Are plecos good to cycle with?
- Thread starter ineedabox
- Start date
I agree. You really should consider a fishless cycle. I was very successful with my 20gal. Add a few drops of ammonia (I used Seamist brand from Walmart) per gallon to bring the tank to 3 - 5ppm ammonia. Test the ammonia every other day or so. Once ammonia hits zero start testing your nitrites every other day or so. Once your nitrites hit zero do a big water change and add your fish. Fishless cycling can take anywhere from a week to a month depending upon the size of the tank and what you seed it with. I used an established biowheel off of a 10gal plus one package of BioSpira and the whole cycle took exactly 8 days. If I were starting from scratch I'd probably use a couple of packages of BioSpira and make sure my biological filtration was all setup to accept the new bacteria. In my opinioni fishless cycling could not be easier or safer.
Well I've only done a few fishless cycles, the rest I've just done with tetras or bettas. I was just wondering.
Zebra danios are the best fish I have had to cycle. They are a buck or less at most places and can take the swings in the water.
But if you don't want zebra danios in your tank then they are no good. A fishless cycle is the best btu a fishy cycle can work well if you are willing to be very diligent about water testing and changing. Keeping ammonia below 1ppm and nitrite below 0.25ppm will be safe for most fish. But catfish and the like generally do poorly in a cycle situation.
Well I guess I'll answer the original question and say no. Pleco's are poor fish to cycle with. If he wanted to know about fishless cycling he would have asked.
I have done a fishless and a fishey cycle. Doing a fishey cycle is very hard becasue you have to watch the levels and do A LOT of water changes. When ever I have to cycle another tank it will be a fishless cycle because of how easy adding ammoina is 
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.If its going to happen (fishloss) I had pretty good luck cycling a 75gal with a small group of barbs. They're cheap and pretty **** hardy, and ended up looking nice enough to keep. As always check compatibility before diving in (barbs are known notoriously as the "fin nippers")