In What Order to Add Fish?

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Hello everybody. I'm currently cycling (fishless) my 10 gallon tank. When it is done I'll stock it with 5 Flame Tetras, 2 Mystery Snails, 1 Platy, and 1 Ghost Shrimp. I was wondering in what order should I add them. Could I do them all at once, or should I do the Platy first and then everything. Should I do the Flame Tetras first and then everything else. Well you the point. Also, I'm going to finish the cycle when ammonia and Nitrite and drop to 0ppm in 24 hours.

Thanks for reading

 

[Galligak]

I've heard that its okay to add all of them at once, because your bio filter can handle it. I think that it was on another thread of yours that Eco said this.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Yeah he did. I was just wondering if it was overstocked though because if it was I think I would have to add them at different times.

 

[Galligak]

I don't think that its over stocked as long as you have enough filtration for the platy because I've heard that they can be messy, or was that mollies? I think that you;d be safe to add everything though

 

[Fishkeeper26]

I don't think that its over stocked as long as you have enough filtration for the platy because I've heard that they can be messy, or was that mollies? I think that you;d be safe to add everything though

I think that was mollies

And yeah I was told the idea of a fishless cycle was to be able to add all your fish at one time

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Ok than I will. Thank you so much for your help. Also how much would be "enough" filtration. Right now I have an Aqueon 10 Quit Flow power filter. Do you think I should buy the 20 in the future?

 

[Galligak]

I think that will work, just do PWC weekly. You could upgrade but IMO I don't think that it's necessary, unless you get another tank and put the filter you have in it.

 

[LyndaB]

And yeah I was told the idea of a fishless cycle was to be able to add all your fish at one time

This is definitely not correct!

I'm not sure where you read this or who might have said it, but they certainly must have been referring to the OP's particular tank. If I have a 75 gallon and I'm going to be keeping my blood parrots, african featherfin catfish and emperor tetras in it, I'm certainly not going to add them all at once. That would send my cycle into a tailspin due to the massive increase in bioload.

You add your fish slowly to allow the beneficial bacteria the time it needs to adjust to the new bioload. In my case, I would add the tetras first, then a few weeks later, add one or two parrots, then another two weeks, add the third parrot and then two to three weeks after that, add the featherfin.

 

[Fishkeeper26]

This is what I was told in this thread:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/adding-fish-after-cycle-163970.html

It makes sense as long there aren't any territorial issues....

 

[LyndaB]

It doesn't make sense from a bioload point of view at all. I responded to jeta in the other thread, thanks for the link.

 

[eco23]

This is definitely not correct!

I'm not sure where you read this or who might have said it, but they certainly must have been referring to the OP's particular tank. If I have a 75 gallon and I'm going to be keeping my blood parrots, african featherfin catfish and emperor tetras in it, I'm certainly not going to add them all at once. That would send my cycle into a tailspin due to the massive increase in bioload.

You add your fish slowly to allow the beneficial bacteria the time it needs to adjust to the new bioload. In my case, I would add the tetras first, then a few weeks later, add one or two parrots, then another two weeks, add the third parrot and then two to three weeks after that, add the featherfin.

I'm the one who said it. Heavily stocking initially is one of the benefits of fishless cycling.

Sending the cycle into a tailspin is not a possibility IMO unless you ridiculously overstocked the tank.

This is the reason we cycle at such a high ppm...a reasonably stocked tank will not produce 4ppm in a 24 hour period. Personally on my first fishless cycle, on the first day I added 9 Neons, 7 Red Eyes and 8 Danios to my 46 gallon. The bio-filter didn't blink an eye. Believe me when I say I've been in contact with more than a few people who have followed the guide, heavily stocked their tank initially...and I have never once heard of ammo or no2 spikes because of it.

If the point was to stock slowly and conservatively...why not cycle at .5 or 1ppm? Better yet, just do a fish in cycle so you have something to look at.

The only time I disagree against stocking heavily is in aggressive territorial fish. With peaceful community fish I have never had a problem, nor have I ever heard of anyone experiencing one.

 

[jeffp]

if you are cycling your tank at a high level of ammonia, you have a bacterial colony that is very large. So let's say your tank is cycled and can cycle 4ppm ammonia in less than a day. Now, add all your fish at once, how high of an ammonia spike will you have? .25ppm? Well, your bacterial colony can go through 4ppm of ammonia in less than a day so how long do you think it will take for it to consume .25ppm of ammonia? The initial ammonia spike is all you need to worry about since after that, it will be a small constant stream of ammonia.

 

[eco23]

The other aspect is that fish produce a slow, steady stream of ammonia instead of suddenly dumping in 4ppm all at once. This gives the nitrifying bacteria the ability to constantly convert it instead of being overwhelmed (which its obviously not anyway do to the nature of fishless cycling.)

It's obviously up to the individual to stock at whatever speed they desire...but to add a few fish at a time over the course of weeks basically defeats the purpose.

 

[LyndaB]

This is fascinating to me..... they say you learn one new thing every day. This must be it for me.

 

[eco23]

Just to clarify...we have 2 extremely similar threads happening at the exact time right now on the forum. In the other the OP stated he's cycling at 4ppm...in this one I don't believe the OP stated the level or the method, but I'm familiar with his other thread and he is using the 3-4ppm down to zero in 24 hour method. I just don't want people browsing to think we are talking about traditional cycling and adding those fish all at once...that would be a nightmare in an uncycled tank.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Yeah sorry everyone I thought I said that I was doing a fishless cycle on my 10 gallon tank. In the end it will be able to handle 4ppm of ammonia in 24 hours. Thank you for all of you that posted. I'm going to go with your advice and just stock it all. I actually posted this thread just in case if my tank would be overstocked, but by the looks of it it won't be a problem.

 

[LyndaB]

I just don't want people browsing to think we are talking about traditional cycling and adding those fish all at once...that would be a nightmare in an uncycled tank.

Sigh..... don't you think you should add this little disclaimer to the end of your advice then? Personally, I found your advice very misleading, given your statement above, and I've been keeping fish for many years. I can't imagine how confused a newbie might feel.

 

[Leader-Of-The-Fish]

Sigh..... don't you think you should add this little disclaimer to the end of your advice then? Personally, I found your advice very misleading, given your statement above, and I've been keeping fish for many years. I can't imagine how confused a newbie might feel.

I'm a newbie and Eco has been very helpful to me. I'm not sure what your talking about. In fact, without him I probably would have a stalled cycle due to low pH.

 

[eco23]

Sigh..... don't you think you should add this little disclaimer to the end of your advice then? Personally, I found your advice very misleading, given your statement above, and I've been keeping fish for many years. I can't imagine how confused a newbie might feel.

Fishless cycling was mentioned in 6 separate posts in this thread, as well as a linked thread specifically about stocking after a fishless cycle. I think it was clearly stated...I simply wanted to add an extra disclaimer at the end (which it's not anymore) in case there were casual browsers who were glancing at the thread. Anyone who actually read even half of it would have clearly understood what we were talking about.

 

[LyndaB]

I have to believe that you're not really understanding what I'm trying to say, although I think I'm being clear, and I'm not here to argue or be patronized, so I'll take my leave of this thread.