Questions

[cmbtengnr43]

Take him back in a baggie petsmart has 14 day gaurentee

 

[Incisions072185]

Yea I was going to but it was only 2 dollars and petsmart is a good 20 mins from me, I won't be down that way til wed. So I just flushed him. Didnt wanna hold onto a dead fish for 2 days

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Freezer does wonders : P I tell customers to do that if they die and they are always grossed out haha

 

[Incisions072185]

I never thought of that. Deff going to do that next time, but hopefully there isn't a next time. I just want all my fish to get along!!

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Well if you have any questions feel free to message me directly

 

[Incisions072185]

Thank you will do. I'm sure ill have some soon, once I get home that is

 

[ktomminello]

Take him back in a baggie petsmart has 14 day gaurentee

YES!! Ask them for a little bit of gravel or a piece of filter medium or something else as well for not providing you with the necessary information to sustain the life of your pet!! I get free stuff all the time from my petco- they ARE informed and very diligent, luckily.

Here is a couple things that you can do to try to quicken the process a little bit, and tips to keep in mind- from my own personal experience.
If money isn't too tight there is water by carribsea called ready water, it has beneficial bacteria added, it's about 6 bucks for a 2.5g jug, just one of those with the rest preferably distilled water, walmart brand 88 cents a gallon.
Using filter media that supports bb growth (nitrite and nitrate inhibiting) will help you get through the nite process easier with slightly less chances of stalls/ crashes.
If using tap water I strongly recommend using a water conditioner to remove chlors and heavy metals at the very least- there's some concentrates that are pretty cheap, but since this is your first cycle I would suggest a product like seachem prime, nutrafin aqua plus or amquel+.
Your first readings that come in will be ammonia, try to keep those BELOW .25 by doing water changes- don't use ammolock until your tank is stable- it can stall your process. Instead try using something like seachem stability, nutrafin cycle, API StartZyme+ or StressZyme- something to encourage beneficial bacteria to grow rather than chemically "freeze" the ammonia.
Once ammo drops your nitrItes will spike, keep up with water changes to keep those in check- special blend nite out 2 used at half dose can help out if it spikes too high. Try to stay below .25, again
Next is the dreaded nitrAte spike, this one can bite you in the butt if you get ahead of yourself, I stalled in phosphates because vanity drove me to try API Algaefix- use me as your example and please don't do it, lol, just keep doing water changes and try not to disturb your substrate i.e. gravel, sand, rocks etc or decor, just use a turkey baster to remove excess food or fishy poop. Beneficial bacteria (bb) is establishing itself. Try to keep trAtes below 4.
Things should start to stabilize, ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte levels should all drop to 0. Keep that reading steady for a week and it's time to start thinking about who you want in your tank

I was describing the fish-in cycling that I use for freshwater. Fishless cycling I have only done with saltwater, but I know it's posted everywhere so someone can tell you that method. I know it starts with using PURE ammonia and adding enough to reach 5ppm

Here's some of the fish I have used for fish-in cycling. Giant danios, pleco, goldfish, betta, gourami, cherry and ghost shrimp.... If you decide to use goldfish or pleco remember you will need a very large tank or eventually rehome them.

Good luck!! Keep us posted on your progress!!

 

[severum mama]

Most "bacteria-starter" products are overpriced junk IMO- I would recommend saving your money on those. Carib Sea makes a lot of awesome products, but it stands to reason that a bacteria additive sitting on a shelf at room temperature with nothing added to feed it isn't going to last long. Also, no reason to use distilled water for a FW tank unless you want to add in trace elements. Unless your water supply is really terrible, dechlorinated tap water is fine.

A piece of gravel or filter media is going to do a lot more good than bacteria additives. In the meantime, here is an article that might help you out. Fish-in Cycling: Step over into the dark side - Aquarium Advice

Since it was mentioned, there are a host of reasons why PETA should not be involved in any aspect of the hobby. If it were up to them, there wouldn't BE a fishkeeping hobby.

 

[Incisions072185]

After reading these last to posts I realized that I have a lot to learn with all this.

 

[Incisions072185]

Also is there any articles or websites that list all aquarium freshwater fish and show they're compatibility with other fish and info like that?

 

[cmbtengnr43]

Liveaquaria.com and aqadvisor.com will let you put tank size filtration and what fish you like and tell you all kinda of info

 

[Incisions072185]

Awesome thank you again