55 Gallon Has Been Up One Week Today-here's An Update

OK, tank has been cycling with two skirt tetras for one week, yesterday ammonia was at 0, nitrite-0 and nitrate was at 30. So I went to my LFS to look at some live plants for future use (maybe), Started talking to a gentleman about fish, (he raises Discus and Guppies amongst other fish) he seemed to be very educated on fish. He convinced me to buy 20 feeder goldfish to cycle my tank, I asked about doing water changes during the cycling process, he said wait a week before doing a large one (75%). He stated that the goldfish some would die, being concerned about that, I was saying, but what if they LIVE??? I really don't want a bunch of goldfish, as this tank was to be home to my other fish, he said "throw them away"!!! Well NO, I'm not going to do that, I do have a few that are kinda growing on me, and I'd like to know if I can keep them with my rainbow shark, gouraimI and rosy barbs. ( I would also like to add some Yoyo loaches in there too) These are the fish I want to have in my new 55 gallon. ( I have a plan to rehome any Goldfish I can't keep to my neighbors Koi pond, as he has no fish in it right now)
I also have received my API test kit, and it's been a big help! So, do I wait a week to do 75% water change or just continue to monitor the water for Ammonia and Nitrite and Nitrates?

 

Wow he sounds like an admirable sort of guy.

10 gold fish in a week old 55 gallon tank would need water changes twice a day depending on how big they are, goldfish are crazy dirty. I'm surprised your tank cycled so quickly was everything unused when you set it up?

 

Omgosh. He sure took you for a ride. Your tank was cycled before you added the goldfish. If you had 0, 0, +5. You didn’t need to add anymore fish to get cycled. Let alone 20 of them. Holy cow. Take them all back. Every single one of them.

Feeder goldfish are most commonly the common goldfish species. They get up to 12” long and need at the minimum 20 gallons for 1 fish. For a 55 gallon you could maybe get away with 3, but that would be seriously pushing it. That is without adding any other fish, and a whole lot of filtration and tank cleaning that would have to happen. They are poop machines, and they won’t allow for a nicely decorated tank. As they dig up plants and dislodge decor.

These fish belong in a pond. How big is your friend’s pond? Because you cannot give all 20 to your friend, so most of them will need to be returned to the store.

As far as your tank monitoring goes, you will need to monitor your tank pretty closely with all those fish. I would check everyday until you get rid of them. You don’t want your nitrates to get over 40 max. With adding 20 fish to the tank, you are going to totally disrupt your cycle. Causing it to need to catch back up with the enormous bioload you added. I would treat it like an uncycled tank, honestly. Start adding bottled bacteria, hopefully you are using Seachem Prime as your dechlorinator.

 

Omgosh. He sure took you for a ride. Your tank was cycled before you added the goldfish. If you had 0, 0, +5. You didn’t need to add anymore fish to get cycled. Let alone 20 of them. Holy cow. Take them all back. Every single one of them.

Feeder goldfish are most commonly the common goldfish species. They get up to 12” long and need at the minimum 20 gallons for 1 fish. For a 55 gallon you could maybe get away with 3, but that would be seriously pushing it. That is without adding any other fish, and a whole lot of filtration and tank cleaning that would have to happen. They are poop machines, and they won’t allow for a nicely decorated tank. As they dig up plants and dislodge decor.

These fish belong in a pond. How big is your friend’s pond? Because you cannot give all 20 to your friend, so most of them will need to be returned to the store.

his pond is pretty big, takes up a large area in his backyard.
Could I keep one or two in the 55 when I add my 1-Rainbow Shark, 1-Dwarf Gourami, and 3-Rosy Barbs and 5 Skirted Tetras? Can they all live in harmony in my 55 gallon tank? Thank you for your help!

his pond is pretty big, takes up a large area in his backyard.
Could I keep one or two in the 55 when I add my 1-Rainbow Shark, 1-Dwarf Gourami, and 3-Rosy Barbs and 5 Skirted Tetras? Can they all live in harmony in my 55 gallon tank? Thank you for your help!

I guess you're right though, I should take them all back, as it was never really my intention to raise Goldfish. Or just put them in the pond they would probably LOVE that!! It even has a waterfall!

 

his pond is pretty big, takes up a large area in his backyard.
Could I keep one or two in the 55 when I add my 1-Rainbow Shark, 1-Dwarf Gourami, and 3-Rosy Barbs and 5 Skirted Tetras? Can they all live in harmony in my 55 gallon tank? Thank you for your help!

They are NOT temp compatible with all those other fish. Common goldfish need to be kept at a much much lower temp. In fact if you have the skirt tetras in there now, it is a problem. Skirt tetras need to be kept at about 75F and goldfish need to be kept at about 68F. They are not good tank mates.

