New Tank Want To Put Fish Already

[Lynnmo]

I just got a 14 gal tank and took Fishy waste water from my BF tank to get my filter started. These are the stats of my tank: Nitrate 20ppm, Nitrite 0ppm, hardness 150ppm, alkalinity 80ppm, and pH 7.2. I was wondering when can I start adding fish?

 

[helterskelter]

You need to check ammonia too.

Once ammonia and nitrites are both 0 your be safe to add a couple of fish.

 

[Lynnmo]

Ok, I guess i need to buy a ammonia test it. Thanks!

 

[helterskelter]

with a new tilter and mature water it will still take 14 days for the bacteria to grow enough.

 

[Lynnmo]

Its so tempting to just buy and add fish already.

 

[helterskelter]

We know and understand this problem.

The thing is adding fish now will only cause ammonia over load which could possibly resualt in the death of the fish
If you do add fish then you have to check the ammonia daily and to water changes most days to remove these toxins

 

[cowboy507]

by adding waste water alone you will not have an established filter just yet. if you do wait 14 days the bacteria will be dead by then, they will have nothing to feed on, you will need to add ammonia to do a fishless cycle, read up on it on this forum and you will learn a lot. this shouldnt take long since you have access to mature media.
this will also give you time to read up on fish and let you decide what you would like in your tank.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, agree with the above members. Without a working biofilter the tank can't support fish and there's no way to grow these two slow-growing species of bacteria by magic, it takes some weeks to pull this off.

Figuring out which fish will work in your tank and which fish with work with each other is quite a bit more time-comsuming than it looks and its a perfect activity for while your filter is fishless cycling. The members here are great and they can help you in figuring this out!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Lynnmo]

I just bought some panda corys to add to the tank to help with the cycling

 

[indigoj]

Well nice move - your impatience will permanently harm those fish, probably kill them as panda cories are fairly sensitive.

 

[Wills]

Poor things you will need to do twice daily (possibly just daily) water changes to keep them alive and well - remember if these fish get ill the disease could stick around in your tank for a fair amount of time. If you can take a chunk of your boyfriends filter sponges and stick them in yours this will help a bit. Good luck

 

[cowboy507]

indigo, be nice!
everyone who is new does this, they dont want to look at a empty tank, its understandable.
lynn, something you will need to do:
read about fish in cycles here!

this will help a lot.
be aware that you might lose some fish, if the stats get to bad.
i always tell people to become aware of the behaviors of their fish, this will be a big indicator of their health, and the water stats

if you have any questions dont hesitate to ask! we are here to help!

 

[indigoj]

indigo, be nice!

tell that to the fish! adding fish in ignorance is one thing, we've probably all made a mistake like that , asking advice and blatently ignoring that advice out of impatience and putting living creatures in unnecessary harm is another.

 

[littlemermaid56]

atleast 15 days are neede to start adding fish ....but if you have opportunities to get fishes without paying money you can put them to make the seasoning of water faster

 

[indigoj]

er...NO