Fish In Cycle - Which First Fish

[friendsnotfood]

Hi

I am looking to buy a single fish to do fish in cycle.
I only have a small tank (28L) so need to consider what first fish i have that will end up fitting with any other fish.
To be honest probably the smaller and friendlier (with other fish) the better to keep our options open when getting more fish later on.

I have tried fishless cycling, but stopped adding ammonia and went back to square one!

Thanks

 

[Man of fish]

In that small of a tank, you're pretty limited as to what you can have. I suggest a Betta community tank and going like this:

1 betta
6 Pygmy corys
3 endlers

Start with the betta if you must do a fish in cycle, but let ms tell you, it'll be a lot of work!!!

You could also do guppies and do something such as:

6 Pygmy corys
4 guppies

 

[Electric Warrior]

Just curious: why did you stop adding ammonia and start from scratch?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

dude, don't do fish-in

You've got the stuff you need, just restart the fishless. Plus if you can't handle the responsibility of a fishless cycle, should you really be getting fish? Sorry for being so frank but it is something to think about!

 

[friendsnotfood]

I know i will do fish in as i cant bear the thought of not seeing to the fish everyday and changing water as i know otherwise i'll be doing it damage.
But then thats why i want to start with just one fish to get the cycle going, to minimise damage!

Any other ideas on what to have in tank when all up and running (due to small size) also greatfully received

thanks

 

[sebn]

In a tank of such a small volume some shrimp would look great if you plant it well. Maybe some of the micro fish species but someone else will be able to tell you more about them than I.

 

[lostlogik]

Although shrimp have a relatively small bio load they are more susceptible to poor water quality and not good where, during stages of early cycling, you'll have high levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Not recommended as a starting habitant of a new tank.

 

[sebn]

Although shrimp have a relatively small bio load they are more susceptible to poor water quality and not good where, during stages of early cycling, you'll have high levels of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Not recommended as a starting habitant of a new tank.

Sorry, I agree, I was responding to the question about what he should put it after the tank is "all up and running". Apologies i should have made that clear.

 

[4seasons]

How long did you go in a fishless cycle and how long ago did you give up? Unless you were doing something wrong or dumped everything out and let your filter dry you should be able to continue with the fishless cycle. All that fish in cycle will do with that small a tank is kill the fish you are cycling with. They may not die instantly but the small exposure to the toxins from cycling will cause long term damage and shorten their lives considerably.

 

[Electric Warrior]

Yeah, I have been doing a fishless cycle for almost 6 weeks now! It's not the most exciting thing to get a new tank and not have any fish in it for weeks (and in some cases, several months), but I would rather wait and get it right, than end up with a bunch of dead fish, poor water quality, or massive daily water changes...

 

[BlueDragon]

Six weeks is nothing. You have to remember that your breeding a special bacteria colony and they have to build themselves up. Ammonia will kill a lot of them along the way, so they have to outnumber it to be able to thrive. It takes time.

And if you don't want to come down one morning and find half you Fish dead then I'd also say you should not do a Fish-in cycle. It's disaterous, believe me. I was kinda forced into a Fish-in after a columnaris outbreak only two months after getting my first Fish. I'd Fishless cycled the tank before hand but the medication I used to fight off the columnaris also killed off my bacteria colony. So I had to start all over again.
It's a hard thing to do, a Fish-in cycle. It's not the water changes, or the heavy lifting, or the constant water testing... it's not any of that. What makes it so hard is coming down every morning and not knowing how many Fish you'll have left. To losing one after the other and having to make the decision to put them to sleep when you find them gasping on the bottom. It's horrable.

Please have the patience to do a proper full Fishless cycle. It's not hard work and you don't have to go through all that death. Plus, if you can get hold of some mature filter media (a bit of used sponge from someone elses cycled tank containing millions of the good bacteria you need) then it'll take no time at all to have a fully cycled tank : )

 

[vigosh]

Six weeks is nothing. You have to remember that your breeding a special bacteria colony and they have to build themselves up. Ammonia will kill a lot of them along the way, so they have to outnumber it to be able to thrive. It takes time.

And if you don't want to come down one morning and find half you Fish dead then I'd also say you should not do a Fish-in cycle. It's disaterous, believe me. I was kinda forced into a Fish-in after a columnaris outbreak only two months after getting my first Fish. I'd Fishless cycled the tank before hand but the medication I used to fight off the columnaris also killed off my bacteria colony. So I had to start all over again.
It's a hard thing to do, a Fish-in cycle. It's not the water changes, or the heavy lifting, or the constant water testing... it's not any of that. What makes it so hard is coming down every morning and not knowing how many Fish you'll have left. To losing one after the other and having to make the decision to put them to sleep when you find them gasping on the bottom. It's horrable.

Please have the patience to do a proper full Fishless cycle. It's not hard work and you don't have to go through all that death. Plus, if you can get hold of some mature filter media (a bit of used sponge from someone elses cycled tank containing millions of the good bacteria you need) then it'll take no time at all to have a fully cycled tank : )

Indeed,your son will be a lot happier watching healthy fish swimming around his tank rather than a poor lamb to the slaughter belly up.