Beginner Fish

Question
Hi
What types of fish make good cycle fish and how many should I use?

Answer
Hi Tyler

It greatly depends on what type of tank you want to keep. For a peaceful community tank, Zebra Danios and Whiteclouds make great starter fish. Tiger Barbs make good starters for a semi-aggressive tank. A good rule that I've always used for cycle fish is one inch of fish per 10 gallons of water. Of course when your tank has completed its cycle, it would be one inch of fish per gallon of water to fill it to capacity.

If you want to keep aggressive Cichlids, you should use a bacteria supplement such as Tetra SafeStart and add all of the fish at once. This will minimize aggression between them. Most who keep aggressive Cichlids, prefer a fishless cycle since all of these fish need to added to the tank at the same time.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Richard