Help With Cycling .... Do Not Fully Get It

[qtchick02]

is cyclining doing a vacum of 25% of the water and replacing it again every day and then testing the waters amonia, pH, nitrite and nitrate?
i read the forum topic: Arrrggghhhh What's Cycling, New Tank And I've Already Got Fish, A beginners guide

and i want to keep my fish while doing the cycling but i understand i need to get mature media? but i cant ... i don't understand the section where it tells you how to do the cycling with fish in the tank ... please help!! coz i don't know how long the fish will be out of the tank if i take them out and how long and stuff ... so confused because there is so much stuff! and the ppl at the shop never told me bout cycling or fishless cycling ... coz i only started outting fish in on sunday ... otherwise i wouldnt have gotten the fish ... heres wat i got and wen i get it ...

6 male guppy's (got 4 on sunday 30th, 2 on the 1st october)
2 corey's (got on the 1st october)
1 Angel Fish (very small) (got on 2nd October)
1 Widow Black Longfinned (got on 2nd October)
1 Fighting Fish - planning on getting rid of (got on 1st october)

oh and i have a 34 Litre AR-380 tank ...
thanking you!

 

[Dark Wolf]

oh dear.

Right firstly your tank is overstocked, you need to get rid of the siamese fighter as i see you are doing, and the angel fish will grow far too big for the tank. If you are talking about a black widow tetra as well, they need to be in groups of at least 4 and not on their own, and also what type of cory do you have?

You need to get mature media to do a fish in cycle, but it will help immensely. Cycling with a fish basically involves doing usually at least 2 decent water changes a day to keep down the levels of ammonia and nitrite (which are very harmful to your fish).

It sounds like you've got a gravel vac, which is helpful, because you can syphon the water out of the tank without having to move the fish.

Now to be able to cycle correctly, you'll need to have a liquid master test kit, that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Have you got one of these? Also are you putting de-chlorinator into your water, before putting the fish in?

 

[qtchick02]

oh dear.

Right firstly your tank is overstocked, you need to get rid of the siamese fighter as i see you are doing, and the angel fish will grow far too big for the tank. If you are talking about a black widow tetra as well, they need to be in groups of at least 4 and not on their own, and also what type of cory do you have?

You need to get mature media to do a fish in cycle, but it will help immensely. Cycling with a fish basically involves doing usually at least 2 decent water changes a day to keep down the levels of ammonia and nitrite (which are very harmful to your fish).

It sounds like you've got a gravel vac, which is helpful, because you can syphon the water out of the tank without having to move the fish.

Now to be able to cycle correctly, you'll need to have a liquid master test kit, that tests for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Have you got one of these? Also are you putting de-chlorinator into your water, before putting the fish in?

i really don't want to get rid of the angel ... its really tiny and i was thinking i'd get rid of it wen its a bit bigger or i see it attacking any other fish ... should i get more of the black widow tetra? or later on? i was thinkin of gettin rid of 2 more guppys ... it sounds so bad!! cos they're so nice! i don't know!

everytime i add new fish i put this "cycle" liquid by nutrafin .,, thats wat the guy at the pet store said ...
i really don't want them to die because they were a gift from my boyfriend ...

i was thinking i'll get the master tester kit 2morrow ... because i dont have it ... i only have a ph tester ... the first 4 fish went in 3days ago ... im so scared!

hoping it'll be ok!

 

[tetraqueen]

okay you are not the first or the last.
LFS local fish shops tend to expect the aquarist to do the research and these fish are hard .

They dont all get on together
Some need space
Some like it hot
Some like to be on ther own i caves etc
Some well should not be in lfs in my opinion ((balas))

Okay you can keep what you have and see what you lose this is what some lfs gamble with..

Here that is not good for fish.

You can buy a bigger set up
You can buy sell swap on here.

The pragmatic solution is to do what is right and you have not had the fish long so.

It will get worse these beauties become part of your posessions .

I would consider swapping as you have some good starter fish and then take it slowly til you know what your doing.

Fish cycle I would do daily water changes and add nothing else until your filter kicks in.

Chems like filter start may help but others disagree..
Test Ph
Test for Nitrite
Test for NH3 and 4
That is all I do and I have managed okay.

Be good and rehome what will eventually become too much or buy a bigger assortment of tanks for different species.

 

[qtchick02]

okay you are not the first or the last.
LFS local fish shops tend to expect the aquarist to do the research and these fish are hard .

They dont all get on together
Some need space
Some like it hot
Some like to be on ther own i caves etc
Some well should not be in lfs in my opinion ((balas))

Okay you can keep what you have and see what you lose this is what some lfs gamble with..

Here that is not good for fish.

