Confused

[scoobydiver]

My tank is fully cycled and has passed it's qualifying time with no problems.

I therefore thought I would get 3 gourami as a start but the fish shop said the tank still would not be cycled and that I would be better keeping neon tetras in for a while as they were a hardy fish and would do the job of getting the tank to the next stage.

Maybe I didn't explain myself right when I told them about my fishless cycle, any thoughts on the matter ?

 

[scotty]

neon tetras need a mature tank

 

[BethK]

Tetras of today are not hardy from LFS, they have been inbred so much, that they have a big tendency to be weak.

What other fish are you thinking of adding?

 

[scoobydiver]

neon tetras need a mature tank

That's what I thought as well, I assumed that as long as the bacteria was getting rid of the ammonia and nitrite then there wouldn,t be a problem in putting in gourami.

 

[arobinson1984]

I've found a lot of shops dont seem to even be aware of fishless cycling and some even recoil in horror with the thought of putting household ammonia into the tank lol.

Certainly don't go for neons as they require a more mature tank, recommended 6 months+

What sort of gouramis you looking at?
what size is the tank?
what other fish are you wanting in the tank?


Andy

 

[scoobydiver]

What sort of gouramis you looking at?
what size is the tank?
what other fish are you wanting in the tank?


Andy
[/quote]

I had originally planned to get 3 pearl gouramis - either 3 female or 2 female and 1 male. I also fancied juli or tri corys.

My tank is an osaka 155

I bought 6 neons as that what i was advised to get - the girl told me she had specific qualifications for her job and even though all my readings were 0 it would spike again once i put fish in.

The fish seem to be ok so far - hopefully their hardiness will see them through. Can I put gouramis in with neon tetras or will they see them as "meals on fins" ?

 

[JoshuaA]

I bought 6 neons as that what i was advised to get - the girl told me she had specific qualifications for her job and even though all my readings were 0 it would spike again once i put fish in.

Qualifications from clown college?

She's taken you for a mug by telling you to start with Neons, my advice is go to another shop.

Also you're probably best off telling lies to the LFS if you know they can't understand fish-less cycles. I have noticed so far a lot of LFS which suggest stocking suicide fish have huge quantities of such suicide fish in stock.

 

[scoobydiver]

I just wasn`t sure she was grasping the facts of a fishless cycle, mind you it was probably my useless attempts to describe it to her that made it confusing.

So would there be any problems in adding more fish at this time thats on my list ?

 

[arobinson1984]

You should be fine adding some more fish now.

How long ago did you finish the cycle? (stop adding ammonia daily)

How long have the neons been in there?

Reason I ask is once the fishless cycle is finished your best adding probably just over half your stocking limit as bacteria will die off down to the level of ammonia being produced in your tank so if you have spent weeks cycling your tank to a level of say 4ppm, and then add only 6 neons that produce say 1ppm then your beneficial bacteria is going to starve and die down back to a level just sufficient to deal with the 1ppm that the neons are producing, meaning each time you add fish you may experience a mini cycle.


Andy

 

[scoobydiver]

You should be fine adding some more fish now.

How long ago did you finish the cycle? (stop adding ammonia daily)

How long have the neons been in there?

Reason I ask is once the fishless cycle is finished your best adding probably just over half your stocking limit as bacteria will die off down to the level of ammonia being produced in your tank so if you have spent weeks cycling your tank to a level of say 4ppm, and then add only 6 neons that produce say 1ppm then your beneficial bacteria is going to starve and die down back to a level just sufficient to deal with the 1ppm that the neons are producing, meaning each time you add fish you may experience a mini cycle.


Andy

luckily enough I just added the fish in yesterday so Tuesday night at 10 pm would have been the last ammonia addition.

What about adding the gourami in with the neons ?

 

[arobinson1984]

Should be fine, as far as I'm aware, pearl gourami aren't particularly aggressive.

I would try add them as soon as possible though so the bacteria doesnt die down as much, you should not experience a mini cycle then but keep an eye on the water stats anyway.

You may be better with a pair of the pearls as the tanks only 2ft long and an odd shape rather than a standard rectangular tank.


Andy

 

[scoobydiver]

Thanks for the help - will see if I can get them either today or tomorrow and just keep an eye on the readings as you say.

 

[JoshuaA]

Usually I get this typical response when claiming a fish-less cycle.

"Why are you adding Ammonia!, Ammonia is bad for the fish you want as little as possible the max fish will happily live in is 1ppm! I think you should stop now!"

"Fish-less cycling doesn't guarantee anything, it won't work as you haven't had fish in there"

"You can't replace fish for chemicals"

"It's an old method"

"I've always done it this way"

All responses are laughable, however I finally found one store which actually supports them and happily allows someone who explains to him their method and results to purchase what ever they deem responsible, even he asked me whether I was going to chance the full stocking lol. Of course I just went at about 50%

 

[scoobydiver]

Went ahead and got my two female pearl gourami, will be keeping an eye on the water quality to make sure my bugs are still on top form.