Cycling My Fish Tank

[daughter]

Hi everyone,

I've got some questions regarding cycling fish tanks! I reciently on a whim decided to get some fish and I started out with one Betta and kept him in a 1.5 gallon bowl and he's great, nice and happy. Shortly after I bought somemore critters, two mystery snails and an african dwarf frog. The gold mystery snail was put in with my Betta, and in another bowl the black mystery snail with my ADF, they all seemed great, happy and healthy, very active and they all were eating.

Now i've upgraded and bought a 2.5 gallon tank (couldn't get any bigger due to space constraints) and tried putting them all in. Well the Betta nipped my ADF on the toe so I pulled him out ASAP and he's now back in his bowl alone. But the ADF and the two snails are still in the 2.5 gal tank. They seem great (they're all very active and eating). I've been doing some reading on the web and I've come across a "how to" on cycling your fish tank. And even though i'm not working with any fish i thought i'd give it a try.

Well I've just started, I've made one 15% water change and I'm about to make the second one on Saturday. Today is Friday and I just noticed that my tank is a little stinky (Thursday, it was fine, no smell). What should I do? Should I do a complete water change today, or just 15%, or start over completely? When my frog was in his fish bowl with a snail and the betta was in another bowl with his snail I was making complete water changes once a week and there was never any stink and everyone was happy and eating.

Please tell me if i'm missing a step, or just going about this all wrong.

Thanks
daughter.

PS there is no filter on my 2.5 gallon tank because I was told the frog likes still water, so I never bought one

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2.5 gallon tank
1 gold mystery snail
1 black mystery snail
1 african dwarf frog
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1.5 gallon bowl
1 red crown tail betta

 

['-JIN-']

is ur water cycling now??

 

[daughter]

as far as i know, is it even possible to cycle without a filter? Cause like i mentioned before i filled the tank last sunday and gradually introduced the snails and frog. Since then i've been doing 15% water changes every 3 days, but today (one day shy of the next 15% water change) the water is a little stinky

 

[SANND]

I'm not sure but I don't think you can actually 'cycle' a 2.5 gal tank. Or if you do, I don't think you actually see it happen. Anyway, if you're can't put a filter on the tank then you really should do frequent water changes. I do 30% water changes twice a week for my betta in his 2.5 gallon tank even with a filter.

 

[FroggyFox]

Well I think you should probably make a point to continue your research on what cycling is. Your tank will cycle whether you want it to or not...its a process that your water goes through...although with no water movement it wont really progress. Even though frogs may not like a big water current, all of your critters would do much better with FILTERED water as opposed to stagnant water. The smell is probably from elevated levels of ammonia in the tank, and if you dont keep up with the water changes that will kill your critters. They make some little tiny filters...check out Azoo (I think thats the brand) With some water movement at least you'll get a higher level of oxygen in there.

For a little tank like yours with no filter I'd suggest every other day at least 50% change with dechlorinated water.

 

[daughter]

ok that sounds good, i'll stick to the frequent water changes with declorinated water for now and next weekend i'm heading back to the pet store so i'll pick up a small filter for the tank.

Thanks everyone!