betta for cycling ok?

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tenny

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jul 23, 2005
Messages
27
Location
Kingston, ON
is it ok to use a betta for cycling? these things can live in just about anything so they must make a pretty good fish for cycling. Any reason why I wouldnt want to use them for it? I'd like to have one in the tank even when the cycle is done, so its not a cycle and flush thing.
 
as far as i know, it's fine, but it'll take a long time. bettas don't make that much waste, so if you're planning on cycling a 50gal tank with just a betta.... you're gonna need a lot of patience.

i cycled my 3gal tank with a betta, and i've also cycled tanks with feeder fish (who then were fed to my boyfriend's oscar)
 
it's a 25 gallon tank. would something like a betta and a zebra danio be ok together?
 
Have you considered fishless cycling? It's easy to dose ammonia into the tank every day and then test for an ammonia spike and then a nitrite spike. Read about it here: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15 It talks about fishless cycling for SW tanks but it applies the same to FW tanks.

Be kind to your fish. :) Remember, even if you use a hearty fish for cycling, the ammonia and nitrite still burn their gills. 8O
 
I would do exactly as coolchinchila says and try a fishless cycle. You'll be able to let the ammonia spike without worrying about daily water changes to ease the fish's discomfort.

Cycling with a betta is not a good idea - as already stated, the betta won't make enough waste and ammonia to cycle a 25 gallon tank. I have seen bettas with ammonia burns on their gills, and if they are stressed, in a high ammonia tank, they are prone to illness such as finrot.

A betta and danio would probably not make good tankmates. Danios are fast swimmers and would most likely nip a slow fish like a betta.
 
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