This Is What The Guy In My Local Aquarium Supplies Store Told Me

[Greg_DS]

I think she meant adding a few fish at a time over a few months ultimately has you stocked in the same time scale as a fish less cycle??

 

[ace61502]

I think she meant adding a few fish at a time over a few months ultimately has you stocked in the same time scale as a fish less cycle??

Exactly. Thank you.

 

[MrBThatsMe]

Hmmm.. it seems the debate will go on The thing that got me though was when the guy told me that using bottled ammonia won't create the same bacteria as the fish waste will.. is there any truth in this? I haven't come across that whilst doing my research but the bloke in the shop obviously has a tonne of experience keeping fish especially compared to me so it's interesting that he'd make such a claim.

 

[ctsv510]

He did say though that ammonia from a bottle won't produce the same bacteria as fish waste will. I can't remember if he said it's different due to it simply being fish waste, or due to the food that the fish have been fed but he definitely didn't support the argument that ammonia from a bottle will work.

NO ONE can deny that a fishless cycle using ammonia from a bottle works to establish a bio-filter for a home aquarium. If a fishless cycle using household ammonia didn't work to establish the right kind of bacteria, then every member here that did a fishless cycle including me, cycled their tank using magic. Anyone that denies that this will work is just ignorant. I have done both methods, and I personally prefer the fishless cycle, but that doesn't mean that there is anything wrong with a fish-in cycle done properly.

If I worked at or owned a fish store, I would make sure I knew everything I possibly could about the hobby.

 

[micko]

This could continue forever. The maximum length of time a fish-less cycle has lasted for is 42 days for me. Going by the adding fish every few weeks (isn't it supposed to be six weeks?) Would take a lot longer IME.

As for the ammonia statement, I've never heard of this before. Bottled ammonia has worked fine for me for the past 6 years. Like I said before, I believe he's an 'old school' fishkeeper.

 

[CezzaXV]

I went fishless partly because I knew it be better for my fish, partly because it was ten times easier and I didn't fancy a fight of several months trying to keep fish alive. I'm a tad on the paranoid side and I'd just spend my days worrying I'm gonna come home to dead fish.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

The bacteria that I built up during my fishless cycle demolished ammonia from the fish just as well as it demolished the bottled ammonia. How would this happen if the bacteria was different? I am sure many others who have done a fishless cycle will say the same.

 

[ace61502]

Ammonia is ammonia. Claiming fishless doesn't work just means someone is clueless about chemistry AND biology.

As for the waiting weeks between adding fish... The higher your stocking gets, the higher your bacteria volume gets, which can double in whatever amount of time, right? (I forget the exact timeframe, but that's moot) So, over time you can add fish faster because the bacteria can adjust to a higher load faster.

 

[phishyphil]

Ammonia is ammonia at the end of the day, whether that is from a bottle or the waste produced by a fish. Saying that, there are many "old school" shop owners who still stand by the fish-in cycle as that's how they were taught to keep fish and seem to forget to tell you that a water change must be done a lot more often and a lot of time will be consumed by this method.

There is of course the other side of this story where the owner will just want a sale and see's a few fish as nothing more than an extra pint or two down the local pub.

A thing I'd definitely suggest you do if you go back to that shop os to research your fish well before buying them (which you should do regardless) so as the owner of this shop won't try to sell you 12 bala sharks for a 2ft tank or something crazy.

+1