10 gal community tank, fish-in cycle: Advice appreciated

[CPryor]

Hey all!

I've never "actively" cycled a tank before: I had a gifted 5 gal that I put a Betta in: he's four years old, so I guess he cycled out ok

But, I got a 10 gal. as a birthday present for my boyfriends son who stays with us part-time. Being 9 years old, he wanted fish right away, so we settled on two Leopard Danios to do a fish-in cycle with (we will get a third or two of another variety of Danio when we finish cycling).

I had my Bettas water tested for the first time when we got the fish - our PH was a little low, but that was the only parameter that was a bit off, so I got some PH Up and added it with the danios - don't want to shock the poor things any more than need be. We use API Stress Coat Plus to dechlorinate, so they have some aloe vera in there for their slime. We "seeded" the new gravel with a small handful of out bettas gravel.

My question is, other than checking the water parameters, any other advice to cycle humanely? Are we doing the best we can?

 

[CPryor]

Oh, here's the tank:

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Looks almost exactly like my 10G tank that I'm trying to do fish-in cycling now. Same gravel too. This forum is great and I've learned a lot.

Anyway... the key is to not be afraid to change the water too often. Do a 50% change whenever your ammonia gets high. Some people disagree on what level is actually dangerous. 0.5 ppm is probably the most realistic. But check your tap water. Mine has 1 ppm right out of the tap because of the chloramines my water district uses. I also recommend getting a bottle of Seachem Prime to use as your water conditioner. It will detoxify the ammonia for 24-48 hours. I think that stuff is the only thing keeping my fish alive sometimes. A little goes a long way too, so it's a bargain.

Other than that, make sure you have lots of good filter media for the good bacteria to colonize. And then... be patient. I'm at three weeks with no drop in ammonia yet.

And... if your fish end up dying, read up on fishless cycling and do that instead. It's what I would have done.

 

[CPryor]

Thank you for the advice!

Yeah, I think I overwhelmed myself doing research....the fish-less cycle scared me a bit, but I probably would have gone and done it if I didn't have a 9 year old hyped up on birthday adrenaline spurring me on -_-

I'm hoping my established tank will provide me with some good bacteria I can seed in as needed. I think I'm going to add some of the live plants from that tank soon.

I guess since I'm not doing this very scientific-like, it'll take awhile to really establish...but I'm hoping I can go slow and easy on the fish

 

[RightTurnClyde]

Also, don't mess around with your PH. At least not yet. I've learned that most fish can adapt to just about any reasonable PH level as long as it stays consistent. And read up extensively on the nitrogen cycle, since that is your ultimate goal. Not sure if a few pieces of gravel from your old tank will be enough to really kick start your new one. Is there a filter on the betta tank?

 

[CPryor]

No, my Betta is not filtered. He's in an Aqueon 5 gal tank - it came with a filter, but it was old and loud and seemed to blow him around the tank, so i took it out. I planted it with java moss and an anubias nana, to oxygenate the water....he never seems to have to come up too much for air with them in the tank.

The Anubias nana is fully grown and healthy, I was thinking of splitting it and putting half in the new tank today (day 3 of the new tank) to seed it some more.

I bought the PH stuff just to have on hand....I put it in with the fish, but figured I wouldn't mess with it too much after....I just wanted the water to be as "familiar as possible" when i plunked them in. Our tap water read at 6.2, whereas the pet store i got them from keeps the water around 7 -7.5, since they have an open system with cichlids.

 

[Mattyfelts]

Yeah you should be okay, if you want a filter for your betta get a small Aquaclear 10 HOB filter. they have a dial that you adjust flow with. my betta when in a 10 never had a problem with filters.

Just make sure your bettas water is heated.

Now, with the fish-in cycle. I did this my first time and killed three albino corys not knowing what i was doing, just watch the params. and do many water changes. Do you have a test kit? If not i would personally do 2 x 35-45% water changes a week just to keep everything in line.

Goodluck!

 

[CPryor]

Yup, my Betta has a heater.

I don't have a test kit myself, but i work at a store that does free water tests, so when I go in on Wednesday I'm going to bring a sample. Later today I'll do a water change to keep them happy until then.

As stated...i work in a pet store. My "speciality" is the hamsters, since I had them all though my young life. Part of my getting this fish tank was so I could get some "first hand" experience to share with customers. It drives me crazy when they come to get fish and I see the tank the fish will live in the cart. I try to tell them to set the tank up first and let it run at least a night....and i tell them to get only one or two fish to start off with....but, yanno, impulse buys win every time -______-

The fact that we have a two week return policy does not help. People buy 40048329853 fish to put in their new aquarium, then come back and exchange them all in a week when they're all dead.