Why Cycle A Tank

[Curiosity101]

Fish in cycling does work. Seriously no one here will disagree with you there.

It was how you reacted to other suggestions that people had a problem with.

For example how you reacted to the suggestion of using a dead prawn instead of ammonia and you said 'I'm not putting anything dead into my tank, I may aswell put my dinner into it' or similar.
By saying that you clearly showed that you hadn't read into cycling generally (even if you're going with fish-in you should still know about cycling and all the methods so you can know you're making an informed choice)

I think people are feeling that you aren't making an 'informed' choice. But more that you are being impatient/arrogant in your methods.
If we're wrong then we're wrong, but that's the feeling I am getting.

Your fish will easily live through a fish in cycle if you do it correctly.
But I can guarantee you will shorten their lifespan.
This is why I will always promote fishless cycling, and although I wont have a go at your for your decision. I completely disagree with it. lol.

 

[Jallen]

As long as you take it slow it's fine really.

In fact when starting any of my tanks I can say that I never tested the water. If you give things adequate time to start up and you do water changes relatively frequently (I just did weekly bucketfulls which turns out to be about 25% - I use very big buckets, it's convenient) then the chances are things will go to plan.

Of course the toxins are measured in parts per million, so if you have a tank of about 25 gallons in size and you start off with 3 small, hardy fish, you won't have any trouble and should be able to add a similar amount after a week or so in my opinion.
The bigger the tank and the less you add at a time, the safer you are.

 

[Tolak]

Its not that they dont cycle, the tank will cycle anyway. They just fish-in cycle without knowing it.

This is how it worked before the nitrogen cycle in a tank was fully understood. At one time a traditional cycle with fish was the only cycling method known. At one time it was also thought that the earth was flat. It is in a person's best interest to keep up with scientific advances.

For a traditional cycle with fish the suggested stocking rate is one inch of slim bodied hardy fish that grows to an adult size of no larger than 3" per 5 gallons of water. This means 2" of fish for a 10 gallon tank. Daily 50% water changes minimum, 75% is better. If you stock at this rate or less, and change this amount of water or more there will be minimal damage to fish. Minimal does not mean none.

A 10 gallon is too shallow for angels, which are a tall fish. Back in the day platys were referred to as moons, I had to read back to some of your posts to see where you were coming from with this term.

If you plan on doing a traditional cycle pick up some mature media. This will help more than you can imagine. With enough mature media and a low stocking rate you will have effectively cloned a tank, eliminating cycling completely.

 

[Rediahs]

I don't mean to be a downer here, but are you all daft?

i was thinking that aswell. lol

haha i was looking at ure member number and it is just one more than mine

i'm going to cycle with 2 zebra danios..

I think those posts make it pretty clear what's going on here, you're all being trolled by 1 guy with 2 accounts, he's posting for the reactions, he doesn't want any help.

At the very least, even if he does want help, he's having a lot of fun with you all and isn't taking any of this seriously.

 

[H. Houdini]

I don't mean to be a downer here, but are you all daft?

i was thinking that aswell. lol

haha i was looking at ure member number and it is just one more than mine

i'm going to cycle with 2 zebra danios..

I think those posts make it pretty clear what's going on here, you're all being trolled by 1 guy with 2 accounts, he's posting for the reactions, he doesn't want any help.

At the very least, even if he does want help, he's having a lot of fun with you all and isn't taking any of this seriously.

Whether he is, or he isn't Chrissi, I REALLY want him to keep posting.

On another note for everyone advocating mature media, did you all read his other thread? Go on, advise him to do just that and you'll have fish in even more trouble.

First rule of forums, don't feed the troll. If you don't, and he is one, he'll soon go away. In this case, if he isn't a troll, I'm going to love reading those threads he will have in the next two or three weeks. Get my drift?

Harry

 

[Rediahs]

Just thought I should inform everyone since some people seem blissfully ignorant... lol...

 

[KingOfTheSea]

I cycled my first tank with fish. It was a 2x1x1 aquarium and i set everything up and left it for a week. Then added 2 female guppies and left it for a month doing quite large waterchanges twice a week. They both lived for around 3 years and gave me lots of babies and seemed pretty happy, but how do you know a fish is happy lol Also I never used to test my water so it was all going by guessing.