Cycling a new tank

[notronaldreagan]

Im getting a new tank cycled right now and im close to getting to where I would want to add my first fish. This will ultiamily be a discus tank. I was wondering what would be the best fish to start with ? I was thinking like 6 or so cardinal tetras and then growing the school or maybe like 3 or so Sterbi corys or would even a pair of German blue rams work once the levels in testing are correct ?

[Tony s]

On 7/26/2024 at 3:46 PM, notronaldreagan said:

maybe like 3 or so Sterbi corys

Sterbai's will be the toughest. Just in case things don't go as planned. But I'd do a group of 6. They feel more comfortable in the larger groups. Then give it a month or so of successful running before adding the others. They tend to be much more finicky and need pristine waters 

Edited July 26 by Tony s

[notronaldreagan]

On 7/26/2024 at 3:03 PM, Tony s said:

Sterbai's will be the toughest. Just in case things don't go as planned. But I'd do a group of 6. They feel more comfortable in the larger groups. Then give it a mont or so of successful running before adding the others. They tend to be much more finicky and need pristine waters 

Ok I think I will go with cardinals then and just do a group of 6 first and make sure things are running fine. I forgot to mention that it is in a 75 gallon tank 

[Tony s]

On 7/26/2024 at 4:04 PM, notronaldreagan said:

Sterbai's will be the toughest

Let me rephrase that. Sterbais are definitely the hardiest fish. In case the new tank has cycling issues. They'd survive the best. Just making sure you're catching what I'm saying.  Then I'd add the cardinals to increase bioload. then the rams. then the discus. Discus are too expensive to start in a new tank. Got to make sure it's rock solid first. And that you're up to so many water changes. You're going to need almost no nitrates and very little to no fish waste on a constant basis.

Edited July 26 by Tony s

[notronaldreagan]

On 7/26/2024 at 3:19 PM, Tony s said:

Let me rephrase that. Sterbais are definitely the hardiest fish. In case the new tank has cycling issues. They'd survive the best. Just making sure you're catching what I'm saying.  Then I'd add the cardinals to increase bioload. then the rams. then the discus. Discus are too expensive to start in a new tank. Got to make sure it's rock solid first. And that you're up too so many water changes. You're going to need almost no nitrates and very little to no fish waste on a constant basis.

That makes a whole lot of sense. I was at least going to wait 6-8 months before even thinking about discus