Is My Cycle Over?

[FishFanatic04]

I was one of the unlucky ones who ended up with a fish-in cycle. Now what I want to know is can I add fish??

I have had 0 ammonia and nitrites for 6 days. Actually one day I had a reading for both but I had changed my gravel to sand and the water in my tap contains ammonia...but it went back to 0 and has been there for 2 days since...

I don't have an accurate read on if the nitrates are rising {which they must have been with 0 nitrites after the awful spikes stopped} Because of the water change during the rescape the nitrates would have been lowered.

DO you think I can add fish? I know with a fishless cycle you prepare your filter to handle your whole stockload at once, but with fish in, should I add a few at a time and let it play catch up? The one good thing is that with 1 ppm of ammonia in my tap that should have given my filter a little more capacity then it would have built with just the fish.

Anyway...what do you think?...would starting with my school of albino cories be too many? I wanted to start with 8 of them and add to the school if they are inactive...I have a quarantine tank cycled, so I could always buy 8 and only a few day to the big tank. As always I appreciate any advice!

 

[Twinklecaz]

Hiya. What size is your tank and what do you have already? You're right in thinking that fishless cycle is different to what you've done. Your filter is now cycled to be able to handle the bioload of the fish in there right now, so yes you need to add any new fish slowly. I think the rule of thumb is you should never more than double what you have already at any one time. So if you have 4 fish already (of a similar size to the Albinos) then get 4 today and maybe 4 next week all being well with your water stats.

I'm sure some will tell you to wait a bit longer but it all seems ok to me. Just keep an eye on things. and post photos!

 

[FishFanatic04]

Its a 46g bowfront. I have 4 platies and a molly. The cories are a good fish to add first right? We are planning a school of tetras and some kind of small rams which i know should be added last...

 

[Twinklecaz]

Yeah I'd say that would be fine. You might even be able to chance getting all 8 today if they're small (if you want to risk it) but definitely keep an eye on the water for the first few days.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I would like to get as many as I can today so they can be from the same group, If the water gets out of control I could move a few to my quarantine tank ease the load. Will def post pics when we get them settled! Albino Cories are STUNNING on black sand!!! Got the sand just for them a few days ago

Thanks so much for the replies and advice.

 

[DBT85]

You better get me some pictures! I want some Pandas on my black sand so it'll give me an idea of how good they'll look.

 

[FishFanatic04]

I think your gonna love it...I saw the albinos on black sand in person a week ago and bought 3 bags of black sand the same day. {Changing gravel to sand SUCKS} The cories were so bright and cute! The panda cories are cute too but I haven't seen them often in my LFS's.

 

[FishFanatic04]

OMG I am soooo excited. I've brought home 4 lovely little albino cories! {The others did not look well so I will get more next week somewhere else} 2 are really small 3/4 inch, and the other 2 are about an inch. So cute. I acclimated them but I think I need instruction on how to acclimate new fish since they still seemed stressed...or are they always stressed when entering a new tank?

Anyway they wouldn't sit still for me to get a good picture...also I'm terrible at photographing this bowfront...I'll get better with lots of practice...but here are my new babies!!!

They are so cute! I put in a veggie wafer but the molly is attacking it, hope they find it later. How long should I leave it in there so it won't muck the water?

 

[Twinklecaz]

How big is it? Mind you, I bet you found it disappeared overnight anyway. Nice pics, well done. Don't worry about the stress thing for the first few hours, a lot of fish get like that.

 

[FishFanatic04]

lol yup its gone. Guess I don't have to worry about the wafers I think cories are my current fav fish! My hubby was so funny because he didn't realize they could swim! haha He thought they squirm around the bottom like bugs... One of them kept going in the airstone bubbles and riding up and he was cracking up

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol yeah I was the same. Was never really interested in them and only got my Pygmys because I was told I should have "bottom dwellers". Now I'd never have a main tank without them!

 

[FishFanatic04]

What is the normal behavior for Albino cories? They seem sooo hyper...except one who I am worried isn't doing very well. When we bough them yesterday there were 4 left in the tank...I wanted to buy them all but the four we left at the store didn't look as "energetic"

are cories usually hyped up?

 

[soybean]

They could take a little while to settle in to a new environment, like many fish.

Leave the lights off for a day or so, and feed them at night so the mollies are less likely to find it.

By the way they can't just be fed veggie/algae wafers, theyre not algae eaters. Get some proper tablet food for bottom feeders. Mine love jbl novo tabs if you can get something like that.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I've got some more active than others. Probably my most active is the one who lost his tail due to a grumpy new Sparkling Gourami.

Come to think of it, probably because he was the most active lol.

 

[FishFanatic04]

Oh I did, I got veggies tablets and some that are made from krill and other protein.... Unfortunatly one died. I'm very upset and I'm worried we are losing another one. I tested my water and ammonia and nitrite are 0. Nitrate is only 5-10. My ph is high like always, I need to find a way to acclimate fish to that I think.