New 150g tank

[mjcrgc]

I just moved from NJ to Texas. It has been 7-8 years since I had to cycle a new tank. I previously had an African Cichlid tank. The tank has up for 8 days. Filters are running, temperature is ok, ph and hardness are ok. I purchased 4 giant danios on Wednesday, when should I be able to purchase new fish (15-20 juvenile fish).

Thanks

[ander]

start with 10 at a time and wait a till sun or monday. shouuld be fine if u add em today but be safe

[jonah]

It's a bit late now, but if you were using the danios to cycle the tank, you would have been better off just going straight to juvenile cichlids. The danios just added to the bio-load and it's not long enough to build up the bacteria you want. Even then you'd want to remove the danios to replace their mass with the cichlid mass. You can still add the cichlids if you want now, but I'd be sure to monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. Do water changes when needed.

You might be able to get some used filter media from one of the LFS down there or from one of the TCA people. They're really nice folks down there and very active in the Dallas area.

Here's a link to TCA:
www.flash.net/~tcichlid/

[mjcrgc]

Thanks for the info. Since I was planning on purchasing juvelines from Armke, I thought it would be more cost effective to cycle first with the danios and then place an order.

[jonah]

When I consider the size of your tank, it shouldn't be a problem anyway. I'd add them all at once. Their bio-load shouldn't be too much for a new 150g if they're juveniles. As they grow and create more waste, your good bacteria will be growing too.

If you know anybody with a tank in the area I would get some used media or gravel from them to seed the tank. It doesn't have to be from a cichlid tank, just from a tank that's been set up for a long time.