So what happens after my cycle is complete?

[MikeMTL]

I've had to do a fish in cycle (please don't kill me - I'm doing it as responsibly as possible). I have 1 platy in there right now and it seems to be working well. Now my question is, what happens when I want to stock more than 1 fish? Right now my bacterial colony is growing to handle the waste from 1 fish. What happens when I add a school of 6 tetras? I don't want an ammonia spike...

 

[Crispii]

Slowly add fish in (in terms of numbers), depending on the size of your aquarium.

 

[utahfish]

I've had to do a fish in cycle (please don't kill me - I'm doing it as responsibly as possible). I have 1 platy in there right now and it seems to be working well. Now my question is, what happens when I want to stock more than 1 fish? Right now my bacterial colony is growing to handle the waste from 1 fish. What happens when I add a school of 6 tetras? I don't want an ammonia spike...

hopefully the only tetra you add with a platy is silver tip tetras as all other tetras are soft water fish and platy are hard water fish.
Having said that when you do add more fish do so a few at a time so as to give your Beneficial Bacteria time to catch up. Generally smaller schooling fish like tetras wont stress your bio load too much as they dont put out a ton of waste or take in a ton of oxygen. Good luck!

 

[MikeMTL]

Slowly add fish in (in terms of numbers), depending on the size of your aquarium.

I'm scared to add in just 2-3 neon tetras as I heard they can get pretty stressed in groups of less than 6. Would it be a problem if I add 3 one week and another 3 maybe a week or 2 later?

 

[Crispii]

Depends on the size of your aquarium.

 

[utahfish]

I'm scared to add in just 2-3 neon tetras as I heard they can get pretty stressed in groups of less than 6. Would it be a problem if I add 3 one week and another 3 maybe a week or 2 later?

Also again one doesnt want to add neons with a platy as platy are hard water fish and neons are soft water.
If one is so worried about a newly cycle tank then one should be equally worried about putting fish in water that is suitable for them.
Whether your water is hard or soft it will be ill suited for one or the other.
Find out what your water hardness is then add fish that are compatible with that water.
This is just as important if not more than whether or not the tank is cycled.

 

[MikeMTL]

Depends on the size of your aquarium.

25 gallon tank

 

[Crispii]

Six neon tetras probably won't cause an ammonia spike, however, you have a problem with keeping two species of fish from different water hardness in the same aquarium. Like what @utahfish have stated, neon tetras are a soft water fish while platies are a hard water fish.

 

[MikeMTL]

Six neon tetras probably won't cause an ammonia spike, however, you have a problem with keeping two species of fish from different water hardness in the same aquarium. Like what @utahfish have stated, neon tetras are a soft water fish while platies are a hard water fish.

The platy is in there temporarily. No worries.

 

[Fishmanic]

Before you choose a fish species, you need to know your water hardness level. You can get it from your water provider in your area...sometimes you can access it online, otherwise call them. Or you could buy a GH test kit to find out the hardness.