New Girl for Future Sorority!

[Panthera]

Thanks everyone! Oh yay Lyra is a Butterfly! And she probably is a Marble, her color keeps changing on me. First she was pretty much whitish-yellow, and then when I put her in her tank she was pinkish. Now she's turning purple-pink with iridescent blue fins o.O

Interesting, maybe I should have named her Chameleon ;)

And yeah I know it might be dangerous when introducing the girls so I'll be EXTRA careful. I'll probably pick Christmas weekend to buy the others and put them in the tank so I'll be there to watch them for a while. Now that I have the tank and figured out the filter, I just have to cycle it ;) I think I'll get a raw shrimp tomorrow, is that the best method when doing a fishless cycle? Thanks!

[CrankyFish84]

Ok on my 3G eclipse, I used a tiny bit of cocktail shrimp, and it cycled in about 2 weeks, maybe less.
I had one live plant in there, and the temp at about 78-80.
It worked like a charm, and didn't even stink or anything...I hung it in pantyhose.
I tested every 3 days just bc I was curious about the changes in levels, and it was interesting seeing it
spike up really high twice (ammonia), then the nitrates appear at good levels.
I hate messing with chemicals so for me this was the best way. :)

[Panthera]

Thanks! Do I need a heater if there are no fish in it? I was going to get one of the better heaters before I got the fish, but there expensive and I wanted to wait until I got money at Christmas.

[CrankyFish84]

No I don't think so...I just used a heater bc the heat makes the bacteria grow faster, but as long as it isn't freezing water, it will grow. :) I base this on the fact goldfish need filters and cool water, so it must not matter?