Just Need A Bit Of Expert Advice

[Ossah]

He is long bodied with a single tail.

 

[Truck]

Will need a pond, those with fancy tails and round bodies, will be fine in a tank of 125+ litres.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree, that's a pond fish --WD

 

[Ossah]

I have just set up my tank. I am just wondering when should I put Stan in?
At the moment he is in his small bowl still. Would it be ok to put him in straight away?
I know the tank should be left to aerate,etc but it can't be any worse than the tank he is in at the moment, could it?

Thanks again for the help.
Also, I know of a local neighbour who has a small fish pond.

When Stan grows up to be to big for my tank I will get him moved over asap.

 

[K-Holed]

IMO Cold water fish are a PITA. They tend to grow big, they produce lots of waste and you tend to be limited on your selection of fish. However if they're you're thing I wouldn't try and change that for the world.

At the moment, Stan is in a body of water that will have a constantly rising level of Ammonia. If the bowl you have him in is unfiltered, the only thing that will reduce the ammonia levels are your water changes. If you move him into the tank, you will still need to do water changes (as you don't have a functioning biological filter), but the ammonia will be far more diluted and it will be easier to keep it to an acceptable level. As a bonus, as you are going through the process of fish-in cycling, your filter will be slowly maturing.

Keeping him in the bowl has very few benefits. The only one I can see is, it's easier to do a full water change on a bowl than a 50-75% one on a larger tank.

 

[OldMan47]

Whether you put Stan into his new home or into a holding container, you will do exactly the same amount of water changes to keep the water healthy for him. That means that if you go with the larger container, the water changes may be a bit less often and may be a smaller percentage to keep everything in limits for Stan. A fish-in or a fishless cycle takes exactly the same amount of time to complete so that is not an issue to consider in this process. I would choose whichever is the larger container for the fish and use whichever method that the choice points to. If Stan ends up in the tank, you are into a fish-in situation. If the other container is larger, you will be doing a fishless cycle. You can forget the 50% daily water change, that is for someone who does not have any test kit and needs the broadest possible advice for someone doing a blind fish-in cycle. Your water changes will be guided by your water tests instead.