cichlid cycle?

[TaffyFish]

I am unable to do a fishless cycle of a new 40g tank as I can't get my hands on any ammonia. I want to stock fancy goldfish but would rather not put them through the stress.

If I was to add a heater for the cycle, which cichlid (they're messy too aren't they?) would be a suitable candidate for this and how high a temp could I set to speed up the cycle reaction times? Severums are cheaper than JD's aren't they, would they be able to stand mid to high eighties for a couple of weeks?

 

[lizwinz]

i dont see how u wouldnt be able to find ammonia...its available at grocery and discount department stores, its much less expensive then buying fish but maybe things are different in hampshire

if you have to use fish to cycle, i dont think anyone would reccomend any type of cichlid for this

danios or white clouds would be best, they are pretty hardy (although they could become stressed/ill from the cycling process) and you could keep them with your goldfish when the cycle is complete

i dont know where you got the idea that severums or jd's would be appropriate but ive never seen that suggested anywhere...i dont even know where to begin on reasons that wouldn't be a good idea

--liz

 

[TaffyFish]

I think maybe things are different in Hampshire (UK) Liz, really struggling with a source of ammonia, please don't tell me Walmart!

I thought as cichlids are big and messy, a bit like goldfish but a lot uglier and less desireable IMHO, they would provide the kind of bioload that a fancy would. I'm sure you would agree Liz. white clouds and danios are a bit small aren't they? How many danios would it take to replicate the output of a single goldfish?

besides I could get a decent price for a second hand JD....;-)

 

[lizwinz]

i see your reasoning but thats not really the way a fish in cycle works

youd start with about 4-6 danios or minnows, then once the cycle is complete you either take them out or leave them in and add one goldfish then you can add one goldfish every few weeks until your stocked (i wouldnt put more than 4 in there)...the idea here is that you establish the bacteria colony thru cycling and then when you add fish it grows to accomidate their waste

using "big and messy" fish for cycling dosent seem to be a good idea imo...ammonia and nitrite levels will rise to toxic levels very quickly and you wont be able to keep them down to acceptable level even with daily water changes...your fish will die/become diseased and youll have to keep replacing it and when you do finally add the fish you really want there will be lots of disease in the tank waiting for them

for example i have a 35 gallon tank that i tried to fishless cycle with danios, i did daily (sometimes twice daily) 30% water changes to keep the levels down but i could barely keep up and they started getting ill...so i gave up and did fishless...imagine if i had bigger dirtier fish in there

--liz

 

[wayne at home]

Try slinging in a dead raw shrimp and letting it rot out.

Ammonia is available at Sainsburys, or certainly B & Q. The cichlid idea will be hard work

 

[SoulFish]

cichlids are the best fish you can buy in my opinion, much better hten any lame tetra, you could pee in your tank, or throw shrimp, or do goldfish, dont do cichlids they are too good to be treated like that