Fish in cycle :(

[Tooombsy]

Hi guys

Bit of a problem, I am only 3 days into cycling my 190 litre tank, and my girlfriend has put 6 Serpae Tetra in it.

The 60 litre that is going in our room was meant to be there home but that isn’t even set up yet, let alone being anywhere near ready for them.

I know Fish in cycles are frowned up on, and I hate them myself, but as the shop she got them from won’t accept returns on Fish and I don’t know anyone local to house them for me, would these guys survive the cycle process with regular water changes?

If not, is there anybody here in the Worcestershire area that would like to take them off my hands?

 

[Byron]

The size of the tank (190 liters, or 50 gallons) with only six tetras will be in your favour. If you have a test for ammonia and nitrite, use it daily (in morning if possible) to monitor both. You may be lucky but if you do see either, do a partial water change. A conditioner that deals with ammonia and nitrite (there are two I know of, Prime and Ultimate) will help during this period. Also a bacterial supplement; Tetra's SafeStart is good, I have used Seachem's Stability with success in an emergency.

If you have any live plants, you probably will not have any issues as they take up ammonia as their preferred source of nitrogen.

Obviously do not add any "ammonia" for cycling with fish present. As I said above, if you only have the ammonia from these six fish, you should get through this with no issues in a 190 liter tank.

For the future, though, the 60 liter (15 gallon) is not really sufficient space for this species. Serpae Tetra are more aggressive than many tetras, and should be in a group of at least 8-10, but in a larger tank. Just so you know. Leaving the Serpae in the present larger tank is an option, adding another 5-6 of course; but this species being a fin nipper will limit other tankmate options. Giving them away may be your best plan.

Lesson learned, never buy any fish without fully researching; we've all gone down this road I'm sure.

 

[Tooombsy]

Thanks for the reply. I have been using prime as my water conditioner so hopefully it helps.

As for the tetra, my girlfriend brought them without asking. The 190 litre tank has no live plants, just sand and rock as I was setting it up for Malawi cichlids. The smaller tank was going to be for cherry shrimp.

I will leave them where they are for now, and try to convince the mrs we need another tank if she wants to keep the tetras. I can get my hands on a 120litre tank. Will that be ok for a group of 12?

 

[Colin_T]

A 120 litre tank will be ample for 12 serape tetras.

Your fish will be fine in the 190 litre while it cycles. Only feed once every second day and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate if you get an ammonia or nitrite reading over 0.25ppm.

Perhaps look for another petshop. Any petshop that refuses to take fish back that they sold to a customer, is a bad shop. Also the shop should have asked if the tank was established or new and a few other questions, and then they shouldn't have sold you fish for a new tank.

Ignore me, I just don't like bad shops.

 

[Tooombsy]

Thanks. I never use the shop, it’s a big chain one.

I usually go to a couple of small family run shops, they are more knowledgable and can get in whatever I want

 

[seangee]

Be aware that serpaes can be little terrorists (albeit pretty little terrorists). I tried 12 in a similar sized community tank with other tetra and corys. Ended up taking them all back because they were just too aggressive.

 

[Byron]

Thanks for the reply. I have been using prime as my water conditioner so hopefully it helps.

As for the tetra, my girlfriend brought them without asking. The 190 litre tank has no live plants, just sand and rock as I was setting it up for Malawi cichlids. The smaller tank was going to be for cherry shrimp.

I will leave them where they are for now, and try to convince the mrs we need another tank if she wants to keep the tetras. I can get my hands on a 120litre tank. Will that be ok for a group of 12?

Yes, as others have noted. More info on this species here:
http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/hyphessobrycon-eques/

A group of 12 in a 120 liter could be a lovely display. If you have sand as a substrate (play sand is ideal) a group of cories would work. The Serpae tend to limit their nipping to themselves (the larger the group the less this can be) and upper level fish so avoid any species but the Serpae. Cories are fine as I said.

 

[Tooombsy]

Hi guys

Quick update. The tetras are doing well and the cycle is moving along nicely.

I had been doing water changes every couple of days to keep the ammonia down for them, and nitrites started showing a few days ago too.

One problem I have is my nitrates. I hadn’t tested for them until this evening as I wasn’t expecting to have any so soon. It was at 40ppm, so I tested my tap water and that is almost 40ppm too.

Is there anything I can use to help lower this? Or should I get some plants in there?

I wasn’t planning on plants, just sand and rock as it will be for cichlids.

Thanks for any replies

 

[Tooombsy]

 

[Colin_T]

You could add Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides). It is a floating plants and will help remove the nitrates. However, it will also take up ammonia and that could stop the filters getting the ammonia and developing properly.

If you have a spare place to keep a 100litre plastic storage container you can fill that with tapwater and grow plants in it. The plants will remove the nitrates and then you can use that water for water changes.

There is another thread around here somewhere about removing nitrates from tapwater with a pozzani filter. See following link.
http://www.fishforums.net/threads/t...s-using-a-pozzani-filter.448001/#post-3787331

You can also get de-nitrating filters that convert nitrates into nitrogen gas but these take a while to get working properly.

The simplest way is floating plants in a water holding container, adding floating plants to the tank but wait until the filters have established before doing that.

 

[NickAu]

Please Note

Prime will bind ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate for 24-48 hours. At which point, if they are still present, will be released.

https://www.seachem.com/support/forums/forum/general-discussion/1803-prime-questions

Prime is only good as a temporary fix at best.

Eg,
You notice something wrong with your fish at 7pm on a Saturday night, you test the water and find ammonia you then use Prime to bind the Ammonia till you can do a water change in the morning.

Prime is highly over rated.