Let the silent cycle commence!

[Animallover😍]

Yesterday I went to my lfs and they had a buy 2 fish free 1 sale, so I went ahead, got 3 rummynose tetras and a piece of driftwood. They turned pale during the trip back, and I took a bit of time to put the piece of driftwood in there and a LOT of hydrilla, also a Catappa leaf. Their faces turned red today, and when I tested, these are my results:
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm.
pH: 6.8
I did a 50% water change to bring the ammonia down, and the fish appear to be active and healthy.

Ammonia..

Nitrite..

Nitrate...

 

[Fishmanic]

Unless you have enough thriving plants to absorb ammonia produced by the fish, now you will be doing a fish-in cycle which can be detrimental to your fish.

 

[Fishmanic]

Rummynose can tell you when they are stressed. If their noses are bright red they are happy. If their noses look faded, then they’re stressed.

 

[Animallover😍]

Rummynose can tell you when they are stressed. If their noses are bright red they are happy. If their noses look faded, then they’re stressed.

I know.. They were very faded before... now they have started nibbling on plants, and swimming round together. Before their noses were dull. Now they are very bright and it's adorable to watch them swimming round and nibbling everywhere.

 

[Animallover😍]

Unless you have enough thriving plants to absorb ammonia produced by the fish, now you will be doing a fish-in cycle which can be detrimental to your fish.

I think I have enough. The fish look very happy.

 

[Fishmanic]

You wil need to test daily for ammonia and nitrite and if above O, do a large water change. Also test for nitrates. It is acceptable to be as high as 20 ppm but do a large wc if higher. You might add some bottled bacteria to your filter unless you have another cycled tank from which you can transfer some cycled media.

Silently cycling a tank generally requires growing lots of plants for a month or more without fish to give the plants time to grow actively enough to absorb the ammonia once you add fish.

Do not overfeed your fish. Too little is better than too much especially during cycling. And dont add any more fish until you are cycled and even then, just add a few at a time.

 

[itiwhetu]

Your fish should be fine. Enjoy.

 

[Animallover😍]

How long should I wait before adding the next 3 fish? A week?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

How long should I wait before adding the next 3 fish? A week?

A week is good...when setting up a tank, I added my fish in weekly increments. All went well.
Just keep on top of testing and water changes, if there's the slightest hint of ammonia.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Yesterday I went to my lfs and they had a buy 2 fish free 1 sale, so I went ahead, got 3 rummynose tetras and a piece of driftwood. They turned pale during the trip back, and I took a bit of time to put the piece of driftwood in there and a LOT of hydrilla, also a Catappa leaf. Their faces turned red today, and when I tested, these are my results:
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm.
pH: 6.8
I did a 50% water change to bring the ammonia down, and the fish appear to be active and healthy.
View attachment 143887
View attachment 143888
View attachment 143889
Ammonia..
View attachment 143890
Nitrite..
View attachment 143891
Nitrate...
View attachment 143892

Just another reminder...this isn't a 'Silent Cycle'.

 

[itiwhetu]

Just another reminder...this isn't a 'Silent Cycle'.

No not a "silent cycle" an "ammonia cycle" or a "Bi-cycle". This is just a "natural cycle" and a very easy way to introduce fish to a tank.

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I have to say I absolutely hate this method.

Yes it can work great. When you know exactly what you are doing, have the right plants and good growth. I know how amazing plants are for removing fish waste. I still would never recommend this method to anyone though that didn't already know about growing aquatic plants successfully.

There is just so much that can go wrong though, especially with people that are new to the hobby. Also as you already have fish in there if something goes wrong you are stuck with a fish in cycle. If there is detectable ammonia in the tank while fish are in there then something is wrong.

That aside. The rummy nose look great. I love tetras and these are near the top of my list of favorites. I used to have a massive group of these years back and they are great fish. Definitely one of the most sensitive and least robust tetra species though in my experience.

 

[Animallover😍]

Nice. What’s that big red thing?

Do you mean the Catappa leaf?

 

[Animallover😍]

I fed the fish a couple hours ago, it was not even 24 hrs but they ate normally, tetras are stubborn, I had to drop the pellets down. They won't eat from the surface. but they have acclimated to the tank well.

 

[Essjay]

Catappa leaves (Indian almond leaves) have mild antiseptic properties, they turn the water slightly brown, they can lower pH provided KH is not too high and they grow micro-organisms which are great for fry food.