Fishless cycling using bloodworms? And needing some confirmation

[LinasFishLife]

Hello, everyone. This will be my first time keeping fish. I’m planning on keeping African dwarf frogs in this tank and later adding a betta. Maybe a snail. Any of them I am prepared to separate in case they do not get along.

I’m trying to figure out a few things about the cycling process. Before I ask my questions, here is some information on my set up: I have a 10 gallon tank. I’m using sand substrate that I’ve rinsed. I currently have two medium sized decorations and mini terracotta pots but will later be adding smooth rocks and real plants after the cycling process (I did some research on this and I just thought it less complicated for me during testing). For the filter I’ve replaced the cartridge with a coarse sponge. I’ve purchased the API tap water conditioner and the API Freshwater Master Test Kit. Tomorrow I’m getting their Quick Start bottle in the mail since supposedly it would help speed up the cycling process.

I’m wondering if I can use the Hikari freeze-dried bloodworms for cycling. I also have a small container of newt and aquatic frog food that was kind of expensive so for that reason I’d rather not use that for cycling. I’ve read that this process can take anywhere between 2 weeks-2 months, so I’m thinking I would end up using that whole container, if not most of it. Would I be adding food everyday during cycling? And if I’m using freeze-dried bloodworms, how many should I add? Should I ever take any of the old bloodworms out?

So these are the steps for fishless cycling as I understand it:

• Rinse off the tank, gravel, and decorations. Do not use soap. Set up the tank.
• Fill tank with tap water and add conditioner.
• Run the filter and heater until water is 78 degrees.
• Add fish food (I’ll be adding the Quick Start tomorrow).
• Test every other day until ammonia and nitrite are 0, and nitrate is 5ppm or 10ppm (I’m going with betta instructions here. I wasn’t able to find nitrate for African dwarf frogs other than it should be below 20). PH should be between 6.8 and 7.2 on chart.
• Add more fish food (and Quick Start?). Repeat last step until ammonia and nitrate drop to 0 in a 24 hour period. I would repeat this step once more just to make sure.
• Once everything reads correctly, turn off the filter and do a 80% water change. Fill a bucket with tap water and add water conditioner (How long do I have to wait before adding the water to the tank, especially for when I have fish in there?). Make sure water is close to 78 degrees before adding to the tank.
• Turn filter back on.

Are any further tests needed after this? I plan on doing a 25% water change once a week, including using a syphon. Should I then test again or sometime before?

This was a lot of questions, sorry. I just want to make sure I’m doing everything correctly.

 

[FishBR]

Do not use bloodworms or food. For an effective and faster cycling, you can use pure ammonia. I recommend this product: https://store.drtimsaquatics.com/Ammonium-Chloride-Solution-for-Fishless-Cycling.html

 

[Essjay]

Please do not add a betta to the tank if there are frogs in it. Fish and frogs shouldn't be kept in the same tank.

Frogs are almost blind and find their food by smell. By the time they find where you put it, the fish will have eaten it all. Especially a betta. About 10 years ago I had frogs and a betta together and never again. I tried everything I could think of to keep the betta away from the frogs' food, including using an upside plant pot with a hole cut in the rim and a stone on the hole in the bottom of the pot (which was now at the top). The betta still got inside then couldn't find the way out.
But the worst thing was that one of the frogs mistook the betta's tail for food and lunged at it. I found the betta swimming frantically round the tank with a frog clamped to his tail. I set up my QT and moved the frogs into that. The betta got finrot from the damge and his tail never grew back properly.

Talking of finrot, that's another reason for not mixing frogs and fish. If the fish ever get sick, they can't be medicated with frogs in the tank.



Cycling - decomposing bloodworm will make an unpleasant mess in the tank. It's better to use ammonia from a bottle - or Dr Tim's ammonium chloride.

 

[DAnCSF]

The thing to remember adding fish food for tankless cycling is to have a source of ammonia for the bacteria to "eat". The fish food will eventually decompose. You need some source of ammonia to start, fishless cycling uses ammonia as a source....you could also use a few small cheap fish to provide the ammonia source..think fish poop. More info can be had in the cycling forum. Good Luck.

 

[Fishiemang]

I couldn't imagine waiting that long to enjoy a fish tank.

Go buy a frog and throw it in there. Add some quick start. The good news is, no risk of burning gills. The frogs breathe air at the surface.

I can't speak to a beta, as I am not a beta person, but I have kept ADF's with a lot of different fish. They will eat them if they can. If they can't, they get points for heart.

Oh...

And ONLY feed frogs bloodworms as a treat, and not freeze dried. Bloodworms will cause dropsy in them. There is conflicting opinion on this online, but, speaking from experience, and I have had quite a few, the bloodworms will cause dropsy and kill the frogs if fed enough of them....

 

[DAnCSF]

I couldn't imagine waiting that long to enjoy a fish tank.

Go buy a frog and throw it in there. Add some quick start. The good news is, no risk of burning gills. The frogs breathe air at the surface.

I can't speak to a beta, as I am not a beta person, but I have kept ADF's with a lot of different fish. They will eat them if they can. If they can't, they get points for heart.

And that's the thing we buy a tank and want to enjoy it immediately. Many times a small tank would fix that itch, as long as basic water changes are done....but once you get more into the hobby and lust after bigger and badder tanks, now one needs to deep dive into subjects as cycling etc...

 

[Fishiemang]

Na.

I got several tanks.

My 75 gallon....I set it up, filled it with the temp water needed, dumped a bunch of quick start in it, went to petsmart and got a small rainbow shark and bala shark, tossed them in and wallah! Fishies swimming in the tank. Waited a few days amd scooped a couple black mollies out of another tank, and tossed them in and bam....more fishies swimming in the tank. Another week later, I bought a small.severum and.threw him in.

Not one issue.

Bigger tanks have more volume. Like they say....solution to pollution is dilution ain't it?

Needless to say, this tank cycled just fine. Ran great for 2 years, then a couple guys got sick and now, the tank happy again. Even got a.few plants that the pleco ain't eatin thriving now...