Going to petco today to get testing kit and other things I need. My 10 gallon aquarium has had the 2 snails for 3 days now. Water is clear not sure of readings yet gotta get a kit. I was wondering if a betta would be good to help speed up the cycling process and if later I could put a few guppies an mollies with it.
Would a betta be good for cycling.
- Thread starter kristielindsey
- Start date
This statement is very misleading. There are too many species of killifish from too many different biotopes to say they can live in any water. Some live in brackish to marine conditions, others live in shallow rainwater pools which dry up for part of the year. Which species did you have in mind?
A betta can be used to provide an ammonia source for cycling, as can some of the hardier danios. Know however, that any fish which lives in the elevated ammonia and nitrite conditions of a cycling tank will suffer from the polluted conditions and could possibly sustain permanent damage or death from those conditions.
If you're getting a good enough test kit to track the cycle, do a fishless cycle. Get some pure liquid non-detergent ammonia, add to the tank until the concentration reaches 3 ppm and track your cycle with your test kit.
Mark
Hiya,
I'm no expert by any means, but whilst a Betta is pretty robust under many conditions, it might be kinder to cycle without any fish (known as, erm, a Fishless Cycle, haha!).
To speed things up, you could add a pinch of food each day for a couple of weeks (you can remove any unsightly excess every 24 hrs, if its not sucked up by your filter), then try testing your water then. Ideally you want the readings to be 0 ammonia, 0 nititrite, and a positive value for nitrates (could be anything from 5 - 50) before you put any fish in.
The Betta's life will be much extended if you don't put him through the discomfort of handling ammonia and nitrites, he will thank you for it!
As for guppies and mollies......well, guppies could get nippy with your Betta's long, tempting fins (although not necessarily), and Mollies actually prefer very soft, brackish water (i.e salty). Guppies can sometimes be a bit tricky to begin with as they're not the hardiest of species (unless you get Endlers).
A Betta quite likes to be alone - they don't appreciate a busy tank, mine didn't - but what about a small shoal of neon tetras and some corydoras? He'll get along fine with them. There's always platys if you really want livebearers, but I don't know much about them!!
Whatever you do, once you are getting the right readings, add your new fish very, very slowly (i.e one or two at any one time) so as not to put your newly cycled tank under too much pressure.
Honestly, take it from someone who messed up everything at the start, you need to take it slowly!
I'm no expert by any means, but whilst a Betta is pretty robust under many conditions, it might be kinder to cycle without any fish (known as, erm, a Fishless Cycle, haha!).
To speed things up, you could add a pinch of food each day for a couple of weeks (you can remove any unsightly excess every 24 hrs, if its not sucked up by your filter), then try testing your water then. Ideally you want the readings to be 0 ammonia, 0 nititrite, and a positive value for nitrates (could be anything from 5 - 50) before you put any fish in.
The Betta's life will be much extended if you don't put him through the discomfort of handling ammonia and nitrites, he will thank you for it!
As for guppies and mollies......well, guppies could get nippy with your Betta's long, tempting fins (although not necessarily), and Mollies actually prefer very soft, brackish water (i.e salty). Guppies can sometimes be a bit tricky to begin with as they're not the hardiest of species (unless you get Endlers).
A Betta quite likes to be alone - they don't appreciate a busy tank, mine didn't - but what about a small shoal of neon tetras and some corydoras? He'll get along fine with them. There's always platys if you really want livebearers, but I don't know much about them!!
Whatever you do, once you are getting the right readings, add your new fish very, very slowly (i.e one or two at any one time) so as not to put your newly cycled tank under too much pressure.
Honestly, take it from someone who messed up everything at the start, you need to take it slowly!
Awe don't put a poor betta through that.
Ive read that daninos, goldfish or even feeder fish are ideal for cycling.
I'm a betta fan and it makes me mad at how poorly they are treated by some
people who think its fine to stick one in a cramped poor excuse for a tank just
because they are told they live in puddles. Bettas are curious and inquisitive
and deserve a lovely heated and planted aquarium.
I'll be cycling a new aquarium next week and I plan to use cheapy feeder fish.
OR you could 'seed' the tank with liquid biological filter medium. I use Sera Bio Nitrivec.
There's my 2 cents worth. lol
Hope all goes well.
Cheers
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Once again, I don't know of any killifish species that does well in polluted conditions. So, to which non-estuarine species were you referring specifically?
Mark
a betta's bioload is considerably less than a feeder goldfish for example. I've never used a feeder goldfish because I've always used fish food to cycle my tank or an existing tank's decor and filter media. But if you're starting fresh, a feeder goldfish produces a lot of waste. And most LFS will accept them back. At least mine does. I don't know if they'll suffer, but a feeder goldfish will get eaten anyway. If that's not suffering enough, I don't know what is.
Panchax. I have them everywhere,in every tank,all diff. sizes. I use them to break in tanks cuz its what I have. Aphyosemion, Aplocheilus, and Epiplatys' specifically have been indestructable in my tanks and the fry eat whatever I have. Sorry Im horrible at explaining myself, I still have trouble with computering
