How necessary is fishless cycling a 5.5 gallon betta tank?

[SCC93]

I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to fishless cycle my filtered 5.5 gallon. I've used TSS and Dr. Tim's (and I don't know anyone with a cycled tank) and after about 3 weeks I haven't gotten any nitrite or nitrate readings... My ammonia can drop relatively quickly (not sure if this is due to bacteria or a small Amazon Sword plant).

I'm about to give up hope fishless cycling because I've been staring at an empty tank for almost a month with no progress. How bad of an idea would it be to add a betta if it the cycle doesn't progress in the next two weeks and are there any tips on how to go about fish-in cycling with a betta?

 

[NigelK8485]

Honestly, even though I'm a fishless cycling advocate, when I was younger and didn't realize what cycling was I would always just add the betta and never had one die or have a shorter than average life.

If you add the betta just do water changes religiously to help the fish be comfortable. Three or four a week would be easy to manage on a 5.5 gallon tank. You'll probably end up experiencing a bacteria bloom so increase water changes and oxygenation during that and it'll sort itself out.

During the initial cycling you could dose Prime in between water change days to help make the ammonia and nitrites non-toxic.


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[lomeli562]

You could try putting in a guppy or two and do it that way its not fishless but i dont see why it wont work

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[NigelK8485]

You could try putting in a guppy or two and do it that way its not fishless but i dont see why it wont work

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Why would you put in guppies when the desired fish is a betta? Just do the betta and multiple water changes a week. Bettas are pretty hardy fish.


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[Jferrante]

Betta fish are some seriously hardy fish otherwise they'd all die in those tiny jars. The live in basically ... well see for yourself...

that's a wild one so it's a little tougher and the ones in stores are likely offspring that are well adjust to cleaner waters. But they still have that hardiness overall.

I think if you put an easy low light plant in the tank you'll be in great shape. The main page to this site also has a fish-in cycle guide that's pretty nice but it'd more geared toward tropical community fish. They love plants and the plants will also help keep the water in good shape. Just keep it by a window for best growth and health.
The best tank of all for this kind of fish should have like dirt and a bunch of plants then you don't even need to do much to it. they call it the Walstad method. But you can use a potted plant (add root tabs to ensure really good growth from the plants and the best filtration while just using any kind of gravel.)

You can get a heater and they'll be happier with warmer water but I've had a betta do fine at room temperature too... but he doesn't do much till it's daytime and a bit warmer.

I'd say you can add the betta with no problems. But keep in mind bettas don't always get along with other fish.