Well.. Guess its a fish in cycle now!

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Mrs.h2012

Mrs.h2012

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Jul 30, 2012
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My mom took my son out and since he hasn't quit talking about our new 'fishes house' (what he calls our tank lol!) and it having no fish, she went out and bought two platy's, a micky mouse and a red wag platy. They have been in the tank since Thursday, I've already done a PWC just to be on the safe side, the fish were both hiding in the back around plants for a while, but after the PWC they seem a lot more active now and exploring a lot more. I will be going to get the master test kit today, I've been keeping an eye in the pH and it's holding steady at 7.6 so far, temp is staying between 76-78 degrees. I've only been feeding them once a day. I've read that platy's do better if you add aquarium salt to the tank, should I be doing this while it cycles or should I wait until its cycled then start adding the salt?
 
What else are you adding to the tank or do you not know?

I've got 4 in a community tank and don't bother with salt.
 
Not sure of what else I will add, maybe some endlers livebearers, quite honestly these platy's are really growing on me, I love how they look! I only have a 10g.
 
I was never a livebearer fan until I picked up some platy. I picked up some Mickey mouse platys from the local pet store and fell in love. I started out with 4 but one was not well from the get go and died shortly after I got it. I went back for a replacement and the guy said he'd had a lot of returns on them and if I wanted he'd "upgrade" to another platy. I got a lovely wagtail.

Do you know if they are male or female?
 
I'd hold off on the salt also unless you see a nitrite spike, at that time definitely get some salt in there to help with toxicity. As long as its just those 2 fish, a fish-in cycle should be easy enough to maintain without a huge work load.
 
jetajockey said:
As long as its just those 2 fish, a fish-in cycle should be easy enough to maintain without a huge work load.
Click to expand...

^ Agreed.

Don't let the boy overfeed them, which he'll surely want to do since feeding is the fun part. A couple flakes once a day will sustain them during the cycle. I'd pick out the flakes, then let him feed them so he feels involved.
 
I've been doing the feeding, he just enjoys looking at them. He helps me change the water out, he is going to be three this Halloween, he enjoys helping me fill the water bucket with water more than anything right now lol, not mention just looking at them in the tank. From what I can tell both are female, I've looked up how to tell the difference between male and female, and both my platy's have the more fanned out fin.
 
I'm currently at home all the time right now so I have the time to dedicate to water testing and water changes, even if that means daily water changes. So far my son is showing no interest in wanting to feed them yet, I'll probably keep him out of it and not get him interested in it until the cycle is complete atleast or until we get up to the stock amount we can have. Which leads me to another question... How much more could I stock the tank without over stocking? This is my second go around with fish, and the first time around I had fish die off all the time and I just accepted it and thought fish didn't have a long life span (this was nearly 3 years ago), but this time around I know different from research and I'm trying to learn what to do to prevent the die offs like my first go around. My husband is also
Getting into it a lot too :)
 
Well, went to go get the master test kit... And they were sold out. Go figure. Great.
 
Sweet thanks! I'll just be sure and do pwc's everyday to be on the safe side.
 
Yeah getting it off of amazon is better IMO. I didn't find six dollars of stuff and so I had to pay shipping but it still was 8 dollars cheaper than at a store.
 
Ordered my test kit today, waiting on it to get here now!
 
I remember from reading articles and a few threads on here that I shouldn't let ammonia get above .25ppm, what levels should I keep the nitrite and nitrate levels at?
 
So anytime levels get close to that I should just do a PWC to get levels down right?
 
Mrs.h2012 said:
So anytime levels get close to that I should just do a PWC to get levels down right?
Click to expand...

yep! ammo and nitrite above .25 or so and nitrates below 20 is a good target while cycling. Usually when a tank is cycled weekly changes are enough to control nitrates so long as you are not over stocked or over feeding and then ammo and nitrite will stay at 0.
 
And another thing, until my kit gets here should
I be doing PWC's everyday or every other day? I have been stirring the gravel up a good bit to get a lot of the junk out, should I give the gravel a break for a little while to let the BB grow or will cleaning it with just a siphon mess the cycle up?
 
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