Adding Fish

[jon_h]

hi,
i have put water and cycle in my new tank but i wanted to know how long it will be until my first fish can go in, my mate put he's first fish in in a couple of days, i was thinking i can put some fish in in about 3-4 days time
cheerz
jon

 

[doresy]

Oh, if only it were that simple Your friends fish, (if they are still alive) may look happy but be assured that they probably are not. Forget fish for sevaral weeks. Remember, you are keeping water, the fish are just for decoration (lol) Boy are you going to get some replies of help and advice! I would give you the benefit of my limited knowledge but there are others out there that are far more qualified than me....Why not save time and read the pinned post on fishless cycle

 

[Torrean]

you may be able to bypass the fishless cycle thing. You said your friend has a tank. How long has it been set up.

If it's been over three months and he has no signs of disease in the tank then you should be able to seed your tank with bacteria from his tank.

Is his tank bigger than yours and if so by how much.

The method used most often for seeding a tank is to simply take all or part of your friends filter cartridge and put it in your filter. This will cycle your tank very quickly. Of course you will have to monitor your ammonia and nitrite stats so you can still do water changes as needed but with the bacterial boost you should be able to get through it without hurting your fish.

Oh I forgot to mention. Keep the filter media wet with well oxygenated dechlorinated water at all times. (in other words stick it in a bag with some tank water and shake it up every half hour or so.) generally you are not supposed to add tank water from someone elses tank to your tank but since you are adding filter media I would suggest that you add the water as well because the shaking and transport is going to put alot of the good bacteria in the water and you don't want to lose any of that if you can avoid it.

edit: another thing I forgot to mention. Make sure you have a source of ammonia in your tank whether it be fish or pure ammonia. Without this your bacteria will die.

 

[Canadian]

I would wait a few weeks or use some bacteria from you buds tank, here's a site with some info on cycling, www.aqua-reliable.co.nr

 

[Irf]

As the others have said - read up on how to cycle your tank in articles on this forum. Overall though, you need to decide whether you want to cycle with fish or without. If it's with, you gradually build up your fish stock as the tank matures. If it's fishless, then you go without fish for a few weeks but then you can add all your intended fish at once. Also with this method you don't need to get hardy fish to withstand the cycling process.

Irf.