Question on adding fish to a cycled tank

I know I have read about this, but of course now that I need the information I can't find it again!

Once a tank has cycled and you begin adding fish, it is my understanding that you want to only had a few at a time to allow the tank to adjust to the increasing bio-load.  So, roughly how long after you have added fish before you can be reasonably certain that the new bio-load is being accounted for in your water tests?  More specifically, I added 4 fish to my tank yesterday...if I test the water today and the levels are still under control am I good to keep going?  Or is a longer period needed to be sure?

Thanks!
Sean

 

I would say for a guess... about 2-4 weeks just in case. Better safe then sorry.

 

Kinda what I wondered. I'll give it a bit and watch the test results. Thanks again!

Sean

 

No problem. glad to help.

 

When I set up my tank, I let the water run for about 4 days .. with 2 filters and fish food every day to get some bacteria happening...

Then the tiger barbs went in on day 4 and on day 5, the danios, sucking cats and glowlights went in ..

All were happy as Larry .. Other fish in signature went in later as they were purchased later.

These are pretty hardy fish mind you .. so to be honest, I did not bother with ammonia / nitrate / nitrite tests etc. ... .. . those kits are going to cost more than my fish ..

 

Good call...I am seeing a small ammonia spike after adding the angels. I am doing water changes and waiting for the mini-cycle to finish before adding anything more.

Sean

 

Also, it is good to wait after buying the initial fish in case they are diseased or something goes wrong with them. I would wait somewhere in the 2-4 weeks as noted above, and make sure they settle down nicely and make it through the first few weeks. Then add another school/species, then wait a month, and so forth until the tank is at its limit. Just remember, only 1 inch of fish (at mature size) per gallon of tank. Happy fishing!

A product such as cycle or stress relief will ease the fluctuations in the minI cycle and help the fish acclimate better.

 

I did a 30% water change today and added some Cycle. The fish are funny...very interested in investigating the siphon as well as the water stream coming back into the tank.

Sean

 

hehe, same here I did a 30%, added water conditioner, and will shortly add cycle. My Danios just run scared...but they are new and not used to it yet.

What are you thinking of adding to your tank? What do you have now?

 

4 angels and 6 serpae are in there now. Once the water quality stabilizes again I will put in some rainbowfish, and later some loaches...haven't decided for sure which variety yet.

Sean