So like most beginners I bought the tank and fish not knowing the cycling process. I quickly found this place after 2 fish and learned your ways. I bought aqeoun water conditioner and Tetra flakes along with my starter kit that included 10g tank, lights, hood, filter, and I bought gravel substrate, and a decent heater set at 76-77. I have been trying to cycle my tank for two weeks now with 3 zebras and my ammonia is only at .25-5. I don't have any trites or trates. Please help me I need advice for I lack experience ?. I wanna seem them trites and trates kick in
Beginners luck
- Thread starter jamesfoad
- Start date
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venymae
Aquarium Advice Addict
keep doing water changes, keep your ammonia down. It takes time. Bacteria have to reproduce to grow in numbers and time really is the best thing. I'm pretty sure 6 weeks is common. Have you read the article on fish-in cycling? If not you should.
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
You are on the right track and it's great that you are learning. I can't wait to hear about how your tank turns out!
I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
You are on the right track and it's great that you are learning. I can't wait to hear about how your tank turns out!
Don't feed tetra food!!! it's full of fillers and crap. Try fluval or omega one(or both) and supplement frozen fish foods like bloodworm. Also use prime water conditioner. It will neutralize the affects of ammonia and nitrites on fish without disturbing the cycle. I would also suggest that you only run your lights for 4-5 hours a day only until your tank is cycled. It will help speed up the process. I would suggest you raise your tank temp to 80-83F until the tank is cycled, but zebra danios don't like high temps, 74-76 is their preferred temp. Good luck and remember that this takes time.
it's full of fillers and crap. Try fluval or omega one(or both) and supplement frozen fish foods like bloodworm. Also use prime water conditioner. It will neutralize the affects of ammonia and nitrites on fish without disturbing the cycle. I would also suggest that you only run your lights for 4-5 hours a day only until your tank is cycled. It will help speed up the process. I would suggest you raise your tank temp to 80-83F until the tank is cycled, but zebra danios don't like high temps, 74-76 is their preferred temp. Good luck and remember that this takes time. 
mistersprinkles
Aquarium Advice FINatic
We're not saying that Tetramin is going to kill your fish, but let's talk about fish food
.The first 12 ingredients in Tetramin tropical flakes are
Fish meal, dried yeast, ground brown rice, shrimp meal, wheat gluten, feeding oat meal, fish oil, potato protein, dehulled soybean meal, soybean oil, algae meal
The first 12 ingredients in Omega One tropical flakes are
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring , Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin
Omega one uses not one, but several fresh fish. Not fish meal like Tetra, fresh fish. 4 kinds. After that they use whole shrimp and whole krill (shrimp like crustaceans). There is no grain (binder) until 7 ingredients down the line. In the Tetra food, meanwhile, there is grain (rice) as the third ingredient.
Also, note that Tetra, instead of adding lots of natural protein sources like Omega One, adds several inferior, cheap protein sources. Dried Yeast, wheat gluten. Cheap cheap filler proteins. They even use potato protein for crying out loud. Have you ever heard of a fish eating a potato?
Feed your fish quality if you want extra healthy, beautiful fish with good color.
Omega Sea/Omega One
Ocean Nutrition
OSI
New Life Spectrum
Dainichi
Northfin
These companies all make superior grade fish food.
Pellets are always better than flake as they have a smaller surface area for things to oxidize in them. More concentrated nutrition as well. Your danios can probably take 1mm pellets if they are near adult size.
If you can't find quality foods at your local pet stores, order it online. Amazon has them all. So does Ebay. Or you can order from a specialized online aquaria retailer.
Get a 1/2 pound bag, take a little bit out at a time to keep in a little jar, and store the bulk of it in a sealed bag in the freezer.
librarygirl
Look It Up
Two weeks isn't much time; just be more patient, it'll happen. What test kit are you using? If it's strips, they aren't very accurate, I would invest in the API Master kit. Here's a guide to fish-in cycling if you haven't seen it: I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?! - Aquarium Advice
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
We're not saying that Tetramin is going to kill your fish, but let's talk about fish food
The first 12 ingredients in Tetramin tropical flakes are
Fish meal, dried yeast, ground brown rice, shrimp meal, wheat gluten, feeding oat meal, fish oil, potato protein, dehulled soybean meal, soybean oil, algae meal
The first 12 ingredients in Omega One tropical flakes are
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring , Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten, Fresh Kelp, Lecithin
Omega one uses not one, but several fresh fish. Not fish meal like Tetra, fresh fish. 4 kinds. After that they use whole shrimp and whole krill (shrimp like crustaceans). There is no grain (binder) until 7 ingredients down the line. In the Tetra food, meanwhile, there is grain (rice) as the third ingredient.
Also, note that Tetra, instead of adding lots of natural protein sources like Omega One, adds several inferior, cheap protein sources. Dried Yeast, wheat gluten. Cheap cheap filler proteins. They even use potato protein for crying out loud. Have you ever heard of a fish eating a potato?
Feed your fish quality if you want extra healthy, beautiful fish with good color.
Omega Sea/Omega One
Ocean Nutrition
OSI
New Life Spectrum
Dainichi
Northfin
These companies all make superior grade fish food.
Pellets are always better than flake as they have a smaller surface area for things to oxidize in them. More concentrated nutrition as well. Your danios can probably take 1mm pellets if they are near adult size.
If you can't find quality foods at your local pet stores, order it online. Amazon has them all. So does Ebay. Or you can order from a specialized online aquaria retailer.
Get a 1/2 pound bag, take a little bit out at a time to keep in a little jar, and store the bulk of it in a sealed bag in the freezer.
That's a fantastic post mr sprinkles. I never even thought to look in to flake ingredients. To my horror I recently notice the fish food I was feeding was out of date. I bet it was poor quality too. I did feed bloodworm too but I bet my out of date food has contributed to a bacterial infection and poor water quality and nutrition. Either that or male latest ram which I failed to QT.
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
My tetra prima doesn't look good either
mistersprinkles
Aquarium Advice FINatic
My tetra prima doesn't look good either
No Tetra food is very good IMO. Omega One is one of the most affordable premium foods out there. You might want to check it out.
xsryman
Aquarium Advice Freak
This was a brand new can of food I opened up around the first part of December. By second week of January I had 6 fish die. 3 zebra danios and 3 neon tetras. I had those fish for almost 1-1/2 years. They all got swollen stomachs and basically exploded. I thout it was a parasites or something and started treatment after signs of swelling on my first fish. But be passed on and 5 more followed. I immediately switched to Omega One and haven't lost a fish in two weeks.
Coincidence...?maybe. Will I feed my little aqua buddies the other stuff any more...? @$!# NO!!!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
This was a brand new can of food I opened up around the first part of December. By second week of January I had 6 fish die. 3 zebra danios and 3 neon tetras. I had those fish for almost 1-1/2 years. They all got swollen stomachs and basically exploded. I thout it was a parasites or something and started treatment after signs of swelling on my first fish. But be passed on and 5 more followed. I immediately switched to Omega One and haven't lost a fish in two weeks.
Coincidence...?maybe. Will I feed my little aqua buddies the other stuff any more...? @$!# NO!!!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Hmm food really needs to be considered it seems. So I shall get some omega one. Bet it can't easily be sourced it the uk though
xsryman
Aquarium Advice Freak
i dont think the brand is important...just check the ingrediants. Look for fillers and other junk. If it's not made from other natural things then i wouldnt feed it to my fish.
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
New Life Spectrum is another high quality ingredients brand. I use both Omega and NLS. OS.
