BIG announcement: Behold!!

[newlynothere]

Congratulations! I'm glad that the other zombie gets an awesome home tomorrow!

[JKfish]

It looks great, I'm sure Zombie will love it! Because you are semi cycling, and putting Zombie in soon you'll definately want to do daily small water changes to keep the ammonia from building up as it goes through the real cycle when he's in there.

I know what'cha mean about talking to fish. :) When I was cycling my 10 gallon for Puffy to go into from his 1/2 gallon tank, I would take him down to look at it and would said "You'll be in there soon." once a day, almost every day for a month until it was ready XD

[JosShavaughn]

Here are more pictures. This is Zombie in his new tank.

[wallywestisthebest333]

Originally Posted by JKfish

It looks great, I'm sure Zombie will love it! Because you are semi cycling, and putting Zombie in soon you'll definately want to do daily small water changes to keep the ammonia from building up as it goes through the real cycle when he's in there.

I know what'cha mean about talking to fish. :) When I was cycling my 10 gallon for Puffy to go into from his 1/2 gallon tank, I would take him down to look at it and would said "You'll be in there soon." once a day, almost every day for a month until it was ready XD

That's adorable! I do that with Genie but since he's in the same room as the 5 gallon I just point at it. LOL!

Congrats on the new home for Zombie. =]

[kuklachica]

Congrats!! Looks awesome!!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can't cycle a 1.5 gallon :( There is not enough surface area for the bacteria to colonize and keep up with the ammonia. You'll need to do 50% water changes at least once a week and a 100% WC once a week, rinsing everything in hot water - gravel, tank, decorations, everything but the fish.

[ThePearlFish]

That's a pretty setup you have for Zombie :)

[Lion Mom]

CONGRATS to both you and Zombie - he looks TERRIFIC in there!!!!

[Adastra]

Originally Posted by kuklachica

Congrats!! Looks awesome!!

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you can't cycle a 1.5 gallon :( There is not enough surface area for the bacteria to colonize and keep up with the ammonia. You'll need to do 50% water changes at least once a week and a 100% WC once a week, rinsing everything in hot water - gravel, tank, decorations, everything but the fish.

I agree with this--you shouldn't try to cycle this tank. It would be unstable and put a lot of stress on your fish. Just wait until you get a bigger tank with a real filter. :)

As far as the test strip things, they are a waste of money. The liquid test kit costs more, but you get way more tests out of it--so it's actually much cheaper per test and much, much more accurate than the strips. It's better to save up and get the liquid kit when you can.

If you don't mind ordering online, you can save a ton of money if you shop at www.fosterandsmithaquatics.com -- most items are marked down $10-$20 off of pet store prices, and everything ships for a very reasonable flat rate. If I were you, I would save up my money and then do one big Foster and Smith order, that way you save on shipping and save on every item.

They accept paypal if you don't have a credit card--paypal can easily be set up to withdraw from a bank account.

[Ajones108]

WOW, Zombie has really brightened up and filled out in that new tank! :) He'll do so much better. I worry about the cycling though. I wonder if it would be best to turn the filter off until you can get a bigger tank? I don't see the point of it running if you still have to do a 50 and 500% water change a week. Otherwise, beautiful tank!

[sjones]

You can't cycle a tank in a day and since you have no test kit if you don't do 100% water changes every three days your fish will burn to death slowly from ammonia...
(including its breathing labyrinth which could become scarred and end his life quickly)
I'm suprised how many people just congratulated you and failed to point out the danger of what you are doing, this forum is becoming very amateur, which is unfortunate.
Your heart is in the right place. I have three 1.5 gallon tanks and I do 100% water changes every 3 days. Make sure the water is a the same temperature as the tank was, and acclimate your fish by floating his cup in the freshly changed tank for an hour or so just to be sure.
You can buy a cheap submersible thermometer at walmart for $2
Good luck and research this forum, it had a lot of good info.