Hey

[siamstone]

I just joined-- and I have a question already. I'd like to get some fancy guppies. I've never heard of "cycling " before. Never did it when I had a tank as a kid. I'm not on city tap water, do I still need to cycle? Can I use pond water? The neighborhood kids catch fish out of this pond all the time.

 

[WhiteDevil]

no cant use pond water. if you arent on city water you are on a well which can be good and bad, cycling is just a simple 8 week process that you can do with or without fish(? I prefer with fish so its a natural bacteria enviornment not a chemically induced bacteria environment), its need to establish any fish tank. however with guppies you dont really need to cycle first they will cycle for you.

 

[joy13]

I never cycled as a kid either back when the tanks had the stainless steel frames around them. You don't want to use pond water since you don't know what type of stuff might be lurking in it. You will still need to cycle your tank if you are on well water. You can do a silent cycle if you have a friend with a tank that you can get some filter medium from to help jump start the cycle. Since I am allergic to ammonia I had to use fish food the first time I cycled my tank it took a lot longer but it was worth not torturing any fish.

What type of guppies are you thinking about getting?

 

[FishEggs]

hi siamstone welcome aboard.

what you need to do is scroll down on the forums board untill you see the heading Freshwater. Click on the Freshwater & Brackish- Getting Started page and read the stickies at the top of the board. lots of good info there. also on the navigation bar at the top of the page there is an articles section with more info on many other things.

 

[melosu58]

Welcome aboard. I agree with Fish eggs that if you post your questions in the FW forums you`ll get more answers.

 

[Ziggy953]

Welcome to AA!