Fish In Cycle

[srem]

Hi All,

I've been doing a fish in cycle for 2 weeks now, 70l tank with 4 Endlers, some java moss and another plant.
All I've been doing is roughly 33% water change every other day and minimum feeding (again every other day).
Should I expect it to take a long time for my filter to mature? The 4 fish wont be producing much ammonia and the java moss will be using some of this.
Is there anything else I should be doing? Can I speed this process up?

Cheers,
S

p.s Sorry for another cycling post!

 

[SJ2K]

Na will take a while, fish in cycling is slower due to the constant dilution of the ammonia and nitrite keep checking your stats and wait for the important nitrite drop.

 

[srem]

Thanks for reply.
I suppose I'll just keep up the water changes, its not too much hassle as only a small tank. I want to eventually add some zebra danios I think, or some other schooling fish. Think I'll leave it another couple of weeks before adding tho.

S

 

[vinylman]

What shape is the tank, srem?. If it's longer than it is high, you should be ok with some Zebra Danios. But if it's a squarish tank, the Danios are VERY active fish and really need LENGTH to be able to swim freely.

 

[OldMan47]

For right now, don't add any fish until the cycle is complete. The endlers are likely to help you increase the population in the tank and you are low enough now that you can keep up with water changes. If you add fish, the water quality will go downhill faster and may be hard for you to keep up with.

 

[backtotropical]

I agree with Oldman, don't add any more fish until the cycle is complete. It will only increase the strain on the fish.

Do you have a test kit to test for ammonia and nitrite? If so, what are your levels?

 

[srem]

Well having just caught up with this thread I've decided to just stick with the endlers for a bit. I have one male and three female so I'm sure the population will increase naturally. I dont have a testing kit as I know a couple of people who just kept up the water changes for a while. I'm quite happy with this because the tank is only small; changing a third of the water is no hassel.
Thanks for the replies, will keep you posted.
S