How Soon Ca I Add Fish?

[Linda B xxx]

I pick my hopefully maturing filter up next wednesday from hubbys mate, who has kindly had it in his tank to collect the ever sos important good bacteria.

how soon after i get it back can i get some fish and how many to start with? my tank is 96 litres.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

I'd say as soon as you get it in, you could and should add fish, since the bacteria will need ammonia.

 

[Linda B xxx]

Thank you,

i can get fishies next week

 

[phlawed]

I'd say as soon as you get it in, you could and should add fish, since the bacteria will need ammonia.

that also being said, i would start somewhat slow, dont add an entire community or might get a massive nitrite spike. Your filter will have bacteria, but there is also bacteria that needs to grow in the tank such as the substrate and/or plants that you may or may not have. i would recomend start slow keep steady water checks in place, if you see nitrites jump at all let it settle for a few days and then add more.

 

[dwarfgourami]

I would make sure that the filter media stays in your hubby's mate's tank until within 24 hours of your getting the fish; if it is left in a fishless tank for longer the bacteria will start dying off and the benefit will be lost. Once it is in, I would stock about 2/3 of your full stock in one go- most of the bacteria live on the filter media and not on gravel/plants (some people have neither gravel nor plants in their tanks); if you don't feed them enough then they will start dying off.

 

[vancouver]

I would start slowly.. buy the hardiest fish first, let them get some ammonia in there, and then wait a week and add some more fish. I would leave the most touchy fish for last just to be safe.

 

[diademhill]

How much the filter will support depends on how heavily stocked the donor tank is & also what proportion of that tank's media is in the new filter.
IMO the safest course is to get the filter & add the first fish - say half a dozen danios or black neons - & then let the tank settle. Keep testing & add fish at 2-3 week intervals.
As well as less risk to the fish it gives chance to observe behaviour check for any changes with fewer fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

How much the filter will support depends on how heavily stocked the donor tank is & also what proportion of that tank's media is in the new filter.

Very true. And in view of that you are probably better off following diademhill's advice.

 

[Linda B xxx]

Thanks Guys,

i get my filter back wednesday evening.

if i buy fish on wednesday after work, will they be ok in the tank for half an hour without a filter, until hubby brings it home?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmmm really not sure, personally I'd try to wait until the filters in before moving them.

I'm doing something similar this weekend, getting a new (to me) tank, the previous owner's leaving the tank up and running until just before I get it, so I can just whack the filter back in and set it up at mine and it should be good to go pretty much straight off. But I'll be getting the filter, heater etc in and running before I put the fish in. They'll go in once the water gets up to temparature.

 

[Tempestuousfury]

Best to get the filter setup and running beforehand. It's rarely a good idea to be impatient when working with fishies.

Also, I didn't mean to add the whole community at once. I was answering the question under the assumption that you would not add a huge bio-load all at once.