My tank is now 6 days in and as the bacterial bloom had all disappeared today I visited my local aquatics shop. I was mainly interested in getting new plants. Bought a few plants and lovely piece of spider wood. I asked if I should get any fish at this point and the owner suggested getting 3 sunset mollies to start with. I’m really pleased with the tank layout. The plants, rocks and spider wood look really good and the mollies are really happy. I was planning on getting a male betta but was advised to wait about six weeks to ensure water balance is correct and cycle complete. I think this was what was advised. Can anyone recommend a cheap method for me to test the water myself and also if anyone can recommend other fish that mill mix well with my male betta when I buy him in a few weeks thanks for any advice.
New tank just bought 3 sunset Platys
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Hi welcome to the forum and the hobby 
Unfortunately, you are possibly not going to be off to the best start as having the tank stood for a few days without a constant ammonia source will not have prepared the tank for fish. I imagine the shop will have sold you some sort of product that claims to cycle your tank in a few days, again unfortunately these products just do not work and do little for the long term health of a tank.
It would be good if you can have a read through the articles on this section of the forum.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/beginners-resource-center.277264/
The main two to read at the moment would be the nitrogen cycle and fish in cycling. The articles will explain this in more details but what will potentially happen now you have the Platies in there is that as they start eating and *ahem* pooping, a chemical will be created called Ammonia, which is toxic to fish. In our tanks we rely on a colony of bacteria in our filters to process this and start the nitrogen cycle. In a mature tank the ammonia will be broken down quickly and converted into the less harmful, but still dangerous nitrite, which will in turn be broken down into the least harmful chemical nitrate. Nitrate is still important to keep as low as possible but low readings are manageable with water changes and if you have live plants this can keep on top of it as well.
So at present your platties will be be creating ammonia and you wont have the bacteria to make the water safe for them. This is unfortunately a very common situation new fish owners find them selves in, when I very first started I was in the same possition and it is managable but I would recommend reading the articles in the link to find out how.
Now down to your actual fish What size tank do you have and do you know what your water is like? Is it classed as soft or hard, do you know what the ph is? If you dont have a test kit yet you can usually find this info on your water suppliers website.
If you dont have a test kit yet I would recommend getting one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000255NCI/?tag= on Amazon it is about half the price of my local shop so worth getting here.
I wouldnt add any more fish until your test kit from above is showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. But, long term depending on tank size and what your tap water is like there will be other fish you can add with your platties (platties do best in harder water with a neutral or slightly above neutral ph and coolish temperatures) but I would not advise adding a Beta to a community tank. They can struggle swimming in larger tanks due to their elaborate fins and often do best in small tanks by them selves.
Hope that has helped And please keep us up to date with how things are going. I am sure that if you do run into problems someone here will be able to help.
Wills
Unfortunately, you are possibly not going to be off to the best start as having the tank stood for a few days without a constant ammonia source will not have prepared the tank for fish. I imagine the shop will have sold you some sort of product that claims to cycle your tank in a few days, again unfortunately these products just do not work and do little for the long term health of a tank.
It would be good if you can have a read through the articles on this section of the forum.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/beginners-resource-center.277264/
The main two to read at the moment would be the nitrogen cycle and fish in cycling. The articles will explain this in more details but what will potentially happen now you have the Platies in there is that as they start eating and *ahem* pooping, a chemical will be created called Ammonia, which is toxic to fish. In our tanks we rely on a colony of bacteria in our filters to process this and start the nitrogen cycle. In a mature tank the ammonia will be broken down quickly and converted into the less harmful, but still dangerous nitrite, which will in turn be broken down into the least harmful chemical nitrate. Nitrate is still important to keep as low as possible but low readings are manageable with water changes and if you have live plants this can keep on top of it as well.
So at present your platties will be be creating ammonia and you wont have the bacteria to make the water safe for them. This is unfortunately a very common situation new fish owners find them selves in, when I very first started I was in the same possition and it is managable but I would recommend reading the articles in the link to find out how.
Now down to your actual fish
What size tank do you have and do you know what your water is like? Is it classed as soft or hard, do you know what the ph is? If you dont have a test kit yet you can usually find this info on your water suppliers website. If you dont have a test kit yet I would recommend getting one of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000255NCI/?tag= on Amazon it is about half the price of my local shop so worth getting here.
