New Here

[Nightfall]

Hi everyone

I was a fish keeper for years, culminating in me breeding various kinds of Betta (Mustard Gas Halfmoons, Platinum Halfmoons, Turquoise Butterfly Halfmoons and Monster Halfmoons). I eventually stopped breeding because I found it took a lot of the joy out of keeping fish for me and I found it overwhelming. My first and longest lived Betta was a handsome little veiltail called Bernard - he almost lasted 7 years. As well as Bettas I've had a pair of male Blue Gourami, Salt and Pepper, who lived to be about 6 and a school of Whiteclouds who lived to be about 5. I was less successful with Clown Loaches, but I like their personalities.

I was sort of accidentally pulled back into fishkeeping thanks to some unusual circumstances - I won a 10G BluePlanet aquarium and $20 worth of fish in a pet store raffle (I was hoping for the cat food!). Obviously this is not an ideal situation - new tanks must be cycled, ideally fishlessly, and it's a tiny little tank. I did ask about picking up the tank first and the fish after the tank was cycled, but that wasn't going to happen.

I couldn't find anything to instantly cycle the tank so I am very very tentitively doing a live fish cycle, which I have never done before. The girl at the store suggested I get a little school of Neons, but I decided to get a pair of Dwarf Gourami instead, since I had such a great experience with my Blues.

I wasn't aware of how fragile the Dwarfs were, but the Dwarfs all looked healthy, there were about 15 in the one 30g tank and they all seemed to get along well, they had been there for weeks and they had also come from a small independant breeder so my fingers are crossed.
I know that 10g is really not ideal even for one, let alone two, but I do have a 20g aquarium in storage that I can clean and use if I have to. I will keep a very close eye on the aquarium (both the fish and the pH/nitrate/nitrite/ammonia levels), and if there are any signs of trouble at all I will move them out. Obviously the 20g tank is preferable, but I like the convenience of a built in light and filter, and I sold my heaters, filters and lamps when I sold my breeding stock and I'd have to rebuy them so I want to give the 10g a chance. I won't be adding any more fish to it, even when it's cycled.

With the last of the fish money I got another Betta, since I still had all my Betta tanks. There were some really fancy ones there, but I chose a spunky Veiltail who is now called Alexander. The photos were taken with my iphone so they're pretty dreadful:

Alexander:

And my regular Dwarf Gourami, Dr. Shuu:

The Neon Blue, Oko-san:

 

[Flute]

Hi Nightfall, welcome to the forum
7 years is very impressive for a betta indeed! Especially with how weak a lot of them seemed to have become these days. Fish in cycles are a lot of hard work, but as long as you keep on top of the ammonia and nitrites you should be fine. If you're at all unsure about how to do it safely, check out the link in my signature- that will take you the beginners resource center, where there's a fantastic article on how to safely do a fish in cycle

 

[Nightfall]

Hi Nightfall, welcome to the forum

7 years is very impressive for a betta indeed! Especially with how weak a lot of them seemed to have become these days. Fish in cycles are a lot of hard work, but as long as you keep on top of the ammonia and nitrites you should be fine. If you're at all unsure about how to do it safely, check out the link in my signature- that will take you the beginners resource center, where there's a fantastic article on how to safely do a fish in cycle

Bernard was my pride and joy, so thank you .
I'll definitely check out the link in the morning, I have zero experience in fish-in cycling and hopefully I'm not doing too much wrong. Thanks for that link, Flute!

 

[Nightfall]

I've picked up a master test kit (pH/nitrate/nitrite/ammonia), the shop I got the fish only had dip kits so I had to wait to get my hands on a good quality drop kit. Results were: my nitrite is at zero, my ammonia is at 2.0, nitrate is zero and pH is 7.2. So ammonia is really my only issue at this point - and I think it's because the food I've used is sinking and the Gourami don't realise it's there. I'll do a 25% water change and switch to a floating pellet and hopefully that will take care of things.

 

[Flute]

Generally you can get the drop kits much cheaper online on ebay than in shops
If the ammonia is at 2ppm then it'll need a much bigger water change than a 25 % You need to try and get it as close to 0ppm as you can otherwise the fish will very quickly start to show signs of struggling. Try doing a 75% change, test the water again, and then do another change if needed. Unfortunately this will be a daily occurrence whilst the tank is cycling, which is what makes it such hard work. Always best to remove any uneaten food that they're missing too, as this will very quickly add to any ammonia levels.
The only other option really is to return the gourami and do a fishless cycle, but as long as you can keep on top of the daily water changes you should be ok.

Your New Freshwater Tank is where you can start a cycling thread, where people can give you advice as you go along if you're unsure of anything