Fish Cycling

tornangel012

tornangel012

Melancholy Dreamer
Feb 12, 2005
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www.torn012.net
If you were going to do it what would be a good fish to use? I've already failed on one of my Neon tetras but the other one is still kicking and My Betta George is doing fine.

I found from a Previous post that Neon's are probably the WORST to use. oh well.......... :(
 
the best overall is fishless cycling, so you dont have to subject a few fish to an uncomfortable tank for a few weeks- the best way is bio-spira (the only stuff ive heard that instantly cycles correctly) or to look up a fishless cycling article (theres a million of them, itll be easy to find one) which uses ammonia and daily testing (thats not all it is, btw)

but if you absolutely have to cycling with fish, ive heard zebra danios are hardy little guys, give that a shot....
 
If you have access to a friend that has a healthy, well established tank, get some gravel or old filter media from them to seed your tank.
 
Already done and done. I put some gravel in from my established tank and also since I moved the fish from there in to the bigger 10 gal I just moved the whole filter also in addition to the new filter since the first one was only for a 3 gal. I also used all the water from my established tank into my new one.
 
Is the tank you're talking about cycling the same one that the betta and neon tetra are in?

Assuming it is, it's already cycling with those fish, so adding more would only compound the problem at this point. Check your ammonia/nitrItes on it daily doing water changes as needed to keep them below .50ppm, then once they stay zero on their own, you can think about what fish you'd like to add .... slowly.

Otherwise, if it's a separate tank that's currently empty, fishless would be the way to go in a boring office ;)
 
Well yes I already have that one cycling but I'm about to start a new one at home that is also 10 gal and my boyfriend is about to start to cycle his 55 gal. We like the drama of fish cycling ( don't ask why we're weird)

I'm doing the other 10 gal for my parents but mostly for my cat to watch since we're not home a lot of the day.

Don't worry I am checking levels and changing water everyday and no WAY am I adding more fish for a least another month even if my cycle ends sooner.
 
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Once the cycle has started you have to let it go on it own way. Otherwise you can cause even more of a problem.

Like you said sit and wait.

As for your original question.
Some species that are good cycle fish are
Zebra danios
silver tip tetras
ghost tetras (or fruit tetras if they have been dyed)
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black skirt tetras
certain rasboras (harlequin, scissortail)
some barbs (golds, some of the larger species Spanner, Arulius)
some cichlids when cycling a larger tank

There are a few more but these are the ones off the top of my head.
Like I had mentioned before. Going fish or fishless there is no wrong way both get you to the same point taking different routes. People should never feel pressured to do one or the other, just go with whats right for you.
 
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Thank you! You and Harlock seem to be the only people on this forum that haven't given me guff or pushed me to fishless. I just prefer to Use fish and have all the drama I wish people would understand that.
 
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