trumpet-205

Hello everyone,

I am new to this auqrium hobby. My parent just bought me a 1.66 gallon of tank for goldfish (I know it is VERY small for a fish like goldfish, but due to budget concern and the fact that my parents want me to have some success before getting a much larger tank, this small tank is what I have to go with for now).

Right now I am cycling this tank with fishfood. I can't find any store that sells pure ammonia. My problem is that it has been 3 days now since the ammonia reading hasn't change. Every time I test my water for ammonia it always return a reading of 0.5 PPM. I add more and more fish food everyday, yet the readings are the same. Is it normal?

I also test nitrite and nitrate with test strip, readings shows that 10 ppm of nitrate presence while 0 ppm of nitrite presence.

I am so confused on what is happening inside the tank!

PS. I also have another question. When I went to Walmart or PetSmart, they are selling common goldfish with prices of around 20 cents, in massive quantity. What is the difference between these fish then other common goldfish that are sold around 2 dollars?

agabr123

does it have a heater and filter? if so then you could keep a betta in it (temporarily) MUCH better than a goldfish. goldies need at least a 20 gallon tank for the first and 10 for each additional (so a 50 gallon tank for four goldies). bettas really need more like a 5 gallon tank but 1.66 would be alright temporarily as long as you kept up the water changes.

the cycle takes quite some time, my 10 gallon took a month and a half to cycle. it's normal to have nitrAte before you see a nitrIte spike, patience is the key

kojen

a lot of tap water will have a nitrate reading of close to ten so if you are really wondering if you are getting anywhere you can check your tap water to get a baseline also using products such as tetra safe start or similar may help you cycle faster

bodieman

a goldfish in a 1 gallon is a horrible idea. a betta would be a better idea. along with doing what the others said you should stop using the test strips they are pretty unrelyable. a liquid test kit would give you more accurate readings.

Lucy

Welcome to Fish Lore

The fish food takes a little while to break down into ammonia, so you probably need to give it more time.
It's going to be very hard to succeed with your tank.
I admire your wanting to cycle the tank without fish It shows you really care about the health of your future fish.

While I understand your parent's thinking in starting off small, it's not a good idea when it comes to fish tanks.
There really aren't any fish that can live comfortably in a 1.66 gallon tank. The toxins from fish waste can build up quickly in such a small amount of water.

I don't agree with the suggestions of putting a Betta in the tank. Bettas are tropical and need a heater. In your size tank, it's hard to keep the water a consistant temperature.

The cheaper gold fish that you see are usually feeder fish.

Good luck