I have a 55 gallon with 9 skirts, 2 honey gouramis, 11 corydoras (started with 6, they had babies), 2 harlequin rasboras (tried several times for a large school. Didn’t work) and lots of shrimp and snails to add other creatures to the tank. I am understocked, but lots of color and movement in my tank.

You do need to be careful with gouramis and the rainbow shark. Both can get pretty aggressive. So as long as you are aware of that. The rest of your stocking sounds okay. I would ditch the goldfish and add some bottom dwellers instead.

 

They are NOT temp compatible with all those other fish. Common goldfish need to be kept at a much much lower temp. In fact if you have the skirt tetras in there now, it is a problem. Skirt tetras need to be kept at about 75F and goldfish need to be kept at about 68F. They are not good tank mates.

I have a 55 gallon with 9 skirts, 2 honey gouramis, 11 corydoras (started with 6, they had babies), 2 harlequin rasboras (tried several times for a large school. Didn’t work) and lots of shrimp and snails to add other creatures to the tank. I am understocked, but lots of color and movement in my tank.

You do need to be careful with gouramis and the rainbow shark. Both can get pretty aggressive. So as long as you are aware of that. The rest of your stocking sounds okay. I would ditch the goldfish and add some bottom dwellers instead.

ok sounds good! Thank you. How about some Yoyo loaches? I love those fish!

So I just got done testing and the results are...Ammonia 0, NitrIte 0, NitrAte 20 and PH is 7.2. Those are pretty good readings right? Now all I have to do is get the Goldfish outta there and I can add my Rainbow Shark?
I uses Tetra Safe Start last Monday, along with filter media from a 10 gal. established tank, so do you think my 55 gal is cycled? A week seems really fast!

 

ok sounds good! Thank you. How about some Yoyo loaches? I love those fish!

I don’t know very much about yo-yo loaches. But if that is on your list, I would start with those and build your tank around them. Then you can have them in your tank for sure.

Hopefully someone will come along with more info on them for you. Sorry I couldn’t help more.

 

I don’t know very much about yo-yo loaches. But if that is on your list, I would start with those and build your tank around them. Then you can have them in your tank for sure.

Seriouslyfish has info on fish species to help with that. With diet, tank size, and temp compatibility. Hopefully someone will come along with more info on them for you. Sorry I couldn’t help more.

Well, I thank you for your help!

 

One thing never to do is put them in Public Ponds

 

Today, in my 55 gal. ammonia is at 0, nitrites .25, nitrates 40. do I need to do a water change? if so, how much?? 50%?

 

I uses Tetra Safe Start last Monday, along with filter media from a 10 gal. established tank, so do you think my 55 gal is cycled? A week seems really fast!

if you were just using 2 fish to cycle that tank then yes its cycled because 2 fish are probably not enough to supply the TSS+ and the pre-established media with enough ammonia to grow. so in a way yes you're cycled but if you plan to add more fish then no you aren't. ide add fish two or three at a time a couple of weeks apart and continue to treat the tank as a fish-in cycle until you have your full stocking in there.

Today, in my 55 gal. ammonia is at 0, .25, nitrates 40. do I need to do a water change? if so, how much?? 50%?

also as far as your levels are concerned then no need for a water change yet. if your nitrite and ammonia numbers add up to 1 then yes and if your nitrate is on the top side of 40ppm then yes if not then no need to worry yet. the bacteria need the nitrite still to keep growing and to change to nitrite to nitrate so if you take away their food then they would stop growing

 

Wow he sounds like an admirable sort of guy.

10 gold fish in a week old 55 gallon tank would need water changes twice a day depending on how big they are, goldfish are crazy dirty. I'm surprised your tank cycled so quickly was everything unused when you set it up?

No, I added some artificial plants and decorations along with a bag of gravel from my other established tank.

 

Today my 55 gallons readings are as follows, ammonia .10, nI .15, na-.30 and ph-7.3. I'm gunna do a 25-30% w/c . try to get those am and nI numbers to 0.
I have 5 skirted Tetras, 3 Rosy Barbs, 2 Albino Corycats, 2 Blue Corycats, 2 Rainbow fish, 1 Rainbow shark, 1 Gourami, 2 Zebra Danios and 2 Golden Danios and 1 KhulI Loach. I think I'm at my limit stock wise, but everyone gets along well and I love my tank!!!

 

You need to rehome the goldfish ASAP. Most feeder goldfish are common goldfish which need ponds. I suggest that you find someone near you with a private pond that is willing to take them in.

 

You need to rehome the goldfish ASAP. Most feeder goldfish are common goldfish which need ponds. I suggest that you find someone near you with a private pond that is willing to take them in.

OH, I have, they went to a beautiful Koi pond awhile back, and as a matter of fact, I visited yesterday, and while I didn't see every one, the ones I did see were thriving! I was so glad to see that.