First, can I cycle my tank with a pleco??

Second, I just got a used tank with some inhabitants: an Oscar, a Cherry Barb, a Black Shark and a Convict.

The guy who sold it (stupidly I sent my husband to pick it up) said that he feeds them cat and dog food and insects from outside. This is not a feeding habit I want to continue and was wondering if anyone had any feeding suggestions. I'm planning on picking up cichilid pellets tomorrow but not sure if they will all eat them. Would also like to supplement their diet with live foods and stuff like that but not sure what would be good and what would not.

__________________
10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

How big is the tank the current fish are in?

__________________
Byte Size Computer Solutions

You can cycle a tank with any fish. May take a while with one fish, depending on the size of the tank.

The tank came with it. It's a 55gal. So the inhabitants will probably be disbursed over some other tanks in the next few weeks and as soon as I can get it the Shark needs a massive tank!!! He's one foot now I would love to see him reach 2. I just didn't want to move the fish, move the tank, set the tank back up and then put them in tanks strange to them too all at the same time. Not to mention that getting them accustomed to the water in a new tank is something that is going to take some time to figure out how to do. They don't really fit into your average ziplock bag for floating. I read that the Blakc Shark can be put in with very docile and small fish, since they have such small mouths they just leave them alone. Not sure how small the fish around him can be without him lunching on them. Was thinking of putting him in my community tank. Oscar and Tinfoil Barb (sorry, it was Tinfoil Barb and not Cherry Barb) will probably stay together. Looks like they have formed a school. With Oscar as the leader. Every time Oscar moves Tinfoil is right beside him.

__________________
10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

Floating a bag with fish for the tank they are going in only settles the content of the bag to the temperature of the tank so it is not a shock. Proper acclimation, which should be done every time a fish moves from tank to tank if that tank has different parameters, is done via the drip method. If you do that over a period of 2-3 hours your fish should be fine.

How do you do the drip method?? I have always floated them before.

__________________
10gal fry tank planted with Wisteria, Java Moss, Anuabis and Anacharis
35gal Sponge Bob tank with live bearing tropicals (daughters tank)
15gal planted with Swords, Java Fern, Wisteria and Red Rubin housing 10 fry and 2 bladder snails
55 gal with Oscar (future planted tank with angels and flowerhorns)
55 gal Community tank (platys, mollys, guppys, glass catfish, angels, phantom tetra, red eye tetra and swordtails)

Drip acclimation is where you take the fish and a small amount of water it was in and drip water from the new tank into it's old water and gradually bring it up to what the tank it is going in is going to be. This will alleviate stress from ph shock which can kill some fish.

What you do:

Take the fish and a small portion of the water it was in and place in your aquarium only bucket and then place right next to the aquarium it is going in. Smaller the amount of water the better (within reason) so it may require you to put something under one side of the bucket to tilt it and make the water pool. I use a 5-gal so this is necessary for me.

Take some airline and place one end in your tank. Tie at least 3 overhand knots in the line and make sure it reaches the bucket. Make the knots are loose in the beginning and keep tightening to receive the desired drip rate. Of course you'll have get the siphoning going also. This is where you'll find many different answers....I shoot for about 45 drops a minute and let it go for 2-3 hours. Longer periods and/or slower drips will vary by the particular fish. For instance...putting fish that are less ph tolerant and need a lower ph and moving them to a high ph tank.

After that, net your fish out of the bucket and place in the tank.

I do this every time now I get a fish from anywhere. My death rate has dropped dramatically in the deaths that occur 1-2 days after getting new fish.