Cycle Is Done! Any Stocking Suggestions?

[lou10579]

Well, my fishless cycle is finally done! I set my 20G high up on Sept. 5, 2008 and as of today I've got 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites. I'd say 3 1/2 weeks to a completely cycled tank, ready for a full bioload isn't half bad. Of course, nitrates are sky high but I still have to do my water change. I'll probably do that on Friday night and add my first fish on Saturday.

So, with all that being said, I just wanted to see if anyone had any stocking suggestions for me. I know for sure I'd like a male betta and several neon tetras. What else would you guys keep?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

wow quick cycle! well done

male betta's don't usually do well in community tanks they are called siamese fighting fish for a reason, they can be highly agressive particularly to anything bright coloured or with fancy tails, also their long fins and the fact that they aren't strong swimmers means they can easily be bullied by any fin nippers.

Occasionally it works but it's very much down to the temperment of the individual fish and they're all very different.

I wouldn't recommend it for your first tank I'm afraid

Neon's are quite delicate and aren't recommended for tanks under 6 months old, so I'd pop them on your list for a few months down the line when you're building up the stocking.

What are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[chesterscot]

have to agree with miss wiggle i wouldnt put a betta in a community but well done on the cycle
scot

 

[waterdrop]

Thanks for letting us know your total fishless cycling time. Lots of people forget to report that here, after all the work!

If you can't quite figure out the stocking right away, you can actually be getting your nitrate down and your tank more ready by performing some large gravel cleaning water changes and then recharging with ammonia. It can give you some practice at refining your water change operations and all the time you will be continuing to verify that there are no more blips in filter performance.

Various other tetras are out there that are more hardy than neon/cards and there are danios and rasboras to think about. Good luck!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

A tougher fish for a new tank that has many of the same qualities as the neons is rasboras. They are not much larger and seem to do fairly well in a new tank. If you want lots of rapid motion, zebra danios are nice and also good in a new tank.