Good starter fish for Nitrogen cycling?

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Blu3Shyft

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Sep 8, 2013
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Spokane, WA
I've read up on a few methods for getting the nitrogen cycle going, and they each have pros and cons, I know. I think I've decided to do the fish-in method, with only a couple fish in the tank, then adding more over time. :bb:

My question is; Which kind(s) of fish would you recommend for starting/boosting the initial cycle?:ermm: The tank is a 46 gallon bowfront, freshwater. I've seen and heard many people use danios for this, as they're fairly hearty and not too sensitive to water changes, but I don't really like plain danios, and the Glofish varieties are too pricy for the possible risk at this point. What else would be good for the start? Cory cats? a Pleco? maybe a couple loaches?

Please keep in mind that I'd like to keep these ones fairly inexpensive, but still pretty to look at, since this tank is for my daughter's birthday next month. Also, if some fish would help the cycle move along faster than others, I'd take that into consideration. I'd like to be able to add 2 special picked Angels ON my daughter's birthday.:fish1::thanks:
 
I would also suggest Danios. Even though they aren't colorful, they are super comical and fun to watch :)

I would not suggest Cory Cats or a Pleco or Loaches.

What I would suggest are a few MALE Platy's. They are colorful and hearty, so they would do fairly well for fish-in cycling. Just remember sometimes you will need to do 50% water changes a day sometimes!
 
Try longfin danios -- they are quite pretty. Some other options: harlequin rasboras, cherry barbs, plates or mollies.
 
I would also suggest Danios. Even though they aren't colorful, they are super comical and fun to watch :)

I would not suggest Cory Cats or a Pleco or Loaches.

What I would suggest are a few MALE Platy's. They are colorful and hearty, so they would do fairly well for fish-in cycling. Just remember sometimes you will need to do 50% water changes a day sometimes!

X2 on the water changes while doing fish in cycle. Get an API freshwater master test kit to monitor your tank.
 
I used harlequin rasbora and swordtails. You can't really speed the process up. Mine took a month but your tank is much bigger. Just test the water every day and ensure ammonia stays under 0.25ppm and water change.
 
I used platys for mine and they come in such a pretty variety of colors. Plus they are communal and not schooling so you can get one of each type and not risk extra stress because their not schooling with others of their own species
 
Hello Blu...

If you prefer "Livebearers", then feeder female Guppies and Platys are both hardy. I used female Guppies to cycle my first tank. They all survived the process and I even had some fry in the tank.

If you like egglayers, then White Clouds, Rasboras, Tiger Barbs and Zebra Danios will definitely work.

Fish-in tank cycling gets a bad rap. Mostly from water keepers who for whatever reason, are unable to monitor the tank water well enough to keep the fish alive. If you start with a decent sized tank, say 30 gallons and drop in just a few fish and test the tank water daily for traces of ammonia and nitrite and change 25 percent of the water when you have a positive test for these toxins, your fish will be fine.

Get some Common water weed (Anacharis) into the tank too. The more stems, the better. It works wonders for keeping the toxins down and thrives in higher nitrogen water.

B
 
I used platys for mine and they come in such a pretty variety of colors. Plus they are communal and not schooling so you can get one of each type and not risk extra stress because their not schooling with others of their own species

Just to clarify, the color variants of platies are not different species. Most in the hobby are X maculatus that have been hybridized at some point with X variatus.

Anacharis is a great suggestion. Hornwort works well too. I never have any luck planting either of them so just let them float.
 
If you don't like any of these (which I doubt) you could consider bloodfin tetras. The females (?) look just like female platys!
 

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I used Serpae Tetras for my fish-in cycle as they are very hardy (or so i was told) and inexpensive. At first I thought they were a bit bland, but after a while the red coloration came through and I quite like them. Plus, they school well and play nice with others.
I have a 45 gallon and did my cycle with a school of 7. The process took about a month and towards the end I was doing multiple water changes a day.
 
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