Would this OS my 12 gallon eclipse?

H

hyoung

Registered Member
Sep 8, 2006
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Hi, everybody! Thanks for all your former advice. Here's what I'm planning to do once my little 12 gallon eclipse tank in the office is fully cycled (fishless cycle), but would this make the tank overstocked?

1 dwarf gourami
2 male platies OR 2 male swordtails
6 neon tetras OR 6 cardinal tetras
3 speckled OR panda cories

I plan on 50% wc's each week....

If it sounds like too much, I'd probably leave out the platies/swordtails.
 
IMO id leave out the platys/swords. I think that the gourami, tetras and cories would do well together. Throwing in the livebearers would be pushing it towards overstocked IMO
 
hyoung said:
Hi, everybody! Thanks for all your former advice. Here's what I'm planning to do once my little 12 gallon eclipse tank in the office is fully cycled (fishless cycle), but would this make the tank overstocked?

1 dwarf gourami
2 male platies OR 2 male swordtails
6 neon tetras OR 6 cardinal tetras
3 speckled OR panda cories

I plan on 50% wc's each week....

If it sounds like too much, I'd probably leave out the platies/swordtails.
Click to expand...


The problem with a (fishless cycle) is that your tank will be able to care for a much higher bioload wich is a blessing/curse it does a good job with amonia and nitrite, but the nitrates are still there. Unless your willing to do massive water changes all of the time, they will stay there. You will be able to overstock your tank and not know it.
I've never done a fishy cycle so i don't know about them, only fishless and that is where I'm coming from.
 
johns_stuff said:
The problem with a (fishless cycle) is that your tank will be able to care for a much higher bioload wich is a blessing/curse it does a good job with amonia and nitrite, but the nitrates are still there. Unless your willing to do massive water changes all of the time, they will stay there. You will be able to overstock your tank and not know it.
I've never done a fishy cycle so i don't know about them, only fishless and that is where I'm coming from.
Click to expand...

Not sure what you mean, but with a fishless cycle, you are not going to be doing massive water changes.
 
rbishop said:
Not sure what you mean, but with a fishless cycle, you are not going to be doing massive water changes.
Click to expand...


I'm sorry, it all works when I'm doing it, but then I have a hard time writing it all out.
You will be doing one large water change 70 to 90% at the end then another to make sure you got all the nitrates down.
I think what I'm trying to say is that if you fishless cycle a tank at the end of the cycle, you will be able to overstock a tank right off and may not realize that you’ve done that. (because your not going to get any spikes except nitrates) You will then have huge #’s that you will be battling to get down somehow, and water changes are the only way that I know of to get them down effectively.

I still may have screwed this up, I don’t know maybe this could be explained better.
 
swordtails get to 4 inches, which is the whole reason im upgrading to a 55 gallon
 
johns_stuff said:
I'm sorry, it all works when I'm doing it, but then I have a hard time writing it all out.
You will be doing one large water change 70 to 90% at the end then another to make sure you got all the nitrates down.
Click to expand...
i would rather change 10 gallons of water like 2 hours before i add ALL of my fish after a fishless cycle than have to change 6 gallons every day and possibly more and more frequently during a fishy cycle, and i bet other people would to.

for your 12 gallon, i say skip the livebearers and definitly go with pandas instead of speckled (they stay smaller. if you can find pygmy corydoras, you should go with them, and you could probably have four of them. they only get to around 1 inch or 1.5 inches long, much better suited for your tank)
 
Thanks, guys.

Based on your advice, I've decided no platies and definitely no swordtails. I'll stick with the panda cories (fingers crossed I'll be able to find them), the neons and the dwarf gourami. I've got the tank up and running, with established filter media, gravel and decorations from my home tank and have begun the fishless cycle with my trusty pure ammonia. Hopefully, this will be a quick cycle.

And I will definitely give the tank a 90% or so water change when the cycle does finish, just before I add the fishies. I remember how high my nitrates skyrocketed in my 55 gallon when it completed its cycle!

Thanks again and have a good weekend.....
 
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