Si's Fishless Cycle

[JoshuaA]

I'm still cycling at the moment, but when I do get them it'll be from the green machine, which is just outside of wrexham. They're not uncommon fish though because they're hardy for cichlids so you'll find them in a lot of fish stores

I've unfortunately never seen them where I live, on the Wirral. Wrexham is about a 50/60 minute drive. I know a lot of people would say that's fine how ever I think its a little too far in my mind. Of course I have a AC adapter in my car so I could run a fish tank in the boot if I really needed to

 

[PDSimon]

It's not toooo bad but yeah i'm not sure on how long you can keep fish in a bag for! Any good stores in the wirral? I live just outside of chester. I've been to waterworlds(sp?) before, which is ok

 

[kaivalagi]

I get fish from an LFS about 45mins to 1 hour drive away, as long as you ask for a big bag with quite a bit of water (holds temp better) and you take the proper steps when you get them home (bag in tank for a while with lights out, then mix water into the bag bit by bit) you should be fine...

 

[JoshuaA]

It's not toooo bad but yeah i'm not sure on how long you can keep fish in a bag for! Any good stores in the wirral? I live just outside of chester. I've been to waterworlds(sp?) before, which is ok

Haha that store is out of the question for me... I err don't get on with the owner there. I use to work there but walked out within 3 months after multiple confrontations with him. I got blamed for stuff that was there before I even worked there, I was expected to know where everything was when I'd never been shown etc. The guys who worked there were fantastic, really gutted I never kept talking to them, had a right laugh with them. Though the owner was a douche to me. Though I don't know what his opinion of me is if I walked in. I don't ever remember seeing Bolivian Rams there anyway.

I get fish from an LFS about 45mins to 1 hour drive away, as long as you ask for a big bag with quite a bit of water (holds temp better) and you take the proper steps when you get them home (bag in tank for a while with lights out, then mix water into the bag bit by bit) you should be fine...

How good are fish boxes? In the store I worked in "above^" they did sell them with some fish if the person requested. They're the dense polystyrene boxes so I imagine fantastic at insulation but the bag will no doubt roll around the place haha. Then again if they don't even have them! Ahh! If only fish tanks were more robust I would run the heater/filter off my car battery on the way there haha. So 45/60 minutes is alright do you think? If the temperature drops too much in the time it takes would it be problematic for the fish in the long run or can they withstand cold temperatures for some time? I would be motorway there and back so could be pretty fast.

Apart from that I only know of 3 other places other than p@h and one of them only sells goldfish and the rest is marine. The other two sells a few fish mostly tetra varieties.

 

[PDSimon]

Well I recommend the green machine from what I have seen... the fish seem to be in excellent condition... They are aquascapers at heart. I'd make the trip if you're not to far from there at some point.

They havn't got loads and loads of fish but the ones they have are good specimens, bolvian rams, electric blue rams, various tetra, discus, angels, some interesting little fish there. they've got amano, crystal, orange, red, blue and black and white shrimp too

 

[kaivalagi]

How good are fish boxes? In the store I worked in "above^" they did sell them with some fish if the person requested. They're the dense polystyrene boxes so I imagine fantastic at insulation but the bag will no doubt roll around the place haha. Then again if they don't even have them! Ahh! If only fish tanks were more robust I would run the heater/filter off my car battery on the way there haha. So 45/60 minutes is alright do you think? If the temperature drops too much in the time it takes would it be problematic for the fish in the long run or can they withstand cold temperatures for some time? I would be motorway there and back so could be pretty fast.

Apart from that I only know of 3 other places other than p@h and one of them only sells goldfish and the rest is marine. The other two sells a few fish mostly tetra varieties.

