Starter fish?

joeyg2100 said:

I have my brandnew freshwater tank set up, and the guy at the local fish store told me since the tank is new and has no bacteria in it. That I should start out with a small and strong fish to get bacteria into the tank. He said this would speed up the tank in getting the bacteria in there.
So my question is what would be a good fish to start off with. One that is cheap and is strong.

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Please read the sticky thread at the top of this forum called "Cycle". You may want to consider doing a fishless cycle. It's less work and you don't have to buy fish to do it.

Roan

buying fish to "speed up" the cycle not only costs you money, but also puts the fish at risk of ammonia burns, disease, death.....you may even try this "fishy cycling" with getting a "strong" fish, one that you may not even want in the tank once you get your system going. You will be stuck with trying to work around a fish that you may not want and may not be compatible with the fish you do want in the long run. Try the "fishless" cycle as Roan mentioned. It gets the beneficial bacteria in there as well as setting up the water make-up to be perfect for when you want to add permanent fish to the tank.

Yeah, go the fishless route, it'd be way easier, though hard on one's patience. I did the cycling with a couple of platies, and would hesitate to try cycling with fish again. The platies handled the stress better than I did. I was constantly changing water, measuring parameters and just generally fretting over the little dudes... yeesh. Way too much hassle.

or you could drop $13 on Biospira and do a 1 week fishless cycle. thats what i'm doing. i put bottled ammonia in the tank. waited a week. got bored and impatient. bought biospira lastnight and dumped it in the tank. it gives your cycle a serious kick in the pants. i've finally got my NitrIte spike going up to signal the second phase of the cycle and its been less than 24 hours.

biospira is the bacteria that naturally grows in aquarium filters that breaks down fish waste. its the reason you spend a month or more cycling your tank. it says on the package that you can add fish within 24 hours, but i wouldn't. i have a liquid test kit and i'm continuing my fishless cycle as if i hadn't added the biospira, checking the water once, sometimes twice a day, adding ammonia to keep it at about 2ppm until i can add ammonia and its gone within 24 hours and NitrItes are at 0.

then you just do a big water change to remove the accumulated NitrAtes, and your ready to add fish.

the biospira doesnt ELIMINATE a cycle, it just speeds it up considerably.

Fishless is actually much less work and doesn't end up harming any fish. I never suggest buying fish you don't want to keep in the ong term. Some places offer a return on "cycle" fish but that is just cruel.

Fishless cycles work but require much more diligence and more work if you want to be humane about it. It can lead to daily of twice daily water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite levels low.

At the very least read the cycle stickie and be aware of the options and what the cycle actually is. then it is up to you to decide on a course of action.

Does Biospira really work?

Does this stuff really work to speed things up or does it just fool with the readings? I just started my fishless cycle a few days ago and am anxious for things to be moving alone. Granted, I have not yet decided on fish. But I know when week two or three comes around my patience are going to be tried. Has anyone else established their new tanks with Biospira?

Katielady said:

Does this stuff really work to speed things up or does it just fool with the readings? I just started my fishless cycle a few days ago and am anxious for things to be moving alone. Granted, I have not yet decided on fish. But I know when week two or three comes around my patience are going to be tried. Has anyone else established their new tanks with Biospira?

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Yes, it *does* work.

I have 6 tanks and all were cycled with Biospira. I had problems with one of them, but that was my own ding dang fault, not the Bio Spira's.

Roan

probably go with barbs.

I did a fish cycle and it worked out great, but you do have to watch it carefully. I used mollies, strong fish, just make sure you put in a super light fish load when you start it. Another little trick is to get some live plants to help eat up the ammonia. I know how it is, you get a tank and just cant wait until you can get some fish in it. Make sure you like what you get in the way of fish and that they get along with the other kinds of fish you want later. Whatever fish you do get, you'll grow very attached to them.