Advantge of Fishless Cycling?

Well, I havent decided.

Since these fish were intended to be a meal anyway, I guess Ive got a few options :D. I could net them and give them to someone with a big hungry fish since I dont yet have one myself. Then there is the DUKE NUKE EM scenario where I net em up and Euthanize (spelling) the whole lot (put them in a bowl of water and freeze them). Then there is the raise-my-own-feeders option which I like alot but would require another tank. These options are based on the fact that I want them out before I put my real fish in there. If I choose to leave them in and just add the Africans then they will slowly but surely get wacked, but I'd rather have them out, give my tank a chance to rid itself (with my help) of any nasties, then add the cichlids.
 
The poor treatment of feeders only occurs because people buy them. If people refused to buy them, they would not suffer their current fate...

To get back on topic, I agree with most of what's been written in favor of fishless cycling. I would add that it also encourages patience. Patience and forethought are a pretty important ingredients in successful fishkeeping (I've learned this the hard way, I admit...) Having to sit thru a cycle forces us to understand that there are biological and chemical process at work in our tanks that have their own pace. We aren't cycling the tank... it is cycling and we get to watch.

Impatience/corner-cutting rarely leads to successful fish keeping.

Jim
 
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Impatience/corner-cutting rarely leads to successful fish keeping.
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Hmmmmm. Isnt fishless cycling usually a shortcut when compared to fishy cycling?

Did I take an even shorter path using the feeders? Yes. I call it the "Half Fishless" method... It will work for those of us adding only a small number of medium fish or alot of small fish. You fishless cycle to the point where you get 0 ammo, then add feeders. Before adding the feeders to the tank my Nitrite readings were off the scale, and had been so for weeks. I added the feeders on Saturday, and this mornings Nitrite reading is .1ppm (by tomorrow this should be complete). Ive got roughly a 2 to 1 ratio of fish inches (2 inches of feeders for each inch of real fish I plan to add). Im not saying that this will work for all, and I dont recommend it, but as far as Im concerned the truth is in the readings. If I would have done this right after my Ammo went to 0 instead of continuing to add 5ppm ammo, I would have been done cycling MUCH sooner.

The poor treatment of feeders only occurs because people buy them. If people refused to buy them, they would not suffer their current fate...
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I dont get this one?
 
Originally posted by Luca Brazzi


If I would have done this right after my Ammo went to 0 instead of continuing to add 5ppm ammo, I would have been done cycling MUCH sooner.
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The alternative explanation is that you were near the end of a fishless cycle and the nitrites were nearly ready to drop anyway, but you became impatient and exposed a bunch of "disposable" fish that you don't want to high levels of nitrite.

My comment about feeders is simple: if people refused to buy feeders because of the inhumane ways in which they are kept, pet stores would either cease stocking them or keep them in better conditions. The mere fact that a creature is going to die as food for another is poor justification for keeping it in miserable and squalid conditions for weeks and months.

Jim
 
The mere fact that a creature is going to die as food for another is poor justification for keeping it in miserable and squalid conditions for weeks and months
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Well then in that case I think Ill have to become a vegetarian.:D
 
local park ponds

There are a number of ponds in the city parks, which currently are skating rinks, that have goldfish during summer months.

I am thinking of "dumping" the feeder comets that I used for cycling in one of those ponds. Then they would be free as free can be.
 
But, Spannah, if there is flooding or something, wouldn't you be running the risk of goldfish getting into local waterways? That's how Florida became so overrun with all sorts of exotics.
 
Perhaps one of the worst things a hobbyists can do is dump unwanted fish in a natural water system.

That is a great way to get the entire hobby in trouble, as well as causing massive public expenditures to correct the thoughtless mess someone created. Great use of tax dollars that - really makes us all look like jerks.
 
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