Newbie Question - Shrimp During Cycling?

[Autonerd]

Hi everyone! New user/aquarist here.

Just starting to cycle my first 15g tropical tank, it's got a few plants and three zebra danios. I'm on day 3 with fish. I've fed on days 1 and 3, as per my LFS' instructions, but being used to goldfish, I think I overfed a bit -- a few pieces got past the danios and wound up on the substrate, which is pebble-like rock. I was thinking of adding ghost shrimp some time down the road -- should I add them now to clean up the extra food?

Thanks in advance --
Aaron

 

[mike455555]

no you shouldnt add them yet.. becasue shrimp cant handle ammonia at all... how often are you doing water changes? and do you know about cycling?

welcome to the forum

 

[Autonerd]

I am learning about cycling. So far, the fish have only been in the tank for 4 days. I saw no ammonia on day #1, trace amounts on day #2 (0.12), and will test again this evening. Haven't done a water change yet, was going to do that this evening after testing if the ammonia was on the rise.

Aaron

no you shouldnt add them yet.. becasue shrimp cant handle ammonia at all... how often are you doing water changes? and do you know about cycling?

welcome to the forum

 

[mike455555]

good you look like your on the right track =] but i wouldn't put any more fish or shrimp in that tank until your reading 0 ammonia and 0 nitrates again. because any ammonia is harmful to fish, and shrimp are very sensitive to it.

what did your LFS say for you to do? in the cycle? (some LFS give bad advice, without knowing) =]

 

[Autonerd]

Didn't get a ton of advice from LFS, just to keep the feeding to once every 2-3 days. Didn't stay long to talk, as I was buying my danios elsewhere (they had just one and he looked a bit haggard) and I didn't want to pump them for help and not buy anything. Bought the fish at a chain store, where the advice I heard given out (to others) sounded like all the reasons I was told not to get advice at chain stores.

So I'm relying on the good ol' Internet!

Aaron

 

[dh058977]

Just so you know, Danios shouldnt really be in a tank that small. They may be small fish but they should have a long tank for them to dart up and down. I wouldnt keep them in anything less than a 4ft tank.

 

[mike455555]

you should keep on top of the water changes as well... change about 50% every day (or so) depending on levels... you kept goldfish before so you know about cycling?

 

[Autonerd]

No room for a 4' tank! Trying to stick with smaller fish, but I thought Danios were good for a smaller tank. Uh-oh. But they do seem to be doing quite a bit of darting. I tried to lay out the tank for maximum fore-and-aft swimming space and places to hide in back.

Just so you know, Danios shouldnt really be in a tank that small. They may be small fish but they should have a long tank for them to dart up and down. I wouldnt keep them in anything less than a 4ft tank.

 

[Autonerd]

Well, the truth is I lucked out a bit with the goldfish. Kids won them at a carnival, and I quickly learned they couldn't survive in a bowl, so I moved them to a 10 gallon tank. I didn't know about water testing, but I did know about water changes, and they managed to survive. Only in learning about how to set up this new tank did I realize how close I might have come to losing the goldfish!! They lived six years but I recently lost them -- to ich, I think. Or the ich "cure".

Aaron

you should keep on top of the water changes as well... change about 50% every day (or so) depending on levels... you kept goldfish before so you know about cycling?

 

[mike455555]

ohh fair enough my first fish was off a carnival altho i lost 2 of them because i had no idea about keeping fish. oh how times have changed (ones still alive in our pond swimming around happily )

 

[the_lock_man]

I am learning about cycling. So far, the fish have only been in the tank for 4 days. I saw no ammonia on day #1, trace amounts on day #2 (0.12), and will test again this evening. Haven't done a water change yet, was going to do that this evening after testing if the ammonia was on the rise.

Aaron

no you shouldnt add them yet.. becasue shrimp cant handle ammonia at all... how often are you doing water changes? and do you know about cycling?

welcome to the forum

Just so's you know 0.12ppm ammonia isn't trace. It's within what is considered the "safe" zone, but is still harmful to the fish.

As a general guideline, if you are showing ammonia or nitrite between 0ppm and 0.25ppm, do a 50% water change. If you are showing amm or nitrite between 0.25ppm and 0.5ppm, do a 90% water change. If you are seeing over 0.5ppm, panic, you've left it too long between changes. Do multiple changes until you see 0ppm again.

With only 3 danios, hopefully the ammonia and nitrite woun't build up too quickly.

 

[Autonerd]

Just so's you know 0.12ppm ammonia isn't trace. It's within what is considered the "safe" zone, but is still harmful to the fish.

As a general guideline, if you are showing ammonia or nitrite between 0ppm and 0.25ppm, do a 50% water change. If you are showing amm or nitrite between 0.25ppm and 0.5ppm, do a 90% water change. If you are seeing over 0.5ppm, panic, you've left it too long between changes. Do multiple changes until you see 0ppm again.

With only 3 danios, hopefully the ammonia and nitrite woun't build up too quickly.

Excellent, thanks for the guidelines! I'm actually not quite sure if that's a good number -- the color of the test water is not as green as 0.25 but not as yellow as 0. Regardless, it ain't 0!

Aaron