6 Zebra Danios And 6 Tiger Barbs Enough To Cycle A 110 Gallon Tank?

[Mako Man111]

For time reasons I will not be able to do the fishless cycle if I get a 110 gallon tank, but will 6 tiger barbs and 6 zebra danios do the job?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

For time reasons I will not be able to do the fishless cycle if I get a 110 gallon tank, but will 6 tiger barbs and 6 zebra danios do the job?

Yes they will do the job, but you will have to stock slowly either way. When you do a fishless cycle, you stock the tank the day the cycle finishes- when you cycle with fish, you have to stock the tank gradually over a long period of time for the benneficial bacteria to adjust as you cannot allow ammonia/nitrites to build up really at all due to the fish.
Are you planning on keeping these fish once the cycle is finished or going for some different types of fish?

 

[Mako Man111]

For time reasons I will not be able to do the fishless cycle if I get a 110 gallon tank, but will 6 tiger barbs and 6 zebra danios do the job?

Yes they will do the job, but you will have to stock slowly either way. When you do a fishless cycle, you stock the tank the day the cycle finishes- when you cycle with fish, you have to stock the tank gradually over a long period of time for the benneficial bacteria to adjust as you cannot allow ammonia/nitrites to build up really at all due to the fish.
Are you planning on keeping these fish once the cycle is finished or going for some different types of fish?

When the cycle completes I will be returning them to my 20 gallon, and then I was planning to stock an oscar, convict, Jack dempsey, and medium sized pleco. I will add them in intervals of a few weeks.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

If you add them back all at once though to your 20gal the tank will go through a mini cycle itself after having only one fish to keep it going in the mean time. On the other hand you obviously cannot keep them in 110gal due to the likes of convicts and oscars and so forth.

Personally what i would do is add all of the fish in your 20gal to the 110gal including the filter from the 20gal (having it run alongside the 110gals filter). Squeezing some of the muck saved up in your 20gals filter sponges into the new 110gals filter will help it cycle it faster while you have the fish in the tank and both of the filters running in it.
When the tank has completed the cycle with the 20gals fish, set the 20gal back up and running and put them back- you should stock the 110gal with a couple of new fish (the number you add should be based on their size and bioload) the same day you move the 20gals fish back into their tank, as filter bacteria can start to die off completely with in just hours of having no ammonia source to fuel it.

I think this method should cycle the tank faster overal and be safer for the fish involved, what with the 20gal filter running in it and its nutrient-rich waste in the new 110gals filter to help get it started .

 

[Mako Man111]

If you add them back all at once though to your 20gal the tank will go through a mini cycle itself after having only one fish to keep it going in the mean time. On the other hand you obviously cannot keep them in 110gal due to the likes of convicts and oscars and so forth.

Personally what i would do is add all of the fish in your 20gal to the 110gal including the filter from the 20gal (having it run alongside the 110gals filter). Squeezing some of the muck saved up in your 20gals filter sponges into the new 110gals filter will help it cycle it faster while you have the fish in the tank and both of the filters running in it.
When the tank has completed the cycle with the 20gals fish, set the 20gal back up and running and put them back- you should stock the 110gal with a couple of new fish (the number you add should be based on their size and bioload) the same day you move the 20gals fish back into their tank, as filter bacteria can start to die off completely with in just hours of having no ammonia source to fuel it.

I think this method should cycle the tank faster overal and be safer for the fish involved, what with the 20gal filter running in it and its nutrient-rich waste in the new 110gals filter to help get it started .

Cool thanks So you want me to use all my fish from the 20 gallon (6 tiger barbs, 6 zebra danios, and 1 dwarf gourami) to cycle the 110 gallon tank, then after its completed move all those fish back into my 20 and just let the cycle run its course again in there? Also, will these fish be enough to cycle a tank as large as 110 US gallons?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The fish will be enough to cycle the 110gal, just make sure you keep the 20gals filter going in the 110gal alongside its filter while they are in there. Move the 20gals filter back in the 20gal once you have finished cycling the 110gal .

 

[demonmagus]

The fish will be enough to cycle the 110gal, just make sure you keep the 20gals filter going in the 110gal alongside its filter while they are in there. Move the 20gals filter back in the 20gal once you have finished cycling the 110gal .

and the fish

 

[Opcn]

I would just start the tank with the convict, one convict could make it in that size tank uncycled so long as you weren't overfeeding and were doing appropriate wcs, thatway you don't even have top muck with the other fish in the 110.

 

[Mako Man111]

I would just start the tank with the convict, one convict could make it in that size tank uncycled so long as you weren't overfeeding and were doing appropriate wcs, thatway you don't even have top muck with the other fish in the 110.

So your saying that the convict is tough enough to get the 110 cycled? So I should set up the tank let it run for a few days, then plop the convict in there and let it cycle then add the other fish? How often shoud I be doing water changes during the cycle with the convict?

 

[Opcn]

In freshwater I recomend 20% a week these days. So long as its not an overly large convict its biomass should be low enought that it won't raise NH4+ levels too high. Also, be concervative about hwo much you feed it, and try and go for freshwater live foods like daphnia and tubiflex worms if ytou have em, they don't rot like dead foods do.