Cycling With...brine Shrimp?

[tony92]

I just had the idea of putting a few brine shrimp in my bettas (hes on the way) tank to maybe get things goin before he comes. If they are still alive when he gets here he will simply eat them and thats the end of it and I won't have to worry about another fish to keep in another tank, as I dont have one (I'm getting my dad's nw house set up for fish in Texas). Unfortunately they would probably die before the neew guy even gets here and just put more ammonia in the tank, but I'm still curious to see what you all think.
Tony

 

[fishcrazy55]

well brine shrimp live in salt water so i'm not sure how long they will live but can't u just wait for the betta to get there then feed it to him?

 

[sylvia]

To cycle a tank, you need an ammonia source. That doesn't mean something alive - just use some fish food. it'll rot, producing ammonia.

HOWEVER, if you're going to fishless cycle, you need to completely cycle before you put the betta in - otherwise you'll be introducing him into a tank that already contains ammonia/nitrite which, realy, defeats the purpose.

Either way, once you've got your betta, make shure you do very frequent partial water changes with de-chlorinated water until the tank is completely stable.