Proper procedures for a fish-in cycle

I'm wondering what the best procedures to a fish-in cycle are. I've read to do WC every day, WC every other day, no WC for 2 weeks, feed once every other day, feed once daily, feed 2-3x a day. Any suggestions, opinions or facts?

 

I'm a novice but it makes sense to me that you test water daily and do WC accordingly

 

It depends on how you do it. If you use TSS then you can't do a water change for two weeks as that can disrupt the bacteria.

If you don't use TSS then you can do water change whenever you need to keep the fish happy, and healthy while the tank's ammonia and nitrites go up. I also suggest using stability and prime to make it easier on the fish, and getting fish that you are going to keep that are hardy enough to go through the cycle process.

As far as feeding schedule that is kind a personal opinion type thing. I personally feed my betta twice a day, and snails get a veggie, snail jello or algae wafer once a day. I feed pellets six days, and frozen brine shrimp twice a week. Then a deshelled pea once a week to help with digestion.

Some people like to only do it once a day. Some like to skip one day of feeding to try and prevent fish from getting bloated. They have such small stomachs that they don't need much.

 

Hello CW...

You set up the tank with all the gravel and gear and introduce a floating plant like Hornwort to help steady the water chemistry. Let the tank run a few days, so the plant gets used to the water. Put in some hardy fish like Female Guppies, Rasboras, Platys or White Cloud minnows. 3 to 4 for every 10 gallons of water. Start feeding a little every day and begin testing the tank water for traces of ammonia or nitrite. If you have a positive test, remove and replace 25 percent of the old water with treated tap water. This change will get the water back into the safe zone for the fish and leave enough dissolved waste for the growing bacteria colony.

You just test daily and remove and replace the water when needed. When you have several daily tests with no trace of either ammonia or nitrite, the tank is cycled. At this point, you just change out half the water once a week to maintain a healthy tank for the fish.

Old

 

It depends on how you do it. If you use TSS then you can't do a water change for two weeks as that can disrupt the bacteria.

If you don't use TSS then you can do water change whenever you need to keep the fish happy, and healthy while the tank's ammonia and nitrites go up. I also suggest using stability and prime to make it easier on the fish, and getting fish that you are going to keep that are hardy enough to go through the cycle process.

As far as feeding schedule that is kind a personal opinion type thing. I personally feed my betta twice a day, and snails get a veggie, snail jello or algae wafer once a day. I feed pellets six days, and frozen brine shrimp twice a week. Then a deshelled pea once a week to help with digestion.

Some people like to only do it once a day. Some like to skip one day of feeding to try and prevent fish from getting bloated. They have such small stomachs that they don't need much.

I did use the TSS+. Thanks! I've got 2 long fin Tetras and 2 MM Platys. Is that enough fish for 38 gallons or do I need to add more?