Mixing breeds

[Tank Sinatra]

Lol never mind.
I'll be going for the danio glowlight. Small enough for my tank and add a nice variety of colours.

Great choice! Will these be the first guys in the tank?

 

[Essjay]

Danio/Celestichthys choprae are quite active fish (I had them once) so be careful not to mix them with sedate or timid fish.

 

[Fishfaced]

Great choice! Will these be the first guys in the tank?

That's what I'm not sure of.
I'm a bit wary as it's a new tank and I'd have to buy at least 5 for them to be happy. This could potentially cause an ammonia spike.
Is it worth just buying a couple of bottom feeders to stop the risk of killing them off.. not sure

 

[Fishfaced]

Danio/Celestichthys choprae are quite active fish (I had them once) so be careful not to mix them with sedate or timid fish.

Good advice. I'll try and keep them all to a similar behaviour.

 

[Tank Sinatra]

That's what I'm not sure of.
I'm a bit wary as it's a new tank and I'd have to buy at least 5 for them to be happy. This could potentially cause an ammonia spike.
Is it worth just buying a couple of bottom feeders to stop the risk of killing them off.. not sure

Haha decisions decisions! Could you not buy 5 and if you get an ammonia spike just do a big old water change? Or is it not that simple?

 

[Fishfaced]

Haha decisions decisions! Could you not buy 5 and if you get an ammonia spike just do a big old water change? Or is it not that simple?

Possibly, I think you can also add a seachem product that temporary neutralises the ammonia. I'm just trying to avoid headaches ya know.

 

[Essjay]

I'm a bit wary as it's a new tank and I'd have to buy at least 5 for them to be happy. This could potentially cause an ammonia spike.

If you do a fishless cycling using ammonia you can add almost all the fish you want as soon as the cycle is complete. I prefer not to fully stock as that leaves a bit of wiggle room - and there's always the danger when you actually go fish shopping that you'll see some fish you hadn't considered before. If you are fully stocked, you can't have them

 

[Fishfaced]

If you do a fishless cycling using ammonia you can add almost all the fish you want as soon as the cycle is complete. I prefer not to fully stock as that leaves a bit of wiggle room - and there's always the danger when you actually go fish shopping that you'll see some fish you hadn't considered before. If you are fully stocked, you can't have them

I'm using fish flakes which I now regret.
Ammonia has finally dropped but it's hard to know how much food to add to get it back up.

Unfortunately I'm going to have to add fish slowly because of this method.

 

[Essjay]

I would suggest getting the whole shoal at once. If you are worried there aren't enough bacteria, get a couple of bunches of elodea and leave the stems to float. It won't look pretty but they'll help remove any excess ammonia. Once you are sure ammonia and nitrite are staying at zero, you can remove the elodea, one stem every few days, till the tank looks like you want it to. Keep an eye on the ammonia level as you remove the stems.

 

[Fishfaced]

I would suggest getting the whole shoal at once. If you are worried there aren't enough bacteria, get a couple of bunches of elodea and leave the stems to float. It won't look pretty but they'll help remove any excess ammonia. Once you are sure ammonia and nitrite are staying at zero, you can remove the elodea, one stem every few days, till the tank looks like you want it to. Keep an eye on the ammonia level as you remove the stems.

Thanks I'll definitely try this

 

[Essjay]

I quarantined 12 kuhli loaches in a 25 litre tank with 2 newly bought bunches of elodea and 2 large water sprite plants taken from my main tank. I never saw a trace of ammonia or nitrite. You'll have some bacteria after cycling, you just don't know how many. If the plants used all the ammonia in my QT with no mature media, your bacteria plus elodea should be fine.

Of course, you could always decide to plant the elodea and keep it

 

[Fishfaced]

I quarantined 12 kuhli loaches in a 25 litre tank with 2 newly bought bunches of elodea and 2 large water sprite plants taken from my main tank. I never saw a trace of ammonia or nitrite. You'll have some bacteria after cycling, you just don't know how many. If the plants used all the ammonia in my QT with no mature media, your bacteria plus elodea should be fine.

Of course, you could always decide to plant the elodea and keep it

Yea I want some real plants so these will be my starting point.
Should I wait until it's fully cycled or will adding them soon be ok and not disrupt the cycle too much?

 

[Essjay]

Depends. How many plants do you want - a lot or just a few.

If it's a few, wait till the cycle has finished, then plant them
If it's a lot of fast growing plants, plant them now and take a photo. Wait a couple of weeks, then compare the photo to the tank. If there's been a fair amount of new growth since you took the photo, get the first batch of fish. This is called silent cycling. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein not nitrite. But you would need a lot of fast growing plants not just the odd couple of slow growers.

Planted/silent cycling

So ya got yourself a fish tank, and now you're wondering how to cycle it. You have a few options: 1) Fishless cycle: Set up your substrate and filter (decorations and plants are optional), buy pure ammonia, add enough to your tank to read 3ppm, wait. Full instructions here...

www.fishforums.net

 

[Fishfaced]

Depends. How many plants do you want - a lot or just a few.

If it's a few, wait till the cycle has finished, then plant them
If it's a lot of fast growing plants, plant them now and take a photo. Wait a couple of weeks, then compare the photo to the tank. If there's been a fair amount of new growth since you took the photo, get the first batch of fish. This is called silent cycling. Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein not nitrite. But you would need a lot of fast growing plants not just the odd couple of slow growers.

Planted/silent cycling

So ya got yourself a fish tank, and now you're wondering how to cycle it. You have a few options: 1) Fishless cycle: Set up your substrate and filter (decorations and plants are optional), buy pure ammonia, add enough to your tank to read 3ppm, wait. Full instructions here...

www.fishforums.net

It will just be a few so I'll wait. I'll buy them the same day as the fish.