# Best Fish to cycle with?



## DogFish (Jul 16, 2011)

If you will be keeping fish in that tank after the cycle?


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## [email protected] (Jul 17, 2008)

Ammonia not fish. 

USING HOUSEHOLD AMMONIA FOR HUMANE CYCLING OF A TANK updated!
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

Yup ammonia. Cheaper, more effective, and most importantly, better for the fish. If you are doing a large tank, you could also do a very gentle cycle by adding lots of plants and adding fish (the ones you actually want) very gradually.


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## garfieldnfish (Sep 25, 2010)

If it's the 55 in your signature than I see no reason why you could not start with a few tetras right away. Just don't get a lot of them, maybe 6 or 7.
Is your 20 gal cycled? If so you can use some decoration of filter material from that tank to seed the larger tank and that will speed things up a lot. This way the bio bugs don't have to "develope" they just have to catch up in numbers to the bioload of the tank. I have never done a fishless cycle and never lost a fish used to cycle the tanks. I started with bait and tackle shop minnows that are supposed to have a life expectancy of 3 years. They cycled almost all of my early tanks. Out of 16 I still have 2 of them 12 years later. The others died over the years with 2 of them just last fall. Cycling the tanks did not seem to hurt them at all.


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Cycling with Fish*



sbarbee54 said:


> I am cycling a new tank and need to throw some fish in to speed it up, who do I pick?


I'm partial to really hardy fish like Platys or Zebra Danios. If you're a water keeper who is very careful and monitors the water daily, Fancy Guppies will work too. But, only if you're willing to test the water every day. If not, you may want to use another method to cycle your tank.

B


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## dhgyello04 (Jul 11, 2008)

BBradbury said:


> I'm partial to really hardy fish like Platys or Zebra Danios. If you're a water keeper who is very careful and monitors the water daily, Fancy Guppies will work too. But, only if you're willing to test the water every day. If not, you may want to use another method to cycle your tank.
> 
> B


 
+1 FOR THE ZEBRA DANIO:fish:


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## wetworks (Jul 22, 2011)

I have used Zebra Danio in the past with good success. They are pretty much indestructable.


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## d3snoopy (Apr 1, 2011)

I recommend the ammonia fish. Add a few more each day. The dollar store sells them in bottles labeled "ammonia." Make sure that they don't bubble up when you shake them.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Be sure they do not have surfactants, perfumes or anything like that.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

Straight ammonia - why harm a fish when you don't have to? Regardless if the fish survives it or not, ammonia and nitrite burns the gills and weakens the immune system. No reason to do that.


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## moonwasaloon (May 24, 2011)

Great White Sharks


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## digitallinh (Jun 22, 2011)

Zebra danio for sure, just annoying to catch them once you're done.


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## Minja (Jan 11, 2012)

Feeder gold fish.


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## Sophie and Mom (Jan 16, 2012)

digitallinh said:


> Zebra danio for sure, just annoying to catch them once you're done.


Why catch them? They school and they're cute and stuff.


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## andrams (Feb 14, 2012)

I used Zebra Danios to cycle my tank. Very hardy. Newbie here.


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## Kyguylal (Jan 21, 2012)

I used some albino cories. Got some sickly looking ones from the store. One has no tail, one has no eyes. They cycled two tanks. Still swimming all over. Very tough fish


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## sbarbee54 (Jan 12, 2012)

Ok I am either going with Zebra danos or stright ammonia, but where can I get ammonia?


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## TWA (Jan 30, 2012)

Dollar general, Walmart, ect.


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## nalu86 (Oct 19, 2010)

Just trow a frozen shrimp or 2 in there, that will cycle your tank faster than fish and you don't really have to monitor it like pure ammonia.

you can get ammonia from ACE Hardware strore. Its on the shelf with the cleaning supplies.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

If you wan't to "cycle" a tank in the traditional sense, why not just do fishless?
Just throw shrimp pellets in the tank if you don't want to use pure ammonia..
Or, you could use pure ammonia!
Or you could burn fish gills and let the fish provide a very small amount of ammonia that wont suffice for your eventual bioload anyway.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

P.S. People freak about the surfactants but don't realize that to cycle the tank you need maybe a capful of ammonia which may be 1-5% surfactant. 
In a 20 gallon tank, if you do a >50% water change after your ammonia and nitrite reach zero there will be very minimal levels of surfactant in the tank - not enough to harm anything.
You still wan't to avoid them as much as you can, don't bother with scented ammonia at all, but I the one time I fishless cycled with ammonia I used unscented ammonia that listed surfactant as an ingredient but it hardly bubbled at all and I didn't have any problems. 

If your tank is well planted though, and you aren't adding loads of goldfish or something there isn't much need to cycle the tank - just don't dose any nitrate and the plants will soak up the ammonia very fast.


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## Aquarist_Fist (Jul 22, 2008)

People often mention that a cycle with pure (well, dilluted) ammonia needs constant measuring. Not true. The first week or so after you added a few ml of ammonia, you don't have to measure anything. You know the ammonia is in there. Then check every two days or so. As soon as the ammonia starts going down (which will happen rapidly), check nitrite, which should be up. Keep checking ammonia until it's completely gone. Then add small amounts every day. Again no need to check anything. You know the ammonia is being consumed, and nitrite is sky-high. After another week or so, start to test nitrite periodically. 

There really is no easier way to cycle a tank. Plus, you can use the rest of the ammonia to scrub the bathroom floors in your house. Try that with a fish.

