Cycling With Fish & Worried

[Creature Seeker]

Hello,

After having a Rio 180 set up fishless for four months I put 5 Clown Rasboras in there last Sunday to cycle the tank. I tried fishless cycling but it kept on crashing and my very good lfs reccommended to cycle with fish. I chose Clown Rasboras as I've wanted some for a while and red on the internet that you could cycle with them. The tank has an internal juwel filter and an external eheim 2213 filter.

I also have an established 100 lite 8 year tank which is fully stocked with undergravel filtration. This tank had a minor ammonia spike 2 weeks ago so I added an external eheim 2213 to this tank aswell, with some established filter media in it from my lfs and the ammonia is down again.

Now I'm in a bit of a pickle as I've been reading a lot about cycling with fish and most articles say that you should cycle with fish you don't like and they probably won't survive. I really like my Clown Rasboras and don't want them to come to any harm.

Now could it be possible to switch the external filters over when I find the first ammonia readin in my new tank? The 8 year tank should be able to cope as it's been running for well, 8 years and then any ammonia in my new tank could be gobbled up straight away by the established external filter. Then when that tank is stable I slowly start adding a few fish every two weeks into the new tank (some time after Christmas).

Would this work?

I'd appreciate any comments you have, thanks.

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[nukeonekitty]

Yes it would work, but I would also recommend doing daily water changes for a while do make sure you don't get a massive spike. Just to warn you, people are going to make you feel bad for cycling with fish...

 

[Creature Seeker]

Yes it would work, but I would also recommend doing daily water changes for a while do make sure you don't get a massive spike. Just to warn you, people are going to make you feel bad for cycling with fish...

I've been doing them daily as I knew the consequences with regards to extra effort. I don't mind what other say as I chose to cycle with fish as it's the more natural way and fishless cycling was so unreliable.

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[PaPeRo]

You can use Seachem Prime or Kordon Amquel+ to detoxify ammonia and nitrite while cycling with fish.

 

[mark.w.jones]

You can use Seachem Prime or Kordon Amquel+ to detoxify ammonia and nitrite while cycling with fish.

This may reduce bacterial growth rate and lengthen the cycling process though as less ammonia and nitrite will be available.

I don't mind what other say as I chose to cycle with fish as it's the more natural way and fishless cycling was so unreliable.

More natural for who. Do you live in your unflushed toilet? Just kidding fella. But I thought Id get my dig in B4 the rest of the fishless cycle activists get on your case. Sounds like youre doing as much as you can to protect your fish which is great.

 

[Nerwign]

More natural for who. Do you live in your unflushed toilet?

Thanks for the laugh!

I definately think that cycling a tank is not "natural" at all, since fish in the wild never just jump into a fresh pool of tap water. They live in a fully formed environment and the "natural" way to do it is to take established media and put that in your tank.

I definately think the fishless cycle is not too unreliable if you do it right. I don't think the dropper is a very good idea though, I use a pharmasutical syringe so I know exactly how much ammonia I'm putting in each time. It's working great.

Good luck with your little fish! I wish them the best!

-Nerwign

 

[Aprilia997]

Clown Rasboras are somewhat touchy about their water quality compared to other species of rasboras but if you maintain small water changes things should go well for you. Do not worry about checking the water every day because the spike will happen in a few days no matter how much you watch for it. The main thing to do which you have already covered is to add something which contains bacteria from an established tank.

 

[starrynightxxi]

i cycled with neon tetras, reported to be horribly delicate about their water quality, and I didn't lose any of them. Now it could just be that I got lucky, but I also had cycled tanks before without using mature media from another tank and knew how to look after my fish. I've never had clown rasboras so i don't know how well they will handle the cycle, but if you are diligent about your water changes, and if you add the filter from the mature tank, I'm sure they will be fine.

 

[Creature Seeker]

Thank you for all your replies, they have been very helpful.

They've bin in the tank for a week now and still no sign of ammonia but the small amount of nitrite that was present has completely vanished. How long is it normally before signs of ammonia begin? Nitrate is only 5 also and the tank is planted with about 20 plants currently.

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[Miss Wiggle]

i wouldn't switch the filters at a sign of ammonia, bear in mind the bacteria you want need that to live and grow, so getting another filter in to eat it all up is gonna defeat the object and stop your filter bacteria from developing properly. this will give a longer cycle period.

you need to do daily small water changes, this will leave enough ammonia for the bacteria to grow and keep the levels low enough that hopefully your bacteria should grow.

however if you have an established tank, then i'd put the external filter for the new tank onto the established one, running in tandem with the new filter. leave it about a fortnight and it'll be matured and you can then just put it on your tank and stock straight away.

if you've an established tank you never need to do a fishless cycle really

 

[fishcollector7000]

good to see your fish are cared for!