"ManWorld42" wrote in message
m...
I think 1 ppm of NH3/NH4 is high. I keep my tank under 0.25 ppm.
Currently I have to do water changes twice a day to keep it that way.
The fish are doing great. The scales of the Danios are SO shiny, they
are just beautiful.

Ammonia is now staying at 0ppm or very close to. Nitrite between .1 and .3,
and I do a 20% water change if it gets to .3ppm. Nitrates are 5ppm.

Your low fish load and cat pee smell after such a short time suggests
to me that you are over feeding.

I should have mentioned that the cat pee smell was there even before I
introduced the first fish, which made me suspect the Cycle or the fake
plants. But you could be right about overfeeding -- I'm still learning to
judge more accurately how much is enough. Hard to tell sometimes how much
is actually eaten in a couple of minutes, as the flake or brineshrimp
disperses pretty quickly.

One more thing. Get a 50g tank. 18g is a lot of work. It is too
small and too unstable. I have a 36g tank and really wish I got a 50g
instead.

I wish! A two-foot tank is all I have space for at the moment.

Thanks for the good advice! Cheers

Vicki PS