My fishless cycling is done already?

[Finzzup]

Guy at the LSF said all my readings are normal and have been for two days now. Does this normally happen after just a week??? I was thinking it was going to take 2 weeks minimum!

If so, I'm going to add my fish! I want to do it all at once so the Betta doesn't think he's King of the Water or anything...

I was planning on 3 Neons and 3 White Clouds along with Betta and this is a 6G Eclipse tank.

Will this be too many? Or should I go with 2 each of the Neons and White Clouds or JUST the Neons or JUST the White Clouds??

I keep seeing people mention Cory Cats, so I am assuming that is a Catfish. Would they be okay in addition to what I want, or instead of the Neons/White Clouds?

Wow - I'm excited!

 

[ArkyLady]

Have you been adding ammonia every day and all readings are good for two days? If so, should be ready to add some fish. Be sure to do a nearly full water change before adding the fish.

 

[MP]

Don't just get too excited yet. One week may be enough only if you heavily seeded your tank/filter with bacteria.

You can easily check the result of your fishless cycling (is it really fishless cycling, by the way? What did you do to cycle it? Where does your beta live now?). If this was, indeed, a proper fishless technics, you can load the tank with ammonia to, let's say, 3-5 ppm and check for ammonia and nitrites the next day. Neither of them will be detectable if the cycling was completed.

 

[Finzzup]

Originally posted by ArkyLady
Have you been adding ammonia every day and all readings are good for two days?

Yep -- I've followed all the directions exactly! Maybe it went faster than I thought because I took all the gravel from the jar my Betta is in to use in the tank?

 

[Finzzup]

Originally posted by MP
What did you do to cycle it? Where does your beta live now?

I followed everybody's advice on the fishless cycling, read all the articles, directions, etc. and am positive I've done it correctly. Yesterday, we did the ammonia thing and today the readings were good again.

I DID use the gravel from the Betta's jar (where he is still at).

However, I may end up waiting two more days because I need to be away this afternoon and then again tomorrow afternoon and I'd rather be here ALL the time once I put my fish in! On the other hand, I am pretty excited and I always have a hard time waiting for anything.

 

[ArkyLady]

Sounds like you did it properly to me. If you do end up waiting two days, be sure to add ammonia each day to make sure the good bacteria doesn't die out (no idea how long it will live without food). And don't forget to do a nearly complete water change before adding fish. Probably a few hours before so the water temp can regulate again. With that small of a tank it shouldn't take too long.

Edit: It's a 6 gal tank correct? Maybe someone else can offer more insight on whether or not you'd have room to add a few cories. Getting a bit crowded I'm afraid.

If I had to chose between all the fish you've mentioned, I'd probably go with the betta, neons and 3-4 cories. The cories will mostly stay at the bottom of the tank. I really like mine, they are so cute