Inconsistancies in the hobby.

[emeraldking]

What may work for someone doesn't have to work for somebody else. Let's get that clear. As long as something works for someone, it should be labeled as being good. There's not just one specific way how things should be done to establish a good cycle. But if things ain't going smoothly after a cycle and you can't solve it, don't hesitate to ask someone else to help you out.

 

[MammaBearinTN]

So you plan a tank, you plan a fish in cycle and it works, you know it works because you've done it before but according to some sources it doesn't work and it will kill your fish. You then read instances of fishless cycles that are supposed to be safe but in fact - killed the fish. A friend follows a fishless guidelines down to the last letter and low and behold it killed the fish. No consistency. You have to do fish in anyway after the fishless cycle then it becomes a guessing game as to how many fish you can add to the tank. If you add too many you'd failed because you'll spike the fish. If you add too few you also failed because your bacteria culture will reduce to the amount of available ammonia there is in the tank. Bottom line - you might as well do a fish in cycle in the first place and be patient. No consistency in methodology at all.
So you plan some fish, fish that you are familiar with and had experience with in the past. You go on a website and check compatibility with your GH and KH for these fish. One website says 10.4 to 15 dkh and another says 7.4 to 10dkh. Conflicting figures on all the major websites and on here too as well as my LFS. No consistency. Who do you turn to?
Fish compatibility with each other, conflicting advice on here, LFS and reputable websites. No just slightly conflicting but completely contradictory. Again, who do you turn to?
No one wants to see animals suffer, no one wants to see fish in poor conditions least of all myself. The reason I started keeping fish again is because of this virus, I can't do anything else, if I don't do something positive I'll go barmy because all my hobbies are locked down. But I can't do it like this, my heads a shed.
I'm going to have to pick a source of information and stick with it so if I come on here and say I put a fish in my tank that you may not agree with, it's not because I want to see fish suffer or that I haven't thought it out properly, it's because I chose to use information from what I think is the best source available to me.
So my apologies in advance if I offend anyone for sticking fish A with fish B.

I could have written that. I probably kept fish for a total of seven or eight years about 20 years ago. There's a lot I don't remember and a lot I'm confused about even if I "thought" I remembered it!

 

[Maff]

I killed no fish 32 years ago with a fish in cycle and so far I've killed no fish in this one either. There has been no confusion as to how many fish I needed to add at each stage of proceedings either. The fishless cycle from what I've learned so far has a few problems in the fact you can crash the cycle or still spike fish because of the uncertainty of how many fish to add after the cycle completes. Therefore I've steered clear of it because of the uncertainty in my mind concerning this method.

 

[mcordelia]

This thread is about so much more than fishless vs fish-in cycling. That's just one (critical) aspect of fishkeeping, but the other points that have been brought up on the thread paint a much more nuanced picture of the state of the hobby at the current point in time, and how one can, philosophically and attitude-wise, cope with the realities and pitfalls of fishkeeping. Letting this thread devolve into a "which type of cycling is better" petty argument takes away from the big picture that is really what is worth discussing.

 

[Maff]

This thread is about so much more than fishless vs fish-in cycling. That's just one (critical) aspect of fishkeeping, but the other points that have been brought up on the thread paint a much more nuanced picture of the state of the hobby at the current point in time, and how one can, philosophically and attitude-wise, cope with the realities and pitfalls of fishkeeping. Letting this thread devolve into a "which type of cycling is better" petty argument takes away from the big picture that is really what is worth discussing.

I was answering a reply earlier in the thread in which a member started their reply with 'if you killed fish'. I want to point out that no fish were harmed in the making of this thread

 

[FishGuest5123]

Flipping through all of this and one question jumps out... how in the heck do you kill fish in a fishless cycle?!