What's The Best Way To Add Fish To A Cycled Tank?

[Kris T]

I was wondering, when a fishless cycle has completed and the tank is ready for fish, is it okay to still add fish fairly slowly? I've read that you can lose your good bacteria if you add too slowly. But being a first time tank owner, I don't like the idea of fully stocking a tank on day 1.

Can I still add one group of fish at a time? Say 6 or 8 fish per week? Or maybe I need to up that to 2 groups of fish at a time?

 

[keenonfish]

As I understand it half the stocking level is a good place to start..

 

[kbekll]

stock it how you want to

the bacteria tend to multiply quickly once established but dont go over board

 

[Amunet]

If the fish you plan on adding are low waste producers, then it's pretty safe to add in the full stock.
If you feel more comfy adding the fish slowly though, then by all means do that. Do what you feel is best for you

 

[drobbyb]

stock it how you want to

the bacteria tend to multiply quickly once established but dont go over board

Not before your fish die from ammonia poisoning.

 

[waterdrop]

In my experience here in the beginner section its actually pretty rare for someone to fully stock right after fishless. As Amunet says, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it as its what fishless is designed for, but what usually happens in practice is that people who are stocking a community tank will have realized from their species research that different fish sometimes work better with different introduction times. Various species are often mentioned as being particularly hardy, others fairly delicate and then all sorts of in-betweens.

The only way that fishless cycling ever works properly is if the bacterial colonies are "too big" for a full stocking anyway. They *have* to "drop down" to meet the first stocking or else it wouldn't be "fishless cycling." That's why the 5ppm is such a huge ammonia dosing, so that there is no doubt it would handle an entire stocking. But in general, the whole idea is to have robust and strong colonies that then drop down to meet whatever first stocking you want.

When you then add fish, though, it needs to be slower than what you described. Its a judgement call, and yes, you might bring home 6 or 8 tiny neons, but no, you wouldn't bring home more than 4 or 5 danios or 2 platies and then you'd wait perhaps 2 weeks or a month in my opinion. Technically, you should be able to add more in a few days, say 3 days, but I just find for myself that that's too fast, but then I really like to watch each introduction for a bit and see what effect it has on the community.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[MisterTickle]

I would add 1 or 2 weekly until you got a good decent ammount, Just to be on the safe side, but thats just me.

 

[kbekll]

it depends on the size of the tank and filter and how much you dosed with ammonia

right stocking a tank is a dificult process but the research should have been done befor the cycle has finished

right @ 5ppm in a 20-40 gal tank you will be able to fully stock the tank from the off (some people will some wont) it is all down to the person putting the fish in

now their are rules to this when you have big waste producers better to add slowly.

the reason behind the fishless cycle was the fact you can stock fully and the fact it was better for the fish

why would you spend 4-6 weeks to create the comunity of bacteria to add half of the fish you were going to put into the tank and then let all the healthy bacteria die off only to try and rebuild the bacteria back up.

their is reason behind this

you cycle your tank for the fishes health

so you add half your stocking to the tank and the bacteria dies off down to the level they need to be at

now you wait for the cycle to retard enought that it is stable once again

then you go and add more fish to a stable eco system only to make the eco system unstable again

so now you have more ammonia to contend with due to the extra fish so the bateria multiply to cover it but in this circustance their is a small amount of time the fish are exposed to ammonia

so now you have more ammonia bacteria makeing more nitrite so the cycle repeats

and again the cycle is started

now you have a stable eco system

but because you only stocked some of the fish you will have to repeat the cycle yet again and again untill you have fully stocked the tank

ok this isnt just adding 1 or 2 fish at a time but you get the idea

which is the better option for the fish in the long run

also their is the fact that you will have some fish that are territorial which arrises more problems if the reasearch isnt done fully


best to go with a stocking plan and stick to it as best you can but remeber think twice befor doing