Help With Fish-in Cycling With Single Fish (betta)

[GuppyGoddess]

Guppy: I did a 10 gallon fish-in with a male Betta. I found out that with only 1 fish the ammonia levels are never too high, unless you let it stay for weeks in the same water. I feed him 3 or 4 flakes a day and that seems to keep him happy. I check the water levels regularly, and I have done like a 50% water change every two weeks or so. I noticed that he likes to have a fake tree stump with java ferns on it, and I used a plastic bottle to divert the current from the filter to the sides, and looks like he likes that too. I keep the water temp. in his tank at around 80F. He doesn't like company, so he's the king of the tank right now.

Good luck!

Gus

Thanks.

So, your tank eventually did cycle or it hasn't because of the low ammonia? How long did it take?

It's kind of nice having a tank that doesn't need water changes every day. The female betta in there is 1.5" long and looks hilarous swimming in that huge tank all by herself. It's as if she has a penthouse suit She loves to watch us and she eats from my hands!

 

[kelly528]

It's kind of nice having a tank that doesn't need water changes every day. The female betta in there is 1.5" long and looks hilarous swimming in that huge tank all by herself. It's as if she has a penthouse suit She loves to watch us and she eats from my hands!

Off topic, I know, I know but you should totally look into a sorority Guppy! Alot of betta people I know from a different forum love their girls and keep about 6-10 in a ten gallon... you should see if you can find some articles on it! Females can bully each other sometimes but usually if there is 6 or more of them they will sort themselves out nicely.

 

[Inchworm]

Hi GuppyGoddess

Let's get back to basics here. The reason for cycling a tank is to create a natural process that will convert (very harmful) ammonia to (very harmful) nitrite and finally to the (less harmful) nitrates. These can be reduced to safe levels by periodic water changes. If you have a small amount of fish in a big tank, it won't create enough ammonia to harm your fish if you keep reducing it through water changes.

Essentially, what I am saying is that if you have only one little fish in a 10 gallon tank, and you do regular water changes that are big enough to keep the ammonia level acceptable, don't worry about it. Under these circumstances you don't need to have a cycled tank. It works the same way as keeping a betta in a bowl but is much easier to keep stable since the tank is so much bigger than a bowl.

I suspect that over an extended period of time you will cultivate beneficial bacteria in your filter media. As with any fish in cycle, slower is always safer for the fish, so unless you have your heart set on adding more fish right now, just continue to keep the ammonia as low as possible and have patience.

 

[Gustavo]

Hi Guppy,

Yeah the tank's cycled all right. I've been getting double 0s for about 2 or 3 weeks now (I quit keeping track). I do get a bit of Ammonia after I feed him, but its usually gone pretty quickly, and tt didn't took that long to cycle, about 3-4 weeks. My 55 gallon still haven't cycled, and I set them both the same day (I washed the filter from the cycled 10 gallon in the 55 gallon, but still nothing yet)

My male betta likes to be alone, and like I said, he's the king of the tank. Today I was thinking in getting a couple of algae eaters because the tank's getting brownish.

Good luck!

Gus

p/s Another approach could be to do a "El Natural" fish tank? Add plants and take the filter away? I know there's a book about it, I'll fetch you the name in a second:

Here's the link to the book: http/www.amazon.com/Ecology-Planted-Aqua...2741&sr=8-1

Guppy: I did a 10 gallon fish-in with a male Betta. I found out that with only 1 fish the ammonia levels are never too high, unless you let it stay for weeks in the same water. I feed him 3 or 4 flakes a day and that seems to keep him happy. I check the water levels regularly, and I have done like a 50% water change every two weeks or so. I noticed that he likes to have a fake tree stump with java ferns on it, and I used a plastic bottle to divert the current from the filter to the sides, and looks like he likes that too. I keep the water temp. in his tank at around 80F. He doesn't like company, so he's the king of the tank right now.

Good luck!

Gus

Thanks.

So, your tank eventually did cycle or it hasn't because of the low ammonia? How long did it take?

It's kind of nice having a tank that doesn't need water changes every day. The female betta in there is 1.5" long and looks hilarous swimming in that huge tank all by herself. It's as if she has a penthouse suit She loves to watch us and she eats from my hands!

 

[GuppyGoddess]

It's kind of nice having a tank that doesn't need water changes every day. The female betta in there is 1.5" long and looks hilarous swimming in that huge tank all by herself. It's as if she has a penthouse suit She loves to watch us and she eats from my hands!

Off topic, I know, I know but you should totally look into a sorority Guppy! Alot of betta people I know from a different forum love their girls and keep about 6-10 in a ten gallon... you should see if you can find some articles on it! Females can bully each other sometimes but usually if there is 6 or more of them they will sort themselves out nicely.

Okay, I just asked about sororites in the Betta section. I found a beautiful crown tail female a few weeks back (she's probably gone by now) and was tempted to buy her and put her in a 2-gallon bowl. Now that the Rasboras are gone, it's something I'm considering. My only two concerns are 1) I can't stick 6 in at once or my filter or the ammonia will sky rocket and 2) I'm paranoid of bringing home disease into my tank. Most of the stores around here who carry females are the chain stores like Petco and Petsmart. The "high end" ones sell either mostly male and/or sickly bettas. It's odd that the regular old stores that sell bettas for $2.99 seem to have better fish.

 

[kelly528]

Hmm... good point. I'm sure other people who have set up sororities should have experience dealing with the dilemma of how to introduce the girls.

 

[Gustavo]

I've got my Betta at Walmart, and he's healthy as a horse. Don't forget that Bettas are kept in those minuscules containers with no heat, so they don't move much at the store.