Fully Stock After Fishless Cycle Or Not?

[mark.w.jones]

I have just finished my 1st fishless cycle and am confused about what to do next. Have read articles and posts all over the place about fishless cycling and it's so far been very successful. But do I stock my tank pretty much full from the beginning or add fish gradually, allowing some of the bacteria ive developed to die back until it's coping comfortable with the waste produced by my fish. Have not found definitive answer yet but I will bow to your experience

My tank has 0 ammonia 0 nitrite about 20ppm nitrate. It's 45l (10gal UK), planted + one rock and a bit of bogwood. Was going to stock with 4 pygmy cories (Corydorus pygmaeus - I think) and 6 Harlequin Rasboras.

Thanks

 

[OohFeeshy]

If you haven't been gradually decreasing the ammount of ammonia, and are still adding (ie, didn't stop adding ammonia when everything reached 0), then work out how quickly the bacteria get ammonia from, say, 5ppm to 0ppm, add the amount so that by the time you get fish, it would be 0, then stock fully straight away. If you add slowly, every time you add more fish, you'll get more spikes, which sort of defies the point IMO.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I agree with OohFeeshy. Though maybe I wouldn't stock a new tank (even cycled) absolutely choc-a-block and bursting at the seams. And if you are planning on one or two more sensitive fish, it might be a good idea to save those for when the tank has been running for a few months. But you certainly want to add the best part of your full stock.

When I did my own two tanks fishlessly, I did end up not stocking fully, but between 1/2 and 2/3 capacity, for reasons to do with the fish I chose. In the cory tank, I wanted to add dwarf gouramis which should really only go in a mature tank, and in the livebearer tank I wanted to leave room to rear some fry. But anyone who knows about livebearers can guess what happened next: lots of fry and they were all so cute, so all our available tank space is used up, and we're going to have to buy a new BIG tank before any new purchases.