Fish Cycle who to start with

[TropicalFuse]

What fish should i start for cycling my tank?. I have some pretty good ideas myslef. I wonder what fish you guys woudk start with.


It's a 30 gal i am doing and i have a realy old tank that is a 10 gal and an also i got one when i was younger whcih was a 5 gal and i an gonna start all fo them up again but it will take a while casue of money and all.

 

[heresmike]

Danios and platties are hardy enough for cycling with. But do you want this type of fish long term? If not, you might want to consider a fishless cycle.

 

[cutecotton]

i would suggest fishless cycling too if you dont' want to keep them int he long term.

 

[cometcattle]

What kind of fish do you plan on putting in after it cycles?

 

[tstenback]

gotta agree with heresmike and cutecotton if you have not started yet then i would recommend the fishless cycle. Even if you want danios or platties later, why subject them to the stress of going through the nitrogen cycle when it is not necessary. On the other hand if you cannot find a suitable ammonia source then the fish stated are the best to go with. Good Luck

 

[heresmike]

On the other hand if you cannot find a suitable ammonia source then the fish stated are the best to go with. Good Luck

You should be able to find pure ammonia in Illinois w/o a problem. Just go to Home Depot, Lowes, Menards, Fleet Farm, Wal-Mart... find the ammonia, shake the bottle, if it doesn't foam, you got the right stuff!

 

[cutecotton]

i use to think finding a source of ammonia was the most difficult thing in the world to do i almost ocnsidered using fish food to cycle my tank then i went to walmart, saw a bottle with big letters saying "AMMONIA" on it it cost me $1.97 CDN

 

[aerofish]

I'm quite new to the hobby myself but I have found that Zebra Danios are the best. I bought two danios and added them to my 5 gallon as soon as I set it up more than a year ago. They are still living. I recently got a 15 gal and set it up. I wanted to transfer the zebras to the new 15 gal to cycle. I put one of the zebras in a mug, forgot to cover the top , went downstairs to get paper towel. When I came back up, the zebra was on the carpet lying motionless. I thought it was dead. I quickly picked it up and put it in the mug, went down and dropped it in the new tank. After all that stress, the zebra still survived and is the most active fish in my tank. B)
The moral of this true story: Zebras are the way to go.