Adding First Fish!

[SensesFail]

Well my LFS had a list to order and they are only getting one type of fish on the list this week. The rest could be ordered next week to come in 8-10 days later. The question is am I better off just getting some of the fish tomorrow and some when the next batch comes in or just wait for them all together? I was looking toward having sound 10 of the small Malawi cichlids in my 190 litre tank with maybe 4-5 catfish.

They are getting the yellow labs in tomorrow so I was thinking of around 3-4 of those and they wait for the others may even be 3. If I add say 3 the filter will start and cater for those 3 so in 8-10 days time how many will I be able to add? Any ideas or suggestions will be great! I will have to drain the tank down and sort it in the morning in case it's a go go!

On the same hand i am changing over from fish less to fin in in a way. The ammonia is being processed within 12 hrs but the nitrite isn't. It's being processed within 24 but not 12 so that may have some baring in your answers for quantities.

Many thanks!

 

[Skins]

Well my LFS had a list to order and they are only getting one type of fish on the list this week. The rest could be ordered next week to come in 8-10 days later. The question is am I better off just getting some of the fish tomorrow and some when the next batch comes in or just wait for them all together? I was looking toward having sound 10 of the small Malawi cichlids in my 190 litre tank with maybe 4-5 catfish.

They are getting the yellow labs in tomorrow so I was thinking of around 3-4 of those and they wait for the others may even be 3. If I add say 3 the filter will start and cater for those 3 so in 8-10 days time how many will I be able to add? Any ideas or suggestions will be great! I will have to drain the tank down and sort it in the morning in case it's a go go!

On the same hand i am changing over from fish less to fin in in a way. The ammonia is being processed within 12 hrs but the nitrite isn't. It's being processed within 24 but not 12 so that may have some baring in your answers for quantities.

Many thanks!

Whats your Nitrite levels when you test on the 12hr mark?

 

[SensesFail]

Well my LFS had a list to order and they are only getting one type of fish on the list this week. The rest could be ordered next week to come in 8-10 days later. The question is am I better off just getting some of the fish tomorrow and some when the next batch comes in or just wait for them all together? I was looking toward having sound 10 of the small Malawi cichlids in my 190 litre tank with maybe 4-5 catfish.

They are getting the yellow labs in tomorrow so I was thinking of around 3-4 of those and they wait for the others may even be 3. If I add say 3 the filter will start and cater for those 3 so in 8-10 days time how many will I be able to add? Any ideas or suggestions will be great! I will have to drain the tank down and sort it in the morning in case it's a go go!

On the same hand i am changing over from fish less to fin in in a way. The ammonia is being processed within 12 hrs but the nitrite isn't. It's being processed within 24 but not 12 so that may have some baring in your answers for quantities.

Many thanks!

Whats your Nitrite levels when you test on the 12hr mark?

I had to change the dosing so only have been testing at 24 hr interval otherwise I'd have to get up at 5am. I changed all the decor and substrate which changed everything and set readings out. At where I am before I changed everything ipnitrite was 2ppm every 12 hrs. That was dosing the tank with 5ppm 12 hrs earlier.

I understand I may have to have a bucket at hand to do water changes if the fish added affect this.

 

[Uriel]

If you going to fish in cycle you want to add them slowly and not more than double your stock in 1 go. So adding 3 now and 7-8 in just over a weeks time is going to be bad news. I would either add 3 now, test water daily and do changes as neccesary for fish in cycle. Then once the tank is able to handle that bioload you can add upto 3 more fish and then let that stabilize and add the last 4.
If the nitrites are very close to 0 at the 12 hour mark i would probably get the fish shop to hold the 3 for me. Means you get free quarentine for 8-10 days and then once all 10 are in i would add them and do 20% water changes daily for a week and keep an eye on water stats and do larger if neccesary.

I got stuck on 0.25 nitrite for a while and found that doing a big water change and then dosing 5ppm ammonia at 24h and then 1-2ppm ammonia at 12h kicked the n bacs into work and finished the cycle for me.

 

[SensesFail]

Kk got you would you go with 3/4 of the same type or if they had say 2 good of one and 2 of the other get those then get the other pairs next time(as long as they are compatible) or would you just stick to the one kind until next time? They are all going to be juvs. Cheers