I've cycled goldfish tanks, and I've cycled tropical tanks, but this is the first time I've ever cycled a tank with one fish. I got the same size filter as one of the filters on my 30 gallon gf tank, and switched filters, using the old filter from the gf tank (after rinsing it in dechlorinated water) in the new filter for Ali. I hope that will help get the water a jumpstart. I'm not showing any ammonia yet or nitrites of course...just a teensy bit of nitrate probably because of the filter media from the already cycled gf tank.

Any hints or anything I should watch for with Ali? I have another betta, but he is in a long-time cycled tank with the tropical fish.

If Ali gets ich, which I hope he doesn't...do I dose with salt the same way? I am a nervous ninny with new fish. They just scare the bejeebers out of me I worry so much!

Vickie I'm obviously no expert but I've kept bettas longer than I've kept goldfish and I cycled their tanks the same exact way. I heard various people try to tell me "oh you can't cycle a betta tank" or "if your tank is under 10 gallon it just will NOT cycle properly". My two betta tanks are the most reliable tanks I have. When I cycled them, the ammonia and nitrite showed up in very small amounts. I'm thinking it's quite possible that if you used old filter media, you might not ever see them show up at all! I still like to do 100% weekly changes for my bettas since it's so easy to do, I figure why not. But I never have a problem with anything "bad" showing up in those tanks. (knock on wood!).

No clue about the salt. I didn't even know ABOUT salting til you guys told me, so I'm no help there whatsoever lol

Thanks Sue! Like I said, I've never cycled a tank with only one fish. Ali hasn't shown any sign of ich at all...I'm just a worrywart I guess.

I love bettas! Funny...when I bought him the guy at the lfs followed me around telling me that bettas and goldfish are the only fish that don't need heaters or filters, lol. Then he started talking trying to sell me something to help the tank cycle, and I told him I'd probably put some media from the gf tank in there to get it started. He immediately started lecturing me about how most people don't realize how filthy and nasty goldfish are and if I did that I'd kill my betta with ammonia! I told him that I had 2 goldfish that I'd bought from them when they were 1 inch long and that now they were at least 7 inches, and thank you very much, but I know how to take care of my fish. He still followed me telling me that if I wanted to breed bettas, that the female would kill the male after she has the fry!! I couldn't help it...I laughed and told him that made a female betta smarter than female humans!

He left me alone after that, lol.

What a jerk! I really don't like those pushy LFS employees who insist they know more than you do when you're doing quite fine picking things out on your own. We need to carry badges or something... "Professional Fish Keeper" that we can flash in their faces to make them go away.

I wouldn't have been as nice, Vickie. I probably would have said something like, "I'm sorry, but you know absolutely nothing about this subject and I don't need your help. Please go learn something about your products or I will take my business elsewhere." I'm mean like that-- thank goodness I've never had such pushy LFS employees!



Anyways, I think you should be fine with media from the goldie tank. It might take it a lot longer to cycle, but I suspect that in the meantime, the levels of ammonia and nitrite spikes won't be so high as it gets with goldies. No clue about the salt, though...

LOL Joy, and I can just picture you saying that! This guy is such a nimrod, but I try to be polite as it is the only good local lfs as far as buying fish. Their fish are beautiful and the tanks are well cared for, even though they are higher than a cats back in prices. We have all gone on ad nauseum about the advice you get from the lfs, and I don't ask them for any...just go in and pick out what I want and get out. I've never understood how a pet store with such gorgeous goldies can tell customers that they are nasty and filthy. I did try to explain to him once that they are just huge waste makers, that THEY weren't filthy and nasty, it was the owners who didn't know how to take care of their water and tanks. He gave me a blank look, so I just shut up. Unfortunately he works there and is the only one who gets the fish so I have to deal with him. I think he's related to the owners, lol, and they have given me discounts because I do a lot of business with them, and its the only place around here to get Prime. What shocks me though is the non-variety of goldfish food there. The same brands you get at wallyworld with a 10% markup. Oh well, they are well-meaning but ill-informed, so hopefully he'll remember what I said the next time and NOT give me any "lectures".

Well, I wouldn't have held my tongue around here because my two LFS take horrible care of their goldies. Last night I popped into one to take a quick look at their stock... in the redcap oranda tank, there were four dead fish-- one of them was almost COMPLETELY eaten (he'd been there for a while, obviously). I never understand why the employees all stand around at the checkout desk chatting instead of doing rounds with their live stock. If I ran an LFS, I would make sure a staff member walked through every 15 mins or so and REMOVED THE DEAD AND ROTTING FISH.

Also, I would treat for ich and finrot.

Uhm, yeah I think I went a bit offtopic.

..thats awesome!!!!!!