Fishless cycling

[carpetviper]

Personally when I had a tank I was advised by someone experienced to treat the water to get rid of the chlorine and the add 5 blue danios to the 2ft tank and they would be perfectly fine in fact I kept them for the full time and just ended up with a little shoal of them as they were nice little fish. had them for over a year without a death.

[Nutbrown]

Plenty of 'knowledgable' people in the fish trade are only knowledgable till proven wrong.

 

Fish are living, therefore you cant say 'fish in cycling will kill all fish'

 

But the facts are:

Ammonia will almost always be high enough (dependent on tank size and size/number of fish) in a fish in cycle to burn the gills, lowering the rate of respiration.

 

Nitrites will easily and often cause nerve damage to fish that are exposed to them.

 

The premature death rate (particularly within the first month or two) is significantly higher in fish that go through a fish in cycle.

 

My point being. I'm not saying that I can say that what you did was wrong... but that it's certainly not recommended as you will be exposing the fish to poisons and they will be much more likely to die. So I really would advise against recommending it yourself. You're the exception... not the rule.

[0742Sheff]

Personally when I had a tank I was advised by someone experienced to treat the water to get rid of the chlorine and the add 5 blue danios to the 2ft tank and they would be perfectly fine in fact I kept them for the full time and just ended up with a little shoal of them as they were nice little fish. had them for over a year without a death.

 

 

I did the same thing with a shoal of 12 Neon Tetras roughly 18 months ago. They all survived over a year. I'm down to 6 now but i expected to lose them a lot sooner.

[dirteecash]

i have never ever cycled a tropical fish tank, and never had any problems (dead fish etc)

i dont know why people do it. i have had my rays around a month or so now i only filled the tank up and got it up to temp the same week i got them and have'nt had a single problem its actually hard to stop them from eating they are getting nice fat tails now.

 

is there actually a need for cycling a trop tank as i have'nt found one or is it just because it makes the owner happy ?

[0742Sheff]

Bare in mind that we in this region have some of the best water quality in the country out of the tap. I don't even use tap safe when doing water changes. In other parts of the country i would guess using tap safe is a must.

[dirteecash]

Bare in mind that we in this region have some of the best water quality in the country out of the tap. I don't even use tap safe when doing water changes. In other parts of the country i would guess using tap safe is a must.

 

yes i have realised that over the years, we do have very good quality tap water here, which is obviously a benefit for us

i myself have never used any water conditioners etc but i have never liked the thought of putting chemicals in my tanks

i suppose if anyone was worried about the water quality it may be a better idea to invest in an ro unit.

[Nutbrown]

I did the same thing with a shoal of 12 Neon Tetras roughly 18 months ago. They all survived over a year. I'm down to 6 now but i expected to lose them a lot sooner.

Neons should easily reach 5 years old if kept properly... I would class 50% die off in 18 months as a clear sign they were negatively affected by a fish in cycle.

 

As for cycling, yes it is neccesary if you want to do the best by your fish. Personally I can't comment on on stingrays though, only 'typical' fish. I don't know enough about rays to know if their respiratory system is similar enough with respect to ammonia or nitrite poisoning.

 

Just a note this isn't me trying to preach. I'm just relaying facts. Having been on a fish forum as an active member for a few years you soon see that the number of people who have a successful fish in cycle are in the vast minority. And is often the probable main cause of un explained premature deaths as you just dont see anywhere near the number of un explainable premature deaths in fishless cycled tanks.

[Nutbrown]

yes i have realised that over the years, we do have very good quality tap water here, which is obviously a benefit for us

i myself have never used any water conditioners etc but i have never liked the thought of putting chemicals in my tanks

i suppose if anyone was worried about the water quality it may be a better idea to invest in an ro unit.

 

Water conditioners are very obvious chemicals though. And its clear how they do there job and why they're important. Ie. Removing chloramine and binding heavy metals. But you are right, sheffield water is unbelievably low in a lot of the 'bad' things. So water conditioners are barely neccesary and probably depend a lot more on what you're stocked with.

The only issue with RO is having reconstitue what you removed. I know alot of people who use it for the rarer expensive freshwater shrimp as they can replicate the shrimps natural waters by adding exactly what is required.

[GreenBlade]

this guy knows his stuff on planted tanks,here he talks about RO water.

love his vids. Go with what Nutbrown is saying, cycling is needed..i never used to cycle and fish would die in a few months, now..not lost any..*touch wood*

[0742Sheff]

Neons should easily reach 5 years old if kept properly... I would class 50% die off in 18 months as a clear sign they were negatively affected by a fish in cycle.

 

Easily? I doubt there is a 5 year old neon in the country tbh.

 

My losses were partly due to a fungal outbreak and (i am guessing), stress, brought on by introducing two angels that fought non stop.