Re: Adding the fish later

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

> OK, Tom, I understood and probably agreed with the rest of this post,
> but the fish delay thing confuses me. Can you explain why you say to do
> it this way? [Remember, I'm a fishkeeper who keeps plants as much for
> the fish's sake as for appearance. :-) I'm not a sane aquatic gardener.]

Who says I'm sane or even make such claims?
My basic premise is that a slow build up of fish during the first month is
A) to keep the tank lean on NH4/allow some filter bacteria to grow (But not
enough for Algae to grow) and B) for the substrate to get a fair amount of
roots establishment and activity. Both of these will allow for that critical
break in period and provide a rough place for algae which seem to like NH4
much more than NO3.
It's just more stable for the fish you'll be adding, the ones that cost $
and allows for CO2 mess ups/getting everything right before adding the
expensive critters. Allows you to control the feeding of the algae eaters
better so they eat the algae instead of your fish food for the regular main
fish.

Regards, 
Tom Barr