i added
2-cockatoo apistos
2-juli corys
10-ghost shrimp to my 29 gallon bc the apistos were spawning and were bound to start a masacre. now it's been 2 or 3 days and no change with parameters at all. i did use some seeded material from my 5 gallon. i also have 5 plants
1-java fern
2-anubius nanas
2-aponogeton bulbs (the ones you get from walmart)
i was thinking of maybe adding 2-3 male guppies since i want them in my final product, just to kind of speed this process up. ill be adding more seeded material also probably some moss balls from a petstore and a filter cartlidge or gravel from a LFS. should i add the guppies?also it wont be a problem to do water changes all the time since ill be out of school wednesday.

Some folks use the guppies as cyclers but they have never appealed to me for that use. They are not as hardy as many people think. A knowledgeable worker at Petco (yeah, a real rarity) tells me they loose a higher percentage of guppies than most other fish on day one and two into the store.

Zebra Dannios are more hardy in my experience. I've cycled a 60 tall with those and Checked Barbs and they survived and thrived. At the same time, I tested every day and when Nitrites got high, I did wc's to bring it back down to survivable levels.

The last three tanks, I did a fish-less cycle, a 55g, a 20g hex and a 10g isolation tank. The only trick here (for me) was matching the ammonia input to the desired bio-load on the final cycle days. Even though, and some have heard me say it before, in my opinion, a tank being "Cycled" (that is to say, with ammonia input, 24 hours later, 0 ammonia, 0 Nitrites and slowing increasing Nitrates,) does NOT mean that any unlimited number of fish can go straight in.

Matching the volume of beneficial bacteria to bio-load is the key. The only way to determine this is to slowly add fish, one or two each week, and test, test, test, doing water changes as necessary. If you see a Nitrite spike, you've pushed too hard. If so, reduce bio-load if you can but do wc's for sure. The amount of bb in tank water is so small that you will not slow the cycle much.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.

see i wanted a fish that was gonna be in my final product (stocking is in signature) and i thought there wasnt enough fish to really rise the ammonia at all. so i was gonna get like 3 guppies to speed it up.

i found this article is it accurate?Fish Tanks and Fish Tank Information


Cycling With Fish
The time has now come to start cycling your fish tank. This can be done by using some hardy fish, such as zebra danios. When cycling the fish tank, the general rule of thumb is approximately one inch of fish for every 3 or 4 gallons of water. For example, 16 gallon fish tanks would require around 5 fish for cycling.

When adding fish to your fish tank, ensure that the fish tank water is dechlorinated and at the correct temperature. Do not add the fish immediately to the tank water when you bring them home. It is necessary to float the fish inside the bag in the fish tank for around 20 minutes to help acclimatise them. This will bring the water in the bag to around the same temperature as that in the fish tanks, and will prevent shocking the fish.

Now, time to add the fish! Gently untie or cut the bag and let the fish swim free.

For the next 6 - 8 weeks, you will have to be very patient, and be prepared to spend a lot of time performing fish tank maintenance. Watch the behaviour of the fish closely, and do not overfeed.

During the first week of having the fish in the fish tank, perform water changes of around 10 - 15 percent every couple of days. After the first week, it is time to start testing your water, and this should be done at approximately the same time each day. At this point, you will be monitoring for ammonia and nitrite readings (although nitrite may not yet be present).

After the first week, when ammonia levels start to increase (anything above 1ppm), perform a 10 – 15 percent water change. This will dilute the ammonia in the fish tank. Ammonia readings will be present throughout the initial stage of the cycle (water changes help keep these from becoming too high). Anywhere from 1 week onwards, you will notice a presence of nitrite in your test reading. This is the second stage of the cycle.

After a number of weeks (but remember this varies in each case) you will notice the nitrite reading peak and then start to fall again, and the presence of nitrate in the fish tank.

Once you have a steady reading of ammonia 0, nitrite 0, and a presence of nitrates, you will know that your fish tanks have finished cycling.

Please note that when adding new fish after the cycle is complete, this should be done very gradually over a period of weeks or you may experience another ‘mini’ cycle in the fish tank.

The article on cycle is correct, imho.

Yep, I should have read more closely. The guppies will do fine, if you keep up with the water chemistry. Like today, yesterday was supposed to be my wc day but I had other duties. So today, I must do a 25% in 6 tanks and I feel like crap, cold symptoms etc. But, I am draining water out of the 60g right now. Feel like it or not, it must be done if I want to keep them healthy.


And those Zebra's I used? Now I want them in another tank but can not catch them in the 60, so they'll be there until they die.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.

ah that sucks! it wont take me too long to cycle probably at the most a week with the seeded material and plants.

im about to go pick up 2 guppies i think ill post some pics if i can get some.

Yeah, I've cycled in much less time than the "book' says but it is sometimes a matter of luck. Post the pics and keep us posted on the cycle, include water parms if you get around to it. Sometimes I just check them, adjust if necessary and forget them.

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60g tall, all artificial plants, Rainbow tank; 55g for African Cichlids. 20g long for fry; 20g hex, 2 black Angels at my desk; 10g planted, with 50 Molly fry; 10 gal, 2x 13w cfl lightning, planted; 2g hex for "Buddy the Betta"; Wanting a 200g +, MTS getting bad.

i got the guppies one orange, blue, yellow and purple one (bonnie) and one black, yellow, purple, and white one (clide). theyre acclimating now and my cockatoo apisto came up to the bad and Clide rammed the side and the apisto flew off it was funny.