joshthefisherman

I am cycling my new 55g tank i put in water about a week ago then the next day i put in 4 zebra danios they are all looking great. Ihear that during the cycle your water gets a bit cloudy wich it has i was just wondering if i should do a water change like 10% would that effect the cycle. Also one of my zebras is pretty bloated could it be pregnant. Thanks Fl

Trio123

During cycling you still do 25% water changes every week. I have heard that you may not want to siphon the gravel the first couple weeks so that the nitrifying bacteria can develop without disturbance. But if its grungy siphon it. You will want to test your ammonia and nitrite. You should get a ammonia peak then a nitrite peak then you tank should be cycled but keep testing just incase something wacky happens. Also I am not sure that you want to put a Jack Dempsey in with zebra danios .

joshthefisherman

i will be getting rid of the danios they are just for cycling i just tested the ammonia and its 0 does this mean my tank hasnt started cycling

MedicBiker

Without nitrate and nitrite readings, it is impossible to tell.

susitna-flower

This isn't a complete picture of the cycle. Refer to the link at the top of this page, nitrogen cycle....

You do have a spike of ammonia and nitrite during the cycle, BOTH of which are extremely toxic to fish, and will kill them if you don't do DAILY water changes of 25-50%!!! This is why a fishless cycle is suggested in the article.....

Your cycle however will not be finished until the NITRATES reading comes up and ammonia and nitrite go back down to 0....

With fish, this can take 4-6 weeks!!! OR you can add bio-spira and have fish in with no cycle worries.....bio-spira has all the beneficial bacteria that are needed to jump start your cycle, also explained in the article. Good Luck

55 is a good size to start with, but a JD will require a much bigger tank soon. Fish profiles here on fishlore can give you a clear picture of their requirements.....zebras don't get "pregnant", it sounds like dropsey to me... are the scales sticking out? Look in freshwater diseases to get a better description.

Blub

angelfish220

They dont get pregnant like a live bearer but the female will bloat with eggs and before you know it you got babies. My danios have produced more fry than my guppies! if the other danios one day bug the bloated one then the next day the bloated one isnt bloated then she layed eggs. If it dosent clear up in a week then you can get worried.

Trio123

Well 25% a week is better than none jk Sorry about the faulty information, I thought I knew what I was talking about

joshthefisherman

I think i might have overfed the danio because i skipped a day of feeding and it is now normal

Angela_96

There are a ton of different ways to cycle tanks now. The fish way with stocking them w/ hardy fish like you are doing, fishless cycling where you use ammonia, filter media from another tank that is already established or using gravel from another tank that is established, using chemicals for cycling which speeds up the process.

We actually used a bacteria culture which came w/ our tank and chemicals and still waited 2 weeks before we put our cichlids in. I asked questions about the filter media because it does have so much bacteria in my other tanks and if you can use gravel, you should be able to get filter material from other tanks and put in the tank to get the bacteria established.

The nitrogen cycle is very harsh on the fish! Just like they said, make sure you do the water changes to help them.