Would this work?

[lovebuzz]

I really dont wanna go through all the cycling stuff

So Ive been having this empty 10 for a while and was thinking about a female betta tank. I would have a 10 gallon planted w/ rocks and some driftwood, gravel as substrate and 50 watts of lighting. I would have 4 or 5 bettas with 20-50 percent water changes every 3 days, running a decent sized sponge filter w/ 25 watt heater and some DIY co2 because I'm willing to try it

My main concern is, will the ammonia and nitrites get to the fish within 3 days before I change water? Or will they be fine?

 

[snotirl]

basically u should cycle the tank, i learned that the hard way fish will die and the tank will get messed up so u may as well just cycle it and save any other hassle

 

[maestro]

If you add loads of plants at the beggining andstart with 1 fish only and stock gradually over a few months i think it would work fine, id still keep up the water changes to be safe

 

[Sorrell]

It's not a good idea to stock gradually with a female betta tank, best to drop them all in there at once to control the aggression. Otherwise the newcomers won't last a day Cycle the tank

 

[maestro]

It's not a good idea to stock gradually with a female betta tank, best to drop them all in there at once to control the aggression. Otherwise the newcomers won't last a day Cycle the tank

nver kept bettas, didnt realise that, definately cycle then or chose other fish

 

[karrihug]

if you already have a tank up and running, cycling another one is no big deal. you can use gravel and filter media from the established tank or run the new filter on the old tank for a week or two and pretty much do an instant cycle. i used filter media from my 56 to cycle my 210 in less than a week.

 

[lovebuzz]

k, guess i have to do it the hard way