Advice Needed On Amount Of Fish For Fish-In Cycle

[Paul70]

hi all.
long time since ive posted on here, mainly cos everything with my tank is going great.

my wife is wanting some guppies but they won't go with my tiger barbs so i have said i will get her a small (ish) tank. Looking at around 60litre to start with which she should be able to get a nice amount of guppies into.

she is impatient and does not want to do fishless cycling as I did with my 26gal juwel. how mny gupps should I start with to avoid new tank syndrome please
i was thinking perhaps 4 to begin with and watch the water.

you never know, if she gets the bug she may let me get my 100gal that I have been looking at lol!!

 

[BigbruiserAl]

So she does not want to wait but wants to change 30 litres of water daily? sometimes more so?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I would suggest that you take some of the mature media (not more than 1/3, erring on the side of caution, only take a 1/4). Place that into the filter of the new tank. Then take the number of fish that are in the first tank, divided by 4, and add that many guppies. You SHOULD be "instantly" cycled for that bioload, but I would keep an eye on BOTH tanks for a while to ensure that you are.

 

[Paul70]

it will be me that is doing the water changes so i don't mind lol. i change 30l of water in my tank anyway and the way i do it only takes 5 mins. (water already up to temp)

i was thinking of putting some of my mature media in the new tank actually so that is good advice, cheers. my current tank is quite overstocked but my ammonia and nitrites are always 0ppm (3 filters!) fish quite happy and haven't lost any. no lethargy and they all have a good appetite

 

[fluttermoth]

I had to do almost exactly the same thing today! I bought a couple of marbled hatchets to add to my shoal; unfortunately they were in a tank with some Endlers and the guy couldn't be bothered to fish the half dozen Endler fry out of the bag, so I got them for free. I was just going to let them go in my tank to take their chances, but my 14 year old son got all sentimental and wouldn't let me

So I had to come home and set up a little tank in his room so he can grow them on...and I'm trying to reduce the number of tanks I have, not get more!

Anyway; I just 'stole' a handful of sponge from another filter; took some water and gravel from the oscar and some plants from the rams; and it was all up and ready to go within half an hour (that includes doing the wiring; I loathe doing the electrics).

That's one of the best things about being a long term fishkeeper; you have so many spare tanks/filters/heaters/mature media it's a doddle to set up new tanks plus you never have to do a cycle, ever

Of course, you must test very frequently for the first couple of days; both in the donor tank and the new one, but it's never normally any trouble.

 

[Tizer]

Could you stick one of your three filters in her tank? Its highly likely that your tank will survive on two and you will be able to instantly cycle hers.

Worst case would be a couple of days water change on both tanks, since bacteria grow at an exponential rate.

Have a read of the link in my sig, shows you how i seeded a new filter, might help some.