Update - Cycle Gone Bad, Back On Track.

[webber555]

I haven't posted here for a while- thought I'd get my fishless cylce started and wait for a while. After searching high and low for ammonia in Australia, I was forced to go down the add fish food and wait method to try to create some ammonia... needless to say this was a failure, as it screwed my testing results and basically i added 3 zebra danios far too early (I suspected it may be, that's why I got hardy fish...)

Well, out of the 3 danios, none are left, they all died within 48hrs of each other. That along with 2 out of the 3 plants I planted.

But, with every cloud comes a silver lining... I think by the time the danios had passed, I had completed an accidental fish cycle.

I added some more fish food because I didn't know, but then stopped when I noticed a heap of small fry. Obviously breeding conditions were ideal, and as the parents died, there was noone left to eat the young! Most somehow died without me noticing, but now I have 7 growing zebras who are a few weeks old and doing fine, are eating flaked food eagerly now.... I've had a brown algae bloom a week or so ago, and my remaining plant is going well (I've just trimmed it back today).

Everythings going so well now that I've just bought 6 baby barbs - Rosy barbs I think (I'm pretty sure I have 4 male and 2 female, or possibly 3/3) - as soon as they were acclimatised they formed a school , and the zebras have formed one too. They seem to be all getting along fine, looks like the makings of a nice small community tank.

Although I didn't really want zebras, I'm loath to get rid of them now considering they have survived so much, and I've seen them grow from fry. Sort of attached now lol. I don't want to overstock, and am pretty sure that when they are all fully grown, it will be at the limit for a 60 litre tank.

Is there anything else I can add in a month or two to add a bit more colour, maybe a single feature fish. A dwarf Gourami?

 

[LauraFrog]

MIGHT work, wait for a second opinion on that one, but I would be a bit worried about the barbs, they can be quite nippy and might decide that the gourami's ventral fins would make a nice snack. Because the barbs are fairly large you might want a differently coloured fish to use as your feature instead of something larger than everything else. Normally I'd recommend a blue or green betta, but with barbs in the tank it's probably not a good idea because they are too nippy for anything that moves slowly. A large livebearer, maybe a big sword, would be a good idea, but mollies are too sensitive and need salt. One kribensis, probably a female, would be okay in that sized tank, they are very peaceful unless spawning so don't get more than one. Plecs make centrepieces but all the solitary ones get too large for that tank except maybe a bristlenose or a clown plec. Ditto the loaches.

 

[webber555]

MIGHT work, wait for a second opinion on that one, but I would be a bit worried about the barbs, they can be quite nippy and might decide that the gourami's ventral fins would make a nice snack. Because the barbs are fairly large you might want a differently coloured fish to use as your feature instead of something larger than everything else. Normally I'd recommend a blue or green betta, but with barbs in the tank it's probably not a good idea because they are too nippy for anything that moves slowly. A large livebearer, maybe a big sword, would be a good idea, but mollies are too sensitive and need salt. One kribensis, probably a female, would be okay in that sized tank, they are very peaceful unless spawning so don't get more than one. Plecs make centrepieces but all the solitary ones get too large for that tank except maybe a bristlenose or a clown plec. Ditto the loaches.

any other opinions - are Gouramis a definite no no? Is the Krib the way to go? I didn't realise the barbs got so big so I'm looking at another larger tank in a few months or so - might put it in the bathroom, I like the idea of watching fish while laying in the bath....