Tank Is Cycled

[scoobydiver]

Finally reached that magic moment when the fishless cycle is over

Looking for ideas on which fish I can stock up with - Quite fancied some Pearl Gouramis and some jaguar or Julii type cory`s. Would red wag platy`s be suitable with this combination ?

Have been told to wait 3 months before getting the cories to enable the tank to mature. What is the best number of Gourami to keep - one male/female or several females?

Any other ideas that would suit my osaka 155 would be great.

 

[Wills]

Hi congrats on the fishless cycle How long have you had the 12 hour drop for now? You all ready for the big water change?

The fish you have picked sound great, I would maybe do -

3 Pearl Gourami (1m 2f)
5 Male Red Wag Platy's (all male to avoid babies, its getting increasingly hard to find fish shops that will take livebearer fry)
12 Julli Corydora

and that would still leave you some room for some more fish IMO either a school of tetras or barbs, black ruby barbs would be nice in there - any others you have seen that you would like to add?

 

[Harlequins]

You don't really need to wait 3 months before adding corys,has long has your stats are zero,they should be fine

 

[Twinklecaz]

I love Red Wags too! May be getting one today. Trouble is now there are loads of Platys I love and I have to choose just 3!

 

[LondonguyJ]

Go for 5 green neon tetras and 5 red phantom tetras. That way you get both tetra body shapes and a good colour variation.

Plus I'm getting them myself soon *crosses fingers and hopes *

J

 

[Twinklecaz]

Greens?

 

[Wills]

Green neon tetras are a smaller growing neon very nice to see look like tiny emeralds, the red skirts he mentioned would be okay but can be a bit nippy if you can get them flame or von rio tetras are awesome little tetras

Wills

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol thanks Wills. I know what they are hoping to get some myself. I meant is that what he means he's getting


They're difficult to find I think

 

[scoobydiver]

Hi congrats on the fishless cycle How long have you had the 12 hour drop for now? You all ready for the big water change? The fish you have picked sound great, I would maybe do -3 Pearl Gourami (1m 2f) 5 Male Red Wag Platy's (all male to avoid babies, its getting increasingly hard to find fish shops that will take livebearer fry) 12 Julli Corydora and that would still leave you some room for some more fish IMO either a school of tetras or barbs, black ruby barbs would be nice in there - any others you have seen that you would like to add?

has been like that for over a week now - have become great friends with my bottle of ammonia but now its time to let it go.

You don't really need to wait 3 months before adding corys,has long has your stats are zero,they should be fine

I thought you had to let the waste food build up a bit on the floor so they are adequately fed ?



Am i better to stock all at once or build it up slowly over a matter of weeks ? Have never kept fish before so its all new to me. Thanks again.

 

[Wills]

Nooo dont leave food on the floor for them That will fowl the water, you can buy catfish pellets for them and they will eat flake as it falls

Now you have done a fishless cycle, you can add quite a few fish at once you could probs add your platies and cories in the first stocking as the fishless cycle actually means that the filter is coping as though it is a full tank so if you add only a few fish some of the bacteria will die off a little.

If its your first time adding fish you might want to start off with just one bag of fish first then go back to the store in a day or two when you can and get a few more, adding fish is something to learn and doesnt always go as smooth as you might hope.... lols

Wills

 

[scoobydiver]

Nooo dont leave food on the floor for them That will fowl the water, you can buy catfish pellets for them and they will eat flake as it falls

got a bit mixed up there - was thinking about the build up of algae etc for helping them to find food.

If its ok to put them in straight away and feed them on pellets then thats great as I really like the look of them.

I suppose this is when the fun and the hard bit begins, thanks for the replies.

 

[Harlequins]

Nooo dont leave food on the floor for them That will fowl the water, you can buy catfish pellets for them and they will eat flake as it falls

got a bit mixed up there - was thinking about the build up of algae etc for helping them to find food.

This doesn't apply to corys,more so for sucking algae eaters like otos etc,but all fish including corys & algae eaters should be given their own food,and you shouldn't rely on them cleaning the left overs in the tank,although they probably will

 

[scoobydiver]

thanks for that - nice to get some experienced advice on these things.

 

[OldMan47]

Cories are not algae eaters to any significant degree. They do fine on flake food and frozen treats, just like the tetras will do. Some cories are reputed to need a mature tank, not just a cycled tank. The trilineatus, often sold as julii, are not among those nor are the paleatus, called peppered cories. Those species of cories should be fine in a newly cycled tank. Some others such as panda cories mean waiting for the tank to mature for a while.

 

[waterdrop]

Cories are not algae eaters to any significant degree. They do fine on flake food and frozen treats, just like the tetras will do. Some cories are reputed to need a mature tank, not just a cycled tank. The trilineatus, often sold as julii, are not among those nor are the paleatus, called peppered cories. Those species of cories should be fine in a newly cycled tank. Some others such as panda cories mean waiting for the tank to mature for a while.

Took the words right out of my mouth OM, and I like that you question the need for a mature tank in all cases. My own experience from my former time in the hobby and most of my reading supports a division between different types of cories with respect to the degree of need to wait for a more mature tank.. however I still question whether the accepted lore for many of the types might be based on experiences that people had with tanks that were not fully cycled in the way we would do it now. Since a good bit of the advice passed around reaches back in to the time before any of us were nearly as methodical about the cycling process, a good deal of the stories that established the worry could originate from someone losing fish in tanks that were just not fully cycled. There's just no way of knowing. WD