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**wvgdiscus** · 08-21-2007, 11:02 AM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

You can use any fish for cycling a tank. I prefer to use the cheapest fish possible but not feeders as the carry more diseases. I hate to loose anything I spent a lot of money on.

If you have the money get the master test kit. They take a litle more time to use but they are more accurate then the test strips are.

**CatFishLady** · 08-21-2007, 11:32 AM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

From experience, I strongly recommend a fishless cycle. Doesn't matter how "hardy" they say the fish are...some of my "hardy" fish died

I use API's master test kit. Bought at Petsm@rt.

**Anonapersona** · 08-21-2007, 12:22 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

5 zebra danios will be fine. Get them from a good pet store, not Walmart of Petsmart, I prefer any store that has separate filtration on tanks, not all combined which shares diseases from imported fish.

I suggest getting Prime to use as your water conditioner as it will ease the problems of ammonia and nitrite. Do frequent small water changes, and treat the entire tank with Prime each time, so do a 10 gallon water change and treat the full 30 gallon tank. Prime is cheap, allows the filter to cycle properly, eases the fish stresses with cycling.

Get a good test kit, Aquarium Pharm. is fine, about $15 at Pet City.

Cycling takes 40 days, more or less.

**finfan** · 08-21-2007, 05:08 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

i ended up not finding any zebra danios (i know, they are usually always available), so i got 6 white clouds, and three little bunches of crypt lucerns, even these three little plants look beautiful in the tank, live plants are just amazing, anyway, as soon i let the white clouds in the tank, they started schooling around as if they had been there for years, they started going around the tank and then swimming underneath the plants and playing with each other happily, i had to sit and stare for a while before i could remove myself, anyway, i HOPE that the cycling goes well and they all stay healthy through the process, they have pretty colors too, i have black substrate (EC) and black background and they colors just pop

**eklikewhoa** · 08-21-2007, 05:10 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

White clouds are cold water fish just FYI

**Tiapan** · 08-22-2007, 03:42 AM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

i dont like fishless cycling the whole idea is that u need a sorce of ammonia and without fish that mean chemincals or just rotting food in the tank. (i prefer fish to rotting food or chemicals) anyway its hard to beat zebra danios for hardiness, but i remmember a good rule that i have almost always stuck by (that is without plants because they speed the process quite a bit) no more then 4 small fish (danio or tetra size) ina 10 gallon to start and you can add about 2 fish per 10 gallons past that. so 6 for 20 or no more then 8 for a 30, so the amount of white clouds you got should be fine especially with the plants in there. that rule had gotten me through i lost count of how many cycles wiht almost never any fish loss during cycle. only ones that failed me were senstive fish like loaches of the like (which i know i should have held off on) anyway white clouds are fairly well adaptable and always do well for me in heated tanks of not.

**Anonapersona** · 08-22-2007, 10:10 AM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

If you hvae good enough light, the plants will use the ammonia the fish produce, to the extent that they can. to the extant that they cannot, there will be nitrites produced. Test for each after a few days. Right now with freshly filled tank, all is well for a few days. At about 5 days, you may need a small water change.

**finfan** · 08-22-2007, 10:19 AM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

thanks for the tips guys, the plants and fish look good so far, i LOVE the crypt lucerns, look so cool, i want to get more plants, but i am trying to be patient about it so i get the right plants, i will take pictures so i can do a timeline picture thing a few months later :)

**sproett** · 08-22-2007, 12:39 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

i recently boughts some white clouds and in less than a week they spawned, i have about 15 baby fry (about two weeks old). they're neat fish!

**finfan** · 08-22-2007, 01:37 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

sproett, where did you get your clouds from? i got mine from fishgallery, i took a quick trip during lunch and couple of them are not looking so good

, the water parameters are probably not right!!!, i need to get a test kit soon, this sucks, my betta, who has been there for two days is doing fine though, i hope i did not mess this up!

**Tiapan** · 08-22-2007, 02:32 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

congrats sproett on your spawn, but back to main topic if your water is gettin a little outa sorts just do a small partial water change. a lot of people worry a great deal but u need a little ammonia to get it all going, and typically if the fish are a hardy variety they will survive a small spike, the big thing to do is not over feed (very easy to do with small fish) i wouldnt even feed the tank everyday, say once everyother day and that helps a great deal because you get lower spikes in the cycle which means lower stress levels for fish. because once the cycles is finished t adjusts faster because its easier for bacteria to multiply then originate from scratch. the other reason the plants were a good idea is because they bring some of that bacteria with them and they do feed off of ammonia. just so you know crypts ten to get a lot of nutrients from their substrate, i have lucens and i like it too

**finfan** · 08-22-2007, 02:37 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

thanks tiapan, that makes sense, i was getting really worried, i guess there is always the risk with cycling with fish, and its good to know that crypts get a lot of their nutrients from substrate because i have all EC substrate, are most rooting plants like that?

**loopy119** · 08-25-2007, 03:38 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

Is there a good article about how to cycle freshwater tanks? I found a nice one on a goldfish site, but it doesn't say what to do next...like, how often do you cycle your tank? How much water should you change and how often after that? I know these are probably stupid questions, but I really am confused. LOL! What kind of filter do you use when you cycle? Help! 8O

Rebekah

**loopy119** · 08-25-2007, 03:40 PM

Re: what type and how many fish for cycling???

Oh, I found that article about cycling the tank that I was talking about:

Page Not Found - onbet

http://www.kokosgoldfish.com/cycle.html

It's really interesting!

Rebekah

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