It all depends on the ambient temperature around the fish when in transport

Fish boxes will work for a few hours, much more with heat packs included, polystyrene is a great insulator. To stop any wobble, pack the bag in the box with whatever you can find, more bags filled with air if you have to...
A double/triple lined big bag 1/3 filled with water will be okay for an hour...especially if in the car or in the nice weather that's coming...if it's 27C outside and 27C in the bag it will stay 27C in the bag

I've had a heater off over night by mistake for fish that are used to 27C, in the morning (in winter time) the temp had dropped to 18C, nothing died and I just slowly upped the temp again...all the fish were eating that same day...think about it, it can happen in the wild, heavy rains bringing cold water can drop the temp of a river quite quickly for a while.

For an hour this time of year I guess the temp would drop a few degrees, nothing to worry about whatsoever. If you are worried then just put the heater on in the car on the way home and boil

 

[PDSimon]

ok

my LFS now has a load of kuhli loaches in so I can stock my tank properly

At the moment my tank isn't cycling 5ppm of nitrites within 12 hours but its progressing.

When thats over and I've done my stabilisation week my first stock will be:

2 Bolivian rams
8 kuhli loach

Then I will let my tank mature for a while and add:
- amano shrimp and blue pearl shrimp (couple of weeks - maybe not with the amanos because they do feed on sinking pellets, fish food etc)
- 8 rummy nose tetra(2-6 months)
- possibly an african filter shrimp (after 6 months) but I may see something else by then.

 

[waterdrop]

So is it regularly getting the nitrites down to zero in between 12 and 24 hours now? That's the stage I'm picturing you being at... WD

 

[PDSimon]

So is it regularly getting the nitrites down to zero in between 12 and 24 hours now? That's the stage I'm picturing you being at... WD

Yep, should be down to 0 within 12 hours in a few days, if progression continues ammonia processing was very quick when I upped the dosing so its managing 5ppm fine. I guess theres the part where ammonia needs to process it even quicker so that the there are actually nitrites for the bacteria to process.

Cheers for checking up on my log/blog

I was wondering WD, what fish do you keep? I always see you posting about cycling but never about fish! Unless you hide away in the killifish forum or something

 

[kaivalagi]

When thats over and I've done my stabilisation week my first stock will be:

2 Bolivian rams
8 kuhli loach

Then I will let my tank mature for a while and add:
- amano shrimp and blue pearl shrimp (couple of weeks - maybe not with the amanos because they do feed on sinking pellets, fish food etc)
- 8 rummy nose tetra(2-6 months)
- possibly an african filter shrimp (after 6 months) but I may see something else by then.

Good call on the fish stocking and the way you'll do it, you decided to stick with just one tetra species in the end then? I think you could add some more rummies you know, 6-8 and then another 6-8 a week or so later...that's if it doesn't completely blow the capacity estimates out...but from a fish schooling perspective 12-16 rummies would be absolutely fantastic

 

[PDSimon]

I'm unsure... Phantom blacks are nice but I don't feel like I definately want some...

It'll either be

~16 rummy noses
~8-10 rummy noses and 6 black phantom tetras
~8 rummy noses and 8 cardinal tetra (don't say anything kaivalgi )

I could add phantom blacks straight away and they have them at the LFS already waiting... wonder if the phantom behaviour might startle the rams and whether I even want them as well. It'd be better stocking wise to add the phantoms right at the start but i'm unsure!

Then there would be a bit of space left for any filter shrimp

 

[kaivalagi]

Then there would be a bit of space left for any filter shrimp

Can you get hold of one of the big ones that you posted pics of?

 

[PDSimon]

Then there would be a bit of space left for any filter shrimp

Can you get hold of one of the big ones that you posted pics of?

if my LFS can't get them, you can order them online

what do you think of penguin fish? the ones that swim with there heads up

 

[kaivalagi]

what do you think of penguin fish? the ones that swim with there heads up

Nice schooling fish but not enough of a contrast to rummies if you have them too...just my opinion

Can you get any barbs? Some Pentazona Barbs would be nice along side rummies

 

[PDSimon]

what do you think of penguin fish? the ones that swim with there heads up

Nice schooling fish but not enough of a contrast to rummies if you have them too...just my opinion

Can you get any barbs? Some Pentazona Barbs would be nice along side rummies

kay

Why'd you ask about the filter shrimp btw?