Question: First time owner, starting a new tank

Hello!

I recently got two little axies, and for now they're living in the little tubs I got them in. The axies are small, so it doesn't seem to be too small for them, but I'd like to move them into something larger, especially so I can make sure they have hides (they don't have any now because none fit). I was going to set up my tank and let it run for a couple weeks with some goldfish in it to get it conditioned and such before I swap the goldfish for my axies. Would this be an appropriate way to condition a tank for axies, or should I do something different?

As far as cycling if you have a couple weeks a fishless cycle should be doable. I am personally not a fan of goldfish as I have always been told that they produce a lot of waste and a lot of ammonia in comparison to other fish. The ammonia is what I am most worried about.

You can do a fishless cycle simply by taking a little bit of fish flake food and putting it in the tank every day or every other day. Or you can go and use a culture solution. make sure that the bacteria they are using are endospore bacteria if it's a culture from off the shelf in a bottle. As some one who has worked with keeping bacteria alive and happy I have been skeptical of these in the past, though the nice quality ones seem to work as long as you follow the directions. As I have said, I am personally basis against goldfish (nothing person, sorry guys ). But unless you already have them, cycling either of the two ways I said above should be cheaper and (in my opinion) better. If you already have the goldfish and would be pulling them from a separate tank to take a vacation in cycling tank, I would just use an old filter from it, or seed the tank with some of the water from the goldfish tank and then just make sure the poor good bacteria don't go hungry.

I hope this helps somewhat!