How Many Fish After Cycle.

So looks like mu 75 gallon is finally cycled.....maybe will go to the store today and buy some fish.
How many fish to put at once ?
Any particular order of introducing spiecies to the new tank?
Stocking list:
1 Gurami
6-8 rainbow fish (boesemani)
12-20 rummy nose tetras
8 dwarf chain loaches
2 germam rams
1 apistogramma
Thank you

 

What type of gourami are you getting?

Personally I would start with the 10 rummynose, or the chain loaches, then every other week add new fish.

 

What type of gourami are you getting?

Personally I would start with the 10 rummynose, or the chain loaches, then every other week add new fish.

I agree the gouarmI and the rams should be added last. When you add the tetras I would probably add them in two groups so if you go with 20 add ten and then a couple weeks later add another 10so you don’t overload your cycle

 

If I understand correctly, the biggest advantage of doing a fishless cycle is that your tank is ready for your entire stock at once. Right?

 

If I understand correctly, the biggest advantage of doing a fishless cycle is that your tank is ready for your entire stock at once. Right?

Not sure, but its always made sense to not overload a small amount of bacteria with a large sense of ammonia all at once... seems safer, that's how I've done it and its worked for me

 

When I do a fishless cycle, I do it until 4ppm ammonia is 0 the next day. I'm not sure how many fish it would take to create that much ammonia but I bet it's a tank full!

 

Not sure, but its always made sense to not overload a small amount of bacteria with a large sense of ammonia all at once... seems safer, that's how I've done it and its worked for me

Fishless cycling with 4ppm ammonia is intended to grow a large amount of bacteria by dosing with more ammonia than your fish could plausibly produce in a comparable amount of time. Though it's not necessarily a bad idea to leave some margin for error when stocking.

 

If I understand correctly, the biggest advantage of doing a fishless cycle is that your tank is ready for your entire stock at once. Right?

Right, but I don't think the bacteria is old enough to handle all those fish at once. So its always better to introduce fish slowly

 

What does bacteria age have to do with it?

 

Right, but I don't think the bacteria is old enough to handle all those fish at once. So its always better to introduce fish slowly

If 1) the bacteria colony is sufficient to reduce 4ppm of ammonia to 0ppm of ammonia/nitrites within 24 hours, and 2) 4ppm of ammonia is more ammonia than a fully-stocked tank of fish can produce within 24 hours, in what sense is the bacteria not "old enough" to handle all those fish at once? Point 1 is the test of whether your fishless cycle is complete, and point 2 is the whole premise of fishless cycling based on a 4ppm dose.

 

Adding too many fish may overwhelm the and cause the aquarium to go into a minI cycle with increased levels

 

Adding too many fish may overwhelm the and cause the aquarium to go into a minI cycle with increased levels

Granted. But my point is that if the beneficial bacteria is capable of processing 4ppm of ammonia, the level of "too many fish" for that colony of bacteria ought to be above any reasonable stocking level for the tank, because 4ppm is more ammonia than a reasonable stocking level of fish is capable of producing within a comparable period of time. I'm not sure how else the fish might overwhelm the beneficial bacteria.

Actually, I can think of one way. If some newly-added fish die (due to stress, unanticipated aggression, etc.) and aren't noticed and removed immediately, they could start decomposing and release more ammonia into the water than expected. That would be a specific reason for leaving a big margin of error when stocking a newly-cycled tank, especially with sensitive fish.

 

My take on this is the bacteria made from a fishless cycle is not as strong as natural bacteria. Remember it’s more or less manufactured. So by introducing small amounts of fish this bacteria helps natural bacteria grow faster and the water is safer for the fish.
I allways do fish in cycles.
If I’m wrong than yes you should be able to fill that tank all at once with no risk.

 

bacteria made from a fishless cycle is not as strong as natural bacteria.

Gonna need a source on that

 

Gonna need a source on that

I've heard it said that bacteria from bottled starter may not be as strong as natural bacteria, because there is less diversity in the strains put in the bottle and/or because the strains are chosen for shelf life above other considerations. So if that is true, and if you use a bottled starter, then it may be that the bacteria colony becomes stronger as naturally-occurring strains start to supplement the strains that came from the bottle. But that doesn't really say anything about whether it's safe to immediately fully stock a tank that's fishless cycled using the slow method (no starter) or using media from an established tank.

 

Sorry ponzll just my take. Only been here for about a year and never heard of a fishless cycle being used by regular hobbiest. Remember in the 80s at discus symposium some breeders talking about it to see if it could be done. Been keeping fish 40+ years never done a fishless cycle

 

No worries friend, didn't mean to offend if it was taken that way

Just want to learn what I can where I can!

 

I always fishless cycle, even when adding established media. (Have over 30tanks) also ideally depending on the inhabitants I often wait for the tank to mature a bit as well (not many do this extra step)


( 86 ssinit its more “newfangled”then old school. As the hobby progresses some things have improved, many have gone downhill. However, no reason to expose Fish to a cycle if you don’t have to is current thinking)

First I cycle to 2ppm
Then after 2 I start upping my dose to 3, 4, even 5ppm.
I prefer to stock att at once, using the new tank as a “qt”

However, there is nothing wrong with going slow, it’s just a different approach. If you opt to do this, make sure you have a separate qt tank available before adding the new Fish, you don’t want healthy fish in there for a month or so exposed to new pet store nasties.

Both work equally.

Yes, beneficial BOTTLED bacteria are not the same as the B.B. in our filters, but the B.B. “strength” in the filters is the same if fishless or fish in cycled. Bottled bacteria is a different animal

 

I've heard it said that bacteria from bottled starter may not be as strong as natural bacteria, because there is less diversity in the strains put in the bottle and/or because the strains are chosen for shelf life above other considerations. So if that is true, and if you use a bottled starter, then it may be that the bacteria colony becomes stronger as naturally-occurring strains start to supplement the strains that came from the bottle. But that doesn't really say anything about whether it's safe to immediately fully stock a tank that's fishless cycled using the slow method (no starter) or using media from an established tank.

I get what you are saying about diversity, but you only need two types to cycle the tank. 2 rod-shaped, gram-negitive chemoautotropic nitrobacters. They perform oxidizing reactions which is why you see NO3 become NO2. Source many but you can look it up on wikipedia too.

I would not say that they necessarily are not included in a bottle of nitrifying bacteria. Ponds and any body of water with life (fish/plants) in them have these creatures in them. They are all over, in the soil, in water. When ponds are frozen in the winter, they go dormant, but in the spring they revive again. It seems to me that this means they are fairly "tough" and can probably live in a bottle for a while.

The method I worked out (my own method) is after you are sure the tank is cycled, then for a week after that (2 or 3 weeks is better) add 1 or 2 drops of ammonia every day and recheck to see if that ammonia is getting oxidized, (eaten by the chemoautotrophic bacteria). So in other words, feed them the amount of "waste" you feel your fish are likely to produce each day and see if you get spikes, or if the water becomes dangerous again.

 

Ponzll no offense and I believe Jocelyn answered the question. You can add all at once.