Timing on Getting Fish

[FaintingGoats]

Hi All!

Long time lurker, first time poster!

My first ever planted fish tank officially "finished" its fishless cycle this week!! (no ammonia or nitrite registering!!!). And I am STOKED to get some fish in there!!

However, with the holidays coming up, I am a little concerned about the timing.  I am planning on being away for about 2 weeks Christmas/New Year.  And while, I do have some friends who can stop in and check on the tank, I don't know anyone who is an expert.

Should I wait until after vacation (probably about 3 weeks away from now) to get fish?  If I do that, how would I keep the cycle alive?  I was planning on stocking the tank with some panda corys, sunset gourmis and some kind of schooling fish.  Could I get a small amount of the hardiest one of those this weekend and get an automated feeder and someone to check on them for when I am gone?

What do people normally do when they are out of town?

Thank you all so much in advance for the help!  I have loved reading this forum and am excited to officially contribute to the community!

[Fish Folk]

On 12/1/2021 at 11:07 PM, FaintingGoats said:

Hi All!

Long time lurker, first time poster!

My first ever planted fish tank officially "finished" its fishless cycle this week!! (no ammonia or nitrite registering!!!). And I am STOKED to get some fish in there!!

However, with the holidays coming up, I am a little concerned about the timing.  I am planning on being away for about 2 weeks Christmas/New Year.  And while, I do have some friends who can stop in and check on the tank, I don't know anyone who is an expert.

Should I wait until after vacation (probably about 3 weeks away from now) to get fish?  If I do that, how would I keep the cycle alive?  I was planning on stocking the tank with some panda corys, sunset gourmis and some kind of schooling fish.  Could I get a small amount of the hardiest one of those this weekend and get an automated feeder and someone to check on them for when I am gone?

What do people normally do when they are out of town?

Thank you all so much in advance for the help!  I have loved reading this forum and am excited to officially contribute to the community!

Very excited for you!

Personally, I'd probably just wait until you're there ready to full engage with your new fish. Spend the time researching up more on what you'd like to stock.

What's your aquarium size, and how densely planted is it? Got any photos?

[Sunny]

Congrats on the first post!

Do you have any plants in the tank? I think this would be a good time to put some plants in and let them keep the water good while you’re away. It won’t keep it “cycled” I think, but it seems a lot of people who fishless cycle have problems keeping it cycled when adding fish anyway.

But, the plants’ growth will mean you can add fish when you get back. Especially if you’re getting fish from a big box store, they can go downhill fast even when you think you’re in the clear, and then you’ve got your poor fish sitter having to flush it…

Edited December 2, 2021 by Sunny
Typo

[FaintingGoats]

Thank you for your replies!!!

The tank I have is a 29 galleon. It has one of each of these plants:

Pogo. Octopus

Tiger lotus 

Mayaca fluvialis 

Dwarf chain sword

it had some others but they died during the cycling process 😕

Here is a pic of the tank!  This was when I set it up and I have removed the pots since then. 

I do have one good sized pond snail and a LOT of really tiny ramshorn snails in there. We like the pond snail but there are a ton of rams horns so I am sure we are going to need to deal with that problem as well. 

[Odd Duck]

How long will you be gone?

Edit to say:  Nevermind!  Tired brain missed the part where you said 2 weeks, only caught the part that said you’d be back after 3 weeks.

I would wait until you get back before adding fish.

Edited December 2, 2021 by Odd Duck

[Guppysnail]

When you get new fish time spent observing is critical in my opinion. It gives you the opportunity to monitor for illness or stress and having used a fishless cycle it can sometimes get a touch wonky for a month. You want to test daily until you are certain it is reliably stable. With the potential instability, illness and adjustment of fish to the new environment that is a lot to put on a sitter and 2 weeks is a long time to be away from a new tank with new fish family involved. Take this time to enjoy your plants. Get them thriving. I tried fishless ammonia once t see what if it was better than my methods and to learn about it but it as an EPIC failure and I never finished so I don’t know if waiting will affect it or not. I hope someone can advise you on that. The biggest thing I have learned from this hobby is patients in heaping doses. Rushing anything for any reason I have invariably regretted. 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Guppysnail
Typo

[FaintingGoats]

On 12/1/2021 at 9:20 PM, Guppysnail said:

When you get new fish time spent observing is critical in my opinion. It gives you the opportunity to monitor for illness or stress and having used a fishless cycle it can sometimes get a touch wonky for a month. You want to test daily until you are certain it is reliably stable. With the potential instability, illness and adjustment of fish to the new environment that is a lot to put on a sitter and 2 weeks is a long time to be away from a new tank with new fish family involved. Take this time to enjoy your plants. Get them thriving. I tried fishless ammonia once t see what if it was better than my methods and to learn about it but it as an EPIC failure and I never finished so I don’t know if waiting will affect it or not. I hope someone can advise you on that. The biggest thing I have learned from this hobby is patients in heaping doses. Rushing anything for any reason I have invariably regretted. 

Thank you for this input!  I think you are right. As much as I was hoping to get fish soon, I think waiting until the new year is probably the best way to go. 
 

I have been doing the ammonia method for the cycling but I have heard that some people just use the Easy Green Fertilizer. Should I just use that from now on and try cycling again once I am ready for fish?

Again, thank you all so much!  I want to do the right thing by my future fish and am very new to the hobby!

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I agree. Wait. There are many reasons but the most important: Sometimes you have an unexpected crash, sometimes your friends fail (certainly not on purpose). You also want to be around to have the joy of seeing your new fish friends in the tank. 

I say plant some new plants in the meantime! Welcome to the forum!

[Guppysnail]

When I start a tank from scratch without already cycled material from another of my tanks I plant it and let it run with some fish food for a bit until I grow algae. It’s not at all scientific. I failed (operator error I’m sure) with the ammonia so I’m just hesitant to offer any advice on the ammonia thing because of my personal failure with it. Coop has a video where Cory says he does the same but uses easy green. I assume that yes going the fertz only route and allowing it to become alive with plants and algae after using ammonia would be a great way. Most plants need adjustment time and will melt and look worse before they take off. They may also need moved to a different spot with more or less light etc so this time will allow you to fuss with them more without stressing new fish. I think you are making a good choice. 

[JettsPapa]

I agree that it would probably be best to wait with getting fish until after you get back.  If you're concerned with keeping the cycle going just keep adding ammonia once a week or so, just like while you were getting the cycle going.

[KaitieG]

or sprinkle in some fish food and pretend you have fish in there!  That's usually plenty to sustain a cycle.