How Are These Fish Surviving?

[jorge4903]

Hey. I have a friend who just set up her tank wednsday, and put fish in on saturday. She didn't put any water treatment in or cycle the tank. She said she ran the tank empty for 48 hours and that's it. So far, the only fish that died were 1 guppy, and 1 neon tetra, and some kind of catfish. Today is tuesday and she still has 5 neon tetras, an algae eater, and 5 zebra danios living. They are in a 10 gallon tank. I told her that was too many fish to begin with. I would have just gone with 5 neons and 5 danios with an algae eater. I didn't know what to tell her to save her fish so I just added some water conditioner to the tank since they are already in the tank. Honestly, I thought these fish would die overnight when she first put them in. It is almost 4:30pm tuesday and the survivors are swimming with plenty of energy. Can anyone explain how these fish aren't dead by now?

 

[Ian H]

the ammonia hadnt built up yet so the water will be perfect. Will all die soon though no doubt

 

[eschaton]

Yeah, deaths from improperly cycled tanks aren't instant. They take around 2 weeks or so.

 

[Ian H]

i would say 2 or 3 days tbh, although it depends on the size of the tank. like if you were to have a group of tetras in a 200gal tank then the ammonia would never build up enough where as if you had a load of fish in a tiny tank then the ammonia would build up REALLY fast