good luck

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with the others, glad you are considering trying a fishless cycle Holly!

I'm in the US too (but North Carolina) and I was able to find just the right stuff in my grocery store! I also checked out a local Ace Hardware and it had exactly the right type of ammonia, just as Katty described.

It feels like a weird thing to be out looking for but once you find the right stuff you are set! It also can help to try and get a syringe or similar type of thing with milliliter markings from a drugstore (actually I found two to be helpful as one can be always used for tank water and the other can be always used for ammonia.)

The other important piece of equipment is a water test kit. Most of us like and use the API Freshwater Master Test Kit, it has formed a bit of a lingua franca here in the beginners section so that we can more quickly know what each other is talking about during testing.

There are almost no other chemicals that we use, except a conditioner for the tap water. The one most of us use for that is called Seachem Prime, because it is very concentrated and thus is a great value. The Prime is the thing that removes chlorine and chloramines from the city tap water.

Oh, and an aquarium notebook is a great thing to have. This keeps your daily log of what has gone on with the tank and is still sitting there nicely even if the hard drive fails on your laptop, lol.

~~waterdrop~~
ps. Welcome to TFF!

 

[Holly12]

Okay I want to thank all of you for the help and informaion I got from you all it help me out alot this forum is great I have more support then any other forums I have ever been on. So thumbs up to all of you and again thank you.

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks Holly, keep us informed of your progress. --wd--

 

[Skins]

Hello Holly,
I myself have just finished a fishless cycle, you will be surprised how much you will learn by just doing this process. In my signature at the bottom of this post you will see some very useful links on cycling. When you start your cycle share all your info on the forum and name your topic for example "Holly's fishless cycle log", the members are always there when help is needed. I've noticed WD has been giving you advice, this man kindly helped me through my fishless cycle, your in good hands there.

Good luck and keep us all posted, Keith.

 

[Aqua Tom]

Welcome Holly.

If you need Ammonia check out my signature.