Hi all, I’m rather excited about my inbound Celestial Pearl Danios from BLA aquatics. I have a question though. I’ve never had great success with introducing large amounts of fish to my tank. I’m assuming it always causes a new mini cycle. Obviously I would like to avoid adding 30 fish, but in this case, it’s not really possible. This time around I’m blessed with a better filter, however, I want to give the fish the best possible change of survival. My plan of attack is as follows: Clean the filter a week before arrival. Do a nice big water change two days before arrival. Then, on arrival, all the usual steps i.e. drip method, lights off, feed other fish before introduction etc. After introduction, do a 15% water change daily for a week or two, whilst feeding the fish minimally at the start, and slowly upping their rations as time goes by. I realise I might be overthinking it, but like I said, I want 100% survival rate, as these guys are rather expensive atm… Any other suggestions? PS, current tankmates will include: 4 x Dwarf puffer (Not aggressive at all.... except if your a snail) 2 x Sewellia lineolata 4 x Otocinclus 2 x Pygmy Corydoras (added too many to quickly….) ~150 x Shrimp
Don't add them to this tank. What happens if they are sick? Can't you setup another quarantine tank for them first and introduce them slowly after a few weeks?
That would be ideal... But the tank is half the size of my res room already Thanks for the idea though
Quarantine tank would be best...can add a few fish every couple of days to the display tank once you know they disease free...will be much easier on the bio-load. If this isn't possible...like you said would prolly best back up plan. I'll test water every day for spikes tho and maybe add another filter for added bio filtration untill your primary filter can handle the load
Approx 220l? With 2 HOB's and an internal filter? Are you running Matrix in any of them?[/QUOTE] Ja, 220 is probably more accurate, and got a new filter a while ago... so toock out the other filters. Not running anything such as matrix, but was thinking of adding something in that line, at least for the first couple of days to absorb some of the initial ammonia, till the bacteria can pick up the slack.
Run Matrix in your filters permanently. Get it as soon as possible. Also think about using something like Seachem Stability if you don't already.
Ok, my mistake, I was thinking of something completely different. I do have some ceramic 'noodles' which is similar, but I'll definitely get some of the matrix as well. I was just thinking of an experiment to check the bio-filtration efficiency off different filter media... maybe next year. But thanks, like I said, I'll get some of it
besides the risk of getting sick, you will not induce a cycle by adding 30 CPD's to a 240l tank.. they are tiny fish and have a tiny bioload..
Haha, that's what I wanted to hear! Only thing is, when I added 15 pygmy corys last time, it started a new cycle. But I suspect my filtration wasn't up to standard back then. I didn't think it was normal for such small fish to start a new cycle. But thanks for the peace of mind.
Well, educated guess... They dropped on at a time, over a period of about a week and a half. They did, what I think you call "spiral of death". Where they start swimming in small bursts, mostly in circles. Also, it lasted a while, some fish took a day or two before they died. There where also no further signs of disease that I could see... And, I'm relatively new to fish-keeping, so it's happened a lot more that it should have where I added to many new fish at a time, or to many fish in one tank and then the same thing happens. Whereas, if I add fish slowly, it doesn't happen. Does it sound about right, or is it something completely different?
You can get around this by feeding less for the first few days after adding fish as to slowly increase your bioload, do more water changes.
