Actually i like the fish food idea as i already had it for my other tanks, and it is not as bad as you think. I have used it to cycle every single 1 of my tanks with no problem. Just added some for the first 4 days and then i stopped. I found the mess was minimum especially if you have a filter running, no problems what so ever. Besides, i am too lazy to go buy ammonia and if there is any mess i would clean it up on the water change you have to do to the tank is cycled.
My 20 gallon build thread
- Thread starter mommytron
- Start date
The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
logansmomma1228
Aquarium Advice Addict
+1 on the pure ammonia, but also +1 on the fish food. I used the pure ammonia to get my ammonia to 4ppm, then I used a pinch of fish food a day to maintain it at a low level. I don't think it would hurt if you added plants while cycling, but it might take longer.
The tank looks gorgeous! Good job
The tank looks gorgeous! Good job
thanks logansmomma1228 
. i did change the rocks, though. we pulled the white ones out and added some red polished river rocks instead. looks pretty good, will look even better when we add plants (which i'm very anxious to do). we also decided we didn't want to buy any more ammonia and just added some fish food. we added a good sized pinch. we will test it later tonight or tomorrow morning to see where it's at.
here's the new look
. i did change the rocks, though. we pulled the white ones out and added some red polished river rocks instead. looks pretty good, will look even better when we add plants (which i'm very anxious to do). we also decided we didn't want to buy any more ammonia and just added some fish food. we added a good sized pinch. we will test it later tonight or tomorrow morning to see where it's at. here's the new look
Attachments
mellawson
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I like it, good job!
SnailPowered
Aquarium Advice Freak
I really like the look of it! That PFS is much better than the really white PFS IMHO, but I am also trying to plan a tank that looks natural. Liveaquaria.com says that angels need 30 gallons and that gouramis are all territorial unless they are in schools that are more female than male. I think with the back painted it is going to look great! Good luck!
i was actually expecting the whiter PFS but was very happy when i saw this. i wanted a dark substrate to begin with. after the pinch of fish food we added last night the ammonia was still 0 so we added 2 more pinches today. we'll see in the morning!
so we've got barely any ammonia with a whole bunch of fish food. so we're going to get it going with some ammonia. hopefully my friend will be able to give me an established filter cartridge or substrate again. so i think i've figured out what the stock will be for fish and plants.
plants:
Anubias barteri Nana (or marbled)
Cryptocoryne wendtii (red)
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Java fern
Java moss (will only add if i feel like the tank looks too bare)
I'm also thinking about water sprite and Nymphaea lotus 'Zenkeri' or tiger lotus. maybe a bit later on.
for fish this is what i'm thinking:
10 cardinal tetras
4 otocinclus
i'm also thinking honey gouramis. i was thinking just one due to stocking reasons but would they do better in pairs? or maybe 2f for 1m? i've read mixed things, just wondering on everyone's thoughts.
thanks!!
plants:
Anubias barteri Nana (or marbled)
Cryptocoryne wendtii (red)
Cryptocoryne spiralis
Java fern
Java moss (will only add if i feel like the tank looks too bare)
I'm also thinking about water sprite and Nymphaea lotus 'Zenkeri' or tiger lotus. maybe a bit later on.
for fish this is what i'm thinking:
10 cardinal tetras
4 otocinclus
i'm also thinking honey gouramis. i was thinking just one due to stocking reasons but would they do better in pairs? or maybe 2f for 1m? i've read mixed things, just wondering on everyone's thoughts.
thanks!!
i don't think we put in enough fish food. today i went a little bonkers and added like 2 tsp of food that i ground up pretty good in my hand. the tank looks a little messy now.... lol. but i figure if it is too much i will just do a PWC and get all the extra gunk out.
.50 ppm!! woohoo!! ....lol....gonna go to the hardware store and get some pure ammonia tomorrow after doing a HUGE water change because our tank looks like someone dumped a few cans of coke into it 
. freakin mopani....
. freakin mopani....dwarf gourami should be kept in pairs. They don't do well by its self. You can try a male and a female as a pair. That is what my fish guy told me to do. I haven't gotten mine yet because my tank is still cycling and I use the fish food method.
They do fine singly, and actually pairs with gouromis can be a problem as if you get 2 males they can do some serious damage to each other, and with just a male and a female you get the male harassing the female too much.
CA_BroncoFan
Aquarium Advice Addict
+1
They're much like bettas in a sense which means if you wanna breed them wait for the bubble nest then add the female. Id only ad more if you have PLENTY of break up and hiding spots in the tank like dw, rocks and plants.
i just did a test for ammonia and nitrite. ammonia is around 2.0ppm and nitrite is between 0.50 and 1.0!!!!!!!!! you don't understand how excited i am. it happened much faster than i thought it would, i think having the fish food in for a week or so at .5ppm ammonia did more than i thought. pure ammonia was dosed up to 4ppm on wednesday. fish food was added 1 week before that (then all water replaced, PFS vac'd, new water added, then dosed ammonia to 4ppm). i will wait until the ammonia drops a bit more to add some more. i think ph is around 7.6, i'm not positive, i still need to pick up a high range test kit.
thanks for everyone's input about gourami's. i think i'm going to get a school of tetras, then work on a group of otos or cories, then i will decide if i want any more fish than that. it seems like they would do better in a more established tank, anyway.
thanks for everyone's input about gourami's. i think i'm going to get a school of tetras, then work on a group of otos or cories, then i will decide if i want any more fish than that. it seems like they would do better in a more established tank, anyway.
eja206
Aquarium Advice Activist
i am now following!
i like the rocks and wood - excited to see the fish in there!
i like the rocks and wood - excited to see the fish in there!
DragonFish71
Great white snark
<--- has sugar white PFS
i love my PFS. i was actually expecting it to be the white PFS but when we opened the bag i was so psyched! i settled for PFS because of all the good things everyone was saying about it, even though i originally wanted black substrate of some sort. it was also MUCH cheaper! we used probably half of the 50lb bag which was only 7 bucks.
this wednesday we will be adding the plants. assuming the cycle is done, we will be adding our first batch of tetras one week later. i was thinking we will add 5 tetras at first, keep an eye on the parameters for a week, then add 5 more the next wednesday. i would love to add all 10 at once, but i'm worried that would be too much bioload and may mini cycle. any thoughts?
this wednesday we will be adding the plants. assuming the cycle is done, we will be adding our first batch of tetras one week later. i was thinking we will add 5 tetras at first, keep an eye on the parameters for a week, then add 5 more the next wednesday. i would love to add all 10 at once, but i'm worried that would be too much bioload and may mini cycle. any thoughts?
