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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?

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13 Nov 2013 21:18 - 13 Nov 2013 21:22 #1 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in? was created by amp2000 (amp2000)
Hey Guys

I've a 120 litre tank with a fluval u3 filter, I filled it up with water 29 days ago & the following day added 5 zebra danios, I didn't really understand the fishless cycle at the time so went the fish-in route.
When I understood the cycle I immediately start doing nightly 25litre water changes to remove the ammonia & ordered an API masterkit.

I'm now 28 days in, have 5 happy danios & it looks like I have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrates & about 20-30 nitrates. I know that means my tank should be cycled but I'm slightly colourblind & can't trust the tests 100% so I'm wondering, could my tank be cycled already, ie after 4 weeks???
I've a couple of live plants I added over the weeks so I'm sure that helped?!?

Any advice appreciated...

Edited to add, I switched from nightly to every 2nd night water changes on sunday, ie no water change sunday or yesterday, wondering should I bother doing tonights or leave it alone & just do weekly now?
Last edit: 13 Nov 2013 21:22 by amp2000 (amp2000).

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13 Nov 2013 22:55 #2 by LemonJelly (Johnny Cowley)
it is possible. I had a 60L tank run in in 2 weeks, although that was with a sponge filter and some water from an already mature aquarium. it depends on the method, parameters, filter type etc

"The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life; your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you.They're freeing your soul."

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13 Nov 2013 23:11 #3 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
Cheers, I'm going to stop doing water changes for now & test daily.
I'm tempted to pick up a couple of cory catfish tomorrow, bad idea or what?
Or maybe 6 rummynose tetras half the size of the danios?

Any advice at all much appreciated...

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14 Nov 2013 15:03 #4 by ger310 (Ger .)

Cheers, I'm going to stop doing water changes for now & test daily.
I'm tempted to pick up a couple of cory catfish tomorrow, bad idea or what?
Or maybe 6 rummynose tetras half the size of the danios?

Any advice at all much appreciated...


Don't stop water changes altogether lol

I think your ready for a few more fish but keep an eye on things and acclimatise the new fish before adding them...........Leave it for a couple of weeks before adding any more then,best of luck :)

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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14 Nov 2013 19:25 - 14 Nov 2013 19:27 #5 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
Cheers, I'll leave the water chages to weekly now :)

I picked up 2 pleco's today, stupidly thought they were corydora sterbai :hammer: I now see they can grow 2 foot :ohmy:
They are less than 2 inches long, is there an lfs in meath or north dublin I can give them to? I don't want any money, just want to purchase something else & give the plecos to whoever I'm buying other fish from, my tank obviously isn't suitable.

Ideally I'd like to keep them till they double in size but I'd imagine the bigger they are the less likely someone will take it off you? Or will they not take any fish end of story? I'm not talking about selling them btw, just wondering what their policy is.
Last edit: 14 Nov 2013 19:27 by amp2000 (amp2000).

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14 Nov 2013 19:58 - 14 Nov 2013 20:02 #6 by Lauris (Lauris)
Mainly any LFS will take em. Maxi Zoo Finglas, Artane aquatics.. or you should try just to give em away over the forum. Might be worth it to make someone happy.
But if you love them - keep them. They will not grow as quickly as you think. And you may upgrade your tank to a bigger one in future.. you never know...

LFS may take any size of the fish. So it should not be a problem after

I am planted!
Last edit: 14 Nov 2013 20:02 by Lauris (Lauris).

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14 Nov 2013 20:35 #7 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
Thanks Lauris, that's great to know. If I offer them on the forum I'm committed, knowing I can give them to a shop when I'm buying some more let's me keep my options open, like you said I might keep them or upgrade to a bigger tank :laugh:

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14 Nov 2013 23:20 #8 by ger310 (Ger .)
Could you not just bring them back to the shop you got them in? They can be poo machines so they are probably not the best choice to start off with in a new tank.I assuming you picked up 2 'common' Plec's aswell and if so they will grow slowish for a while then bang!! and then you might find it very difficult to get rid,so that's another reason to offload them now (or you could then just upgrade to a kick ass tank),again assuming they are 'common' plec's.
If your not sure of what species of Pleco they are just whack up a photo and someone will identify them on here..........They don't all grow to quite big,some stay quite small actually,but still poo machines!! 6-7 Cory's would be the job i'd reckon.

Ger

What do you call a three legged Donkey?

A Wonkey....duh ha :)

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15 Nov 2013 00:19 #9 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
Hi Ger, ye common plecs, I got them in blanch & I'm down in laytown, meath, it's not worth the diesel bringing them back. I'm thinking of ashbourne tomorrow, offload them & buy 5 rummynose tetras or harlequin rasbora & get some sterbai corys in a few weeks.

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15 Nov 2013 10:35 #10 by paulv (paul vickers)

Hi Ger, ye common plecs, I got them in blanch & I'm down in laytown, meath, it's not worth the diesel bringing them back. I'm thinking of ashbourne tomorrow, offload them & buy 5 rummynose tetras or harlequin rasbora & get some sterbai corys in a few weeks.

Im wondering did you get the plecos in a shop? If sowere they labeled or sold as cory cats.

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15 Nov 2013 16:55 #11 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?

Im wondering did you get the plecos in a shop? If sowere they labeled or sold as cory cats.

It was my fault, I assumed the cory was the sucker & actually asked for 2 suckers, there was a few different fish in the tank. It wasn't the shops fault in fairness.
Anyway, gave them to my brother in law today & got a couple of rummynose so all good. :) I'll wait a few weeks & get a couple of sterbai cory next.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

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24 Nov 2013 21:41 #12 by Miamiheat (Stephane Lemaire)
Just sharing my experience: picked up 6 albino corys yesterday and put them in a 76L: they literally changed the look of the tank (in a positive way): amazing little workers! And one of them has only one eye. Will split them in 2 groups in a couple of weeks when i start using a bigger tank.

Im wondering did you get the plecos in a shop? If sowere they labeled or sold as cory cats.

It was my fault, I assumed the cory was the sucker & actually asked for 2 suckers, there was a few different fish in the tank. It wasn't the shops fault in fairness.
Anyway, gave them to my brother in law today & got a couple of rummynose so all good. :) I'll wait a few weeks & get a couple of sterbai cory next.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

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28 Nov 2013 00:49 #13 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
My rummys never made it, neon tetra disease I think, 1 danio died also.

Just sharing my experience: picked up 6 albino corys yesterday and put them in a 76L: they literally changed the look of the tank (in a positive way): amazing little workers!

I picked up 6 little cory catfish today, I think they are peppered corys. Great little fish to watch :cheer:

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28 Nov 2013 19:55 #14 by amp2000 (amp2000)
Replied by amp2000 (amp2000) on topic Is my fish-in cycle completed 4 weeks in?
I was going to start a new thread but thought I might as well bump this or I'll be repeating myself.

Last night I noticed 1 of my danios had a red yoke trailing from it's anus, probably 1/4 the length of the fish, it fell off a few mins after I noticed it, I thought it was faeces but read it might be internal parasites. Today he is mostly hovering up in the corner swimming slowly :(
After a bit of research I went to an LFS & got some sterazin & dosed the tank a few hours ago.

Any advice for dealing with this other than what I'm already doing? I've 4 danios & 6 peppered corys & really don't want to lose any but I'm not too hopeful about the danio.

My ammonia & nitrites are 0 & nitrates about 20.

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