New Tank And Starting To Cycle It...with Fish

[jimmies]

I haven't done a water change for over a day and I'm still at 0ppm for ammonia and nitrites......I'll get happy if it is the same tomorrow!!!

 

[Fish4]

I haven't done a water change for over a day and I'm still at 0ppm for ammonia and nitrites......I'll get happy if it is the same tomorrow!!!

Thats good news. You may well be cycled for those 4 fish, but when you put more stock in you will have a mini cycle until the bacteria build up again.
If you have cycled in 12 days as it seems, that product has helped, I would say.
Keep testing, and if you go 7 days with zero readings it's cycled.

 

[KittyKat]

Aye, something seems to have done some good. For the moment, I recommend that you leave two weeks before adding any new fish (so as to decrease the likelihood of a mini cycle) and slowly aim the feeding pattern at that should be normal (1-2 times per day, 6 days per week). It is quite important to leave one food-free day and to feed a variety of foods (not just one brand or one type).

 

[jimmies]

I only have plans to add maybe one or two more fish and poss some shrimps due to the size of the tank......but I wont add them for two weeks or so - so long as everything stays stable.

 

[jimmies]

As a thanks for all your help......here is a pic of my tank

 

[Fish4]

Looks really good and the water looks crystal clear

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Ah, those aren't harlequin rasbora - looks like hengeli or even possibly espei, as the one on the left looks to have a bit of red over it's body. Where you only get the orange stripe over the black bar in hengeli the espeis have a red/orange colour over their body, which will get darker as they settle in.

 

[jimmies]

AA......two local places to me that sell fish have these fish and the both call these fish harlequin rasbora......so I'm not sure if the pic isn't clear or if both the shops are wrong.

I'll do some research

 

[jimmies]

I think they are espei

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Espei are better in my opinion anyway

Espeis are frequently mixed up with hengeli and vise versa, it's a nightmare. I've actually got a mix of both in my tank but they are both actually quite different in size/shape than harlequins so shame on your LFS for getting it wrong They won't get as big as harlequins either so that's a good thing for a smaller sized tank like yours

 

[KittyKat]

100% sure that they're T. espei or T. hengeli. The difference is that hengeli have a luminous bit right in front of the black marking.

Whichever species it is (you can try to get a side on photo, if you want us to give you a definite ID), you need to make sure that any new fish you get are the same species and not one of the other two.

 

[jimmies]

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

yup, espei! Lucky you, I'm trying to find more but I can't find them at any of my LFS, grrrr

 

[jimmies]

I had a possible faint shade of green in my ammonia test this morning....should I do a partial water change or let it sit for a day and re-test? Nitrite was 0

 

[KittyKat]

The ones which are not blurry do look like T. espei

I had a possible faint shade of green in my ammonia test this morning....should I do a partial water change or let it sit for a day and re-test? Nitrite was 0

Yes, as long as your dechlorinated tap water has less ammonia in it.