I've been working on a 55 gallon freshwater, planted tank for about 3 weeks. After tons of research, I planted it with some nice little freshwater plants and started a "fishless cycle". This involved adding pure ammonia until enough bacteria multiply and can convert the ammonia to nitrite. Then... I had to wait until there were enough bacteria to convert the nitrite to nitrAte. A few weeks, lots of water chemistry tests, and a little dose of patience later it was ready. It is pretty amazing that there are enough bacteria to completely neutralize a tablespoon of ammonia in about 8 hours. I went to Petsmart this weekend, for lack of a better local fish store, and bought 35 fish. There is an amazing pet/fish store near where I grew up called Denn'y Pet World, but it is just too far to go. I added the following fish:
- 6 Zebra Danios
- 6 Buenas Aires Tetras
- 3 Honey Gouramis
- 3 Clown Loaches
- 4 Cardinal Tetras
- 10 Neon Tetras
- 3 Green Corys
So far, after 24 hours, I have had 4 casualties (3 Zebras Danios and 1 Cardinal Tetra). The beauty of doing a fishless cycle and waiting is that the tank was ready for a large fish load all at once. There are no "sacrificial" fish that are used to get it going - they usually die and it is a waste of money and cruel. Tonight, everyone seems happy, and helpfully I won't have too many more fatalities. Charlotte and Elise really enjoy sitting and watching the fish - I'm glad because I want them to enjoy it!
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