fish for cycling
- Thread starter fishlover88
- Start date
EVERYONE will say to do a fishless cycle and im doing a fish cycle and regret it. You spend like months of your life doing water changes keeping the ammonia below .25. For fishless, you don't do water changes. You can have the ammonia as high as it goes, that makes it quicker, too.
Everyone but ME!
I say go either way. The choice is yours. I don't cycle anymore I am at the advantage of having enough tanks to get around it by swapping out media from others to get new ones up and running.
I personally still prefer to go the way of cycling with fish.
I'm old fashioned that way and watching an empty tank even if it is only for a week or two basically sucks IMO.
The whole it's cruel to fish yadda yadda tends to come from the people who have never seen how fish are transported and arrive at the fish store. That is 1000 times worse than any cycling with fish could ever be. If you could only see the things I have seen. It turned me off the hobby when I left my job at Big Al's for months. I couldn't even stomach looking at my own tanks except when I was doing the maintenance. Even that was sickening to me. Only in the last couple of months Have I gotten the bug back and have all 12 tanks up and running again. But I still look at most stores with complete disgust.
There is a reason that a 6 cent fish sells for 3 dollars. It is to counter the loss from the shipment. Cycling with fish can be done and not be cruel or dangerous and not have any fish get sick or die. But you have to do the work. If you aren't willing to do the work and go fishless ONLY because it is easier then you are in the hobby for the wrong reasons. (BTW your own personal convictions is a great reason to go fishless. all the power to you)
Cycling with fish has two purposes IMO. #1: to set up the tank so your biotope is up and running properly (exactly like fishless) and #2 the more important one. To teach the new fish keeper what they are in for and exactly what and how much work it takes to do this hobby properly and be successful at it.
Anywhoo.
I use to use barbs. They always come through with flying colors.
Again. Nothing wrong with fishless. Does the job and if it is for you and is your cup of tea. cool. It's just not mine.
I noticed you already have an aquarium. if you're looking to cycle a new tank, i'd just move some media from your 55G to the filter of the new tank. it will cycle your new tank in a day.
I cycled my 29G with 3 small swordtails. Also, aside from watching your water parameters for ammonia and nitrites while doing a fish in cycle, you also want to make sure your tank parameters are also in line to promote the growth of bacteria during the cycle.
PH, Temprature, and Oxygen will play an important role in deciding how fast your cycle will progress. The bare minimum PH you want your tank at is 7.0. PH below 6.8 inhibits bacterial growth. A good filter flow will provide enough water agitation for aeration and you may want to keep the temp at about 80-82F (which is my own preference).
Good luck to you!:cool2:
PH, Temprature, and Oxygen will play an important role in deciding how fast your cycle will progress. The bare minimum PH you want your tank at is 7.0. PH below 6.8 inhibits bacterial growth. A good filter flow will provide enough water agitation for aeration and you may want to keep the temp at about 80-82F (which is my own preference).
Good luck to you!:cool2:
the last thing i would be telling someone starting out is to worry about ph and possible changing it.
I'm sure there are many people who opt for the fishless cycle very well knowing how stressed the fish have already been from being transported. We have control with what we do in our own homes, where as we do not have control with what happens to the fish before they get to us.
It almost seems as if you're saying since they previously endured a "cruel" transport, and possible capture, then why not possibly stress them out more because they've already had it worse?
Newbies make enough mistakes without having to have possible deaths on their hands with their new pets. The way you word it seems as if the fish are a lab animal to experiment with.
Instant gratification is nice, I admit. And I do agree that it is obviously a personal choice. Heck, I did it when I first started out. I didn't even know fishless cycles existed. Ever since I learned about it, I've never tried a fishy cycle again. My brother still does fish cycles (I'm working on him) and has lost fish every time. I just don't think it's a good thing to risk the lives of our fish for the sake of seeing them 2 weeks sooner rather than an empty tank. I know lots of people that do, and like you said, it's their decision.
It's too bad we don't get to hear the fish vote.
That is a difference of opinion. The fact is that bacteria are also sensitive to water parameters. Understanding a little more than .25ppm on your API test kit can hardly harm anyone's attempt to cycle a tank. All to often I read posts here and elsewhere that someone is asking why is my cycle lasting 3 months. Perhaps a better understanding as to what helps the Nitrogen Cycle would help to answer those questions.:Angel:
do yourself a favor, like fishcatch said, stock your tank lightly, then transfer media from your old tank to your new and there wont be a cycle, I havent done a cycle since my first aquarium, and hopefully won't ever do one again. Switch the media over and everything will be "cycled" basically immediately. I can't see the point of doing a fishless cycle or a fishy cycle when you have the media at your hands already, there shouldnt really be any agreements or disagreements as I hope all would agree that would be the easiest way.