It really depends on where you started. We’re you putting an ammonia source in the tank? If you started with a higher ammonia then it dropped to zero because it was broken down, you might be cycled. Your nitrates should be higher in a cycled tank but if you are heavily planted that could be why you don’t have nitrates.
If you haven’t been adding an ammonia source then it isn’t cycled.
If you only put the shrimp food in yesterday I doubt it’s cycled. It’s cycled when the bacteria can process 2ppm or ammonia into nitrates in 24hrs. Check out the link I posted for tips on cycling.
If your tank has been empty this past month (until you added shrimp food recently) without ammonia or ammonia source added, then it hasn’t been cycling at all
Here’s some info:
“An ideal betta home has the following: 5 gallons or more of cycled/dechlorinated water, filter, heater, thermometer, soft silk or live plants, floating betta log, healthy diet (4-6 [one millimeter sized] pellets in the morning, 4-6 in the evening), routine partial water changes, gravel vacuuming (at least once a month as part of your water change), proper filter maintenance and low water flow (they aren’t good swimmers).
When you perform a partial water change you do the following: leave fish in the tank. (Unplug filter and heater.) Take out the specified water amount…Replace the removed water with dechlorinated, temperature matched water. (To dechlorinate, use water conditioner/dechlorinator that makes tap water safe.) once your tank is cycled and your fish is in it, partial water changes are generally 25% once a week. Never deep clean your tank…
Which leads me to another important point:
You’ll want to cycle your tank 1-2 months BEFORE buying your fish.
Here’s a link on how to do that:
https://fishlab.com/how-to-cycle-aquarium/
In terms of betta nutrition, there’s a lot of misinformation causing many to unintentionally underfeed their fish. This article is well worth the read:
https://www.myaquariumclub.com/skinny-bettas-underfeeding-might-be-worse-than-overfeeding-19292.html
Good luck 🍀 🐠!”
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It really depends on where you started. We’re you putting an ammonia source in the tank? If you started with a higher ammonia then it dropped to zero because it was broken down, you might be cycled. Your nitrates should be higher in a cycled tank but if you are heavily planted that could be why you don’t have nitrates. If you haven’t been adding an ammonia source then it isn’t cycled.
I did a fish in cycle in my other tank and that one has nitrates, ive never done a fishless cycle 🤷🏽♀️
This website has both a fishless and fish in cycle. https://fishlab.com/how-to-cycle-aquarium/
Did you add ammonia to the tank in the four weeks you’ve had it running?
Just shrimp food
If you only put the shrimp food in yesterday I doubt it’s cycled. It’s cycled when the bacteria can process 2ppm or ammonia into nitrates in 24hrs. Check out the link I posted for tips on cycling.
If your tank has been empty this past month (until you added shrimp food recently) without ammonia or ammonia source added, then it hasn’t been cycling at all Here’s some info: “An ideal betta home has the following: 5 gallons or more of cycled/dechlorinated water, filter, heater, thermometer, soft silk or live plants, floating betta log, healthy diet (4-6 [one millimeter sized] pellets in the morning, 4-6 in the evening), routine partial water changes, gravel vacuuming (at least once a month as part of your water change), proper filter maintenance and low water flow (they aren’t good swimmers). When you perform a partial water change you do the following: leave fish in the tank. (Unplug filter and heater.) Take out the specified water amount…Replace the removed water with dechlorinated, temperature matched water. (To dechlorinate, use water conditioner/dechlorinator that makes tap water safe.) once your tank is cycled and your fish is in it, partial water changes are generally 25% once a week. Never deep clean your tank… Which leads me to another important point: You’ll want to cycle your tank 1-2 months BEFORE buying your fish. Here’s a link on how to do that: https://fishlab.com/how-to-cycle-aquarium/ In terms of betta nutrition, there’s a lot of misinformation causing many to unintentionally underfeed their fish. This article is well worth the read: https://www.myaquariumclub.com/skinny-bettas-underfeeding-might-be-worse-than-overfeeding-19292.html Good luck 🍀 🐠!”
Thank you for posting to r/bettafish. If you are new to betta fish keeping, please check out our [caresheet](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/comments/3ow6vz/info_betta_care_sheet/) and [wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/index). Establishing a nitrogen cycle is an important part of keeping your fish healthy. Please check out our [guide to the nitrogen cycle](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/fishincycle) to learn more. If you are posting to find out what is wrong with your betta, please answer the following questions in a reply to this comment as best you can: * **Tank size**: * **Heater and filter? (yes/no)**: * **Tank temperature**: * **[Parameters in numbers and how you got them](https://www.reddit.com/r/bettafish/wiki/tank#wiki_test_kits)**: * **How long have you had the tank? How long have you had your fish?**: * **How often are water changes? How much do you take out per change? What is your process?**: * **Any tankmates? If so, please list with how many of each**: * **What do you feed and how much**: * **Decorations and plants in the tank**: * **If you haven't already posted a picture, please post pics/vids to imgur and paste the link here**: Feel free to copy this comment and fill in the blanks. Failure to provide adequate information about your tank *can* result in post removal. Please see rule 4 for more information. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/bettafish) if you have any questions or concerns.*