* Don't try that with a fish.


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## Chlorophile (Aug 2, 2011)

Aquarist_Fist said:


> People often mention that a cycle with pure (well, dilluted) ammonia needs constant measuring. Not true. The first week or so after you added a few ml of ammonia, you don't have to measure anything. You know the ammonia is in there. Then check every two days or so. As soon as the ammonia starts going down (which will happen rapidly), check nitrite, which should be up. Keep checking ammonia until it's completely gone. Then add small amounts every day. Again no need to check anything. You know the ammonia is being consumed, and nitrite is sky-high. After another week or so, start to test nitrite periodically.
> 
> There really is no easier way to cycle a tank. Plus, you can use the rest of the ammonia to scrub the bathroom floors in your house. Try that with a fish.
> 
> * Don't try that with a fish.


You do need to measure the ammonia the first time you put it in because I believe ammonia over 7 ppm will prevent the bacteria from growing at all as it is lethal to them - but other than that you can check your ammonia as often as you want or just once a week. 
If your ammonia is 0 after a week then just add a little bit more ammonia and then test it then, and the next day to see how much it dropped. 
If you can reduce 5ppm of ammonia to 0 ppm in 24 hours and you also have 0 nitrites then you are golden for pretty much any bioload.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

I just add a bit of ammonia every day until it's cycled. I don't even start testing the water for the first 2 weeks cause I know what's happening - ammonia->nitrite.

The only place I could find "pure" ammonia was at the dollar store.


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## wendyjo (Feb 20, 2009)

Kyguylal said:


> I used some albino cories. Got some sickly looking ones from the store. One has no tail, one has no eyes. They cycled two tanks. Still swimming all over. Very tough fish


I wish there was a "dislike" button.............


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

nalu86 said:


> Just trow a frozen shrimp or 2 in there, that will cycle your tank faster than fish and you don't really have to monitor it like pure ammonia.
> 
> you can get ammonia from ACE Hardware strore. Its on the shelf with the cleaning supplies.


That's what I've done before


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Take the time and effort to do a fishless cycle on a tank once, do it properly, and you shouldn't ever need to fully cycle a tank again (with the exception of setting up an ADA Amazonia tank or something...).

Once you've got a single healthy established tank, you can then always "seed" new tanks from that one.

No need to ever put a poor fish through ammonia burn ever again. 

And for those who are recommending using "feeder fish" - what you REALLY are doing is seeding your tank with ich, parasites, and all sorts of other nasty plagues that then will attack the fish you want down the road. Feeder fish are seen as "expendable" and therefore generally some of THE most unhealthy fish in a store. I would NEVER let store-bought feeders into my house, much less put them in one of my main tanks!!


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

I personally would opt for Tetra safestart and ammonia or seachem's stability and ammonia if you want to be really sure. Those're good options. 

I don't know why you would buy fish you don't intend to keep just for cycling. That seems weird to me.


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## Bigbballer003 (Jan 30, 2012)

the ammonia its more humane


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## digitallinh (Jun 22, 2011)

thechibi said:


> I personally would opt for Tetra safestart and ammonia or seachem's stability and ammonia if you want to be really sure. Those're good options.
> 
> I don't know why you would buy fish you don't intend to keep just for cycling. That seems weird to me.


I change out my fish every couple of months, I think I get bored of looking at them, that or I'm trying not to buy more tanks but must fulfill the itch.... I guess I view my fish more of a decoration than a pet.

I just give them back to the fish store i got them from. On the bright side, I'm supporting the local fish trade!

Another option that I'm not sure has been mentioned is, heavy planting from the start.


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## thechibi (Jan 20, 2012)

Wow. I had my angelfish for nearly 10 years. I'm a bit odd - I keep my feesh for life, since I grow attached to them even if at first I'm a bit unsure about them.


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## digitallinh (Jun 22, 2011)

The only fish I'm kind of attached to is my dwarf puffer, he at least seems to know I exist..

I'm in the planning stages of starting a discus tank, which will probably be longterm keepers, I guess it just depends on the fish.


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## Psionic (Dec 22, 2011)

I think my fish only acknowledge me when they're hungry. More so the discus. Those piggies. 


-Val


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## xenxes (Dec 22, 2011)

Nutrafin Cycle worked in each of my tanks. Cycled in about 5 days following the instructions. Most claiming that it does not work have (1) never tried it; or (2) did not follow the instructions. Most of the bacteria culture settle down at the bottom of the bottle. 

You have to SHAKE IT VIGOROUSLY for about a minute, I don't know if this serves to activate the bacteria cultures or just evenly distribute them in the liquid, but it didn't work in my first tank where I just wiggled the bottle a bit, and worked in all my subsequent tanks. I dosed it directly into my biomax cartridge. Ammonia spiked immediately and went away in 1-2 days, Nitrite soon spiked and took about 3 more days to disappear. I was reading 0/0 and 40-80ppm Nitrates on day 5. Use it BEFORE stocking fauna, it seems to interfere with the product when I dosed it in a prestocked fish tank.


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## Kyguylal (Jan 21, 2012)

I used nutrafin cycle as well. With the cories. My betta fish all seem to know that I exist.....


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## moonwasaloon (May 24, 2011)

Swedish Fish FTW!


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## Redneck Badger (Jan 13, 2012)

I used Goldfish an they worked great then put them back into their own tank when it was done.


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