Right now I have 3 tanks - a 6 gallon that has been running for about 9 months and is doing great, a little 2 gallon critter keeper that is housing baby mystery snails (and for a while a few danio fry) which has yet to cycle and the ammonia is running around 2ppm (daily 50% water changes brings it down to 1ppm), and a brand new 12 gallon tank.
I am setting up the new 12 gallon tank. I have gravel from the established 6 gallon tank hanging in a media bag near the filter outlet. I also used Tetra Safe Start, and now the water is cloudy so I'm hoping that means there is a bacterial bloom.
I originally put two mystery snails in the tank. They are babies - a little bigger than pea-sized. Since they were in the small temporary tank that has yet to cycle and the ammonia was getting out of hand, I figured the bigger tank would be better even if it has to cycle.
But the snails did not do well. They seemed fine for about 24 hours, but then after the first day they stopped moving, so I took them out and put them back in their old holding tank with the rest of the babies. One recovered - the other has not.
In the meantime, three danio fry that appeared in my main tank were also being held in the little holding tank and were doing great, until Monday morning when I went to do the daily 50% water change and all but one was dead! So I took the lone survivor (probably about 8 weeks old), who wasn't looking so good, and put him in the now empty 12 gallon tank. He recovered at least somewhat and is still swimming around in there (two days later).
So here's the dilemma (finally). The 12 gallon now has one tiny fish in it. The ammonia is reading around 0.2ppm. Will that tiny fish produce enough ammonia to cycle the tank by himself? Should I buy a couple guppies to help him (the plan for that tank is guppies and snails)? My daughter doesn't want to do it that way - we lost fish the last time we tried to cycle with fish, but back then I had no idea what I was doing. I could add some ammonia, but it seems cruel to deliberately add ammonia to the tank when it has a fish in it.
I could put more snails in (I have a bunch of babies still), but I have no idea why the first ones didn't do well. I could put the tiny fish back in the baby snail holding tank and hope he survives the ammonia. Or I could put him in my healthy tank, but that's only a 6-gallon tank and it already has 4 danios, a small catfish, and an adult mystery snail in it - I'm worried it will be too much, although I guess I could take him back out when he gets bigger.
So at this point, I am just confused! Any advice?
I am setting up the new 12 gallon tank. I have gravel from the established 6 gallon tank hanging in a media bag near the filter outlet. I also used Tetra Safe Start, and now the water is cloudy so I'm hoping that means there is a bacterial bloom.
I originally put two mystery snails in the tank. They are babies - a little bigger than pea-sized. Since they were in the small temporary tank that has yet to cycle and the ammonia was getting out of hand, I figured the bigger tank would be better even if it has to cycle.
But the snails did not do well. They seemed fine for about 24 hours, but then after the first day they stopped moving, so I took them out and put them back in their old holding tank with the rest of the babies. One recovered - the other has not.
In the meantime, three danio fry that appeared in my main tank were also being held in the little holding tank and were doing great, until Monday morning when I went to do the daily 50% water change and all but one was dead! So I took the lone survivor (probably about 8 weeks old), who wasn't looking so good, and put him in the now empty 12 gallon tank. He recovered at least somewhat and is still swimming around in there (two days later).
So here's the dilemma (finally). The 12 gallon now has one tiny fish in it. The ammonia is reading around 0.2ppm. Will that tiny fish produce enough ammonia to cycle the tank by himself? Should I buy a couple guppies to help him (the plan for that tank is guppies and snails)? My daughter doesn't want to do it that way - we lost fish the last time we tried to cycle with fish, but back then I had no idea what I was doing. I could add some ammonia, but it seems cruel to deliberately add ammonia to the tank when it has a fish in it.
I could put more snails in (I have a bunch of babies still), but I have no idea why the first ones didn't do well. I could put the tiny fish back in the baby snail holding tank and hope he survives the ammonia. Or I could put him in my healthy tank, but that's only a 6-gallon tank and it already has 4 danios, a small catfish, and an adult mystery snail in it - I'm worried it will be too much, although I guess I could take him back out when he gets bigger.
So at this point, I am just confused! Any advice?
