Can I Put My Betta Fish In My New Tank To Help It Cycle Quicker?

[t4ppo]

Right, i have set up my 4ft tank last night and started the cycle off, now i have rea a few places that you can use fish to get teh cycle going, and they will survive, well in my 2ft tank i now have a fair few fish inckuding my Betta And a Red Tail Shark, yes i know shouldnt be in there with them, i decided to take my pet shops advice before asking you guys, never again!,
Well the betta and shark are becoming very aggresive toward each other, when its cycled i want to leave the shark in teh 2ft tank on his own till i find hima bigger tank and move all my other fish into the 4ft, so can i start it off quicker with my Betta,

Regards jamie

 

[Kizz]

Cut a bit of your filter sponge off and put it in the 4ft's filter this will give it a bump start you could add the RTS to the tank as it won't be too big for your filter not to keep up with the bio-load

 

[t4ppo]

Cut a bit of your filter sponge off and put it in the 4ft's filter this will give it a bump start you could add the RTS to the tank as it won't be too big for your filter not to keep up with the bio-load

Right i was going to cut a bit of my media off but its only a stingray elite 15 filter very small media inside,
But i dont want the rts in the tank, u mean take it back out and put it in the small one again when i want the big tank for the other in a week or 2?

 

[Athena]

It will take longer than 2 weeks to cycle your tank.

To be honest, it could take ages cycling your 4ft tank with only one fish in it! And the bacteria colony will only be very small as it won't have much ammonia to live off and multiply.

If you are going to go down the route of a fish-in cycle then it needs to be done effectively, otherwise as soon as you add more fish to the tank things will go haywire with ammonia not getting processed quickly enough due to the small bacteria colony.

Here are some forum notes regarding cycling:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264


Remember, also, if you do a fish-in cycle that you will need to monitor the water stats regularly and do necessary water changes to keep any ammonia levels down.

Once your tank is fully cycled you could then put the shark back in the 2ft tank, if he's going to be on his own. Adding any other fish with him will cause problems with territory issues as 2ft is a small area for a shark and he won't want to share with anyone!

Athena

Forgot to ask - exactly how big is your current filter sponge? Even a small amount will help...

 

[t4ppo]

It will take longer than 2 weeks to cycle your tank.

To be honest, it could take ages cycling your 4ft tank with only one fish in it! And the bacteria colony will only be very small as it won't have much ammonia to live off and multiply.

If you are going to go down the route of a fish-in cycle then it needs to be done effectively, otherwise as soon as you add more fish to the tank things will go haywire with ammonia not getting processed quickly enough due to the small bacteria colony.

Here are some forum notes regarding cycling:

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=277264[/URL]


Remember, also, if you do a fish-in cycle that you will need to monitor the water stats regularly and do necessary water changes to keep any ammonia levels down.

Once your tank is fully cycled you could then put the shark back in the 2ft tank, if he's going to be on his own. Adding any other fish with him will cause problems with territory issues as 2ft is a small area for a shark and he won't want to share with anyone!

Athena

Forgot to ask - exactly how big is your current filter sponge? Even a small amount will help...

Erm its an Elite stingray 15, not very big,

 

[t4ppo]

Cut a bit of your filter sponge off and put it in the 4ft's filter this will give it a bump start you could add the RTS to the tank as it won't be too big for your filter not to keep up with the bio-load

hmm i dont mid it taking a long time to cycle, but he will definitly be ok in the tank if i put him in to start it going?

I have put stress zyme in the tank, anything else i can use to speed it up?

Thanks

 

[Athena]

He should be fine. Like I said, it's a good size tank with only 1 fish in it. It's not like he's going to be filling the tank up with pee and poops every day, so ammonia levels should be minimal. This is why it could be a problem - the small amount of ammonia produced from his waste and any foodstuffs won't be enough to produce a good size bacteria colony to support a fully stocked tank later on...

Athena

 

[pammy172]

Surely this won't work effectively? Only one fish in a 4' tank will not produce enough ammonia to enable robust cycling that can then take more fish within a reasonable period of time? I'm also thinking about the conditions a betta likes to live in being the opposite to what bacteria need to grow? For a big tank you need a decent sized filter and flow to get the well aerated water flowing through the medium to populate it. Bettas don't like much current so I would have thought using a betta to cycle a tank would be really difficult and unfair to the fish. Or am I barking?

Isn't the better way to actually cycle the big tank fishless using ammobnia to the right levels to promulgate bacteria growth, and actually return the RFS to the LFS allowing the betta to be in the tank that is better suited to him?

 

[t4ppo]

Surely this won't work effectively? Only one fish in a 4' tank will not produce enough ammonia to enable robust cycling that can then take more fish within a reasonable period of time? I'm also thinking about the conditions a betta likes to live in being the opposite to what bacteria need to grow? For a big tank you need a decent sized filter and flow to get the well aerated water flowing through the medium to populate it. Bettas don't like much current so I would have thought using a betta to cycle a tank would be really difficult and unfair to the fish. Or am I barking?

Isn't the better way to actually cycle the big tank fishless using ammobnia to the right levels to promulgate bacteria growth, and actually return the RFS to the LFS allowing the betta to be in the tank that is better suited to him?

Right i currently have the betta fish in my 2ft community tank has been for a few months happy in there,
I was just asking if it was possible to put him or the shark in there or even a few of my fish to try and get the cycle going faster, because i wanted to seperate them as i was sold him without knowing there incompatible i was told by the shop they would be fine... i think am just going to leave the tank doing a fishless cycle i think, there nto bad in the tank at the mo, but i know as the shark gets older and bigger he will be aggressive so hes going to get the 2ft to himself,

 

[Athena]

Good idea!

