Can a newly cycled tank be stock with fish?

G_Sharky · Mar 4, 2004

Like what it says, how long do u have to wait before you could stock up on a newly cycled tank with fishless or fish cycle?. My tank finished it's cycle 4 days ago and I added 2 more fish, would this throw off my water parameters?

Bol · Mar 4, 2004

If your cycle is finished (0 ammonia after a spike, 0 nitrites after a spike, 10-20 ppm nitrates), you should be able to safely add the full load of fish.

gadazobe · Mar 4, 2004

It depends how you cycled your tank - if you cycled with fish, then add fish slowly, a couple a week. If you did a fishless cycle then you should be able to add more at one time.

The reason for this is that the good bacteria is in proportion to the amount of ammonia produced and if you used just a couple of fish then you have to give the good bacteria time to catch up with the extra load.

A fishless cycle tends to produce more ammonia, thus producing more good bacteria so you should have enough good bacteria to combat the waste produced by more fish.

Hope I've made myself clear.

G_Sharky · Mar 4, 2004

Would this mean i'm in trouble cause i didn't do a fishless cycle, Is there a possibility that my tank could go into a minicycle? I'm still feeding less like once everyother day...

jaywings19 · Mar 4, 2004

G_Sharky said:
Would this mean i'm in trouble cause i didn't do a fishless cycle, Is there a possibility that my tank could go into a minicycle? I'm still feeding less like once everyother day...

Yes, your tank will experience a mini-cycle each time you add new fish... as explained so the bacteria catch up to the added waste load. That's why they suggested you only add a few fish every (other) week, so as not to create a large cycle and shock the fish.

Bol · Mar 4, 2004

Oops, guess I missed the fact that you cycled with fish, sorry.

I agree it's possible that you'll get a mini-cycle, but most likely not by adding a couple of fish fish at a time.

Out of curiosity, how large is the tank, and how many fish did you use to cycle? Or, is it the one in your signature?

G_Sharky · Mar 4, 2004

It's on my sig except for the 2 cichlids which was purchase yesterday. At first I had the bloodfin and after the first week there were no signs of ammonia and nitrite so i decided to transfer the plec and the corys from my 10 g ICH infested tank, they were the only ones not affected by ICH.

G_Sharky · Mar 4, 2004

Also My Aunt is planning on taking me to the LFS this weekend and wanted to buy some fish, I would probably get another 2 and that's it for this tank. Would this be okay cause if it ain't then i'll probably just posponed it...No free fishy for me

Captain Canuck · Mar 4, 2004

Go to the LFS with your aunt, pick out some fish of a price she agrees with, and then ask the store for a gift certificate for that value.
That way you can still get free fish.

Bol · Mar 5, 2004

If you cycled a 33 gallon tank with 6 tetras, 2 corys and a pleco, then I would guess that adding, say, the equivalent of 2 platys, body-weight-wise, would probably be safe.

Out of curiosity, are you planning on adding those two cichlids to the tank with the other fish in it?

G_Sharky · Mar 5, 2004

I have have 2 cichlids in my tank already and so far there's no real aggression, but I noticed during feeding time that the severum would chase anything that gets close to him although he wouldn't really nip they look calm now that they are fed. I'm also planning on getting maybe a blue acara or a small apistogramma and an angel and that's it for this tank. So bol what you are saying that as long as I get a fish that's not too big then it would be okay?

Bol · Mar 5, 2004

As far as the cycle goes, yes, I'd say you should be ok adding a couple more 1.5-2" fish, or maybe 3 or 4 small fish. As a rough estimate, I'd take the entire mass of all the fish you currently have, and add about 1/2 of that, maximum.

That's as far as the bacteria cycle goes. Things like aggression and compatibility have to be taken into account, too. From what I've read, it seems odd that the cichlids get along with the tetras, but hey, if it works, ...

G_Sharky · Mar 7, 2004

I think most of guys are right, I just got 3 new fish and I test my water today and here are the results
ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.1
nitrate 5 ppm
I kinda over fed by accident yesterday, Well it's my sister's fault she fed my fish when I wasn't home and my fish are crapping like every 5 seconds. I'm hoping 0.1 Nitrite isn't too dangerous and hopefully won't cause any problems.