Fish in cycle (danios)

[Boogs84]

I'm new to fish keeping, and i have recently purchased my first aquarium (Marina 60 Litre). Looking at most the post on this forum suggest that a fishless cycle is the best way to cycle your tank. I followed the LFS advice which was to do a fish in cycle, as I didn't come across this page beforehand. I set the tank up and used the aquaclear and aqua plus treatment kit for the first 3 days, then i purchased 4 Danios as told by the LFS. Now the danios have been in the tank for 5 Days and I'm not sure when i should do the first PWC, any advise would be welcome as each fish store seems to give me contrasting information.

Cheers

 

[neilanh]

For the sake of your fish, you'll need to monitor your Ammonia and NitrIte levels, and anytime either of those get to 0.5ppm or greater, do a PWC.

Make sure you're using a good, quality liquid test kit. I recommend the API Master Freshwater Test Kit.

 

[Amicus]

Neilanh's post is right, if you have four fish in the tank the levels need to be checked. How long has the cycle been running? What are your levelels at? How much are you feeding the fish. I waited until the cycle was almost complete to add 3 danios and 3 red minor tetras and seemed to have luck with that. Remember to also let the fish help the tank mature and for bennificial bacteria to establish at least on the gravel if no other structure in tank. I know adding fish is a great thing to look forward to but it is important to wait. I went too quickly. I just got rid of my danios as I found they are bullies and tormented my other fish. Maybe mine were abused as fry. Good luck and we're all here to help!

 

[Pvtdgrif]

Hi again,

Sorry i didnt reply sooner it was my birthday yesterday and I've been busy busy.

As a relative newbe myself (3 month old tank, fully cycled the wrong way) I've learnt that fishless cycle is the best way, so it would be best to return the fishes to the store until you have a cycled tank.
If that isn't going to happen then as long as you do a 20 - 40% PWC every day starting now until the ammonia and nitrite have both spiked and are have dropped back to 0 and nitrate has gone up (between 4 and 12 weeks).
Also look into "borrowing" some used filter media to speed up the cycle.
Following the above should get you through the cycle, but it will be a lot of hard work if you keep the fish. Without the fish you won't need to do the daily PWCs.

Check these threads for info...

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=116287&referrerid=33472

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/showthread.php?t=139587&referrerid=33472

The last one is my startup thread check out how many PWCs I had to do at 50L each time! If it wasn't for the used filter media I used for the second bacteria bloom I'd have been going at least 2 more weeks!!

Again make life easy for yourself and take the fishes back and get pure ammonia... Don't say we didn't warn you

 

[Boogs84]

Hi, thank you both for your comments and help i ordered the Nutrafin mini master test kit a couple of days back just waiting for it to be delivered. I have noticed that the danios are bully's too, constantly annoying each other. I definitely won't be adding any more fish until the cycle is completed. I will let you know how my testing turns out when the kit arrives. Thanks guys.

 

[Pvtdgrif]

Hi, thank you both for your comments and help i ordered the Nutrafin mini master test kit a couple of days back just waiting for it to be delivered. I have noticed that the danios are bully's too, constantly annoying each other. I definitely won't be adding any more fish until the cycle is completed. I will let you know how my testing turns out when the kit arrives. Thanks guys.

We are happy to offer our experiences. IMO I wouldn't wait for the test kit, I would do a 50% PWC asap just to be on the safe side as you may be poisoning the fish without knowing it right now.

 

[Boogs84]

Hey, the kit still hasn't arrived yet, so I'm going to do the water change today. Why does the LFS tell you to do it this way, if they know your poisoning the fish, you'd think they'd have the fishes welfare at heart. The pet shop I went to was a national store so I wouldn't think they would need to sell a lot of fish to stay afloat, excuse the pun lol.

 

[Joyler]

They are possibly bullying each other because they are stressed from 1) the cycling, or 2) danios like to be in bigger groups like tetras and white clouds and all other shoaling fish! Id say at least 6-8 of them...but then again, maybe they are just bullies lol