Ending The Fishless Cycle And Stocking The Tank!

[Eddsch]

Hey guys!

After a *very* long fishless cycle (seems I initially overdosed the tank's ammonia levels, but a 90% water change solved the problem!) - I appear to be coming towards the end of the process. I add around 4-5ppm of ammonia and within 12hrs the ammonia has been converted into NitrAte with 0ppm of ammonia/nitrIte! Very chuffed. I'm now looking to stock my AquaNano 55litre tank with a mixture of small fish - I'm thinking tetras.

My first question(s) is regarding the actual transition from the fishless cycle to a stocked aquarium. I hope to be visiting my local fish shop to get my first fish at the weekend (posting this on a Tuesday):

- My nitrAte levels are presumably sky high (reading dark red on my API liquid tests), so I understand a 90% waterchange will resolve this problem? And when should I perform the water change?
- With regards to keeping the good bacteria alive, should I still be adding bottled ammonia to the tank? Presumably far less since I don't want my nitrAte levels to shoot up again. How frequently?

Secondly, I'm looking for a bit of advice on the fish selection. I'm a great fan of tetras, and would like to get enough for them to comfortably shoal together. For a 55l tank, I've been advised I could get around 15-18 if I stock purely tetras. If I were to get 5 fish of 3 different tetra breeds (15 fish in total), would they shoal together as a group? Perhaps even in their smaller groups per breed? Does anyone have any recommendations of any other small, playful community fish that would compliment tetras? I'd love lots of lively action and bright colours!

And lastly, do most fish shops require water samples? How much should I take to show them? Do I need to take anything else?


There's quite a few questions there, sorry I've just been rolling them off the top of my head as I write! Any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated, don't feel obliged to answer them all yourself.

Many thanks,

Edd

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Hi Edd! Congrats on finishing your cycle! How exciting

To answer your questions. Keep dosing ammonia (you'll only need around 2-3ppm) up until the day before you go get your fish. The day before (or even the day of, if you have time to let the temperature get to where it should be) do your 90% water change and refill with dechlorinated water, making sure your filter and heater are switched off until the tank is full. Then go get your fish! Be sure and read up about acclimating them to your tank first.

I think a big group of tetras look great myself but the minimum size for one group is 6-8 of a type of tetra. A big group of one or even two types of fish look better than several small groups. Tetras are difficult to breed and are unlikely to do so without a pretty specialist set up. Yes there are plenty of other fish that would live happily in your tank but you would obviously need to decrease your tetras and probably just have one group of maybe 10-12? What are the other fish you are interested in? A betta or gourami springs to mind....you could also add an attractive snail like an apple snail or two?

Some shops do require you to take a water sample if you're worried you could just take one with you just in case. A ziplock bag or sealed container with a small amount of tank water would do the trick

 

[Eddsch]

Thanks for the feedback

At the end of the day, I don't want to be keeping fish unless they're happy fish, so one of my biggest priorities is to avoid overstocking! How many tetras do you think is the maximum I should get in the tank? Perhaps 2 groups of 7/8? And would they shoal as a group or two separate ones? I'd love to hear your opinion on your favourite tetra's too - every time I go into a store I change my mind, I love em all ^^.

And If I were to get a large fish, such as a gourami, is there a chance the fish can become aggressive to the tetras? Also in terms of stocking, how do snails affect the number of tetras I could get? I certainly think I'd be interested in adding one to compliment my tank!

I tend to find when I go into stores, they don't seem half as clued up as the information I can get here, so thanks for the input!

Edd

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

well, which ones are you going to get? Some of them are quite different from each other?

I personally like cardinal and rummynose tetras. Have you considered any rasboras? There are quite a few different varieties. I was amazed when I was in my local Maidenhead Aquatics last weekend at the different types they had in, I had no idea there were so many. Also the different microrasbora stay quite small so you could have a different "look" with them. I think gouramis are generally regarded as safe with smaller fish. But you'd need to reasearch into which type of gourami would do better in your tank (check out the Seriously Fish website) as some of them can get quite big.

It has to be said that apple snails are one of the messier varieties of snail but I'm tempted to say that if you got just one you wouldn't need to worry about it affecting your overall stocking.

 

[OldMan47]

It is as simple as can be Eddsch. Drain the tank as far as you can and refill it with dechlorinated water the day before you go shopping for fish. By doing that you should be able to get the nitrates down to near enough zero and if you do not redose with ammonia the fish will find pristine water awaiting them. Do you know what fish you are getting and what temperature would best suit them? If so, the ideal time to adjust temperature is before you add those fish.