YAY I think the cycle is done!

N

Noyesy

AC Members
Jul 31, 2009
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Ok - just checked. Ammo was 0, nitrites were 0.1. Did a 40% ish water change and now Nitrites are 0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sweet.

I have a 16 gallon tank (JUST shy of 16 actually)...I'm willing to keep up with the water changes and don't mind a good challenge....I'm a newbie but quickly becoming slightly addicted.

I have 4 zebra danios, that I've managed to keep alive during cycling... very little food, large wc every 4-5 days, lots of CYCLE, lots/enough Aqua+. Honestly I thought I was going to loose 1 guy but he's still with us.

So, today I'm off to the LFS but not before I double/triple check with you guys....

I want as much stock as possible in this tank. I pledge to do everything necessary to maintain it.

I know my danios need more school friends so though I'd REALLY LOVE to have some Neon Tetras.... could I do both?

I want a small gourami - last I checked my LFS had one little red one.

And I want some (6 or 8) corys. Problem is I've read all about the fact that there are a couple hundred or more varieties but my LFS just sells "cordoryas catfish" under the generic name. They look about 2 inches long or so. They are fairly useless in there, except 1 guy who only works randomly so I'll never actually find out what they all are.

So.... what to do?

More danios, neons or both.
Pray for me that the little red gourami is still there. I understand my tank may be too small for a pearl, though there's lots of them at the LFS and they'd happily sell me one without asking how big my tank is!
Corys - so many of you have recommended them, and in schools - but should I just go for it without knowing the genus?

(Small town, 1 LFS, city is 100 Km away so it's really the only option. Fish are in good condition, just the people know more about dog food than fish!)

Thanks already I know I'll get some good help!
 
Only slightly addicted? Hmmm. Okay, I vote for 4 cories and the 'little red gourami," which I assume is some sort of dwarf gourami. Don't know why I assume that, but I do. IMO your tank is too small for a pearl gourami. I'd leave the neons alone for now just because I understand they are difficult to keep if you don't have fairly soft, acidic water. Since you didn't give pH & hardness values, I assume you haven't tested for them. Just don't want you to have an early disappointment.
 
As far as I can tell from my Google research of 'red gourami' it's a dwarf. And 'he's' really small compared to the pearls in the store.

(It makes it soooo hard when the store does not properly name all the fish!)
 
I would suggest you monitor the tank for the next 24-48 hours.

nitrite should drop to 0 and you should see nitrate slowly show up.

this should happen with no water change, if your filter is properly established.

once you have established that the tank is not having any cycle issues then (NH3 0, NO2 0, NO3 showing/rising)you can slowly add fish and monitor as new fish will change the bio load.
you may witness a small spike that should not last long as the bacteria adjust to the new load.
 
I would strongly suggest that you go with Star-Rider's suggestion. You have just finally gotten some good water for your fish and you don't want to go back to that mess again right away. If you find, after a few days, that the chemistry is holding together, you could try very slowly adding a few fish. Do not try to add cories and the DG all at once. It will cause more than just a mini-cycle to add that much fish load all at once. Once you are ready to add some fish, maybe add half the cories and wait at least a week. Then come back and add the rest of the cories. If all goes well for a week or two after that, maybe you could get away with adding the DG. At that point you are fully stocked no matter how much you want more fish.
 
take the advice from above, i did the same thing years ago with my first tank and added 4 new ca/sa cichlids at once and it was worse than the first cycle.
 
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