Frequency of water changes during fish cycle?

[Jed Fish]

My 70L tanks has been cycling for 13 days with 6 neon tetras. I was previously doing a 25% water change 3 times a week, to keep ammonia down, but the pet store I brought my neons from told me yesterday to only do 1 a week, as ammonia wont get too high with 6 small neons.

What do I do? Its hard when people tell me different things, and when different websites tell me different things too haha.

Oh, one more thing, how many fish do you think I could fit into my 70L tank? I like catfish, mollies, guppies, tetras etc...but I would LOVE a black ghost fish and a red africian chinchilid, but I know my tanks too small :'(

 

[BBradbury]

Your Tank

My 70L tanks has been cycling for 13 days with 6 neon tetras. I was previously doing a 25% water change 3 times a week, to keep ammonia down, but the pet store I brought my neons from told me yesterday to only do 1 a week, as ammonia wont get too high with 6 small neons.

What do I do? Its hard when people tell me different things, and when different websites tell me different things too haha.

Oh, one more thing, how many fish do you think I could fit into my 70L tank? I like catfish, mollies, guppies, tetras etc...but I would LOVE a black ghost fish and a red africian chinchilid, but I know my tanks too small :'(

Hello Jed...

Cycling a tank with fish typically requires 3 to 4 reasonably sized fish for every 10 gallons of tank size. So, you should likely have a few more small fish to get a steady source of ammonia. You just test the tank water every day for traces of ammonia or nitrite. If you have a positive test, remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water with pure, treated tap water. When several daily tests show no traces of these toxins, the tank is cycled.

If you're willing to change out half the water every week, then you could have a dozen or so small fish once the tank has gone through the nitrogen cycle.

B