I wouldnt add any more fish until your test kit from above is showing 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite. But, long term depending on tank size and what your tap water is like there will be other fish you can add with your platties (platties do best in harder water with a neutral or slightly above neutral ph and coolish temperatures) but I would not advise adding a Beta to a community tank. They can struggle swimming in larger tanks due to their elaborate fins and often do best in small tanks by them selves.
Hope that has helped
And please keep us up to date with how things are going. I am sure that if you do run into problems someone here will be able to help.Wills
Hi Wills. Thanks for advice. I do find the whole fish cycling thing quite confusing. Hoping these platties hang on in there as my 2 young daughters have bonded with them already lol. I’ve orderered the water test kit you mentioned. I was actually considering buying the exact one yesterday. So, if the ammonia level is too high tomorrow what should I do to rectify it and also will the plants I bought help with the cycling process ?
Ok so the good news is since its a small tank it should be easy to keep on top of. The bad news is that really you are looking at water changes, ideally every day. I use the 40 litre builders buckets for water changes, if you are in the UK you can get them from B&Q - they might do a 20 litre one as well actually which would be perfect for you. They are big but not too big to store and you can put all of your equipment in there between water changes.
The fish in cycling article is really good and it explains the risks with doing it, the benefit of doing it is that you get the fish in early, the negative is the extra work. But in the long run it will mean a healthy tank.
I've got mixed up with your fish, usually you come across Sunset Platies rather than Sunset Mollies - can you google both those names and compare the images and let me know which you have. Names like sunset are often made up by shops/breeders so it can change between shops, some places would just call them Orange Mollies or around halloween they become Halloween Mollies etc. I am hoping they are actually Platies as I think Mollies may outgrow this tank... Mollies could get to about 4 inches where as Platies are around 2.4 inches maybe 3.
Both of them are also not ideal tank mates for a Betta as they will stay in the top part of the tank, same as the Betta so he may nip at them to chase them away. Equally Mollies will possibly pester the Betta, Platties wouldnt so much though. I have a group of Mexican Mollies in my 6 foot tank with some Cichlids and my biggest male Molly is the most aggressive fish in there haha!
When keeping other fish with Bettas it is often good to look for fish that stay at the lower levels, Dwarf Corydora Catfish would be very good, keep these in a group and they will swim together really well and stay out of the Bettas way, some people have good success with Neon Tetras with them or any similar tetra like Platinum Tetras or Glowlight Tetras as they stay more in the middle.
But I know it is tough when kids are involved to explain all of this. Maybe lets confirm if you have Mollies or Platies before we make any more plans but it could be that we can find some other fish to go with them rather than a Betta?
Wills
The fish in cycling article is really good and it explains the risks with doing it, the benefit of doing it is that you get the fish in early, the negative is the extra work. But in the long run it will mean a healthy tank.
I've got mixed up with your fish, usually you come across Sunset Platies rather than Sunset Mollies - can you google both those names and compare the images and let me know which you have. Names like sunset are often made up by shops/breeders so it can change between shops, some places would just call them Orange Mollies or around halloween they become Halloween Mollies etc. I am hoping they are actually Platies as I think Mollies may outgrow this tank... Mollies could get to about 4 inches where as Platies are around 2.4 inches maybe 3.
Both of them are also not ideal tank mates for a Betta as they will stay in the top part of the tank, same as the Betta so he may nip at them to chase them away. Equally Mollies will possibly pester the Betta, Platties wouldnt so much though. I have a group of Mexican Mollies in my 6 foot tank with some Cichlids and my biggest male Molly is the most aggressive fish in there haha!
When keeping other fish with Bettas it is often good to look for fish that stay at the lower levels, Dwarf Corydora Catfish would be very good, keep these in a group and they will swim together really well and stay out of the Bettas way, some people have good success with Neon Tetras with them or any similar tetra like Platinum Tetras or Glowlight Tetras as they stay more in the middle.
But I know it is tough when kids are involved to explain all of this. Maybe lets confirm if you have Mollies or Platies before we make any more plans but it could be that we can find some other fish to go with them rather than a Betta?
Wills
Hi Wills sorry for late reply I can confirm they are orange platties I have in the tank. I had my tank water tested at an aquatics shop yesterday and the reads were
Ph 7, ammonia 3, nitrite 0
But the testing kit arrived yesterday afternoon and I did a test myself with below results, very similar
PH 7.4, ammonia 3.5, nitrite 0
I am hoping the several plants I bought may help keep the ammonia down ?
Also I think one of the platties is pregnant. I was considering buying a small plastic nursery tank to put her in when the babies are due to be born.
