new 20g questions

[kloned]

im just about finished setting up a new 20g long tank with a penguin 150 and i was thinking of getting 5 zebra danios and 3 ghost shrimp to help cycle it. is this good enough? should i start with more than 5 danios?

also, what other fish would be good to add after the tank is cycled? i was thinking some corys would be good and how many?

 

[mattrox]

Check out fishless cycling. A search will give you a host of threads to read. If you were going to do a fishy cycle, then only go with the Danios. You will need to do daily(ish), ymmv, partial water changes to keep the ammonia level below 1.5pmm (1 pmm is ideal). For that you will need a test kit. (You would need a test kit going fishless anyway). If you do a search on this site for test kits you will find a plethera of threads on the topic.

Your fish shouldn't be harmed if you do it properly, but depending on your experience level, a fishless cycle will guarantee no fish deaths.

 

[Blazeherd2306]

IMO, fishless cycling is much better.
Here's a link:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=15

 

[gheitman]

If you are going to use zebra danios to cycle your tank I would start out with fewer fish and add the ghost shrimp later. You could also look at getting BIO-Spira to instantly cycle your tank.

As far as other fish to get when you are done cycling, cories are fun to watch and I would recommend getting no less than five. You might want to also look at some neon tetras. They are very colorful and look good in a school of eight or more.

 

[malkore]

another vote for fishless cycling. And ghost shrimp won't do anything to help with a fishy cycle, until they die from ammonia poisoning and start contributing to the ammonia levels themselves

 

[mr86mister]

if you do start with fish to cycle, just 2-3 danios should work fine and nothing else....just feed them regularly and dont expect them to live forever....but sometimes they actually do....good luck on your new aquarium!!!

 

[chasgood]

some reading for kloned.

http://www.2cah.com/netmax/basics/water/water.shtml

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=23

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biologicalcycle/a/nitrogencycle.htm
http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/waterchemsitry/a/watertesting.htm

links to many sites with info
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=11504&highlight=
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/phplinks/index.php?PHPSESSID=426f8c58dec43ab89eb305f02b2027fe&PID=5

good luck