Fish For Fish In Cycle

I’ve been cycling a 10 gallon since the end of June and this week it was just about done...until I crashed it and killed the bacteria.

After waiting so long I don’t have the patience to start over, so I want to do a fish in cycle with TSS. The plan is to get ember tetras and shrimp, but since the tetras are schooling fish I don’t want to put them all in there right away, or cycle with with just one.

I’m looking for a small fish that I can have one of and will get on with the tetras and shrimp. I was leaning toward a guppy, but they are pricier than I’d like at my lfs and I want to pay less than $3.

 

Just use rosey reds and give them to a fisherman buddy after. Or add just a few shrimp and cycle with those. You're really limited to less than 10 total fish/shrimp in a tank that size. But even adding all the embers at once into a cycled tank that size can cause a new minI cycle to take place.

 

Just use rosey reds and give them to a fisherman buddy after. Or add just a few shrimp and cycle with those. You're really limited to less than 10 total fish/shrimp in a tank that size. But even adding all the embers at once into a cycled tank that size can cause a new minI cycle to take place.

I don’t think I’d be comfortable giving one up to be food. Would just keeping a minnow solo be fine?

Yeah I know I need to give up some tetras to make room. I’m thinking six with 2-3 shrimp. I was going to add just 3 at a time so it wouldn’t stress the cycle.

Would just the shrimp have enough of a bioload to support a fish cycle? I think I’ve looked that up before and the cycle isn’t strong enough to support fish afterward.

 

Minnows are aggressive fish and tend to do better in schools so they wouldnt be a good choice if you planned on keeping them with smaller fish. Ember tetras are a rather delicate fish so cycling with them could be a risk. Shrimp are pretty sensitive as well, but since they don't produce as much waste as most fish they deal with cycles better. Cycling with 3 embers might work but you will probably have to do daily water changes to keep the ammonia and such down during the process. A betta would work but they are a bit over your budget.

 

I’ve been cycling a 10 gallon since the end of June and this week it was just about done...until I crashed it and killed the bacteria.

After waiting so long I don’t have the patience to start over, so I want to do a fish in cycle with TSS. The plan is to get ember tetras and shrimp, but since the tetras are schooling fish I don’t want to put them all in there right away, or cycle with with just one.

I’m looking for a small fish that I can have one of and will get on with the tetras and shrimp. I was leaning toward a guppy, but they are pricier than I’d like at my lfs and I want to pay less than $3.

I’ve been cycling my tank with TSS and dosing ammonia. 7 days in my ammonia is 0, nitrite .5 and nitrates 20. Don’t sacrifice a fish, just use the ammonia and dose as needed

 

Do you know how you crashed and killed the cycle? I ask rhetorically so that you don't do it again with fish this time.

 

Do you know how you crashed and killed the cycle? I ask rhetorically so that you don't do it again with fish this time.

Yeah I’m pretty sure it’s because I was doing a ton of water changes to get the high nitrates down when the cycle was complete. Since I was constantly putting water in and taking it out I decided to stop dosing with Prime until I was done... and then forgot because it was late at night. When I got home from work I saw that all my nice lush plants were dying. The chlorine killed most of the bb, but thankfully not all of it.

I’ve had a lot of problems cycling this tank that I’ve never had before, but I’ve ended up learning a lot too.

I’ve also just bit the bullet and continued to just fishless cycle with ammonia. I’ve almost gone through a whole bottle of dr. Tim’s because this has taken so long.

 

I always just cycle with a goldfish then return it to the store after.

I have a good relationship with my LFS lol.

No need to sacrifice a fish you can easily do a fish in cycle without doing lasting damage to the fish if you know what you are doing.

 

Just to clarify since it’s been brought up a couple of times, I had no intention of sacrificing a fish to cycling. I would have used TSS but I know there are less hardy fish that need to be in an established tank.

Thanks for your help guys, I just chose to use TSS in a fishless cycle.