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I have a 10 gallon aquarium that I have been fishless cycling since eary January. Inside of the tank I added several extra filter sponges with the hope that after the fishless cycle completes, I could transfer these sponges to other new tanks to seed them. Would this method be effective? The 10 gallon tank has just recently finished cycling, and I will keep adding pure ammonia to it to keep it "fed". I don't plan on adding any fish to this particular tank until my other ones are established (hopefully with the mentioned filter sponges). This way I won't risk sending diseases from fish to new tanks If I were to add fish to this one immediatly.

Ideally, I could add one of those sponges to another new, unestablished tank's filter, and add some ammonia (little less than .5ppm?) and wait a day or so. If the test readings all came out okay, I could assume that the seeding worked? At this point it should be okay to add fish so that the tank would be fed continuously by them, and pure ammonia would no longer be added, correct? Any advice or things I should watch out for?

Sorry if it's confusing to read. I'm new to these forums, although I've been to this site a lot for other information.

Hi, and welcome to FP

That sounds like a pretty good plan. Just remember, the bacteria buildup will only be as large as the food provided allows it to be. Make sure to stock slowly in the other tanks, and don't be surprised if there's a little ammonia build-up in the others after the first few fish are added. Seeding is a great start, but it may take a little while before the colonies can build themselves up to the level where they can handle all the waste provided for them. Other than that, no reason why what you're doing wouldn't help in the start of new tanks.

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Back in the saddle!

Thanks for the reply. I'll probably start off adding one group of fish at a time. The tank I'll do first is a 29 gallon, so I have some planning to do as far as fish selection goes. Would it be a better idea to add a school of fish first, or say a pair? (ex: if I wanted a school of X and only a pair of slightly larger Y, and some bottom feeders when its fully stocked, should I add the school first, or the other fish?). Obviously with some time between additions to allow the bacteria load to adjust.

This isn't my first tank, but my earlier attempts weren't exactly huge successes.


I have some pictures of both my 10 and 29. No fish in either yet, and the plants are all fake, but better than emptyness I guess.

The 10:
http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1170059425
The 29:
http://www.n00bstories.com/image.fetch.php?id=1085499767

Depends on what X and Y are, of course

There are many schooling fish that would do well to go in first: harlequin rasboras, danios, certain kinds of tetra. other tetras such as cardinals, neons and rummynose to name a few can be very delicate and shouldn't be used to cycle a tank, or used even right after the tank has been cycled.

When you talk of a pair, are you talking of a pair of dwarf cichlids? If so, many species can also be sensitive. Same with bottom dwellers. As i said, let us know what you have in mind and we can help you avoid the mistakes you made last time.

Generally speaking, you want to stock slowly and approprately for the fish you have in mind. Since schoolers belong in a school () it's probably best to start building them up first and not stress that type of fish out by adding one at a time.

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Back in the saddle!

I'm thinking perhaps a school of a certain Rosbora or Barb (might stay away from Tetras this time), and perhaps 1-3 Golden Gourami's. Nothing fancy. I was considering Rosy Barbs, but 29 gallons might be too small for a group of 4-6 of them? I would get Tigers, but I've had them before and would like to try something different. Plus I'm not sure how they would behave with a little larger/slower fish in the tank such as the Gouramis.

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I'd stay away from rosy barbs for a 29 gallon, rosys do get quite large and are plenty active. I had them in a 30 gallon long before I moved them to an indoor pond and they used the entire space of both tanks, they'd just be cramped up in a 29 (think of a 3 year old on a sugar high stuck in the backseat ).

If you really want some barbs try looking at gold barbs. They're slightly less active then rosies and do tend to stay slightly smaller. A longer tank would be more ideal for them but a 29 should work as well.

If I were stocking the 29 I'd go with rasboras though. IMO it'd fill out the tank more than a small school of larger (relativly) fish.

^_^

Maybe a group of 6-10 Harlequins to start off? Will the Gold Barbs school at all? I've never liked the look of them in the store, but in all the pictures on line their coloration looks much better. My pH is a little higher than what is recommended on this site (mine is 7.8 or so), however isn't it more important that my tanks be closer to my source's pH? (LFS in this case).

Could another stocking possibility be a large group of Tiger barbs (10 or so), and say a Red Tailed Black shark? I know they are very aggressive and territorial, but would the Tiger Barbs be able to hold their own, given their behaviour? Would this severly limit me on other tankmates, such as loaches, or cory's?

Thanks for the help everyone, hopefully I can choose who goes in first, then make the rest of my stocking choices based on what I first go with.

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My gold barbs are more pack fish rather than schoolign fish, they just hang out together...frankly they remind me of a pack of puppies .

The biggest issue with ph, is to give the fish a good long acclimation. Most fish can be acclimiated outside of their usual Ph. Do a slower drip acclimation, or exhcnage a 1/4 cup of LFS water (dump it out not in the tank as it could bring nasties) with 1/4 cup of tank water every 15 minutes. I usually do this for about 2 hours, then net out the fish from the LFS bag into the tank.

^_^

I'll have to check them out when I head up the store next time (I didn't notice them when I was there yesterday, but I wasn't really looking for fish either). I could always get a group of them, and a school of something else later. I want a combination of schooling fish, and loner fish.

Any ideas about the Odessa (Ticto) barb? Saw these at the store the other day, and from what I've read on them they seem like a possible choice. Are these a schooling fish? Or could I get a small group (pair, or maybe three)? Most of the sites aren't very clear about this.

I've added 7 Harlequin Rasboras to my 29 gallon that has been seeded. They have been in there about a day, and ammonia/nitrite levels are still 0, so I'm assuming the seeding worked as planned. I'll keep monitering the levels as the week goes on just to be safe.

Can you guys help me with some possible tankmates? I've gotten some ideas based on searching this forum for old threads about stocking 29 gallons, but didn't really find any ideas that I really liked.

So right now I have 7 Harlies, and they are all pretty small (young I guess). I really want a centerpiece type of fish, but am unsure of what to look for. I really like Gourami's. I've always liked Pearl Gourami's, but would they leave room for anything else? What about a single Moonlight Gourami? Or do they prefer company (I've been reading that they are aggressive towards their own kind).

For the bottom of the tank I was thinking either a group of small cories, or a small loach. I've really enjoyed having Khuli Loaches in the past, so I'm considering a group (maybe 3) of them. I've had YoYo Loaches, but they might get too big.

I've been playing around with the idea of a Red Tailed Black Shark instead of a centerpiece fish, but from what I've been reading, I should really have a 40 gallon tank or bigger for one of them. So any ideas there?

Thanks for the help/comments so far. I'll have to get some decent pictures of the tank soon. I've changed it a lot, because I wasn't happy with the layout.