Stupid Tank Cloneing Question.

[flumpit2]

hi all,my 11 year old son has become really interested in fish keeping & i have decided to let him have my old 54L long tank in his bedroom.hes decided to just have a group of white clouds & corys in there (unsure which corys yet but will be either pepper or bronze).

iv set up a spare filter running in my cycled mature tank thats twice the size needed for the tank size(tanks been running about 9 months,filters been in there nearly 3 weeks),plus i put some sand & gravel in a pair of tights in there the same time as i put the filter in (as he wants both) & he will also have some of the rocks,other decorations,plants & water out of my tank.

anyway,now to my question...after iv helped him set up his tank how soon can or should he add fish?does the tank still have to be cycled or will the bacteria in the filter,substrate etc be enough?

thanks in advance for any advice. shaz

 

[Opcn]

You need to provide amonium is some fasion, adding the white clouds and nothing more wouldn't be a bad idea, then adding the corys later.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I agree with OPCN- add the WCMs as soon as you have set it up, otherwise the bacteria in the filter will start dying away.

 

[flumpit2]

thanks for that Opcn,just wernt sure if the bacteria would be enough to skip cycling the tank.

a few years ago when i first started keeping fish i used fish to cycle my tank.on my bigger tank i done a fishless cycle but i have never tried cloneing a tank,so wernt sure what your suppose to do.

 

[samyboy]

WCMM in straight away good hardy fish just give them water changes every other day for the first few weeks

 

[flumpit2]

thanks dwarfgourami,were planning on setting the tank up saturday morning so will send my partner to the lfs to get the white clouds while were doing it.

one more quick question...since im cloneing the tank does this mean that it wont get the amonia,nitrate spikes etc?sorry if this sounds silly but as i put in my above post,iv never cloned a tank before.

 

[dthoffsett]

You shouldn't have any spikes as long as you don't overstock initially. I would keep a close eye on the water parameters. I usually test the water every day to every other day for the first week and do any water changes if any ammonia or nitrite is present. As long as your ammonia/nitrite levels stay zero for two weeks, I would add the corys. Good luck, and welcome to a new generation of mts sufferers.

 

[flumpit2]

thanks for the info dthoffsett,just wernt sure what to expect with the tank.

my lads been asking for a tank since i got my first one two years ago but have made him wait until i thought he was responsible enough for all the weekly water changes/substrate vacs etc.hes even saved up his pocket money & bought a master test kit which cost him around £20,bless him.iv told him that when its all set up & running then its all his responsibility but i know il be sneaking up there to test the water & check the fish when hes at school but he'l never know,lol!!!!

 

[SamUK]

unless i missed something you need to stock the tank straight away! fully!


if you hav had the filter running in another tank for nearly a month it will be matured so when you put it in your new tank it will cycle right away and you need to get fish in there ASAP so the good bacteria doesnt die of starvation in the new tank.