You can buy a bigger set up
You can buy sell swap on here.

The pragmatic solution is to do what is right and you have not had the fish long so.

It will get worse these beauties become part of your posessions .

I would consider swapping as you have some good starter fish and then take it slowly til you know what your doing.

Fish cycle I would do daily water changes and add nothing else until your filter kicks in.

Chems like filter start may help but others disagree..
Test Ph
Test for Nitrite
Test for NH3 and 4
That is all I do and I have managed okay.

Be good and rehome what will eventually become too much or buy a bigger assortment of tanks for different species.

i really want to keep the first 4 gupy's and the angelfish and the widow black tetra maybe even a corey ... i'm not sure wat corey it is ... its got black and whitish stripes ....

if i do dily water changes do i replace the water with mature media everyday?! or just the once and every other time tap water?

 

[littlest]

It will be a lot easier to rehome the angel now rather than when it gets too big. The longer you have it the more attached you will become and the harder it will be to part with it.
Also, you are overstocked, which is bad enough in a cycled tank, but so much worse in an uncycled one. If you rehome the angel now you will reduce the bioload in the tank, meaning less ammonia, meaning less stress on your other fish (although ammonia will still be an issue for you).

Also rehoming the angel now will spare it the trauma of a cycling tank, so it will be a happier, healthier fish.

Cycling isn't about removing water, it is about building up colonies of bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate (the nitrogen cycle). Because you already have fish though you will need to do a lot of water changes to stop the ammonia and later nitrite from poisoning your fish.

Try here for more info.

 

[Dark Wolf]

I agree, why would you want to get rid of the angel, once you've had it for longer, it will just be harder.

I understand that you really like all the fish that you currently have, but the fact of the matter is, if you don't get rid of some now, you are going to have some dead fish!! I know that you've been given them as a present, but do you really want lots of dead fish on your hands?

As ive already said the tetra needs to be in 4+ so i'd give that back to the store, rather than getting 3 more buddies for it.

You don't want to keep replacing the mature media, once you have some, place it in your filter along with your other sponges, and it will help speed up the growth of the bacteria colony that will make your tank a nice place for fish.

Hmm, your cory might be a bandit cory, but it's hard to know for certain, without either a more detailed description or a picture.

 

[qtchick02]

I agree, why would you want to get rid of the angel, once you've had it for longer, it will just be harder.

I understand that you really like all the fish that you currently have, but the fact of the matter is, if you don't get rid of some now, you are going to have some dead fish!! I know that you've been given them as a present, but do you really want lots of dead fish on your hands?

As ive already said the tetra needs to be in 4+ so i'd give that back to the store, rather than getting 3 more buddies for it.

You don't want to keep replacing the mature media, once you have some, place it in your filter along with your other sponges, and it will help speed up the growth of the bacteria colony that will make your tank a nice place for fish.

Hmm, your cory might be a bandit cory, but it's hard to know for certain, without either a more detailed description or a picture.

imm getting rid of the tetra ... its picking on the angelfish ... and u know how i got 4 guppy's first? well one of them are picking on the 2 new guppy's ...
this is so stressful ... but i've so far gotten rid of the tetra and fighting fish ... still in the tank but in seperate bags because i dont want it to die. here are a few of the pics of the corey ... ... i couldnt get any better ones ... but so far my angelfish is doin quiet well ... coz i was thinkin ... because my tank is new thee could be a possibility a guppy or 2 will die ... i don't know?
going to see if i can get hold of mature media tomorrow ... how much of my tank water do i get rid of now? im still not sure ? and how much i would need?
so if i get rid of a few of the othe fish there will be\
- 4 guppy's
- angelfish
- 2 corys

 

[charlie4486]

it's mind boggling that you completely ignore people telling you not to keep the angel. your tank can't handle it and you are probably doing a lot of damage to it. seeing as how you have never kept fish how do you know that the angel is doing good? i don't want to sound mean, but the people here are giving you advice to help you and your fish out. you can always buy another angel later. when you have a suitable tank. Please listen to the people on here.

 

[qtchick02]

it's mind boggling that you completely ignore people telling you not to keep the angel. your tank can't handle it and you are probably doing a lot of damage to it. seeing as how you have never kept fish how do you know that the angel is doing good? i don't want to sound mean, but the people here are giving you advice to help you and your fish out. you can always buy another angel later. when you have a suitable tank. Please listen to the people on here.

i have actually given the angel to my cousin ... they have angels so i thought they could have it ... i get it! every1 is telling me not to keep the angel, so i havent ... it wasnt like it was an expensive fish ... but thank you for all ur advice!

 

[charlie4486]

glad you found it a home. good luck with the tank, and let us know how it goes.