cycling my 90 gal

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G

gman

Candiru
MFK Member
Dec 28, 2005
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Well I'm in the process of building my 90 gal, and looking ahead I know I am going to have to cycle the tank. So here is my idea, I was thinking of getting like 4 or 5 convicts and throwing them in to cycle the tank. That way by the time I put the other fish in they will be established and will hopefully start to breed, giving me feeders for the knifes and cats that are going into the tank.

So my question is will the convicts be ok in there? Is this too many fish to have in the tank while cycling it? If you think this is a bad idea give me alternatives.

Thanks
Mike
 
There are a lot hardier fish to use in cycling tanks like black tetras, GF, or (I use) mosquito fish. I never heard of using American Cichlids to cycle.
 
Seed the filters with either media from a working filter or sludge from one. For a 90g tank 4 convicts might work. A couple of blue or snakeskin gouramis would be good, they are very hardy. One fish that works well is danios of almost any kind, suprisingly they will live in damn near any conditions as will this callichthys catfish, it would damn near live in raw sewage.

bub.jpg
 
that's an ugly fish that looks like it was conceived from raw sewage.
 
If you plan on using convicts for cycling you new tank, then i also say you should use an already established filter and run it on your new tank, or take the old filter media, gravel or what ever that already has bacteria on it. That way your convicts would be alot safer and just might have a chance to breed for you in the future.
 
I've used it before and, as advertised, it cycled overnight. Good point.
BTW, I've never seen a callichthys catfish in any fish store. In fact, the only one I ever saw went under the name 'Puff Daddy'.
 
I called Marineland and they said that it keeps the levels within safe levels and is fully cycled in 11 days.

They also said that some test kits will read off the scale during the 11 cycle. I did some test and found that it's true for some tesat kits but others read closer.
 
i second the post about danios. i use 89 cent zebra danios, and 1.99 giant danios to cycle my tanks. great dither fish also.
 
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