How mature a tank for seeding?

[themusician]

All right...so I'm less than 24 hours into fish keeping and I'm already thinking about getting another tank. I think I've probably lost my mind. *insert slightly hysterical laughter*

Long story short (see my thread in Livebearers if you want the full story), I bought some black mollies and then found out they weren't compatible in my tank (all that research and it still wasn't enough *sigh*). I think I want to get a 5 or 6 gallon tank kit for my 4 black mollies so I can give them more optimal condition.

Thing is, I ever so carefully and lovingly cycled my first tank before I added fish, but I don't think my mollies are going to live long enough for me to do it again with another tank.

Can I seed a new tank with filter media/gravel/decorations from my current tank that has only been cycled for about a week, or would that goof everything up?

(I don't know if a new tank is the right thing to do, but I just can't stand to let living creatures die because of my screwup, so I'm trying to figure out the best possible solution for all parties involved...)

[~Erik3.8.07~]

you can seed the tank and have kind of an instant cycle, just keep a cery close eye on your peramiters for the first few weeks, but 5 gallons tank for 4 mollies? thats is way small at least give them a 10 but i would give them a 20 for all 4

[~Erik3.8.07~]

i went and read your other thread, is the smaller tank just gonna be a hospital tank?

[gm72]

Small yes, but he is on a limited budget. By the time the mollies outgrow that tank he hopefully will have money for a 10 gallon and can use the smaller one for a hospital tank.

[themusician]

I'm actually a she. ;-) But that's okay.

Shoot. I had hoped that a 6 gallon (was considering the 5 because it was cheaper, but I would go with the 6) would be big enough to house all of them, and not just temporarily. Money is the biggest issue right now, but space is also an issue. In addition, we are almost surely moving next summer, probably across country (didn't know this until about a week or two ago), so as it is I have a problem with the one tank.

I wouldn't take these fish back to the pet store unless they were dead, because I suspect even if I could take them back, they wouldn't be resold, as one of them is sick. So I have to do something with them...

[gm72]

Ooooo, sorry about the gender confusion. My bad. :14:

I don't know, yours is a tricky situation. I would try to take the fish back.

[ruecole]

FWIW, I just got two 10 gallon tanks off Freecycle. (And just before I went to pick up those tanks, I got an email from someone else with tanks to give away!) They each came with a filter (with missing pieces... :rolleyes:), but I'm hoping I'll be able to get one of them up and running (the other is going into storage) for less than $50.

Hope that helps!

Rue

[themusician]

Thanks for the suggestion. :) I would love to keep my mollies, but I think I've decided the best thing to do is to take them back to the pet store. My husband was really not thrilled about the idea of me getting another tank just for these mollies, and I think for future logistics it's just better if I stick with the one tank. I thought about changing my stocking scheme to fish that can handle salt, but then I discovered my live plants won't like the salt either. I even thought about just taking a wait and see approach, but my sick molly is already looking a little worse, so I don't think that's going to work either.

So tomorrow morning they are going back to the pet store. Hopefully they will be okay taking another trip and someone else will be able to give them a decent home. :scry: