How long to wait before i add fish?

coreysebes

Member
Hi, I'm wondering how long I should wait to add fish to a 29gal. aquarium with a aquatech 20-40 power filter, and a Sea Clone 100 protein skimmer, So far nitrite, nitrate, pH, and salt levels are well, I've had it running fully for a day now and was wondering should I wait 1-2 weeks, then add some mollies to get the water circulating etc, then wait another 3 weeks or so before adding the fish I want which are
1 - Yellow Tang
2 - Percula Clownfish..
Is that a good selection of fish, or could someone suggest a different set, pair.
 

armageddon

Member
I dont understand your situation as well as i need to to give you an answer. Did you cycle your tank already? What is your ammonia level like? A 29 gallon is too small to house a yellow tang in. It will be stressed in a system that small.
 

coreysebes

Member
I started the cycling last night around 11pm. The ammonia level which I tested this morning is ideal. How long should I cycle for?
 

smember

New Member
is there any live rock or sand in the tank? If there is none I would think about adding some before getting any fish. My favorite money saving scam is to use tufa rock, put about 15-30 pounds on the bottom and then put another 20-30- pounds of live rock on the top. the tufa will become live in a few months. The mollies are a good cheap starter but I would wait about 48hrs until adding them or after you add the live rock.
 

coreysebes

Member
I have abouyt 25lbs of live rock, I'm going to ***** again once they restock with it, and thanks so much for the tip about the Tufta rock, I'll definetly try that.
you need something thats live in the tank to start the cycle, or if you dont wanna do that just put in a raw cocktail shrimp then in about a week you should the ammonia spike, then come down to a 0 reading then the nitrite spike for several weeks, then when that hits 0 the left over should be a low nitrate reading then u should be cycled
Thanks, the people at ***** left the cycling part out. Maybe they are dumb.
 

cnlight

Member
You should start the cycle with something like a raw shrimp or some fish food. I don't think your cycle has even started because your ammonias should be up today. Once your ammonia goes up, then the nitrites, then the nitrates. When the nitrates are almost down to nothing, like 20 or less, then add a few hermit crabs, some snails. After they have been in there for a week, check your levals and if everything is good, add your first fish. You won't want to add another fish for another couple of weeks.
Unfortunatly you can't have a yellow tang in a 29 gallon tank, they need at least a 75 gallon, some would say a 55 is ok, but not a 29. The clownfish is fine for your tank. Go by the an inch of fish per five gallons rule. Some will not agree with me, but I think this is a good way of starting out your tank. Now those inches are for a full grown fish. Some fish don't swim much or are very big, so they can be less than that. Some fish swim a lot and need a lot of algae, so they would need a bigger tank, like a tang.
Some fish you could have in there with the clown are, a firefish or another type of goby, a cardinal, a six line wrasse, royal gramma. You could try a pygmy angel, just make sure your tank has been up and running for a couple of months before it goes in there. I hope this helps you, patience is important in this hobby, don't take things too quickly.
 

cnlight

Member
Ok, I must be a slow typer. Another thing, don't trust everything your local ***** says. They might have some knowledgable people, but many are not trained to know much about saltwater. If you could, buy your live rock from somewhere else, to have a little diversity. Ask the people here first about things, and then you can ask your *****. Also don't buy your fish from them, they treat with copper for sickness, and it will kill all of you inverts, just an fyi.
 

coreysebes

Member

Originally posted by cnlight
Ok, I must be a slow typer. Another thing, don't trust everything your local ***** says. They might have some knowledgable people, but many are not trained to know much about saltwater. If you could, buy your live rock from somewhere else, to have a little diversity. Ask the people here first about things, and then you can ask your *****. Also don't buy your fish from them, they treat with copper for sickness, and it will kill all of you inverts, just an fyi.

Thanks, the woman who sold us the live sand, rock, said that she had a 125gal. tank and a 29gal. so I thought she'd know, I guess not, thanks for all the help people!
 

tiencvu

Member
It looks like you just started out this hobby. It is very confusing at first about the cycling part. You will hear a lot of ideas through this forums which is good to start with. But you need to take the matter in your own hand by researching on the saltwater hobby. There are so many articles on the web that educate about saltwater.... Please take your time and do research before you add any fish in the tank.... REMEMBER, in this hobby, the key is to be PATIENT........
 

cnlight

Member
I would personally NOT put a damsel in to start the nitrogen cycle. Why put the fish through all that stress and then it becomes a very aggressive fish. I don't know why sites are still saying to put a damsel in a new tank. Just because they are cheap, doesn't mean they have to suffer. I would just put the raw cocktail shrimp in your tank, does the same thing and will have no stress to itself.
Also if you get a damsel now, you will have a heck of a time trying to get it out of your tank once it is terrorizing your other fish. Just wouldn't chance it if I were you.
 

coreysebes

Member
I would just put the raw cocktail shrimp in your tank, does the same thing and will have no stress to itself.

How much? and do you mean the dead ones that you buy in a super market, or shrimp from a site online?
 

cnlight

Member
Just one, and leave it in there for a couple day to a week. The dead ones in the super market work just fine. Do you search for cycling a tank in new hobbists, you will get a lot of answers that way.
 

coreysebes

Member
hopefully this is my last question for awhile, I'm sure you're getting annoyed, one last question that I couldn't find in another thread was, should I leave my protein skimmer on or turn it off during the cycle?
 

karajay

Active Member
Leave the skimmer off during the cycle.
Please do not worry about being annoying. We have all been there. That's why we're here. By all means...ask away! :)
 

kelkoolaid

Member
ok I'm just a beginer like you just finished cycling my 75 gl, with LR & LS.
But fish store people talked me into the $3.99 Damsels ( I now have 2) they said you don't have to wait till cycles done... what have you got to lose, and they are something to look at while you are waiting.
My kids went nuts, and a day later ( even with all the warnings I read on here) I gave in.
Now 1wk and I don't need them so 4 hrs later and a pulled muscle in my neck, I still have a blue DEVIL, and a blackstripe damsel swimming in and out of my LR.
And now find out I have cycled and I could have gotten clowns yesterday.
PLEASE listen to the members here, they aren't kidding, damsels are a huge pain to catch:eek:
 

coreysebes

Member

Originally posted by KelKoolaid
ok I'm just a beginer like you just finished cycling my 75 gl, with LR & LS.
But fish store people talked me into the $3.99 Damsels ( I now have 2) they said you don't have to wait till cycles done... what have you got to lose, and they are something to look at while you are waiting.
My kids went nuts, and a day later ( even with all the warnings I read on here) I gave in.
Now 1wk and I don't need them so 4 hrs later and a pulled muscle in my neck, I still have a blue DEVIL, and a blackstripe damsel swimming in and out of my LR.
And now find out I have cycled and I could have gotten clowns yesterday.
PLEASE listen to the members here, they aren't kidding, damsels are a huge pain to catch:eek:

Thanks, and I just started with my cocktail shrimp about 25 min. ago! I'm thinking i'll take it out in a week and go from there.
 
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