So are you saying if I didnt care too much about these fish (just bought them to cycle) that I could feed them more to speed up the ammonia production?
hello; You are doing what is termed a "fish -in cycle" and any fish you add to the tank during this process are effectively a sacrifice to some degree. In order to develop colonies of all types of beneficial bacteria (bb) there first will have to be some amount of ammonia constantly in the tank for maybe many weeks.
The bb mush have a decent amount of ammonia which is a needed nutrient for the first type. Having a decent amount of ammonia will be somewhat hard on the fish. You can do lots of water changes to keep the toxic ammonia down but this gets you into a catch 22 of sorts.
Not enough ammonia = little or no bb colonies grow but the fish are less exposed to a toxin. Plenty of ammonia = better chance of bb colonies a bit sooner but is more toxic to the fish.
As you seem to already have fish in the tank I hope they are not favored types.
ask your lfs is they can give you some of their filter floss to throw in your filter to help you seed the bacteria. Only do this if the store is reputable and the fish are healthy. Obviously not if they are sick or loaded with parasites and whatnot. Also some stores sell bacteria loaded bio media.
The next time I go in I need to hit him up for some mature filter media.
Hello; This will speed up the cycle a lot if you can get some. Bear in mind that you are also getting any parasite or pathogens that the shop happens. Kind of like not having a quarantine tank (QT) and bringing home a sick fish to a healthy tank. Another potential issue.
I have a decent article saved somewhere and will post a link.
