adding Fish during cycling
 

are there ideal fish you may add during cycling? I'm using stability ---> Seachem. Stability to cycle my tank in its 3rd day, ammonia sitting on 0.25 hasn't moved since I started testing, is there any fish that is suitable, or at least able to handle the cycling process?

Ammonia in any measureable amount,is stressful to toxic for fish.
Add to this that most folks overstock the cycling tank,over feed the fish ,Ammonia quickly affects the fish permanently.(what would you do with these damaged fish after cycling?)
Using fish,requires very small hardy fish ,very few in number's per volume of water, very sparse feeding's and possibly frequent water changes if as mentioned,,too many fish,too much food, during the six to eight weeks it takes for tank to mature.
Much easier to toss two or three SMALL prawns in say thirty to 80 gal tank and simply wait until ammonia and nitrites read zero for three or four consecutive days or add a pinch of fish food every other day and wait for same test result's. Then perform 50 to 60 percent water change and add fish slowly, a few at a time, over a few weeks.
If you use too large of shrimp,too much food,process can actually take longer than neededand tank will become toxic soup.
Just need enough to provide some food for bacteria to feed on. (good bacteria)
hopefully someone else here will provide you a link to very good article on beginning a new tank for I am ignorant as to how to perform that task.
Adding a lot of live plant's can help with cycling, as well as borrowing some filter media from a friends tank.
Lot's of way's to prevent harming fishes but the key is...very small fish,,very few in number's initially.;-)

Although I've used Stability to jump start a new filter, I haven't used it for a new tank. However, according to Seachem, using their 7 day regimen for Stability on a new tank, you can begin slowly adding fish in the first week. It still takes time to stabilize the tank, but without ammonia and subsequent nitrites the colonies won't properly develop - a bit of a catch 22.
If you don't already have fish in the tank, is the ammonia from your tap water? If you're measuring ammonia, I would hold off adding any (or any more) fish.

I'll just pickup a bit on what's been posted. First, do not acquire any fish just to "cycle," this can cause more trouble. It is possible to "cycle" new tanks using live plants, and/or seeding with bacteria. And Stability is one method of seeding bacteria, I have used it.

Whatever method, go slow. And the first fish should be fish you want in the tank, but some fish are better than others. If you tell us what fish you intend for the tank when it's finished, we might be able to suggest those that would manage initially. But always with live plants or seeding, or both.

Byron.

Fish in the tanjk
 

Ok Fish tank is cycling nicely, Ammonia ---> 0 PPM, Nitrite ---> 0.25 PMM Nitrate---> 10 PPM, so we are getting there, I used Stability but that I dont think were doing much was told to use Prime to kick start it off, so I did, now appears to becoming along nicely, I was looking to stock 5 x Angelfish, 8 x corydoras (unless there is another type of ground dweller) and 4 x dwarf Gourami, looking to have a piece of driftwood in place as well as 5x plants (or that where abouts)

Parameter Units ADWG* Health ADWG* Aesthetic Orchard Hills
Physical characteristics
True colour TCU or HU na 15 <2
Turbidity NTU na 5 0.1 - 0.2
Total dissolved solids mg/L na 500 110 -147
pH pH units na 6.5 - 8.5 7.6 - 8.3
Conductivity mS/m na na 21 – 24
Total hardness mg CaCO3 /L na 200 59 - 71
Calcium hardness mg CaCO3 /L na na 41 - 52
Magnesium hardness mg CaCO3 /L na na 16 - 21
Alkalinity mg CaCO3 /L na na 35 - 42
Temperature degrees C na na 13 - 23
Dissolved oxygen % saturation na >85% 98 - 119
Disinfectants
Free chlorine mg/L 5 0.6 0.30 – 1.02
Monochloramine mg/L 3 0.5 0.00 - 0.12
Disinfection by-products
Trihalomethanes mg/L 0.25 na 0.056 - 0.118
Inorganic chemicals
Aluminium mg/L na 0.2 0.010 - 0.016
Ammonia (as NH3) mg/L na 0.5 nd
Arsenic mg/L 0.007 na nd
Cadmium mg/L 0.002 na nd Parameter Units ADWG* Health ADWG* Aesthetic Orchard Hills
Calcium mg/L na na 14.9 - 19.4
Chloride mg/L na 250 30.3 - 37.8
Chromium (VI) mg/L 0.05 na nd
Copper mg/L 2 1 0.006 - 0.042
Cyanide mg/L 0.08 na nd
Fluoride mg/L 1.5 na 0.96 - 1.03
Iron mg/L na 0.3 0.010 - 0.021
Lead mg/L 0.01 na nd
Magnesium mg/L na na 4.83 – 5.90
Manganese mg/L 0.5 0.1 0.002 - 0.008
Mercury mg/L 0.001 na nd
Nitrate (as NO3) mg/L 50 na 0.10 - 0.39
Nitrite (as NO2) mg/L 3 na nd
Phosphorous mg/L na na 0.007 - 0.010
Potassium mg/L na na 2.19 – 2.54
Reactive silica (as SiO2) mg/L na na 2.2 – 3.1
Selenium mg/L 0.01 na nd
Silver mg/L 0.1 na nd
Sodium mg/L na 180 12.7 - 17.6
Sulfate mg/L 500 250 8 - 11
Zinc mg/L na 3 <0.005 - 0.007
Organic compounds
Chlorinated, polynuclear aromatic,
aromatic hydrocarbons
various various nd
Chlorophenols various various nd
Pesticides various various nd
the aforementioned are the water paremeters for my area otherwise ---> http://www.sydneywater.com.au/WaterQ...011.pdf#Page=1, dont wish to confuse people and this may have been brought up in another thread, however my point is to give as much information as possible..., Re: fish in tank, I was told that would give me enough fish without overstocking, then I was told no because when the angels start breeding, plan on giving them ALL the slice no kiddies in my tank (joking), they will become aggressive to the dwarf gourami... as per AqAdvisor - Intelligent Freshwater Tropical Fish Aquarium Stocking Calculator and Aquarium Tank/Filter Advisor this will give me 94% capacity, any ideas anyone? btw ---> tested GH/KH: K/H = 53.7 and G/H = 71.6, as per API Test kit

On the water hardness, that is soft to very soft, fine for intended fish mentioned. But on the fish, I would not include any gourami with angelfish. I don't know the tank size, but this is not a recommended mix regardless. Males of both can be territorial. There is also the very real issue of health (virus) with dwarf gourmai; unless you know the source (i.e., the breeder) I would not buy this fish. This is mentioned in our profile.

i did read that, thus I were going for the Honey Gourami, but alas, I decided the Dwarf variety, I really like the Gourami, my wife like the angelfish, thus I were getting the two breeds, and cory just as a bottom feeder, tank is a 50 G 4 ft long tank, I would love to hear what choice you would make then with either angelfish as the main focus.... or as gourami as the main focus, this siounds like a war, between my wife and I wether angel fish or gourami.... and Byron keep up the great work, you are helping a lot, your input is invaluable

In that sized tank it is perfect for a group of angelfish. And this is a beautiful fish that deserves attention. A group of 5 would be ideal. Plus some peaceful shoaling fish (some of the species in the Rosy clade of Hyphessobrycon work very well, just avoid the nippers); a large group of corys (3-5 of several species); Whiptail Catfish for some added interest, one or more. And plants, Echinodorus (larger species) and pygmy chain sword. Moderate light, and floating plants (angels do not like bright overhead light).