Ph 7, ammonia 3, nitrite 0
But the testing kit arrived yesterday afternoon and I did a test myself with below results, very similar
PH 7.4, ammonia 3.5, nitrite 0
I am hoping the several plants I bought may help keep the ammonia down ?
Also I think one of the platties is pregnant. I was considering buying a small plastic nursery tank to put her in when the babies are due to be born.
Which test kit are you using? Does it say which measurement scale it is using?
If you have ammonia and no nitrite or nitrate it means your tank is still in the early stages of the cycle. Its good to confirm they are Platties It is good as they will stay smaller but are still not totally ideal for the tank. The ph is good for them though - do you know if you have hard or soft water where you live? Do you have any problems with limescale for example?
As you have ammonia in your tank, this is very toxic to your fish so you need to be doing as many water changes as possible at the moment, ideally one a day and keep monitoring the levels so that you can see when you get nitrite readings, it should take a few weeks but hopefully it will mean you have many years of enjoyment from your tank.
Wills
If you have ammonia and no nitrite or nitrate it means your tank is still in the early stages of the cycle. Its good to confirm they are Platties
It is good as they will stay smaller but are still not totally ideal for the tank. The ph is good for them though - do you know if you have hard or soft water where you live? Do you have any problems with limescale for example? As you have ammonia in your tank, this is very toxic to your fish so you need to be doing as many water changes as possible at the moment, ideally one a day and keep monitoring the levels so that you can see when you get nitrite readings, it should take a few weeks but hopefully it will mean you have many years of enjoyment from your tank.
Wills
Hi Wills.
The water testing kit is the one you recommended from Amazon. I am very impressed with it. The cycle still hasn’t started. I think I’ll wait 3 or 4 days to check the levels again. I haven’t done a water change at this point. The ammonia was 0.25 on Monday. I am still a bit confused what kick starts the Nitrite. Does the ammonia level have to get up to say 3 or 4 before the Bacteria get cracking on it and then the nitrite starts to rise ?
I will upload a pic of the tank later Gruntle.
My other concern is the intake holes at the back of my tank (fluval flex 57) many people online have advised blocking with some kind of filter sponge. One of my platties seems to be pregnant and I don’t want to lose the fry through the holes
John
The water testing kit is the one you recommended from Amazon. I am very impressed with it. The cycle still hasn’t started. I think I’ll wait 3 or 4 days to check the levels again. I haven’t done a water change at this point. The ammonia was 0.25 on Monday. I am still a bit confused what kick starts the Nitrite. Does the ammonia level have to get up to say 3 or 4 before the Bacteria get cracking on it and then the nitrite starts to rise ?
I will upload a pic of the tank later Gruntle.
My other concern is the intake holes at the back of my tank (fluval flex 57) many people online have advised blocking with some kind of filter sponge. One of my platties seems to be pregnant and I don’t want to lose the fry through the holes
John
The tank looks really good
The ammonia level does not have to get high to start the cycle, if there is ammonia present the bacterial colony will develop over time to feed on it and produce nitrate. Even at low levels this process will happen it will take a few weeks but it will get there. In the meantime it is really important to keep up on the water changes as ammonia is so toxic to your fish it will be doing them serious harm and could kill them even at a low level like 0.25.
I'm not familiar with your model of filter, but I had a similar problem many years ago with an interpet filter and I used to try and fill the holes with floss like you said but you have to keep on top of it - in the end I ended up getting a different filter without these issues.
Wills
The ammonia level does not have to get high to start the cycle, if there is ammonia present the bacterial colony will develop over time to feed on it and produce nitrate. Even at low levels this process will happen it will take a few weeks but it will get there. In the meantime it is really important to keep up on the water changes as ammonia is so toxic to your fish it will be doing them serious harm and could kill them even at a low level like 0.25.
I'm not familiar with your model of filter, but I had a similar problem many years ago with an interpet filter and I used to try and fill the holes with floss like you said but you have to keep on top of it - in the end I ended up getting a different filter without these issues.
Wills
I'm no plant expert, but it seems to me like you have enough plants to take up the ammonia produced by 3 small fish. Like Wills said, if your ammonia rises above 0.25 you should be looking at water changes though.
Perhaps someone (like Byron) with more experience in planted tanks can offer some more assistance. Tank looks great though!
Perhaps someone (like Byron) with more experience in planted tanks can offer some more assistance. Tank looks great though!
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