Can I add any of these fish to my tank?

When can I add plants to my tropical fish tank?

• My fish tank has been set up for about 24 hours, the heater is on everything is running correctly. My fluval 405 has meat pellets inside so it will benefit the plants and I put fertiliser gravel so that will help them as well, when the tank is more mature I'm going to be using tetra black water extract (only half of what is needed because I have the pellets in the filter. I don't have any carbon in my filter. My lighting set up is medium but as the peat pellets and black water take a hild of the tank i will add another light to the tank. So can I add some plants today? Also are plants sort of like fish, will I need to add some today then wait a few days then add some more? (the plants I'm adding are mostly java fern)

• Answer:

  Plants can go in right away, well as soon as you get the water in there and up to the correct temp. Any ammonia spike that you get while cycling the tank will actually help the plants (ammonia is a fertiliser), and the plants will directly absorb ammonia, forming part of the tanks cycle instantly. So if you do a Fishless cycle (adding ammonia) it will start faster, and the ammonia will boost the plants. If you are careful you can start the tanks cycle by adding lots of live plants and just a few fish. Most of the ammonia the fish produce will be absorbed by the plants, so you don't get a big (and fatal) ammonia spike. Ian