I've searched and not found the answer

H

humerjeep

AC Members
Feb 16, 2006
48
0
0
I,ve been searching for weeks now and still have yet to find the answer that will get me on my way. My LFS is always throwing a spanning in the works with any questions asked so I'm thowing it out to you guys!! hoping someone will take the bait!! How can I find a list of hardy fish to cycle my tank with, although I'm not a newbie to the hobby, as I've had a couple of tanks in the past,had a mixture of community tanks and species tank( latter cycled from media from established tanks). With my first community tank I like most started with mollies and platties, a common plec,cories ,as the population increased so did the tanks.
I've now retuned to the hobby and I'm into my 2nd week of cycling and at a lost of what fish to introduce to boost the process. My dilemma now is that I do not what to start with platties/mollies been there done that. Don't want to start with a fish that I may not want to keep in the long run so I'm looking on advise regarding the following.

*If I wanted to start an Amazon setup what would be a hardy enough fish to introduce and what other tankmates would be compatiable.

*If I started a community tank what other fish other than Mollies/platties are hardy enough to be introduced at this stage

* and are there any other setup that I could start from the beginning with the right fish that will with stand the cycling period.

My setup is a 20gal long planted tank. Although that is presently up for discussion to be re-arranged as my aquascaping attempt was a disaster, but less said on that. Any suggestion gratefully welcome.
 
Have you considered fishless cycling?
If you have to cycle with fish, get some biospira 1st of all. Very hardy fish to use are cyprinids(barbs and danios). I've found livebearers to be somewhat sensitive and delicate and would not reccommend adding them to an uncycled tank. As always, start off with very few fish(1-3) and gradually build the population while monitoring the water parameters to insure their survival. Water changes are a must during fish-cycling to keep toxic ammonia and nitrite levels to non-lethal concentrations. Gouramis are another option. They're very hardy and have the ability to breath atmospheric air which will help them survive in water with less than ideal conditions.
 
Last edited:
you can give us a list of fish you may want to have in the end and let us tell you which ones you could start the tank with. many tetras are hardy enough, but many are not, so you would defnitely want to ask which ones you could start with if you have a few species in mind that you would like.
 
I would agree that fishless is better but fishy will work assuming you want to do a lot of work. It will probably mean daily water changes to keep your fish healthy. You can speed the process up by using filter media or gravel from an established tank or a product called Bio-Spira. The other cycling products don't work in that they often contain the wrong bacteria.

And yes, figure out what fish you want to keep as there is no sense cyclign with a fish you won't want in the end.
 
Get a couple of Goldfish
They are very hardy , survive in all waters up to 86 degrees farenheit and eat everything you give them and produce plenty of waste.
Best & Cheapest fishy cycle you could get.
Also when the cycle has completed you can sell them back and they will be twice the size.
 
i also vote for fishless cycle. less work, no fish-abuse, you don't end up with any fish in the tank you dont want in your final stock, and it takes about the same amount of time as fishless, PLUS, you can add most of your fish for your final stock all at once.

for fishless cycle, go to walmart and get a 2 quart jug of "Clear Ammonia" the walmart brand is $1. it should contain ONLY "Water, ammonia, and chelating agent"

add a small amount to the tank (only a few drops) swirl it around and test the water. you want to add enough ammonia to reach about 3-4ppm.

then you wait and test. eventually you will start to see the ammonia go down and the NitrItes go up. this usually takes a week or so. keep adding ammonia to keep it at about 2ppm. do a partial water change when your nitrites get higher than 3-4ppm.

also keep an eye on the nitrAtes, they should stay about 40-50ppm. if any of the levels get too high, they can stall the cycle and kill your bacteria. but its much less water-change-intensive than fishy cycles.

once you can add ammonia up to 2ppm and it dissapears in 24 hours, plus your nitrites are 0, do a large water change to drop the nitrAtes as low as possible, and add your fish!
 
any feeder fish could introduce parasites and diseases to the tank, and therefore should be avoided.
 
adrunpants said:
Get a couple of Goldfish
They are very hardy , survive in all waters up to 86 degrees farenheit and eat everything you give them and produce plenty of waste.
Best & Cheapest fishy cycle you could get.
Also when the cycle has completed you can sell them back and they will be twice the size.
Click to expand...

I haven't found a store that will take back fish (only 3 places to get fish where I live though)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom