The Puffer Forum

Hi all, my name is Jenn and I am diving head first in to fish keeping. Currently I have a cycling 10 gallon that holds my betta Scarface. I am planning on moving him to a 20 gallon long after I have all the materials and it is cycled. I'd like that to be a community tank if all goes well. Yesterday we visited a LFS and my fiance fell in love with dwarf/pea puffers so here I am.

You are cycling with a betta?

library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

Yes because fish in cycling was better than fishless cycling with him living in a vase. Any tank from here on out will be fishless cycled with frozen shrimp unless I can get my hands on pure ammonia.

I already had him when I set up the tank and fish in cycling seemed better than living in a vase. Thanks for that link. All of my next tanks will be fishless cycled and thats the most detailed and helpful guide I've seen!! I'm hoping I will be able to find pure ammonia somewhere.

Welcome aboard! Fish keeping can be can be quite addictive. I have been back in the hobby for about five years after a 20+ year absence. I have wanted a puffer for over a year now after a saw a young Fahaka in the store. I finally am getting my first puffer this week, a hairy puffer. I know the more you watch those pea puffers the more you will want a puffer too. Look forward to hearing more from you on your puffer adventure.

Thanks! I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions leading up to finally getting them. Right now I am trying to figure out the best way to set up a planted tank.

jandjtm wrote:Thanks! I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions leading up to finally getting them. Right now I am trying to figure out the best way to set up a planted tank.

I still have not attempted a planted tank. One of my eventual fish keeping goals. Keep us posted on your progress.

Welcome and might I recommend this to help speed up the process. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=32416

Thanks! I've been using Seachem stability for almost 5 days now. When I first set up I used Safe Start but after a few days I had to do a 150% water change because my SO thought he might try to feed the fish. Haha there were pellets everywhere. After that I changed to the Stability for no other reason than Petsmart was out of the Safe Start.

IMHO, Stability is not the best choice for cycling a tank. Go back to SafeStart.

Good to know. Would it hurt to use them both? I need to wait 24 hours after using Prime to use the Safe Start, correct?

If you want to add EXTRA bioload of DEAD bacteria to your tank, go ahead & add the Stability. :/

I successfully cycled my tank using SafeStart and help from on here, just follow their instructions and you'll be fine