Hey guys, it's finally time for me to get that ol 46 gallon that I got for christmas going. Well, ok I lie, it's been going since monday. I started it because my neighbor has a fish tank for his daughter and well, she thought she'd put a whole package of pepperage farm goldfish in with her fish! Well he luckily found this out but doesn't want the fish anymore. he's going to keep the aquarium cause well, it doesn't do any harm to start it up when she's older and I'd help him when the time came. Well long story short I inherited the survivors of this little escapade. 4 zebra danio. I could put them in with my other fish in my 29 but that's pretty stocked and stable. I filled up my 46 and put my seeded Eheim 2215 (was planning this in advance! w00t go me!) onto the 46 and moved some plants over and well, everything is pretty hunky-dory but I had a couple questions on the cycle/stocking.
Here goes:
I am not going to keep these fish. Probably in the next 3 weeks I'll give them a good home with a friend of mine who is a zebra danio freak but she's not able to take them at this time. So at the moment they are ammonia factories for my filter. I tested my water and it's at .25 ammonia for the past week. Never lower, never higher. I am testing 0 for both nitrites and nitrates. I'd figure with a very very seeded filter that I'd get a reading of at least one of those. Are there too little fish? Are they not making enough ammonia to keep the cycle in my filter. Are my nitrite bacteria dying off?
My final stocking on this tank will include 1 parkinsoni rainbow (I know he likes a longer tank, but if he gets too big my LFS would love to have him back and I'll get a good rate for him) and 4-5 khulii loaches as clean up and snail removal. I'd like to have raspboras as well and 1-2 more rainbows, smaller ones, maybe banded rainbows. I'm also going to bring over Sunny/Sonny my dwarf sunset gouriami or maybe get a larger one and leave him in my 29. Any thoughts to this? Also for the bottom once the tank is set up I'm going to get a pair of Apistos.
Thanks for any advice
Oh here's a picture of the tank.. light stocking on plants, I know, going to get more within 2 weeks.
Here goes:
I am not going to keep these fish. Probably in the next 3 weeks I'll give them a good home with a friend of mine who is a zebra danio freak but she's not able to take them at this time. So at the moment they are ammonia factories for my filter. I tested my water and it's at .25 ammonia for the past week. Never lower, never higher. I am testing 0 for both nitrites and nitrates. I'd figure with a very very seeded filter that I'd get a reading of at least one of those. Are there too little fish? Are they not making enough ammonia to keep the cycle in my filter. Are my nitrite bacteria dying off?
My final stocking on this tank will include 1 parkinsoni rainbow (I know he likes a longer tank, but if he gets too big my LFS would love to have him back and I'll get a good rate for him) and 4-5 khulii loaches as clean up and snail removal. I'd like to have raspboras as well and 1-2 more rainbows, smaller ones, maybe banded rainbows. I'm also going to bring over Sunny/Sonny my dwarf sunset gouriami or maybe get a larger one and leave him in my 29. Any thoughts to this? Also for the bottom once the tank is set up I'm going to get a pair of Apistos.
Thanks for any advice
Oh here's a picture of the tank.. light stocking on plants, I know, going to get more within 2 weeks.