I need some advice on some "hearty" fish I recently purchased to aid in cycling of the tank:
I am in the process of setting up a 10 gallon tank.
I spend 2 weeks fishlessly cycling with some live plants.
Went to the pet store last Friday [two days prior to posting this] with a water sample just to confirm that everything was on schedule and doing just fine of my deadline of "fish after 1 month of cycling". The woman at the store (who admitted that aquariums weren't her area of expertise) said levels looked really good (good enough for fish) and recommended that I add some "hearty" fish to aid in the cycling process for my last 2 weeks.
She then bagged for me about 20 fish (I've been unable to identify them online, but I've attached a picture) and I accepted this recommendation without even questioning - maybe the summer heat is getting to me too because everything I've read online (and what I was told by the aquarium expert the previous time I'd been into the store) is that you only want 2-3 fish for cycling a tank. In addition, its my understanding that for a tank my size, I shouldn't keep more than about 5 (schooling) fish, so my hearty fish are producing way more waste than my filter was designed to handle.
I am not willing to purposely kill them or flush them (I'm fact I want to do everything I can to give them happy healthy lives), and I'm unable to make the financial investment of a second tank/bowl - do you think the pet store would take them back? Or do you have recommendations on how often I should clean/change the water to reduce the amount of waste their swimming in (with the understanding that I am still trying to build up bacteria levels for the fish I eventually want to get as pets).
I'm also "concerned" that these fish won't naturally perish in 2 weeks, which means I will have an overstocked tank of not-the-fish-I'm-looking-for. I know its not the worse problem to have to wait until them pass away (how long can they live, anyway?) but I'm so excited for my GloFish!
I am in the process of setting up a 10 gallon tank.
I spend 2 weeks fishlessly cycling with some live plants.
Went to the pet store last Friday [two days prior to posting this] with a water sample just to confirm that everything was on schedule and doing just fine of my deadline of "fish after 1 month of cycling". The woman at the store (who admitted that aquariums weren't her area of expertise) said levels looked really good (good enough for fish) and recommended that I add some "hearty" fish to aid in the cycling process for my last 2 weeks.
She then bagged for me about 20 fish (I've been unable to identify them online, but I've attached a picture) and I accepted this recommendation without even questioning - maybe the summer heat is getting to me too because everything I've read online (and what I was told by the aquarium expert the previous time I'd been into the store) is that you only want 2-3 fish for cycling a tank. In addition, its my understanding that for a tank my size, I shouldn't keep more than about 5 (schooling) fish, so my hearty fish are producing way more waste than my filter was designed to handle.
I am not willing to purposely kill them or flush them (I'm fact I want to do everything I can to give them happy healthy lives), and I'm unable to make the financial investment of a second tank/bowl - do you think the pet store would take them back? Or do you have recommendations on how often I should clean/change the water to reduce the amount of waste their swimming in (with the understanding that I am still trying to build up bacteria levels for the fish I eventually want to get as pets).
I'm also "concerned" that these fish won't naturally perish in 2 weeks, which means I will have an overstocked tank of not-the-fish-I'm-looking-for. I know its not the worse problem to have to wait until them pass away (how long can they live, anyway?) but I'm so excited for my GloFish!
