Fishless cycle

[Wannaknowaboutsand]

After you finish your fishless cycle do you add all of the fish to the tank or do you add some slowly?

 

[kribs mate]

depends a lot on how well you did you fishless cycle really. you can build it up enough to stock your tank in one go (within reason) i would say a fair chunk of your stock should be added and then gradually built up over time really to be on the safe side.

also be aware that there are a lot of fish that dont just require a cycyled tank but the need a mature tank (6 months old) like clown loaches and cardinals.

 

[canarsie11]

Good question, I started my fishless cycle a few minutes ago........... I would love to hear more feedback on this!

 

[pendragon]

After you finish your fishless cycle do you add all of the fish to the tank or do you add some slowly?

Well, in theory it's completely possible to cycle fishlessly in such a way as to prepare the tank for full bioload, but IMHO only the most expert fishkeepers should even consider attempting it, and a truly seasoned fishkeeper probably understands the value of patience and stability too well to choose to try it.

I would never advise someone to do this, as there is too much room for error, and just a little overenthusiasm (or overestimation of one's aquarist skills) could produce ill-fated results. Why risk it? Impatience is the fishkeeper's enemy. We've all fought with it, but none of us can deny its folly if we're honest with ourselves. You'll never go wrong with the "Easy does it" approach, as hard as it is to hold to. One step at a time. I would encourage you to cycle the tank completely, and then begin adding your bioload gradually, stopping after each addition until the tank reaches complete equilibrium again and maintains it for a couple of days before adding more. If you just resolve yourself to do it, it won't be as painful as you think, and you'll be happy with the results when it's done.

Just my two cents.

pendragon!

 

[gixer]

i agree (in parts)

however. if you fully cycle the tank using the 5ppm reading of ammonia daily and half after nitrite spike your tank WILL be cycled enough to stock much higher than if you had cycled with fish.

if you dont stock pretty well to start with all that will happen is you bacteria colony will die back to suit. which is pretty pointless

like i said earlier (as kribs mate) i wouldnt advise fully stocking either but deffinatly safe to add at least 50% of your stock straight away.

just my opinion.

 

[tstenback]

Great advice all around. To give you an example I fishless cycled my 29 Gal as Gixer mentioned and put in 8 fish, 3 cories and 5 platties and there was absolutely no ammonia spike. The tank probably could have held more fish at that time but i feel that it is very important to observe the fish you add to see how they adapt and to help you select the next fish so that they will get along with your current stock. HTH

 

[gixer]

i pretty much fully stocked my 55 after my fishless cycle without any spikes too. but like i said. i would recoment about 50% maybe a little more.. no point completly rushing it anyway.

many people have fully stocked mbuna tank (infact overstocked) after fishless cycles (this is wise to add all in one go to minimise terratry battles etc) without problems

if done correctly this is completly safe.

 

[canarsie11]

i pretty much fully stocked my 55 after my fishless cycle without any spikes too. but like i said. i would recoment about 50% maybe a little more.. no point completly rushing it anyway.

many people have fully stocked mbuna tank (infact overstocked) after fishless cycles (this is wise to add all in one go to minimise terratry battles etc) without problems

if done correctly this is completly safe.

WHAT IS FULLY STOCKED?

 

[Sasha]

Well after I did the Fishless Cycle on my 46 gallon tank, I did something that I knew wasn't safe. I added 25 fish at once, but the tank handled it with no problems. That's not all I did! I'm going to hate saying this . . . but here it goes! Last week I tranported 40 fish into my 46 gallon so I know it's overstocked. I was forced to cyle my 29 gallon tank again, so all of the fish in there had to be moved over and that same day I received 21 fish from my friend, who breeds fish. Even though the water's all fine (I'm testing it daily so no need to worry), I'm never doing that again!

I'm cycling my 29 gallon tank with the Fishless Cycle because I had great results with it!

 

[gixer]

i pretty much fully stocked my 55 after my fishless cycle without any spikes too. but like i said. i would recoment about 50% maybe a little more.. no point completly rushing it anyway.

many people have fully stocked mbuna tank (infact overstocked) after fishless cycles (this is wise to add all in one go to minimise terratry battles etc) without problems

if done correctly this is completly safe.

WHAT IS FULLY STOCKED?

at the time it was 3 blood parrots. 1 large featherfin a common pleco , 2 angels and 4 peppered corys.

thats pretty fully stocked imo