Quick cycle of 10 gal

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J CZA

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I have a 10 gal full with water, i have bacteria supplement the sad topfin stuff. Should i add it? How long do i wait and is the product reliable? The fish store will have my fish in stock next Thursday or Friday. Id like to have the tank established within this time. I have another tabk that i didnt cycle and there doing fine.
 
Filter Bacteria Supplements (bacteria in a bottle) are normally added to an aquarium each day for several weeks. They help to speed up the filtration cycle. The tank will not cycle without a food source tho. So you need to add ammonia or something else (fish or fish food) to provide food for the filter bacteria.

You can add some now but I would only add 1 dose and then wait till you get the fish. When you get the fish then add the bacterial supplements and the filters will start to cycle properly when the fish are in there. Just keep the feeding down to once every couple of days and monitor water quality. You will get some ammonia and the filter bacteria will feed off that and grow rapidly.

Bacteria supplements are usually fine as long as they are kept cool. If the bottle has been sitting on a window sill or on top of the aquarium, it might not be very good.
 
Filter Bacteria Supplements (bacteria in a bottle) are normally added to an aquarium each day for several weeks. They help to speed up the filtration cycle. The tank will not cycle without a food source tho. So you need to add ammonia or something else (fish or fish food) to provide food for the filter bacteria.

You can add some now but I would only add 1 dose and then wait till you get the fish. When you get the fish then add the bacterial supplements and the filters will start to cycle properly when the fish are in there. Just keep the feeding down to once every couple of days and monitor water quality. You will get some ammonia and the filter bacteria will feed off that and grow rapidly.

Bacteria supplements are usually fine as long as they are kept cool. If the bottle has been sitting on a window sill or on top of the aquarium, it might not be very good.
Should i use it, ir is it not worth it. I herd it makes bacteria blooms that can kill fish. If not doing the cycle is better and i still have my other tanks filted pads i could add.
 
I use Sera Nitrivec, which is another brand of the same stuff. They do help so if you want fish sooner, then use it.

They don't cause bacterial blooms. If a tank goes milky cloudy it is from rotting fish food causing a bacterial bloom. The filter bacteria helps prevent that from occurring.

If you have filter materials in an established filter, you can transfer half the material into the filter on the new tank the day before you get the fish. And this will give you an instant cycled filter.
 
I use Sera Nitrivec, which is another brand of the same stuff. They do help so if you want fish sooner, then use it.

They don't cause bacterial blooms. If a tank goes milky cloudy it is from rotting fish food causing a bacterial bloom. The filter bacteria helps prevent that from occurring.

If you have filter materials in an established filter, you can transfer half the material into the filter on the new tank the day before you get the fish. And this will give you an instant cycled filter.
Yea id rather use the other filter from my established tank insted of the supplement. I have a week until i get tge fish so should i switch the filter now? Also i put in a extra filter sponge in the filter a while ago so that tank should still have good bacteria. Thanks.
 
Don't put the established filter into the new tank until the day before you get the fish. If you put it in now the filter bacteria will go dormant during the next week while there are no fish in there.
 
Don't put the established filter into the new tank until the day before you get the fish. If you put it in now the filter bacteria will go dormant during the next week while there are no fish in there.
Good to know. Im getting a dwarf gourami on thursday (probably) and I think I'd be better if the tank had some good bacteria. Thanks. Also do you think I should get some tank mates for the gourami? They are fine with non terrestrial fish so platy or tetras? I don't need the tank mates now. Would the dwarf gourami do better with some?
 
In my opinion, dwarf gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) are nothing but trouble and the sooner the governments around the world ban them from coming into the country the better. They have been inbred for years and are so screwed up from diseases, they are just not worth keeping. If you want one or a pr then by all means get one, but keep them in their own tank so they don't bring any diseases into the main tank.

The males are colourful and the females are silver/ grey.

If you can find locally bred dwarf gouramis then they are a different kettle of fish and usually do very well. However, 99.9% of dwarf gouramis are bred in the same contaminated ponds in Asia and that is where they contract the diseases that kill them and most other fish.

