Tetra for cycling

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.

William470

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 28, 2010
Messages
30
Location
Wilmington, DE
Hello everyone. I tried unsuccessfully of attempting a fishless cycle (course of 3 months).

I switched to adding fish. I have danios in my tank. I would like to add some Tetras. What would you recommend as a good hardy Tetra in addition to a Danios?

Thanks
 
have you done a google search for them? there are tons of fish profile sites that give information on the different kinds. As far as I know all tetras are pretty hardy, but I could be wrong. Sorry to hear that the fishless cycle was unsuccesful. What did you use for your ammonia source?
 
I would strongly advise against using neon tetras as they can sometimes be too weak for a cycling fish. I would try danios. If your set on tetras then id look into getting black skirts or white skirts.
 
I would stick with the danios til it fully cycled. Don't forget to test ammonia nitrites and nitrates daily and do a pwc whenever ammonia or nitrite gets above .5ppm.
 
Thanks everyone for the replies.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why my fishless cycle never developed. I used pure clear ammonia as my source. And evertime I tested my water using the API Master Test kit ammonia never dropped or no signs of nitrites.

I am already used to testing daily lol. And water changes will be no problem. I picked up a Python like water changer to help with the process.

I may add a few more Danios. As they have been fun to watch.
 
from reading other posts on here, about stalled or killed cycles, re confirm that the ammonia you were using is pure, or unscented. any type of scent in the ammonia will kill your bacteria.
 
Tetras are very delicate, being mainly wild caught, try using black mollies. I've used them in the past and they just don't die, no matter what you do. Some people even use them to cycle marine tanks as they can survive in full sw.
 
Although I don't advocate cycling with fish, that is your choice. I appreciate that you tried to cycle without them.

Before I knew about cycling, I dumped 5 pristella tetras into my uncycled tank, and all made it. Hope that helps.
 
Danios were my choice, but be ready for alot of PWC. Check your levels daily so you don't torture the fish. Keep the Ammonia & NitrItes below 0.5PPM and they will be fine.
Good Luck
 
Danios were my choice, but be ready for alot of PWC. Check your levels daily so you don't torture the fish. Keep the Ammonia & NitrItes below 0.5PPM and they will be fine.
Good Luck

Thanks for the replies everyone.

I check my water parameters everday. Twice a day on the weekends. And my ammonia level has been at or just above 0.25 ppm since about Tuesday.

I check to make sure my fish are doing fine. I added 5 more Danio's the day after I added the 4. I know not the wisest thing to do but I was told the 4 alone would not produce a lot of bio.

All fish seem to be doing fine. They eat like the food is going out of style. They move around so much that it is tough to get a count to see if all nine are there.
 
Danios are dang near bullet-proof. I used those to cycle my first tank may years ago and they lived for 5 years.

Keep monitoring the water and doing the water changes as necessary and they will be fine.
 
Back
Top Bottom