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Ok, so as some of you know, Dani and I have been doing a fishless cycle on her mom's aquarium. A few days prior, we got some but not all of the fish. Well because we didn't want to loss too much bacteria due to ammonia loss, we got some additional feeder goldfish to add to the ammonia.

Anyway, today we got the rest of the fish!! 8 bags! 8 BAGS! EIGHT B-A-G-S of fish!! I don't even get that many fish at a time. One store was $60 and the other was $25!!

Now, $85 is a lot to spend at one time. BUT WAIT!! Lets balance that with the fact that she got EVERYTHING (Tank, Stand, Lights, Hoods, Filter, Heaters, and some other stuff) FOR FREE!!! I think she has spent about $40 on other things. So basically, she has spent $125 for a complete tank and EVERYTHING INCLUDING FISH!!

When she gets the pictures up, we'll show you guys how it looks.

A few days prior

Do you mean a few days prior to today? Or prior to the completion of the cycle?

Why would you ever get so many fish at one time? Unless you have a really big tank, you're begging for an ammonia spike, especially since it's just been cycled.

I'm probably just not understanding the situation. Good deal on the tank.

What kind of fish were they?

It's a 55g and we didn't add any fish until it was completely finished cycling.

There's an angel, 10 red serpaes, 3 guppies, 2 dwarf gouramis, 8 black neon tetras, 3 red velvet swords, 3 platties, 3 tiger barbs (yes I know thats bad but my mom INSISTED... they'll probably be going back after a while), 6 zebra danios, a clown plec, and 6 albino cories.

Pictures coming soon :88)

HERE THEY ARE!!!

I'll get a shot of the whole tank *FINALLY* finished when we get the background on and I can find the camera battery charger

http://f1.pg.photos.yahoo.com/lilagluckpilz

Also coming soon: Hamster pup pics

Wait awhile and take pics of the floaters...

--garyroland.

The pictures of the tanks looks great. With that many fish after you have cycled, might be ok as long as you do your water changes so you do not get an ammonia spike.

I think you folks are missing the point of a fishless cycle... there will be no ammonia spike... When you fishless cycle, you simulate the bio-load of a full tank with synthesized ammonia. This tricks the bacteria into thinking there is stacks of fish in the tank, allowing them to grow lots. Then, you just substitute the ammonia you've been manually adding for fish, and voila, instant tank. Granted, i wouldn't have put ALL the fish in at once, but there shouldnt' be too many problems if they added enough ammonia during the fishless to simulate a high enough bioload.

There won't be enough nitrifying bacteria formed to handle a sudden large load of ammonia from too many fish.

It's a balance thing decided by how long ammonia was dosed and in what quantity.

I can't believe with the new and almost instant bacteria starters on the market, hobbyists are still dosing ammonia, a hit and miss archaic procedure in the hands of a newby, to cycle a tank.

--garyroland.

It's a balance thing decided by how long ammonia was dosed and in what quantity.

Like i said...

...if they added enough ammonia during the fishless to simulate a high enough bioload.

The theory works gary, and it's been done many times before. You yourself even have chimed in as to what ammonia to use.

Nice Pics Racsco,

I personally believe your tank should do fine and you shouldn't have too many complications.

I want to see those baby hamster pics too!

with the new and almost instant bacteria starters on the market

I am happy for people that have good luck with cycle in a bottle products, but I don't think using them or not using them makes a person any more or less of an experienced or competent fishkeeper.

Ok, a few things to clear up:

1. Thanks Tim, TigerAngel, soclosetome and Jake

B. As stated in another post entitled cycling the 55g

I also have some gravel from my boyfriend's tank in a mesh bag, to get the bacteria. I add the ammonia 5 drops/10g/day. When the nitrites reach a peak, I decrease the ammonia dosage to 2 drops/10g/day. When the nitrites fall back to zero ppm, it's finished cycling.

iii. 2 days after adding all those fish: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, and that's without a water change yet.

Fourth. Not all the fish were added at once. The angel, the gouramis and 6 serpaes were added AT LEAST a week before the rest.

In conclusion. soclosetome, I took the pics, not racso. The tank is mine, not racso's

[span class="edited"][Edited by gartenzwerfe 2004-07-18 22:09][/span]

Oh, and one more thing: My mom's friend that gave her the tank came over today and saw it. She likes it so much she wants Jorge and me to redo her tank and she'll pay us! w00t!

Haven't gotten the details yet.

AWESOME tank, I envy you with my 20g lol.

Ok, I'll admit, some fish died.

First, the angel, oh wait a minute, HE WAS TERRIBLY SICK BEFORE WE ADDED FISH, so he doesn't count.

Second, a danio.... from *insert LCS here*.... its to be expected

Third, a male swordtail who had fin rot from the time he got home.

After those three, the tank has been perfectly fine!

Levels: ammonia = 0, nitrite = 0, nitrate = ~20, and we STILL havn't done a water change.

In conclusion, WE ROCK!!! and so does fishless cycling...

PSST... all "floaters" have died from reason out of our control, AKA, caused by the [sarcasm]greatest[/sarcasm] store on earth.