One Of My Tanks Is Done !

[rebrn]

Ok, so I have had double 0s at the 12 hour mark now everyday for 8 days, so I am assuming that my 12 gallon tank is now completed it's cycle. I have completed the water change and my plans were to go buy fish today, but before I do I just wanted to double check that there is nothing else I need to do first.

Thanks

FYI total cycle time 69 days

 

[fatheadminnow]

Looks like everything went well! Double 0's for 8 days straight sounds like a cycled tank to me!

Yup, 90% water change. Just make sure the water you add back to the tank is temp matched and you have added dechlor!

You should be ready for your full stocking of fish!

-FHM

 

[rebrn]

Thanks FHM. I actually wanted my tank water to drop a bit as I was keeping it at about 85 F for the cycle, so I dropped my heater down to 73 F and my water is now holding at 75 F, the fish are floating right now and seem to be doing fine. I got 8 cherry barbs, and one goldern mystery snail. I used Aqua Advisor web site and it said that would be fine. Accrding to the web site I am 100% stocked and have 180% filtration capacity. So I think I will be ok. I was told the cherry barbs stay relitively small, hope I wasn't lied to. Well if I was I can always move them over to the 55 gallon and put something else into the 12 gallon.
Thanks again.

1 tank down 2 to go

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, cherry barbs don't get as big as other barbs and I don't think are nearly as nippy, but I'm not an expert on their aggressiveness or lack thereof.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[rebrn]

I am not too worried about the aggression since I will only have the cherry barbs in there, well and the one snail, but no other fish species. I got 4 males and 4 females, so hopefully they will be OK with each other. I was mostly concerned about the tank size and the suitability for the cherry barbs. Now the LFS said 8 would be fine in the 12 gallon, but I have learned not to trust them. But aqua advisor didn't come up with any problems either, so hopefully I will be good to go.

 

[OldMan47]

One thing you do want to do, if you have been running high temperatures for the cycle, is drop it down to fish temperatures.

 

[rebrn]

Thanks OM, I already did that with the water change, temp dropped from 85 F (for cycling) after water change temp was at 73 F and is now holding at 75 F (75 when fish went in/acclimated to 75). They seem to be doing fine, swimming around like mad. I am assuming they will calm down a bit once they get used to the new tank (just let them out about 10 minutes ago) The snail has already latched on to one of the ornaments with algae and appears to be having a feast

One thing that is weird, is the are constantly going to the back of the tank where the bubble wall is, they must like swimming in the current of the bubbles. They seem like they can get out of it fine, but they will leave the bubbles for a minute then go straight back into them Glad I got the cherries, they already seem like soooo much fun.

 

[OldMan47]

Glad to hear you remembered the temperature before that became a crisis. I am curious about what kind of fish you ended up getting.

 

[rebrn]

8 Cherry Barbs (4 boys and 4 girls) and one Golden Mystery Snail. I have attached pictures ... what can I say proud new mom

Just looking at the photos, it looks like there is a fish stuck to my heater ... but I swear there is not, my heater is red and black (hydor theo)

 

[rebrn]

Another tank has just finished its cycle today! The 5 gallon is now officially cycled, 8 days of double 0s. So ready for my Betta, unfortunately it landed on a day that will not work great for me with buying the fish, so I will have to go out tomorrow to get it. So I guess I will dose once more with ammonia tonight, and then water change in the morning, clean algae and add Betta. Just one more tank to go, should be ready in 4 days. Finally, I can't believe I now have 2 cycled tanks.

 

[finalfantay85]

Wow dude I love the look on those cherry barbs, can't believe how red they are. Is the slightly less red one a different sex to the others?

 

[rebrn]

Yep the slightly less red ones are the females. The males go really red during spawning, didn't know that when I bought them, and surprise surprise, I think I spotted some eggs in the tank. Not sure though, if they are eggs they could be cherry barbs, or perhaps snail eggs, but I only have one snail so I am thinking most likely cherry eggs. That could be a good thing though, I was planning to buy 4 more females and transfer the lot to the 55 gallon, when it is ready in 4 days, so perhaps they just saved me some money. Right now I have 1 male to 1 female ratio, and I have since learned that I really should have 1 male to 2 female ratio, thus the 4 extra females and the move.

I really had no intention of putting cherry barbs in there, when to the store to get rasboras but came out with the cherries Oh well rasboras will be going into the 12 gallon after the cherries move to the 55, well that is unless I have eggs in there then it will be a temporary fry tank.

 

[OldMan47]

Chances are very good that it is not snail eggs. A mystery snail lays its eggs above the water line in a large clump. An inch long and 1/4 inch in diameter would not be an especially large clump of eggs for a mystery snail. Sometimes they are much bigger. If the snail has bred recently, they can lay fertile eggs for a while although they are in the tank alone but they will not be in the water.

 

[rebrn]

Well this is definately in the water, but right at the top of the water, so not really sure. I tried looking for cherry barb eggs on line and it doesn't really look like that eithor. I will have to look up snail eggs and see. Eithor way not too worried, I wanted to get a 2-3 snails for the large tank and one for the betta tank anyway.

 

[finalfantay85]

You still planning on getting rasboras too??