When they are in their own tank, feed them and do water changes/ gravel cleans after you have fed & cleaned your other fish tanks. And use a separate gravel cleaner and bucket for the gourami tank. Basically treat them as diseased and leave them in a species only tank.
If you do get some and keep them in their own tank, after they die and before you add any new fish to that tank, you should disinfect everything with bleach or boiling water.

If they don't have Tuberculosis (TB) or the Iridovirus, or any other diseases, they make a colourful display and do well. But everyone I have seen over the last 30 years has bloated up and died well before its time. :(

There are a number of other small labyrinths (gouramis & Bettas) that do well. Sparkling gouramis, Honey dwarf gouramis, Betta imbellis or Betta pugnax do well in peaceful community tanks. However, B. pugnax grows to about 4 inches and will eat small fish like neon tetras, so they should be housed with peaceful fish that don't fit in their mouth.
 
In my opinion, dwarf gouramis (Trichogaster lalius) are nothing but trouble and the sooner the governments around the world ban them from coming into the country the better. They have been inbred for years and are so screwed up from diseases, they are just not worth keeping. If you want one or a pr then by all means get one, but keep them in their own tank so they don't bring any diseases into the main tank.

The males are colourful and the females are silver/ grey.

If you can find locally bred dwarf gouramis then they are a different kettle of fish and usually do very well. However, 99.9% of dwarf gouramis are bred in the same contaminated ponds in Asia and that is where they contract the diseases that kill them and most other fish.

When they are in their own tank, feed them and do water changes/ gravel cleans after you have fed & cleaned your other fish tanks. And use a separate gravel cleaner and bucket for the gourami tank. Basically treat them as diseased and leave them in a species only tank.
If you do get some and keep them in their own tank, after they die and before you add any new fish to that tank, you should disinfect everything with bleach or boiling water.

If they don't have Tuberculosis (TB) or the Iridovirus, or any other diseases, they make a colourful display and do well. But everyone I have seen over the last 30 years has bloated up and died well before its time. :(

There are a number of other small labyrinths (gouramis & Bettas) that do well. Sparkling gouramis, Honey dwarf gouramis, Betta imbellis or Betta pugnax do well in peaceful community tanks. However, B. pugnax grows to about 4 inches and will eat small fish like neon tetras, so they should be housed with peaceful fish that don't fit in their mouth.
Im getting the fish from a small local store and I don't know who breeds them. Its a shame that they are bred like that. I was thinking of later on upgrading the tank and getting a pleco w/ some platy durring the summer so the fish can grow up with haveing good tank room. With the problems they have do you think id live long? I can get a larger gravel cleaner and I need new buckets so that shouldent be a problem. My tanks are clean and maintained well since dirty tanks are gross.is there any good brand of food i should try to get? Or live plants? I would like the fish to be as healthy as they can be. So good brands with real meat and stuff insted of meal.
 
If you are buying fish from a shop they will be from Asia. If a fish is locally bred the shops normally (but not always) put "local bred" next to the fish's name. eg: Dwarf Gourami (local bred) $5.95.

About the only way you will find locally bred fish will be to go to an aquarium society and see if anyone is breeding them. You can also check websites like Ebay, Gumtree and Craig's List, and you might find some there but very few people breed them outside of Asia.

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Sometimes dwarf gouramis will live for 2yrs but most die within 6-12 months of getting them. If they don't have diseases they can live for 5 or 6 years.

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Having clean tanks that are well maintained is good but it won't help with dwarf gouramis. They are infected with TB and Iridovirus in Asia before they come to our country. The Iridovirus can lay dormant for months and then one day the fish gets run down and the virus kicks in and kills it and everything else in the tank. TB is a very slow growing bacterium that lives in fish for months or years slowly destroying internal organs and eventually killing the fish. Once these diseases are in your tanks, they are there forever or until you strip the tank down and disinfect everything.

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Get a basic tropical flake food, I use Wardleys, Hikari & Sera but any brand name fish flake will do. And get a couple of types of frozen food like Bloodworms and Brineshrimp. Feed the flake in the morning and frozen or live food in the evening. You can also feed raw or cooked prawn, fish, squid and other marine organisms to your fish. Buy a packet of prawn/ shrimp from a bait shop and keep it in the freezer. Take one out and defrost it and remove the head and shell. Pull the gut out (long black tube in the body) and throw the head, shell and gut away. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the prawn into small bits and offer a few bits at a time. Feed until the fish are no longer interested in the food.
*NB* Don't use frozen food unless you have an established filter because they create huge amounts of ammonia that can kill the fish.

