My 'fish In' Cycle Log

[waterdrop]

No, adding floss shouldn't hurt anything at all (unless of course you were to remove a bunch of your precious biomedia to make space for it, lol) as what you want from it is very fine mechanical filtration. It can be examined during your monthly filter clean and is cheap to replace (even cheaper from the Walmart pillow stuffing section!) as often as you want.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[jay2k6ie]

Added the floss an hour ago.. Just did another test and im reading:

0 nitrites
0 ammonia
5ppm nitrate

Ive been getting the same results for 3 days now (no water changes done)

 

[OldMan47]

Three zero readings with no water changes and adding ammonia each day after the test sounds like you have finally gotten there. Have you decided which fish you want to start with?

 

[jay2k6ie]

Three zero readings with no water changes and adding ammonia each day after the test sounds like you have finally gotten there. Have you decided which fish you want to start with?

Ive got the 6 pearl danios in there at the moment, they have been in for the cycle and have been doing great..they love the tank!

Im going to do a 20-24 strong shoal of harlequin rasboras or rummy nose tetras ( finding it hard to decide between the two) and I wont add all at once probably 4 groups of 6 on a weekly basis..

Then maybe 6-8 Corys, 6-8 otos, 4 pearl gourami (3f 1m)

 

[waterdrop]

All of your choices/combinations are fish that should have no trouble getting along with each other (gouramis can be nippy, but Pearls are among the ones that are much less so.) You're making it easy on us!

I haven't added up whether you are overstocking once they are mature, others are better at that than me!

Have you checked in to the 3 species of pygmy cories (one species swims more middle, other two more bottom) which are supposed to be quite entertaining in groups of 6 or more? You probaby have a big enough tank that you can handle a 5-6 shoal of the normal size cories, though, so its pure choice for looks etc.

~~waterdrop~~
btw: I like the thought of the color-look you are thinking of with these particular fish together.

 

[jay2k6ie]

Todays results:

PH 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 5ppm

Thats 4 days in a row now with no water changes and ive got the same ammonia,nitrite and nitrate results...

 

[OldMan47]

If you decide to go with the pygmy coreies that WD was talking about, I find the habrosus get out and swim around more than the others do. I have all 3 types in different tanks and the best for a community situation is the corydoras habrosus.
Here is a close up picture of one in my endler tank

These are the hastatus

and this is a pygmaeus on the left with a heterandria formosa at the right.

 

[jay2k6ie]

If you decide to go with the pygmy coreies that WD was talking about, I find the habrosus get out and swim around more than the others do. I have all 3 types in different tanks and the best for a community situation is the corydoras habrosus.
Here is a close up picture of one in my endler tank

These are the hastatus

and this is a pygmaeus on the left with a heterandria formosa at the right.

thanks a lot for those pics the fish look great! I will definitly consider the habrosus and the pygmy if i can get my hands on them.. How many of the rummys do you think I should add at a time if i get them and do you have any tips for climatising/keeping them? I hear they can be tricky..

 

[OldMan47]

Once you are cycled and it is confirmed, I would only get 3 or 4 rummy nose at a time. They like to be in larger groups but you won't have enough bacteria to deal with 6 or 8 all at once. I always favor a drip acclimation unless I have a mail shipment. Mail shipments get a plop and drop instead.
Drip is easy to do.
You dump the fish out into a small container that is lower than your tank, you may need to tilt it to keep the fish wet at first.
Use a piece of airline to make a siphon for the tank water to go into the container and tie a loose knot in the airline.
Start the siphon action and tighten the knot until you have only a drop or two per second.
When the water in the container has doubled its volume, you can loosen the knot a bit and increase the flow.
When the volume has quadrupled or more, the fish are basically in your tank water so you can net them out of the container and right into the tank.

Due to the shipping container water conditions after 2 or 3 days in the mail, I use a plop and drop there. It is even easier.
You leave the bag sealed tightly and put it in the tank to reach temperature. Once temperature is matched, open the bag and immediately put the fish into the tank. The moment you open the bag the CO2 that has built up starts to come out of solution and that raises the pH. The low pH has kept the ammonia in the bag from becoming toxic but now it will be toxic so you get the fish out of it immediately. You do not want any of that nasty water in your tank and you sure don't want the fish sitting in it to acclimate.

 

[jay2k6ie]

Just an update on how my tank is going... Im two weeks cycled now and I have 6 pearl danios and 6 rummy nose tetras in the tank..

I will be adding 6 rummys every week for another 3 weeks to make a total of 24.. My water has been 0 nitrites, 0 ammonia, nitrate 5ppm for the last two weeks (checked every day) Did not notice any spikes after the addition of the danios or the rummys over the last two weeks and all of the fish are doing fantastic.. The rummys are beautiful fish and they must be very happy with the tank because their noses are all really bright red...

Cant wait to have a 24 strong shoal of them that will look great... I'll keep people updated...

 

[OldMan47]

Good going Jackie. Now you can relax just a little bit and maybe only test once a day.