Stocking List

[JenJ]

You would add slowly if you were fish-in cycling, or adding to an established tank. But with fishless cycling, by dosing the ammonia to 4ppm you build enough bacteria over the duration of the cycle to be able to cope with a full load.

In fact, if you did a fishless cycle but then only added a few fish, you would lose a lot of the bacteria you'd been nurturing.

 

[greenmumma141]

I did not know that either, I would have advised to stock slowly as well. You learn something new every day! I would maybe advise against adding the tigers and loaches at the same time though.... tigers tend to get a little brassy when you let them loose hehe, and loaches take time to adjust being a shy species. Or just keep an eye on them, as Im sure you will anyway lol GL!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The reason for the fishless cycle of 4/5 ppm is to allow a full stocking at the first go round, as it is actually safer to load all at once for folks who don't have a quarantine tank for new arrivals. Better to wait a little longer for the cycle to finish properly, and load all at once, than to add them more slowly, have the bacteria die back (or go dormant, not sure which actually happens) and then add a bunch that introduces a disease later.


By introducing them all at once, you take a chance on a disease only once - most LFS run their entire stock on a single filter system, so the odds are that if a disease is in a single tank, its in all of them. Granted you still need to watch for ammonia spikes, as always when adding new fish. If a spike happens, then you complete a 50% (or whatever is necessary) water change to deal with the ammonia and keep a close watch on it.


Some will only do the fishless cycle with 2/3 ppm. In that case, you stock more slowly, but in these cases, its best to have a quarantine tank to put new fish in and monitor them for about 2 weeks watching for disease before putting them into the main tank.

 

[greenmumma141]

The reason for the fishless cycle of 4/5 ppm is to allow a full stocking at the first go round, as it is actually safer to load all at once for folks who don't have a quarantine tank for new arrivals. Better to wait a little longer for the cycle to finish properly, and load all at once, than to add them more slowly, have the bacteria die back (or go dormant, not sure which actually happens) and then add a bunch that introduces a disease later.


By introducing them all at once, you take a chance on a disease only once - most LFS run their entire stock on a single filter system, so the odds are that if a disease is in a single tank, its in all of them. Granted you still need to watch for ammonia spikes, as always when adding new fish. If a spike happens, then you complete a 50% (or whatever is necessary) water change to deal with the ammonia and keep a close watch on it.


Some will only do the fishless cycle with 2/3 ppm. In that case, you stock more slowly, but in these cases, its best to have a quarantine tank to put new fish in and monitor them for about 2 weeks watching for disease before putting them into the main tank.

If you're planning to do a fishless cycle with mature media (very well used filter sponge and ceramic rings) do you still need to add ammonia???

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Not necessarily. But, if you want to confirm that the filter media has settled into the new tank... yes. If there is going to be a significant delay between moving the media from an established tank to the new tank.... yes.

If you are moving the filter media and then putting fish into the tank a few hours (less than 12)... no.

I just moved some filter media into a 110 Gallon tank for some fish to arrive in an indeterminate period of time... I'm dosing ammonia until i know the fish are ready. Right now the tank is turning over about 1ppm every 24 hours. (I didn't take a ton of material from a smaller tank.) I'll dose it up to 5ppm tomorrow, to ensure that it has enough ammonia to keep chugging along over the weekend, and see where it is on Monday. Hopefully we'll be able to determine the timeline for the fish soon. Our fish wholesaler is vacationing internationally to snorkel! We have to wait for him to come back to order, then wait for them to arrive. The fish will be very healthy though, so its worth it.

 

[Besty42]

Wow this is interesting, I was always under the impression you should stock slowly! I prefer to stock slowly non of the less as it gives you a chance to change your mind, which I have done loads of, and now have a more beautiful stocked tank than I first imagined. I also go on what I see in the LFS (then research them and go back if I would like to get them). Enjoy the feeling of walking into the store and knowing your getting fish, I know I do!

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Thankyou

I'm going to start with 6 tiger barbs, 4 zebra loach, and 1 BN plec I think.

Still submerging this Darn wood. May end up cable tying it down with rocks I think!

Why do I always feel astonished when it seems to be down to me to point out stocking errors, after so many others have commented on such threads?

A typical 100l is too small for active Zebra Loaches that reach ~9cm SL as adults and deserve at least a 4-foot tank. Like many Botiine loaches they are very social, 4 is far from ideal and and would suggest 8 as a starting point in a suitably sized and stocked tank but even more is better (I intend to increase the group of my 7 Dwarf Chain Loaches in the near future to 10-12).

A BN Catfish in anything less than a 125l with excellent filtration is a relatively big risk, because if you are providing these fish with a suitable vegetarian diet, like most "veggie" animals they produce enormous quantities of poop! Those cute little ~4cm babies in the store become chunky adult fish in the 10-15cm SL ballapark depending upon the species, the size of my 5 Euchilichthys from the River Zaire in the "Democratic" Republic of Congo (Africa).

Tiger Barbs can work long term in a 100l, but a minimum group of 6 may need to be far nearer to 12 to keep the peace... And that stocks a 100l long term in itself.

 

[plectastic]

The tank will always be upgraded as I go and they grow. I don't believe my stocking list is a problem actually but thanks for the advice anyway.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

The tank will always be upgraded as I go and they grow. I don't believe my stocking list is a problem actually but thanks for the advice anyway.

Your stocking list is a problem and goes against information provided by reputable fish keeping sites like SeriouslyFish, Loachesonline and PlanetCatfish.

You have ~80cm of adult fish planned for a 100l, without giving a highly social and active species enough numbers (Zebra Loaches) or enough space, a poop machine and group of barbs that are infamious for nipping even in groups of 6-strong.

If this 100l is a grow on tank, why not state that in your original post? This is not the first time in this thread you have had further crutial info prised out of you since the original post.

At what point are you going to upgrade them to a bigger tank?

What size tank are they getting upgraded to long term and are there already fish in this tank they will be joining?

Hypothetical future upgrade tanks for fish already acquired is a dangerous game to play, things happen in life and the upgrades fail to happen and the fish suffer. Not everyone has the space for numerous tanks.

 

[greenmumma141]

We all know that some ppl just shouldn't have tanks, and some people shouldn't pretend that they will get bigger tanks bc we know they won't, BUT... I think there are a lot of ppl who are just starting out smaller and working their way up with their tanks, I did. Can't lose hope in people and just assume they're not going to do the right thing.

Cheers.

 

[the_lock_man]

Why do I always feel astonished when it seems to be down to me to point out stocking errors, after so many others have commented on such threads?

Cos we all know you love it so much.