How long until i mput fish in my cycled tank ?

[deathrow]

My 70 gallon saltwater tank has been running for 6 weeks now with lots of live rock and no fish. The nitrates and nitrites were 0 so i went to the fish shop for some fish and they told me that i should get a few starter fish (damsels) or something before i start getting expensive fish. well its been 5 days with the starter fish and the ammonia and nitrites and stuf are still 0. How long should i wait until i get some 'expensive fish' or some corals and stuf.
thanks.

[scram2]

i wouldnt of recamended the (damsels) because in the long run you probably wont want them and they can will end up picking on some of the expensive fish. but i say if they are alive and your levels are good then go ahead and buy the fish you want. But go slow on adding the fish you dont want to increase your bio load to quick.Also read up on the fish before you add them and make sure that they can live happy in the tank and not out grow it.

[deathrow]

Ok thanks. If anyone has more opinions or want to back up the last post, post.

thanks

[pgaschulz]

From what I know zero is a hero.....so go with it and good luck catching those damsels...The pop bottle trick works the best

[deathrow]

hahha thanks any more opinions.

[kau_cinta_ku]

i'm with the rest, remove the damsels first

[Dubbin1]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11745548#post11745548 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by scram2
i wouldnt of recamended the (damsels)

Not only that but I wouldn't recommend them either ;)

Get the dam damsels out and get something you want.

[bmrescort]

I fourth the getting out of the damsels.HA HA although I still have one im=n my tank after a year and a half he is just one of the family so we called him Zeek.

[magic028]

I knew better ( just tore down a African Cichlid tank). Follow everybodies advice and get rid of the damsel (LFS should have recommended green chromises) unless you like shreaded fins. Go easy with the new additions you don't want to trigger a spike.

[ArapaimaGiga]

ya, u really need to get the damsels out, they get way to aggresive... once u already have the algea bloom, your tank should be fine... just add fish slowly...

[afish70]

get a clown, or a goby. definitely get rid of the damsels.

[jawfish1]

Depends on the damsels.... if you were to go that route, it would have been better to go with clowns instead (which are in the damsel family). Some damsels will do ok, and others won't. I did the no no of putting in dominos in my first tank. They are mean little boogers, but only to each other. they never bothered the rest of the fish. I would just go ahead and move onto your next fish and just see how things go. If the damsels become a problem, then take them out asap. It's up to you. If you have more then one of the same damsels, they will often spend more time chasing each other and won't really even notice the other fish. Even with those dominos they never did bother the others in my 72g. Eventually, though, he did kill off the other two dominos I had with him (started with three, ended with one). He actually behaved quite fine after that and was a nice little fish in our aquarium for years.

He lived just fine with a yellow tang, blue hippo tank, couple of percs, a coral beauty, diamond goby and a yellow-headed jawfish.

Just my experience though.. everyone's different...

Cheers and best wishes.

[jawfish1]

Oh, I did want to add one other note in regards to adding fish to your tank... it may go without saying, but like others have mentioned, it is VERY important to slowly add your fish to the tank. Don't go on a buying spree and just come home with five fish, couple of crabs and some snails and just dump them in within the same period of time. That would be very tramatic to the eco system of the tank (depeding on the tank of course).

I would suggest adding roughly one per week if possible. there may be times where you have no choice but to add a couple, just be sure to monitor ammonia and other levels closely for a few days.

Hope this helps, cheers!

[deathrow]

Great help, i will put 1 fish in each 2-4 weeks. Any other comments ?

[Latimer]

plan out the fish you want then start from the least aggressive/territorial type saving the most for last

[Macimage]

No one has mentioned that you should be quarantining new fish for 4-6 weeks prior to adding them to your display tank. You may want to use the search button and look up and read some threads with quarantine in the title.

Joyce