Can you cycle a tank with a clownfish???

[rara12]

I know some people cycle their tanks with damsels. But damsels get agressive. I was wondering, beacuase clowns fish are damsels, if you could cylce with them? I have a tank thats near the end of its cycle and wanted to add a maron clown to help finish it off. Is this a bad idea and i should just wait? Or can i go ahead with it?
thanks for any help

 

[nicetry]

Wait it out. No need to risk a desireable fish.

 

[reef46]

Definatly WAIT it out!

 

[brewski4u1]

ABSOUTLY NOT!!!! wait it out and make sure all your levels are perfect befor you start adding live stock! no need to kill a perfectly good fish! SW tanks take time and patients!! just wait!

 

[topfins-mj]

It's funny that I read this since this happened to me.
I was in the midst of setting up a tank when my Fiance decided to get me a fish to go with it. Needless to say she didn't know this tank needed to cycle for a few weeks, well she bought me a clown fish to go with the newly set up tank, and now I was like... what do I do. This thing is going to die on me. SO I took a chance and threw it in my tank. I babysit this fish for months and it survived the cylcing period.
Would I do it again. Not likely. It's too nice of a fish to use for cycling. It's the fish hardy. I think so. But I would wait. Better safe than sorry.

 

[rara12]

well i was gonna get it in a week but i will wait. (hopefully the cyce will be done soon) but i want to add some more LR to the tank. first any way

 

[garnet13aj]

If you are going to add more LR I would do it sooner rather than later, but it will add time onto your cycle. But if you really are at the end of your cycle you could get your first fish set up in a QT tank so it will be ready when your tank is ready. But I wouldn't add a maroon clown as your first fish because they also are extremely aggressive.

 

[garnet13aj]

You seem a little confused about the cycle. A damselfish doesn't help the cycle other than adding some of its feces to the system to get it started. The only reason people used them instead of other fish was because they were hardy enough to withstand the poison in the tank. We've amped up the technology a little bit now and LR is used instead of fish so no one needed to be put in a caustic situation unnecessarily now.

 

[browniebuck]

Originally Posted by garnet13aj
If you are going to add more LR I would do it sooner rather than later, but it will add time onto your cycle. But if you really are at the end of your cycle you could get your first fish set up in a QT tank so it will be ready when your tank is ready. But I wouldn't add a maroon clown as your first fish because they also are extremely aggressive.

If cured LR is added, it won't add any time to the cycle. In fact, if it is cured, it will decrease the cycle time.
That being said, in order to get cured LR, you really have to get it locally and are relatively comfortable with where you are getting it from.
I also don't totally agree with the maroon being extremely aggressive. I have had one as my first fish since December and he gets along with everyone. I would say that they are very territorial fish, but I don't think that they are outwardly aggressive just for the sake of being mean.

 

[garnet13aj]

I've heard otherwise from a lot of people about the maroon clown, but I'm not speaking from expereince, so it's good to hear from both side. Also, it's true that if the LR is cured there shouldn't be a problem, but I generally like to even put cured rock into my QT (which has never been medicated) for a few days to make sure there are no dangerous spikes as a security measure.

 

[rara12]

well i just topped off my tank with ten lbs of lr all pre cured from a very good lfs. before i only had like three lbs, i know so little. Also i started my cycle with a piece of shrimp and three pounds of lr and a 5" sand bed of ls. Im now hoping to get fish in the tank by friday.

 

[fedukeford]

If you just started the cycle, its going to be a minimum of around 3 weeks before you can add a fish safely(probably more).
Feduke

 

[dacia]

In addition to LR and LS, I always drop a little bit of pure household ammonia into a new tank. It actually helps the cycle go slightly faster becuase of the obvious immediate ammonia spike.
I cycled my 30 gallon tank in about 2 weeks doing this.
But I would NEVER had live fish (or inverts, etc) to a tank that was still cycling. I don't care how hardy the fish is. Arnold Schwartzenegger is a pretty strong, hardy guy...but I wouldn't dump toxic waste into his lungs just because he can withstand it...

 

[sepulatian]

Originally Posted by fedukeford
If you just started the cycle, its going to be a minimum of around 3 weeks before you can add a fish safely(probably more).
Feduke
I agree. Even if your readings are all zero's don't add any fish for 3 weeks. You could have had ich resting on that rock (trust me). Have you set up a quarantine tank yet?

 

[rara12]

yes i have one. And my tank has been cycling for about 2 1/2 weeks now with good water testings now. Do you think i could add my first fish at the end of the week?