Keep Adding Ammonia After Adding Fish?

[Amunet]

So we're still fishless cycling our 28gal.
We only have 3 fish that are going to go into it when it's ready right now.
1 betta and 2 cories.

Could I keep adding pure ammonia to the tank when it's done cycling with the fish in the tank so I can keep enough bacteria alive when we get more fish?
I mean cause ya know we would have to quarantine new fish so it would be even longer when we did eventually get those new fish into the 28.
That make any sense? hehe

I would just hate for bacteria to die off and the tank go through mini cycles whenever we added in more fish... specially considering what we've gone through with that dang tank.

 

[doresy]

do not think it would be a good idea to keep adding ammonia once fish are in. The theory sounds right though

Better to add most of your stock right after cycle completes (after massive water change to clear nitrAtes)

The tank is a bit big for a betta, the are best on their own and in a smaller tank (but I am no expert on them)

 

[Arimus]

Don't keep adding ammonia when you've got fish in there - the whole point of a fishless cycle is not to expose fish to ammonia....

 

[-germ-]

NO!!!

 

[Amunet]

do not think it would be a good idea to keep adding ammonia once fish are in. The theory sounds right though

Better to add most of your stock right after cycle completes (after massive water change to clear nitrAtes)

The tank is a bit big for a betta, the are best on their own and in a smaller tank (but I am no expert on them)

Lol.. well it's not just going to be cories and a female betta We're planning on adding more to the tank heh. Some rasboras.. the LFS had these cute ones called porkchop rasboras that I'd love to get. Also would like a ram.. and of course more cories to make their numbers better.

I figured adding in pure ammonia wouldn't work, but thought I'd ask anyway heh.
There's a decent LFS here so we could get our fish from them and not have too worry about if they're sick or not so I guess it wouldn't be too bad putting them straight into the tank without quarantine.

Anywho, thanks all for the answers

 

[rdd1952]

Definitely no. Adding it would kill the betta and corys you are going to put in. Any reason why you aren't going to add any more fish than that? If you are currently cycling and you nitrate is rising, then you could easily do a 90% to 95% water change to remove all the nitrite and put the fish in. If your nitrate is rising, then you have bacteria processing both ammonia and nitrite andyou don't need much bacteria to handle the load of a betta and 2 corys. Building the large bacteria colony is useless as they will all die off if you don't fully stock the tank.

If you do decide to continue to a full cycle, you could add extra fish food to decay and produce ammonia which the tank will process without problem but you will have a very dirty and unattractive tank. Not really worth it.

 

[Christine1014]

The tank is a bit big for a betta, the are best on their own and in a smaller tank (but I am no expert on them)

They don't "prefer" a smaller tank; they can just survive in them. You should be okay with corys in w/ him, though, but having a back-up plan is always good in case your betta is especially agressive. Another tank at home, or a shop that allows returns will be good.

EDIT - Sorry, I just read up higher where you said female betta. I know you can keep a group of female bettas together, but not sure how they do with other community fish. I thought that was typically a no-no, but I guess in that case, the back-up plan advice still applies! Good luck, and be sure to post pics!

 

[rdd1952]

There are a couple issues with bettas in community tanks. First, some of them prefer calmer water and don't adapt too well to the strong flow from the filter. It stresses them out causing fin rot and other diseases. Second, they limit what you can put in with them. Guppies and angels don't work with bettas as the betta sees their large tails and thinks they are another betta leading to him attacking them.

 

[Amunet]

It's only these 3 fish right now b/c we were doing a cycle with fish in the tank.... yes yes.. we now know.....
We finally got our heads out of our butts and took them out to finally get this dang tank to cycle. Me having to do frequent water changes so the fish wouldn't get sick along with a very low pH had caused the cycle to pretty much stop.
We've had very high nitrite readings for about a week and a half now. Haven't tested nitrates for a few days, last time I checked they were between 40-80. Ammonia reading of about 4ppm goes to almost 0 after about 12hours.
So these 3 fish are sitting in our 5gallon H/Q tank waiting.
Hope that explains why it's only these 3 right now lol...

This betta is very used to the water flow in the 28gal and very used to having tank mates. It actually sleeps and hangs out with the cories... which I find adorable

I think we're just going to put everyone in at once.
So like if the tank finishes cycling during a weekday, just keep adding ammonia until we can get to a LFS to get the other tankmates and add everyone in at the same time.
Of course doing a water change to lower the nitrates before they go in though.

I wish we could have a sorority, but I know fiance doesn't want more bettas (damn him heh) and we'd have nowhere to put overly aggressive females if we had to seperate them.
Much easier if we have to just seperate this one gal than a group ya know.

Anyways.. blahblahblah.... I'm rambling

 

[Bignose]

Adding ammonia to a tank with fish in it is an absolute no. There is evidence (I can look up the ref if you are really interested) that exposure to even small amounts of ammonia do permant damage to a fish's immune system. The fish catch diseases easier, and take longer to fight off diseases if they have been exposed to ammonia at any time in their life. Like with all things in life, it is relative, i.e. short-term exposure to very small amounts of ammonia do tiny (probably even very close to negligible) amounts of damage, but long-term exposure (mulitple days/weeks) or exposure to high levels result in demonstratable permanent damage.

 

[rdd1952]

If you decide to add them all and it finishes during the week, as you said, just keep adding ammonia as you are now until the dday before you get fish. Then evening before or even the morning of the day you get fish, do the large water change to reduce the nitrates and you are ready to go.

 

[Dorkhedeos]

if you add more fish, the bacteria should be able to catch up to remove the ammonia again. just add them in one or two at a time and you should be fine