One month wait for a new tank?

[Sarah-has-Fish]

Hi, I'm new to fishkeeping, and I read in a book today that when setting up a new tank, you need to wait a month before introducing any fish. Is this true?

[tHEcONCH]

Yes and no - you do need to wait for the tank to 'cycle', which can take anywhere between a couple of days to a couple of weeks, depending upon exactly what you do. 'Cycling' refers to the process of certain beneficial bacteria growing in your filter so that fish waste can be broken down before reaching toxic levels (do a google search on 'cycling aquariums' or 'nitrogen cycle' if you want a full explanation. You can speed the process up by adding products such as cycle or filterstart, or by using large amounts of water from an existing tank - all of which introduce the beneficial bacteria and allow it to establish faster. You can also buy test kits for ammonia, nitrate, and nitrate. If you test the water over the next week or to you should notice ammonia rise, then fall as nitrite rises, then the nitrite will fall as nitrate rises. Once ammonia and nitrite levels are zero, you can start slowly adding fish. You do water changes to get rid of the nitrate.

[georgeous]

Hi and welcome to FNZAS :bounce:

A month is a bit long I would have thought but 2-3 weeks IMO is necessary, to build up the good bacteria in the tank. The bacteria break down excess food, decaying plant matter and fish waste into ammonia, then nitrite, then nirate. Each stage is better for your fish than the stage before it. Just set the tank up as usual, but have 'pretend fish'. Treat them like you would treat normal fish. (Talking to them may get some strange looks....). Or, you could transfer a filter sponge, from an established tank to yours.

Hope this helps

[georgeous]

man... man... you got in before me oh and this is a good site

http://fins.actwin.com/mirror/begin-cycling.html

[nemines]

IMO the key is just to be patient. don't get over excited and buy all your fish at once or on the same day as you have set up the aquarium. of course you need a fish or two in there to get the cycling process going but choose tough, cheap fish, maybe even an algae eater to prevent algae during the tank's early stages. test your water and invest in the best filter you can afford for your aquarium.

[Ianab]

Hi, I'm new to fishkeeping, and I read in a book today that when setting up a new tank, you need to wait a month before introducing any fish. Is this true?

In a word - NO

I would suggest what they really mean is 'introduce the fish OVER a month'

What the folks above have said about the filters and nitrogen cycle is all correct. You have to get that established properly before your tank can support a full population of fish. But it's a chicken and egg situation - the cycle wont start untill there is some ammonia in the tank. Ammonia can either come from a bottle or from fish poop. If you fill up your tank and leave it for a month it still wont have any nitrogen cycle bacteria. So you have effectivly just wasted 4 weeks and probably grown some algae.

My advice - Set up the tank and wait a day or 2 for the water to settle and the temp to stabilise. Then add a couple of small hardy fish. Feed them etc and watch them swim around for a couple of weeks. If all is well, add a couple more each week. Buy week 6 you should have a cycled tank full of fish.

The key is to not rush things. If you set up your tank and just dump in a full tankload of fish - the ammonia will build up faster than the bacteria that process it - and most of your fish will die. Starting out with just a few small fish give the bacteria a chance to multiply before the ammonia builds up to dangerous levels.

Zebra danios seem to be the default fish for cycling tanks, they are cheap, hardy and make good community fish once the tank is set up.

There are ways to shortcut things but they involve having a tank thats already cycled, not much use for your first tank.

Cheers

Ian

[Sarah-has-Fish]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions :-) Your comments are a huge help :bounce:

[jim r]

What kind of fish are you intending to keep?

[Caper]

nemines wrote:

maybe even an algae eater to prevent algae during the tank's early stages

But wouldn't you have to wait for a period of time for the tank to have enough algae to sustain an algae eater? Or would you just feed, algae wafers? Just wondering because this is the first time I heard of introducing an algae eater early in the cycling process, unless I misunderstood :-? :-? :-?

Caper

[Ianab]

Generally you have to feed 'algae eaters' extra food anyway. A normal tank just wont grow enough algae to feed a reasonable sized fish.

Starting up the tank with a small pleco isn't a silly idea, they are pretty tough and will keep the algae under control from the start.

Cheers

Ian

[Gill]

HI I have just started to up my tank i let the water and temp settle for a couple of days and i have introduced some fish each week and so far all is going great .So taking it slow seems to be the way to go , even if my girls are NAGGING me to get more fish .We are week three now .So far we have 6 neons 6 guppies and a Male Siamese .

[Caper]

they are pretty tough and will keep the algae under control from the start.

Thanks didn't know that!

Caper