Cycling?

[rob158]

I went to the LFS the other day, I told the man i was cycling the tank and he told me i was wasting my time doing that, he say'd it was because your only meant to add 4 or 5 fish at a time so you spent sometimes month's trying to build the bacteria only to kill most of it by not haveing enough fish in the tank to feed it,
what are your thoughts?

 

[KittyKat]

He does know even the most basic principles of biology: the nitrogen cycle.

If you fishless cycle, it is often safe to stock with most stock immediately (not just 4-5 fish), once the cycle is complete.

Fish in cycles do harm fish permanently.

If you read through the forum, you will see that considerably more fish die during fish-in cycling than fishless cycling.. I suspect he's just after your cash (dead fish need replacing) or never paid attention in biology at school.

 

[mwood2]

Sounds like they only know of Fish-In cycling which while it works would yield unwanted results for your fish's health.

 

[roadmaster]

Not necessary to harm fish when using fish for building bacterial colony but requires very few small fish, and very sparse feedings.
Much easier to use fishless method if the fishes welfare is of primary concern.
Can also borrow filter material from established tank,,feed the tank a pinch of fish food each day,or place a couple small cocktail shrimp in a mesh bag with a rock to hold it down.
Fish waste,fish food,shrimp.will all begin to feed the needed bacteria to process waste from fishes,and to consume organics,proteins, from fish foods.