Hi there, looking for some advice on fish-in cycling.
A little background- I bought 2 platys and had them in a 2.5 gallon tank. I know this is too small - my 6 yr old daughter and I went to the store for a new betta. She really wanted something different. The staff at the store talked me into 2 smaller platys even though I knew they wouldn’t be too happy in there. But the tank was cycled and I figured I could get a bigger tank in a month or two. We lost 1 platy after 1 month, but 1 week later when I did a water chance I found 4 fry hiding in the substrate! How exciting. So I went out and got a brand new 10 gallon setup, and decided to put the mom in the new tank and take my chances with cycling. I was going to wait til it cycled, but after 1 more week and water chance there was only 1 fry left. So I put the mom in the big tank and figured by the time it cycled maybe the fry would be a little bigger and I could put her back in the small tank until it stabilized. Well fast forward another week and another water change, and now I found 3 fry in the 10 gallon! Everything in the tank was new and I just scooped the mom out when I moved her so I found this very strange as a month had gone by since the first fry were born. In any case I managed to get all 3 fry out and into the 2.5 gallon, so now have 4 happy (but small) fry.
Came down yesterday morning to find mom hiding at bottom of tank and she is normally very active. I tested for ammonia right away and sure enough .25. So I added Tetra EasyBalance plus and did a 25% water change. I also added imagitarium biological booster hoping to speed up the cycle. She seemed to be acting back to her normal self this morning. I did another 25% water change before leaving for work all the same. When I got home this evening she was hiding again and seemed stressed. So I tested the water and back to .25. Nitrates are 0. I am afraid I am stopping the cycle from happening, but we really don’t want to lose our fish. Do I move her in with the fry? They are still small and I worry she will eat them, but there are hiding places and perhaps she be too stressed to be interested? I also know this will make it difficult to get the tank to cycle if there is no longer a fish in there, but I am so nervous about what will happen when the ammonia changes to nitrite. Any advice you can give me? Thanks in advance.
A little background- I bought 2 platys and had them in a 2.5 gallon tank. I know this is too small - my 6 yr old daughter and I went to the store for a new betta. She really wanted something different. The staff at the store talked me into 2 smaller platys even though I knew they wouldn’t be too happy in there. But the tank was cycled and I figured I could get a bigger tank in a month or two. We lost 1 platy after 1 month, but 1 week later when I did a water chance I found 4 fry hiding in the substrate! How exciting. So I went out and got a brand new 10 gallon setup, and decided to put the mom in the new tank and take my chances with cycling. I was going to wait til it cycled, but after 1 more week and water chance there was only 1 fry left. So I put the mom in the big tank and figured by the time it cycled maybe the fry would be a little bigger and I could put her back in the small tank until it stabilized. Well fast forward another week and another water change, and now I found 3 fry in the 10 gallon! Everything in the tank was new and I just scooped the mom out when I moved her so I found this very strange as a month had gone by since the first fry were born. In any case I managed to get all 3 fry out and into the 2.5 gallon, so now have 4 happy (but small) fry.
Came down yesterday morning to find mom hiding at bottom of tank and she is normally very active. I tested for ammonia right away and sure enough .25. So I added Tetra EasyBalance plus and did a 25% water change. I also added imagitarium biological booster hoping to speed up the cycle. She seemed to be acting back to her normal self this morning. I did another 25% water change before leaving for work all the same. When I got home this evening she was hiding again and seemed stressed. So I tested the water and back to .25. Nitrates are 0. I am afraid I am stopping the cycle from happening, but we really don’t want to lose our fish. Do I move her in with the fry? They are still small and I worry she will eat them, but there are hiding places and perhaps she be too stressed to be interested? I also know this will make it difficult to get the tank to cycle if there is no longer a fish in there, but I am so nervous about what will happen when the ammonia changes to nitrite. Any advice you can give me? Thanks in advance.
