Fish In Cycle Data

[mattlee]

all readings are still at 0 i fed the fish twice today instead of just once as i have been doing. does anyone have any ideas about new fish i could introduce.....?

 

[waterdrop]

What size tank? Its kind of odd the nitrates are staying at zero. Maybe somebody else has been following this one more closely than me?

 

[cowboy507]

What size tank? Its kind of odd the nitrates are staying at zero. Maybe somebody else has been following this one more closely than me?

I agree, this is very odd...what test kit are you using?
if you are using the API liquid test kit:
are you making sure that you shake the second bottle for a while? the solution tends to settle and needs a good bit of vigorous shaking for at least 1 min, or just about 30 sec if you use it a lot.

 

[mattlee]

the tank is 90L and is 24x17x14 (w/h/d). i am/ have been using the API test kits all through this cycle, the only problem i find is getting an exact match on the charts.... but the Nitrate level is very close to 0 rather than 5.0, although i have put 0/5.0 a couple of times as it seemed somewhere in the middle. i will go and test again and ensure i shake alll the solution bottles before adding to my water. the nitrite/ammonia seems more easy to read as the colours on the chart are not so close, nitrite being very clear pale blue and not purple and ammonia being yellow not green. i hope i have been doing it right, although it is very simple to do the tests..........

Matt

 

[mattlee]

ok, i did as you recomended and shook my solution bottles and have just been and tested my water again and the results are as follows -

NITRITE = 0

AMMONIA = 0

NITRATE = 10/20 (hard to judge colour but closer to 20)

i guess that you were right about the solution needing a shake i did shake them all and still got 0 for nitrite and ammonia, is my nitrate acceptable or do i need to wait longer before adding nore fish.....?

i have deleted my Nitrate readings from my data at the top on my first post as i am unsure now if they are 100% correct.

many thanks for your advice on this, i am still learning

Matt.

 

[waterdrop]

Oh good. Very good cowboy!

If you study the API nitrate test instrucs there are some very bothersome long shakes involved. My chemist father-in-law tells me that believe-it-or-not these are actually -minimized- as much as possible and the test might be even more accurate if you literally doubled the shaking times! He says its just almost an impossible test to do with a simple kit like this and is difficult even in analytical chem labs.

Anyway, your numbers now look much more like what we're looking for and you've repeated so many times that unless someone else disagrees, seems like you could now consider that small addition of 2 or 3 small fish if that's what you've been on about! Remember, its a little touch and go, so you'll have to test carefully and be ready to change water!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[mattlee]

yes, many thanks cowboy

 

[mattlee]

i guess by my figures that my tank has cycled..... at last!!!!!!

many thanks to those people who have got back to me with advice/ tips etc i wouldnt have done it without you

i will wait until next weekend before i add any more fish to the tank and i am also going to take the asian sun catfish back, unless anyone local wants to have it? i live near leicester u.k. if any interest.

 

[OldMan47]

As long as you are still seeing zeros with ammonia and nitrite you could start looking to increase the fish load slowly. I personally do not like tiger barbs because the fish I keep are more peaceful and tiger barbs deserve their common name. A dwarf gourami or blue ram might be tough enough in their own right to tolerate a tiger barb well but I just don't know. I am basically a simple livebearer person that does not work much with rough playing barbs and tetras. I do keep some cichlids but not the ones with an aggressive reputation.

 

[waterdrop]

As long as you are still seeing zeros with ammonia and nitrite you could start looking to increase the fish load slowly. I personally do not like tiger barbs because the fish I keep are more peaceful and tiger barbs deserve their common name. A dwarf gourami or blue ram might be tough enough in their own right to tolerate a tiger barb well but I just don't know. I am basically a simple livebearer person that does not work much with rough playing barbs and tetras. I do keep some cichlids but not the ones with an aggressive reputation.

