Plates as fish in cycling?

[Nebula]

As I’m cycling in my 20 gallon long for the last week could platies do well through the cycling process. I have got plants in the tank and a sponge filter while adding easy green once a week for the last 2 weeks and ghost feeding already so I’m not sure if I should just wait on the signs of a seasoned tank or just throw in some hardy fish now and gradually let in more as the tank finishes cycling. If not platy’s fish would tetras work? Just love those small shoaling fish 

Edited April 13, 2022 by Nebula

[nabokovfan87]

Should be fine with either. The whole idea of fish in cycling is to have low numbers at first. You don't want to load up the tank right away and cause a huge ammonia spike, but slowly add load over time.

[Nebula]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:22 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Should be fine with either. The whole idea of fish in cycling is to have low numbers at first. You don't want to load up the tank right away and cause a huge ammonia spike, but slowly add load over time.

Ok that’s what I was hoping but I wanted to be sure. I do wanna put some bottom feeders in the tank so I’m not sure what fish to start with.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:35 PM, Nebula said:

Ok that’s what I was hoping but I wanted to be sure. I do wanna put some bottom feeders in the tank so I’m not sure what fish to start with.

Any idea what types would interest you? Shrimp? Corydoras?

[Scapexghost]

I cycled with a pair of wagtail platies when i first got my 29. Despite a lot of setbacks the survived everythibg including a few wave of ich. Still have them now, even got some babies from them. They should do good as long as you have hard water. If they are already stressed by low water hardness, the may be more succeptible to ammonia and nitrite poisoning.

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:39 PM, Scapexghost said:

I cycled with a pair of wagtail platies when i first got my 29. Despite a lot of setbacks the survived everything including a few wave of ich. Still have them now, even got some babies from them. They should do good as long as you have hard water. If they are already stressed by low water hardness, the may be more susceptible to ammonia and nitrite poisoning.

Did you QT them or just use the 29G as your QT mechanism?  It's tough to have that happen especially up front because some meds might hurt the cycle.

[Scapexghost]

On 4/12/2022 at 11:45 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Did you QT them or just use the 29G as your QT mechanism?  It's tough to have that happen especially up front because some meds might hurt the cycle.

This was before i started qting fish. I just got lucky in that they didn't have anything. Later i added some rummynose tetra to the tank which had ich. After that i started qting fish.

[Nebula]

On 4/12/2022 at 10:37 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Any idea what types would interest you? Shrimp? Corydoras?

Definitely Cory’s just not sure which ones to go with I am not much of a fan of the panda or pigmy but again I’m not well versed on which varieties would work best in a 20 gallon long 

[nabokovfan87]

On 4/13/2022 at 12:47 AM, Nebula said:

Definitely Cory’s just not sure which ones to go with I am not much of a fan of the panda or pigmy but again I’m not well versed on which varieties would work best in a 20 gallon long 

I present my top few I wish I had tanks for:

Emerald Cory (2-3" size):


Albino Cory (2.3" size):


Peppered cory (2.3" size):


False Julii cory (2" size) I have had before, very underrated and their pattern will shine when they get bigger.

Last one I would say is one of the "fancier" corys like an orange laser or something (3" Size).

Edited April 13, 2022 by nabokovfan87

[Colu]

I wouldn't do a fish in cycle I would add a small amount of fish food daily till you start to get ammonia and nitirte reading and they then fall to zero and nitrates rise to around 20-40ppm you can also use Dr Tim's ammonia and add that Daily to feed you beneficial bacteria to get your tank cycled 

[Nebula]

On 4/13/2022 at 5:13 AM, Colu said:

I wouldn't do a fish in cycle I would add a small amount of fish food daily till you start to get ammonia and nitirte reading and they then fall to zero and nitrates rise to around 20-40ppm you can also use Dr Tim's ammonia and add that Daily to feed you beneficial bacteria to get your tank cycled 

Ok sounds good I was using the live plants to see how well my tank was progressing and the plats all had new growth so I think there isn’t much time left for it to be ready. I will definitely look into those False Julie Cory’s as the first fish to add