Fishless cycling for a newbie

Hi All
I had a betta (passed on tonight). I kept him in the 1.5l bowl and all of a sudden he stopped eating. So i went to pet store and they said he must be cold. So the got me buying a 15l tank with 25w heater, filter and a plant. He still wouldn't eat and tonight he died :cry: . Anyway i did not cycle the tank. Infact i did not even know what it was until i had put the poor little guy in there. He lasted about 3 days.

So now im going to start again. This time im going to cycle the tank. How should i go about this. Do i need to replace all the water currently in the tank? Ive read about fishless cycling. What brand of ammonia should i use and where (in Adelaide) can I get it.

I have yet to decide on the species of fish i will get. I really love the bettas. I guess that discus would be to big for such a small tank. Has anyone some suggestions??
Cheers
Hugh

Welcome to the forum Hugh. It's a pity shops don't explain how to keep fish and how to cycle a tank when people buy their first fish. It would save a lot of people heartache.

I'm sorry you lost your betta. It could have been from a lot of reasons. Well anyway, now you know that a tank must be cycled to remove the ammonia that builds up in the water from uneaten food and fish waste.

A tank that size would look nice with a few guppies swimming around in there. They are live bearers, and you can have the fun of watching the babies being born, and perhaps raise a couple of the fry. Guppies like the water to be a bit hard, so add some aquarium salts at each water change. (You should be changing at least some of the water every week)

The other thing you could do is have another male betta in the tank, and give him some neon tetras for company. They like similar water conditions, (soft with a pH of around 7) and a temperature of about 26 degrees. Easy with your little heater.

Yes, I'm afraid it is much too small for discus, but go and have a look at some of the tetras and guppies in your local fish shop, and see which ones you like. Choose either one or the other, because they need different water conditions.

There is a good article here on cycling a tank. Ammonia is becoming more and more difficult to find. You need the pure form, without detergent in it. If you can't find any, then you can drop a raw green prawn in the water, and turn your filter and heater on. As the prawn rots, it will produce ammonia, which will feed the good bacteria in your filter. Works the same as using ammonia, but not as quick, and not as accurate. You will need a nitrate test kit, at least, so you know when the cycle is done.

Remove the prawn, and do a big water change, with aged water, before you add any fish.

Thnaks for the help ladyred. Could i use some fish food or frozen brineshrimp? And how long should i expect this all to take?

if you have a 15 litre tank you dont need to cycle the tank for only one betta. what filter are you using. a simple sponge filter attached to a small air pump should be enough. keep temp at 78-82 Fahrenheit. for a tank that small i dont think you should be adding to many fish in too much of a hurry till your filter cycles. don't overfeed. dont get a betta thats too big. ask the lfs for a crowntail or halfmoon betta and not the common veiltails. change the water at least once a week(about 30-40%) dont overfeed and you should be fine. they are very easy fish to keep and breed. http://bettatalk.com/ is the best site for info on Bettas. i suggest read through it, should help you a lot.

Im have a filter called a Elite mini. It has some filter pads in it, so maybe a foam filter. it has the ability to be turned down. I had it on the lowest setting as I dont think the betta liked the water movement.

So I dont actually need to cycle for a betta??? Why is this

cheers
hugh

I think what Samir means, is that if you are only going to keep one fish, like a betta in 15 litres, then changing 50% of the water once a week should be enough to keep the ammonia and nitrites under control.

I had 50 pairs of half moon bettas a few years ago, and about 30 of the males were kept in 15 litre tanks with their own filter and heater. I still believe it's better to cycle the filter before you add any fish, even just one betta.

Fortunately ammonia was easier to find back then, and I cycled all the little tanks in about 14 days. You can use frozen fish food to cycle the tank, and build up a population of nitrifying bacteria, but expect it to take you about 3 to 4 weeks.

hug that type of filter is called a hang on filter if im not mistaken

Is this filter any good?? Also another quick question. Has anyone used Bio-Spira? If so with any luck and where is it available?
Hugh

:) what i meant was you can put the single betta in while your tank is cycling (so you're using the betta to cycle your tank) and slowly add more fish later. but the best and safest way would be to follow ladyred's advice and cycle before adding fish.

yea its ok but i find the cartridges only last a couple weeks before you have to replace them which will eventually turn out a little expehnsive.

but what ive done is bought an aqua one hang on filter for $25 then bought some filter pad and ceramic noodles and loaded it up with them and ive only had to clean the filter pad which was after a month. This will turn out to be a lot cheaper hugh.

if you want to kno anymore im happy help

take care