Is It Possible I'm Finally Looking At A Cycling Tank?

[Akasha72]

Hi! As some of you know I've had my testing kit since the beginning of this month and I've also had issues with new tank syndrome. I've had to do a fish in cycle and it was a bit of a nightmare to begin with!!

So ... I've been testing water and I'd been having the same results day after day so I've left it for about 4 days without testing. Today's results are

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
PH 7 - 7.2 (it's been that now for about a month)
Nitrate 5 - 10


I'm happy with that and I think it's cycled but I'd be more confident if someone more experienced can confirm it for me. Thank you

 

[the_lock_man]

It certainly looks like you are -

You've had a 4 day break from testing and still show Double Zero - how long before that break were you also showing Double Zero?

 

[Akasha72]

The kit arrived on the 3rd November and I tested right away and got zero for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. I carried on testing daily and was getting double zero's everyday. The Nitrate was slowly coming up and was getting about 0-5 for a while. Because I have quite a few live plants I thought the nitrate was low due to those taking some to grow. I was surprised this morning when it read a bit higher.

I'm so chuffed you think it's done too. I had to put a whitespot treatment in which was the reason I'd not tested for about 4 days - I didn't know if the treatment would give me a false reading.

Am I allowed to do a victory dance now ?

 

[the_lock_man]

Only if you put it on YouTube, and let us all have a laugh.

 

[Akasha72]

hahaha you wish

 

[Akasha72]

Okay, seen as I'm here I'll ask another brief question if that's okay (I'm not gonna start another topic cos it's trivial)

One of my female platies looks very pregnant but my male won't leave her be. Everywhere she goes, he follows. She's turned on him a couple times in the last few minutes (it's really does come across as 'Leave me alone')

Protecting behaviour? or is he just waiting for her to have the babies so he can either eat them and mate with her again (or both!)

Anyone have a clue ?

 

[the_lock_man]

Both.

He wants his genes passed down to future generations, so he wants to eat the current batch, to prevent others' genes from being passed on, whilst immediately mating with the female to ensure that the next batch are his. He isn't intelligent enough to realise that actually it might be his genes that he's trying to eat.

Personally, I wouldn't worry if he does eat them, platy fry are notoriously difficult to rehome, because they are so common. In the wild, the vast majority of fry are eaten, only a few will survive, and I reckon letting Mother Nature have her way is probably the right thing to do.

 

[Akasha72]

Thanks. I thought as much. I am a little concerned about how stressed she seems to be getting though - but by the same token I know trying to catch her and get her into the breeding trap would be even more stressful.

I'd really like some platy fry to survive though. I think I will end up with just platies eventually as I really like them.

As you say though .. I'll leave mother nature alone

 

[Mowbz]

As long as there are sufficient places for her to hide (if only for a few seconds before he catches up) im sure she'll be fine.

And i can see no victory dance videos?

 

[Akasha72]

As long as there are sufficient places for her to hide (if only for a few seconds before he catches up) im sure she'll be fine.

And i can see no victory dance videos?

You'll have to just use your imagination

 

[CezzaXV]

Only if you put it on YouTube, and let us all have a laugh.

I think we should all put cycling victory dances on YouTube. We'll start a new Internet craze and raise awareness of cycling in the process. Win win!

 

[Akasha72]

Lol Cezza. You first

 

[HayzH]

PAH!!!! it will be a while before you see mine then! pmsl

 

[Mowbz]

Only if you put it on YouTube, and let us all have a laugh.

I think we should all put cycling victory dances on YouTube. We'll start a new Internet craze and raise awareness of cycling in the process. Win win!

Do you work in marketing? Do you want a job? lol