All Is Well :) Looking Forward To Next Stock Of Fish.

[emilythestrange]

After 2 months of waiting for my fishless cycle. I brought 2 Sailfin mollies (female and male) and 2 freshwater shrimp (cost £9.95) on sunday afternoon

They are doing great and i have tested the Ammonia and Nitrite twice
and they are both staying at 0ppm.

Also i would like to add, i tried out the shrimp because after reading alot of them i thought i should see if i like them.
They are brilliant, at the start i had a tiny bit of algae on the suction cups on my heater, now its completely gone - the tank is spotless!!
They love all the different silk plants in my tank and the different heights, and the fake moss ball etc... love to climb to the top of the tank and back down again.
Lovely to watch and catch up the tiny pieces of flake food off the gravel.!

Cant find cherry shrimps at the moment though

Anyway..
When can i add my next fish?

 

[emilythestrange]

?

 

[Truck]

have you just done a fishless cycle? you could add way more if so, how big is the tank?

 

[emilythestrange]

have you just done a fishless cycle? you could add way more if so, how big is the tank?

Its 100 litres and yes i did a fishless cycle but it wasnt processing 5ml quick enough (i think it was something to do with the ammonia from homebase) but it was proccessing 2 pipettes in 12 hours

I know i could add way more but i got impatient after 2months +

so i did a large waterchange and added fish

 

[Truck]

ok your probably going to experience a mini cycle, so id wait till you know your ammonia and nitrite arent going anywhere

 

[emilythestrange]

ok your probably going to experience a mini cycle, so id wait till you know your ammonia and nitrite arent going anywhere

how long should i wait then? i thought i was pretty safe, with the fishless cycle not being that far off

 

[minxfishy]

I would leave it another week to be sure, then stock slowly, leaving a two week period inbetween adding fish, I know it sounds like a long time but its better to be on the cautious side, if your were close to the end of the cycle then you have enough bacteria to cope with small increases, just dont overdo it too soon and keep checking your stats regularly for a while.

 

[Truck]

for the first 6 months avoid;

neons
cardinals
rummy nose
(those 3 tetras)

rams, ( most dwarf cichlids )

 

[foley69]

you wont have to avoid these fish if you keep on top of water changes and keep the quality of water high meaning 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite at all times then they will be fine

 

[Truck]

all of the above, will not thrive in a new tank, they need a mature tank, with prefect water conditions.

 

[minxfishy]

Ive not had any trouble with neons or rams in a newly set up tank, provided it had been cycled and the water conditions were kept perfect. However, they are sensitive species and do require good water and regular changes.

 

[Truck]

if the nitrates manage to creep above 20ppm, you could be in for trouble, but personally i wouldnt

 

[minxfishy]

I have 20ppm out my tap, not caused a problem yet. But I wouldnt do it unless the tank was fully cycled and the OP doesnt know for sure if that is the case yet, so caution is advised.

 

[emilythestrange]

Yes i wasnt going to transfer my tetras across, when i do later on in the year when my tanks more mature, i would add the Black neons first as i found these to be more hardy than the regular neons.


So i would be slowly stocking it with a few platys, and maybe Harlequin rasboras etc ..