Which cichlids do you find have the mildest reputation? Angels, I know. GBRs?.. I assume some of the smaller ones talked about here but am curious which ones have been pretty gentle in your experience.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[cowboy507]

I just have to say that i wish my tank cycled as fast and easily as yours, i lost a few fish in my fish in cycle

and i think its a good idea to wait a bit before adding, just keep doing test and if you find some ammonia, then i would maybe wait a bit.

 

[mattlee]

i am still testing everyday and ammonia and nitrite levels remain at 0 the only time my nitrite level rose was a day after adding the catfish and loach, dont know if it was the addition of fish or the quality of water added with the fish..... all my fish seem to be doing fine since i lost my neons at an early stage of cycling and i have now removed the asian sun catfish due to finding out its true adult size (18 inches) not what i was told by supplier (12cm) and added 4 blue rams, 2 of each sex. so now my tank contains -

4 x blue rams
1 x polkadot loach
2 dwarf gouramis

i think i have a male and a female gourami and the male keeps giving chase so i will add another female this weekend to take the stress off!!!!! also i am going to add a handfull of cherry shrimp as i know someone selling them very cheap at 25p each. i am thinking of replacing the asian sun cat with a couple of corys poss albino or panda as i have been told they are active during the day and are nowhere near the size of the asian sun. then to finish the tank off i will look for a suitable schoal of tetras or similar species to add more colour and movement. although it does look loads better after adding the rams already.....

i will still post my test results on here for the next week or so and will test everyday after that and if anything occurs i will post it.

cheers for everyones advice/ tips etc, it has been very nice/kind of people and correct what you have all told me. no thanks to the lfs who supplied me with everything and took my money and sent me packing....

thanks again, Matt

 

[mattlee]

bump

 

[cowboy507]

looks good.
if your gouramis are both male than the one that keeps chasing the other is establishing a territory, sometimes these do better by themselves. But if you do have one of each sex then adding the other will be good.
the cories will be a good addition, ive heard a lot of good things about albino, they only get to be about 3 inches at the max, so a small shoal (5 or more) would be good.
id watch out for overstocking, you will be very near by just adding a shoal of cories.
right now you are at:
ram-16 inches (adult size is 4 inch times this by 4)
loach-5 inch
gouramis-4 inch (6 inch with the addition of 1 more)
total=25 inches
since your tank is about 23 us gal this would be considered overstocked, but small additions would be okay.
neon tetras would be alright, maybe 7 or 8 of these.

 

[mattlee]

hi cowboy, the figures given to me regarding length of fish from lfs have been varied at each one.... i have looked on the internet too and it varies so much from site to site and shop to shop my lfs told me the rams are dwarf and would only grow to about 5cm (2 inches), also the lfs i got the loach from said 8-9cm (3.5 inches) although its about that now!!!, and the dwarf gouramis about 6-7cm each (5.5 inches). from what i was told that gives me 17 inches of fish..... nearly forgot the new addition my betta at 7cm (2.75 inches) making a total of 19.75 inches of fish. from these figures i thought i was within the stocking guide lines, but if the figures are wrong then like you said i am probably over or boarderline.......
i just wish lfs etc would be honest with people about everything, i returned a catfish to them as they told me it would only grow to 12cm. i checked it out on the internet and saw a picture of one that was 18 inches long............... they still stuck to their 12cm story but took it back in the end and gave me half my money back!!!!!!!!!!!!
i dont want to overstock as its not fair on the fish etc but i do want as many colours/ species in there as poss. the albino corys i was told grow to 5cm (2 inch) so again there is debate over that if you say 3 inches
was told by lfs that both my gouramis are male so wont be adding another as dont want 2 males and 1 female cos i dont think she would last long..... again i am unsure about them both being male due to a pic i saw on the internet of a female that was identical to my silver/blue gourami. but when i asked lfs this week they said females are not silver/blue just a greyish colour. i posted a question on gourami section but got no reply yet.........

Matt