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If you have a light on the aquarium some good plants to try include: Ambulia, Hygrophilla species (H. polysperma & H. ruba are 2 good ones), Ludwigia natans, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Swordplant, and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides).
Water Sprite is a floating plant but also grows well when planted in the gravel. All the others should be planted in the gravel.
 
If you are buying fish from a shop they will be from Asia. If a fish is locally bred the shops normally (but not always) put "local bred" next to the fish's name. eg: Dwarf Gourami (local bred) $5.95.

About the only way you will find locally bred fish will be to go to an aquarium society and see if anyone is breeding them. You can also check websites like Ebay, Gumtree and Craig's List, and you might find some there but very few people breed them outside of Asia.

--------------------
Sometimes dwarf gouramis will live for 2yrs but most die within 6-12 months of getting them. If they don't have diseases they can live for 5 or 6 years.

--------------------
Having clean tanks that are well maintained is good but it won't help with dwarf gouramis. They are infected with TB and Iridovirus in Asia before they come to our country. The Iridovirus can lay dormant for months and then one day the fish gets run down and the virus kicks in and kills it and everything else in the tank. TB is a very slow growing bacterium that lives in fish for months or years slowly destroying internal organs and eventually killing the fish. Once these diseases are in your tanks, they are there forever or until you strip the tank down and disinfect everything.

--------------------
Get a basic tropical flake food, I use Wardleys, Hikari & Sera but any brand name fish flake will do. And get a couple of types of frozen food like Bloodworms and Brineshrimp. Feed the flake in the morning and frozen or live food in the evening. You can also feed raw or cooked prawn, fish, squid and other marine organisms to your fish. Buy a packet of prawn/ shrimp from a bait shop and keep it in the freezer. Take one out and defrost it and remove the head and shell. Pull the gut out (long black tube in the body) and throw the head, shell and gut away. Then use a pr of scissors to cut the prawn into small bits and offer a few bits at a time. Feed until the fish are no longer interested in the food.
*NB* Don't use frozen food unless you have an established filter because they create huge amounts of ammonia that can kill the fish.

--------------------
If you have a light on the aquarium some good plants to try include: Ambulia, Hygrophilla species (H. polysperma & H. ruba are 2 good ones), Ludwigia natans, narrow Vallis, common Amazon Swordplant, and Water Sprite (Ceratopteris thalictroides).
Water Sprite is a floating plant but also grows well when planted in the gravel. All the others should be planted in the gravel.
That really sucks, i had a fish for 4 months and its passing was really sad. I wanted a fish that would live rather long so it could be the center piece of the tank in the living room and have alot of color.
 
If you want a small blue fish that lives in a school you could look at Melanotaenia praecox. It is a rainbowfish from New Guinea and grows to about 2 inches long and is blue all over. The males have red fins and the females have orange to yellow fins. They are a schooling fish and do best in groups of 6 or more. Under good conditions they can live for 6-8 years and become quite deep in the body, almost like a coin in shape.

Another small rainbowfish that looks really cool when mature is Iriatherina werneri. They are a small fish growing to about 1 inch long and don't have a lot of colour. But the males get big fins and when they show off they look great. Google them or check youtube for Iriatherina werneri breeding.

And another nice small rainbowfish is Pseudomugil signifier, P. connieae, P. furcatus, P. gertrudae & P. cyanodorsalis. However, P. cyanodorsalis is hard to get in the US or UK, but you can get them.

You could keep a group of neon tetras. Have a black backing on the tank and dark gravel and a few plants and the neons will show up really nicely.

Sparkling gouramis are quite nice and have cool colour when mature. There are also a number of killifish in the Epiplaty and Aphyosemion genus that are small and colourful. Epiplaty dageti are one of my favorites but not that colourful and Aphyosemion gardneri are nice too.

