Cycling with Feeder Guppies

iamntbatman

Anyone know if it's possible to cycle with feeder guppies? Or are they too sensitive?

onefish2fish

i would take a guess that they'd be to sensitive.. whats wrong with a 2 or 3 feeder Goldfish? or doing a fishless cycle?

iamntbatman

Well, I wanted to get the cycle going on a 10g to start breeding some feeder guppies in for my future Jack Dempsey. I don't want to feed him Goldfish because of the health issues associated with them (i.e. higher in fat content, plus the serrated spines, etc etc). Guppies are generally much better feeders, plus they'll breed themselves so I don't have to keep buying more and quarantining them.

I'm doing a fishless cycle on two tanks right now. I'll admit, they're my first full fishless cycles and they're taking much longer than the tanks I've cycled with danios. It's been two weeks and my ammonia is just now starting to fall and I'm getting nitrite readings.

Aren't feeder guppies supposed to be a lot hardier than fancy guppies?

onefish2fish

yea feeder Goldfish usually are disease packed. id imagine feeder guppies are as well, just because the conditions they are in. 2million(not literally but you get the idea) a tank so 1 is guarenteed to have some sort of illness meaning most likely they all do.
why not throw a couple of those suckers in there? (i mean theyre sold to get eaten anyway, so if they die its not that messed up)
you could also take a scoop of gravel out of one of your established tanks and put it into this tank (it could only help in the process) that is, ofcourse if the substrates are the same.

Tyyrlym

Yeah, if you've got established tanks then using some gravel from them and some filter media if its compatible with the filter on the feeder tank would be a great way to cycle it faster.

As for breeding feeders, I wouldn't trust anything labeled "feeder". Get some regular guppies and feed them to him, more colorful snacks.

1077

Gravel from one of the other tanks you have that is already cycled will speed the process. You can put a cup full in some nylon ,tie it closed and push it into the substrate of feeder near the filter. Filter material from other tanks can be done same way with something to hold it down. I have simply placed colonized filter cartridges in the tank with a rock on them. You have in my view, the right Idea but then you know that don't you? Raising your own feeders drastically reduces possible contamination. :)

SheyFirestar

if your gonna have a Jack Dempsey later i know rosie red feeder fish are very hardy thats what i used to cycle my tank and a dempsey will eat them too. u could use them to cycle then bring in your guppies and move the reds when the guppies start dropping babies. the reds would most definitely try to eat all the fry babies. but when u get your dempsey it will eat the reds so it think that would work out well.

Amphitrite

What exactly are you using for the fishless cycle at the moment? The fastest I've ever managed a fishless cycle is using ammonia (bringing the levels up to 5ppm per day) with a constant temperature of 80 degrees, adding as much mature media to the tank as possible - via used filter media, gravel and ornaments.

Since finding this method, I've never cycled a tank with fish.

okiemavis

I'd just use zebra danios if you wanna do a fish-full cycle. They're pretty cheap, and they'll be hardy and healthy.

iamntbatman

I've been using prawns to cycle. It didn't take long to get an ammonia spike, but it's really been plodding along since then.

I want to avoid danios for a few reasons. I've already got a school that has served me well in cycling all my past tanks (I haven't lost one yet!). It seems cruel to just keep doing that to them. Plus, I really don't feel like having to catch them out of their current tank and move them, then move them back. I don't want more of them because they can't stay in the Guppy breeding tank (they'll eat the fry) and they definitely wouldn't last in the Dempsey tank. I just don't have anywhere else to put them after they're done cycling. It's really not a rush to get the feeder tank cycled (I haven't even set it up yet) since I plan on buying a really small Dempsey to start with so he won't be eating adult feeder guppies anytime soon.