Angelfish Breeding: Pt 2- Cycling and Spawning prep?? + Pics

[sherlock]

Okay guys, sorry for not updating you all! I have been getting lots of help from Andy and now my angelfish breeding tank is set up and running. I'm looking for some advice on cycling the tank because it will be stocked with only two angelfish and i don't have any fish to get the nitrogen cycle started. So far I have seeded the tank with bacteria from a sponge filter at my LFS and it has been running for 24 hours. My angelfish also seem to be cleaning off a site on the glass of their current community tank (after a 50% water change) so hopefully i'll get to see a preview before even putting them in a breeding tank!

I don't really know what to do with the breeding tank (26 gallons) as far as cycling because i don't want any more fish but i don't know if the angels are hardy enough to get it started.

I got a test kit and the water parameters of my tap are:

Ammonia: 0.6 mg/L
Nitrite and Nitrate: 0 mg/L
pH: 7-7.5

The tank is composed of:

abo. 1/2 reverse osmosis water
abo. 1/3 current (established) tank water
& the rest tap

 

[Andy Sager]

Since you seeded the tank, you can either acclimate the pair to the tank now and just keep your eyes on the ammonia level ( and do water changes IF it still rises) or just get a few fish that you will eventually put into your community tank once the Angels are moved and use them to check out the tank.

Here's an article with all the ways you can cycle a tank. The Nitrogen Cycle - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki

Hope this helps

 

[sherlock]

Since you seeded the tank, you can either acclimate the pair to the tank now and just keep your eyes on the ammonia level ( and do water changes IF it still rises) or just get a few fish that you will eventually put into your community tank once the Angels are moved and use them to check out the tank.

Here's an article with all the ways you can cycle a tank. The Nitrogen Cycle - The Free Freshwater and Saltwater Aquarium Encyclopedia Anyone Can Edit - The Aquarium Wiki

Hope this helps

Thanks for the reply andy I actually just sent you a DM but have now moved the angels back to the show tank. The quick start didn't work as it claimed and the ammonia level remained at 0.6 mg/L even after treatment. I didn't want to risk it so I am going to put those 3 zebra danios back in to assure that cycling has begun. Lesson learned and this is going to be a long, safe process no matter how impatient I get.