---------------------
Perhaps visit a few petshops and write down some of the fish you like and then post a list on here and we can go through them and suggest which ones will go with each other. But don't buy anything until you have posted a list of what you like and got some responses on those fish. :)
 
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If you want a small blue fish that lives in a school you could look at Melanotaenia praecox. It is a rainbowfish from New Guinea and grows to about 2 inches long and is blue all over. The males have red fins and the females have orange to yellow fins. They are a schooling fish and do best in groups of 6 or more. Under good conditions they can live for 6-8 years and become quite deep in the body, almost like a coin in shape.

Another small rainbowfish that looks really cool when mature is Iriatherina werneri. They are a small fish growing to about 1 inch long and don't have a lot of colour. But the males get big fins and when they show off they look great. Google them or check youtube for Iriatherina werneri breeding.

And another nice small rainbowfish is Pseudomugil signifier, P. connieae, P. furcatus, P. gertrudae & P. cyanodorsalis. However, P. cyanodorsalis is hard to get in the US or UK, but you can get them.

You could keep a group of neon tetras. Have a black backing on the tank and dark gravel and a few plants and the neons will show up really nicely.

Sparkling gouramis are quite nice and have cool colour when mature. There are also a number of killifish in the Epiplaty and Aphyosemion genus that are small and colourful. Epiplaty dageti are one of my favorites but not that colourful and Aphyosemion gardneri are nice too.

---------------------
Perhaps visit a few petshops and write down some of the fish you like and then post a list on here and we can go through them and suggest which ones will go with each other. But don't buy anything until you have posted a list of what you like and got some responses on those fish. :)
Ok i will, thanks.
 
Bear in mind that 10 gallons is a small tank so the fish you choose need to be suitable for the tank. Before buying any fish, check their requirements (tank size, water parameters etc) on http://www.seriouslyfish.com/knowledge-base/
If you want a small blue fish that lives in a school you could look at Melanotaenia praecox. It is a rainbowfish from New Guinea and grows to about 2 inches long and is blue all over. The males have red fins and the females have orange to yellow fins. They are a schooling fish and do best in groups of 6 or more. Under good conditions they can live for 6-8 years and become quite deep in the body, almost like a coin in shape.

Another small rainbowfish that looks really cool when mature is Iriatherina werneri. They are a small fish growing to about 1 inch long and don't have a lot of colour. But the males get big fins and when they show off they look great. Google them or check youtube for Iriatherina werneri breeding.

And another nice small rainbowfish is Pseudomugil signifier, P. connieae, P. furcatus, P. gertrudae & P. cyanodorsalis. However, P. cyanodorsalis is hard to get in the US or UK, but you can get them.

You could keep a group of neon tetras. Have a black backing on the tank and dark gravel and a few plants and the neons will show up really nicely.

Sparkling gouramis are quite nice and have cool colour when mature. There are also a number of killifish in the Epiplaty and Aphyosemion genus that are small and colourful. Epiplaty dageti are one of my favorites but not that colourful and Aphyosemion gardneri are nice too.

---------------------
Perhaps visit a few petshops and write down some of the fish you like and then post a list on here and we can go through them and suggest which ones will go with each other. But don't buy anything until you have posted a list of what you like and got some responses on those fish. :)
I plan on upgrading the tank to a 20 gallon over the summer. I was thinking of adding tank mates to the tank once I got the 20 gallon so to not cram them in a 10 gallon until then. The local pet store said that their dwarf gourami mostly do good. And im picking up a red flame tomorrow. I dont know if this breed would do good with other dwarf gouramis and i dont plan on having two. Would killifish be a suitable tank mate? I haven't fully looked into it yet. And i dont know about ram ciclids if there good or need a bigger tank or anything. I'm looking at getting colorful vibrant fish. An maby a lil pleco (i love them). I dont know what I'll do with the 10 gallon after tho. Maby a group of tetras or guppies.


Also my teacher has a 10 gal with a 9 or 10 inch placosomis that can almost reach the tip of the tank laying up on the wall and maby 12 platy. There still alive somehow. It's kinda sad seeing them like that. So im sure I couldent be worse than that in the fishkeeping hobby.


I just added the used filter from my other tank and all is going good.
 
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