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Hey guys, another poster here from Costa Rica. I am a friend of Red Phantom. Bought a 50 gallon tank with Red P. a couple weeks back, have a bottom filter, a Whisper Cascade and a Powerhead on it. Rocks are in, will buy some plants in the next few days, put some plant food in there and shortly thereafter put some fish in.

Was wondering how many fish should be put in there to cycle the tank and what kind? I have three platys in another tank which I could use but am not sure if they are tough enough to do the job. They would ultimately not be the inhabitants of the tank as those will be some loaches and tetras I have in another tank, that we can discuss when the cycling is done.

Will appreciate any and all help.

Thanks alot.

The Thai Shark. (El tiburon Tailandes)

platties are commonly reccomended for cycling, but for a 50 gal i'de get about a dozen of them in there. A fishless cycle done by adding ammonia yourself works too. I'de reccomend seeding the tank though personaly. If you know someone who owns a well established fish tank, see if you can't steal part of a filter sponge from them, then add a couple of the heartier fish you have planned to go in the tank (just in case of a mini-cycle).

I agree with the seeding thing, it will cut down the time it takes to cycle immensely. I put some tankwater from an existing tank, as well as some larger gravel ( my wife originally bought large 1 inch plus gravel when we first got the tank ) into both my ten and five gal tanks and they cycled very fast. Yes they meneged a very skight mini-cycle but were, for the most part instantly cycled. OK, the ten still took a few days but the five took off overnight. It will take much longer with a larger tank though.

Zebra danios... but of course let the tank sit a few days after adding some food.

I have used danios to cycle all of my tanks and have had no problems

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I appreciate the responses.

I just added Aquasafe and Cycle to the tank.

will be purchasing several plants and plant food before i stick any fish in there.

I would like to point out that I would like to avoid any and all deaths when it comes to sticking fish in there.

What is the likelyhood that any of the fish mentioned dies during the cycle?

If your not keeping the cycling fish your better off seeding the tank and doing a fishless cycle. http://fishprofiles.com/articles/article.aspx?id=31 Even if you can't get pure ammonia anywhere you can just add fish food and let it breakdown. Only real difference is using fish food means you have to clean the gravel and with liquid ammonia you don't but both will cycle the tank without harming any fish. Any fish you cycle a tank with will suffer some stress and injury unless you do lots of water changes and run a really slow cycle or plant the tank really heavily so the plants use all the ammonia. Another big problem is catching and finding a place to put your cycling fish when your done. Danios are a pain to catch. I had to tear my planted tank back down to get 3 little danios out of a 55g. With fishless cycling you won't have any of those problems.

Zebra Danio are excellent fish to cycle new tanks. I used them to cycle 3 new tanks. They never seem to suffer from the process.
But I never managed to catch the last Zebra Danio off my 75G tank after the cycle is completed
You'll also need to give them a place to live after their retirement

I also very much agree with using zebra danios if you are using fish to cycle the tank. I used them for all three of my tanks and they are very very hardy. They may seem a bit overactive at first but they settle down with age haha.

i left mine in the tank. and they never had a problem with the occupants treating to eat them. but then the largest in with them are 6 angels. but they arent big enough to chow down on them

Fish tanks are an expensive addiction

I would borrow the platties from the other tank and have them in there for a couple of weeks. As it is such a large tank you will not see spikes of ammonia etc because the bioload is not large enough to cause it. Then I would slowly add the stock you wish to keep in there.
I never use fish specifically for cycling, and I dont fishless cycle either. If you stock slowly you will be fine.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

of course you could always cycle with platties, then stock the tank with something big enough to turn the platties into feeder fish

Again thank you, it is great to have a source where to ask these questions. I have one good aquarium here in costa rica where to ask these questions but i feel like i bug em too much sometimes. its great to have this site as a source.

i have placed the plattys in the 50g, they seem surprised to have so much space in there....

i have also used a Whisper from another tank in there to give the cycle a boost by using the bacteria from the other tank.

the tank is plantless right now, when would you guys recommend putting plants in there? i was told wait till the lightbulbs and roof are ready (theyre building em), nonetheless, the tank is in a place where there is plenty of light (large windows) but no direct sunlight will ever hit it (unless a comet hits earth and changes sunup and sundown). I will purchase plant food for em but am wondering if it is that necessary to wait for the bulbs.

the end result inhabitants will be a United Nations of Tetras I have in a 25 gallon tank and I would feel bad about using any fish for food so sacrificing the plattys is out of the question, lol.

Hi there,
you could start with your lower light plants
to start with. Plants like Cryptocornes, Anubias,
Java Fern and Java Moss, Wisteria, all do well with
little to no light, or filtered light from the windows.
Plants will actually assist with the cycling process,
so you may want to go ahead with the lower light
plants to start with, then add your higher light plants
when your lighting is all set up.


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LOL, this is really an ongoing lesson...

So, I bought 4 zebra danios which I put in the tank.

I just ran across a post on the net where someone says that zebra danios will go after tetras?

Is this correct? Ive always thought of ZD as rather peaceful fish that mind their own business, but will this be a problem, cause the inhabitants of the 50gallon tank will be a bunch of tetras I have in another tank at the moment....

Wha if I get a couple more ZDs, will they help pacify the group if it is a larger group?

Whats up folks?

Greetings from Costa Rica.

I have kept zebra danios and tetras together with no problems. Danios are very playful and they would try to get the tetras to play every now and then but it was not aggressive. Good luck, and welcome to the site!

"Talk is cheap. Action can be almost as affordable"

Annoying monsters. Those danios dive bombed my tetras. Scattered the schools everywhere. Had my congos hiding behind the plants and the gouramis only hanging out around the bottom. Reason I actually tore the tank apart to get them back out instead of leaving them. I would only leave danios in with other hyperactive fish like possibly blue tetras or loaches but never again with tetras like my congos and black neons or slow swimmers like gouramis. They were very stressed out by the danios.

I have a school of 8 danios in my tank
with my Discus and tetras and assorted things.
I think they need a larger group to keep them
occupied.
I plan to add 2 more pearls so I will have
5 zebra danios and 5 pearl danios.
I dont find they go after any fish but each other.


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They didn't go after them such as nipping or chasing. They bounced around everywhere including through the middle of the schools. Their extreme activity stressed out the fish not actual chasing. They were not agressive in the least they were just far too active for the other fish in the tank.