If they are not at each other's throats at the moment then no emergency to separate them until your 4ft is cycled then.

Athena

 

[pammy172]

tbh - the betta will probably be happier in the smaller tank by himself rather than a big community tank as the conditions and other fish likely in a community tank probably won't suit him.

Try asking in the Betta section for their views.

imho you really would be better returning the shark to the lfs as you have to do what's best for the fish. They are aggressive and so not good community fish and he won't be happy in a 2' tank for long either, they need a much bigger tank to be happy. So you'll end up with at least two unhappy fish.

 

[Athena]

Pammy is right...

Bettas are not good community fish - (a) they don't like strong currents or noisy bubbles (airstones), (b) it stresses them out if there are faster swimming fish in the tank, © they are liable to having their fins nipped by certain other fish and (d) because they are slow swimmers they can find a problem competing for food.

If Bettas are stressed or feel threatened by other fish in the tank they will flare a lot - and too much flaring on a daily basis can cause them to become tired and weak, leading to illness.

Having said that, I can see that you wouldn't necessarily want a 2ft tank with just 1 fish in it (i.e. the betta)... how about buying a tank divider for the 2ft and then you could put another betta on the other side!

The shark could go into your 4ft (unless you decide to return him to the LFS) which is more suitable for him in the long-run re territory issues (try not to get any other really territorial fish in the same tank).

Regards - Athena

 

[t4ppo]

Pammy is right...

Bettas are not good community fish - (a) they don't like strong currents or noisy bubbles (airstones), (b) it stresses them out if there are faster swimming fish in the tank, © they are liable to having their fins nipped by certain other fish and (d) because they are slow swimmers they can find a problem competing for food.

If Bettas are stressed or feel threatened by other fish in the tank they will flare a lot - and too much flaring on a daily basis can cause them to become tired and weak, leading to illness.

Having said that, I can see that you wouldn't necessarily want a 2ft tank with just 1 fish in it (i.e. the betta)... how about buying a tank divider for the 2ft and then you could put another betta on the other side!

The shark could go into your 4ft (unless you decide to return him to the LFS) which is more suitable for him in the long-run re territory issues (try not to get any other really territorial fish in the same tank).

Regards - Athena

Right so if i put my betta in the 2ft, that means putting my shark in with all my other fish in the 4ft, i dont mind having the betta in the 2ft its just he's been in the community tank with all the other fish for about 3 months now, and he only started flaring when the shark arrived, hes never been ill, only a little stressed when i first had fish in with him and then he picked up again,

But if you think i should do it that way then i will,

 

[waterdrop]

Right, I think Pammy and Athena have given it a good discussion with good ideas. I agree with Pammy that one of the very best moves you could make would be to fight the difficult fight now and try to get them to take back that red-tailed black. Its later on that it will potentially become a major problem. OM47 has written about how bettas in some cases can be good community members, but it takes some attention to details.

Another important understanding thing for t4ppo I think is that its a fallacy that using a betta, or any fish, would "speed up" a cycle. That's a critical lesson for beginners. A cycle is a cycle is a cycle... its the same two species of bacteria we're always hoping to get established to create the functional biofilter, and various things are done to try and make the process move along but the fundamental truth of the situation is that these two species are slow-growing at best and it just takes significant time to get a working filter, no matter how you go about it. Using fish to do it just potentially exposes them to permanent gill and nerve damage and forces the fishkeeper to perform a lot of extra water changes, often at great effort.

My vote would be for the re-homing of the shark and figuring out a situation for the betta, while fishless cycling the new 4 foot tank. Unfortunately, its doubtful the tiny current filter could afford to donate much help for the new fishless cycle without endangering the current 2 foot population of fish.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ziouxpioux]

Pammy is right...

Bettas are not good community fish - (a) they don't like strong currents or noisy bubbles (airstones), (b) it stresses them out if there are faster swimming fish in the tank, © they are liable to having their fins nipped by certain other fish and (d) because they are slow swimmers they can find a problem competing for food.

If Bettas are stressed or feel threatened by other fish in the tank they will flare a lot - and too much flaring on a daily basis can cause them to become tired and weak, leading to illness.

Having said that, I can see that you wouldn't necessarily want a 2ft tank with just 1 fish in it (i.e. the betta)... how about buying a tank divider for the 2ft and then you could put another betta on the other side!

The shark could go into your 4ft (unless you decide to return him to the LFS) which is more suitable for him in the long-run re territory issues (try not to get any other really territorial fish in the same tank).

Regards - Athena

Right so if i put my betta in the 2ft, that means putting my shark in with all my other fish in the 4ft, i dont mind having the betta in the 2ft its just he's been in the community tank with all the other fish for about 3 months now, and he only started flaring when the shark arrived, hes never been ill, only a little stressed when i first had fish in with him and then he picked up again,

But if you think i should do it that way then i will,

I have heard other people say bettas do not do well in large community tanks because they are slow swimmers, get stressed, can not compete for food and so on. This is news to me. I have always had a male in community tanks and they have done fine. No problems getting food, no problems swimming in tank with some current. In fact, the one I have set up now has a male who seems to enjoy playing in the water movement, lets it carry him awhile, gets out of it, rests then goes back to the beginning and rides some more. This is not all the time either, just when he seems to want to. Of course, I do not have aggressive fish in with him anymore than I would have aggressive fish in with any of the others. As to food, he gets his share and will at from the top, in the water flow or peck on the bottom. Karen Campbell