Cycle with fish, or not to Cycle with fish?

[pettygil]

I would say cycle without fish. I had one Guppy Die, and one Betta Die, and 1 Cat Fish Cory, about to die, so I quickly add Cory to me 20 cycled tank.
I would say do a Fish in cycle but it did not work for me, water changes, and adding bacteria, and add conditioner. I did water changes everyday and my fishes died. I hate to see the fish suffer. Now if you want to cycle Endler's Livebeares, that is fine, as my Endler's Livebearer withstood the cycle process as they are super Hardy. I say this from experience. Some will say not to cycle any fish, so just be careful, if you do Cycle with a fish. There I'm done ranting on the Subject at hand, just my opinion.

[Aiken Drum]

There are pros and cons to both methods.

Generally a fish in cycle gets you where you want to be more consistently. But it has to be done in a manner that maintains safe water parameters for your fish while the tank cycles.

What i would say is the chloramine/ ammonia in your tap water complicates things a little because water changes wont make your tank water as safe as they would if your water is free of ammonia. The test results you posted showed levels of ammonia and nitrite that were too toxic, so even though you was doing daily water changes that wasnt sufficient, possibly due to the presence of ammonia in your tap water, possibly due to over feeding, or other factors.

[Aiken Drum]

Ive also been reading your thread on the other forum you mention elsewhere. A few of our members are also members of that forum.

It seems the fish store you mention supplies fish purely for the purpose of cycling tanks and then they are returned. This doesn't seem a healthy practice for those fish. Who knows how many times these fish have gone through a cycling process, how many different tanks they have lived in, who knows what health issues those fish come to you with.

If you want to cycle a tank using fish, buy fish you want to keep, start off with a low number of fish, say 1 small fish for every 10 gallons, feed lightly, change water regularly, gradually increase the numbers of fish over a number of months, gradually decrease the frequency of water changes over a number of months. If you are able, monitor water parameters regularly and change water whenever they get elevated beyond a certain point.

[pettygil]

I only want 2 Betta's. Not in the same tank thoe. So that is one fish per tank. I just have to get the water safe for the Betta's to live in. I know Betta's are also a hardy fish. My 20 gallon tank should be cycled by now, at least I hope it is.
It's been 3 months since i had the tank. And all my fish look super healthy in the tank. Anyways as soon as my tanks cycle I will be getting Betta's My ammonia is 0.25 And my ph is 75, to 8.0..it's hard to tell from the test strip.
my no 2 is 0, and my no3 is also 0, it's been that way for a few months. For the 20 Gallon.

[phd0480]

Started my tank 2 weeks ago:

29 Gallon
3 Long Fin Leopard Danios
Every Other Day checking ammonia (consistently 0.25 ppm), nitrites (just reached 0.5 ppm)
Weekly nitrate checks (5 ppm over the weekend)

Did this on recommendation from my local aquarium, who said it was relatively safe to live cycle a few small fish in a "larger" tank.

Fish look happy...stoked to add a few more down the road once it gets fully cycled.

Would welcome any suggestions or feedback!

[Aiken Drum]

You wont be able to fully cycle a tank with 3 danios in a 29g. Your tank will cycle sufficiently to cycle out the waste of those 3 fish. Once you add more your cycle will need to catch up. So you add a few more fish once you are happy your tank can cope with what you have, continue to monitor things as you are doing with the additional fish. Once you are happy things are good, add a few more. Etc etc.

Looks like you have made a great start. Keep it up.