Dont Fishless Cycle.

[chrisjj]

Thats what i was told when i went to my lfs yesturday.
i was looking at the tanks and a nice lady came over and asked if i need any help, when i said ,i will be back in 2 weeks to buy the rio 180, she asked me what sort of fish i will be keeping.
i told her , i want a comunity tank with neons, rams ,ect ect, but i wont be buying fish for a couple of mounths becuase i need to do a fishless cycle, she said, "dont bother, its not worth it, just add the fish, they will be ok".
I could'nt belive it, i said thanks for your help and walked out , some people will say anything ,just to make a few pounds on some fish.
i wont be going back there.

 

[Tizer]

You don't have to fishless cycle, very few fish shops even know about the process so its not surprising really. Fish in cycle is lots of fun! I love doing daily water changes!

 

[Akasha72]

slightly irresponsable of her yes. If she'd said you can fish-in cycle but be prepared for a lot of water changes that would've been better.

Personally, I'm not sure if I could look at an empty tank for 2 months - it would drive me mad! I much prefer to seed a tank if I can. I would be tempted to do another fish-in cycle if I had to but do it the clever way and add two small fish every 2 weeks and change water when/if needed. It's hard work but at least your not looking at an empty tank - but, hey, each to their own.

It sounds like you've done your research though so go ahead with what you planned to do. Don't be put off the lfs by just one member of staff. It may be that she's just inexperienced - there may be other staff members who are better. If their fish look healthy and happy that is the main thing not the staff

 

[Yanks15]

I have lived in multiple states(US) and dealt with multiple aqua shops and I found only one that even knew about fishless cycling and that was an owner. Every employee that I asked said to fill the tank, use declor(thanks goodness), add fish, and enjoy. I was also told several times to add only a couple "hardy" fish because they do better in new tanks which I guess is code for "might only get sick and not die so just buy meds". I guess it is just a business to most of them.

 

[mattybee]

Personally, I'm not sure if I could look at an empty tank for 2 months - it would drive me mad! I much prefer to seed a tank if I can. I would be tempted to do another fish-in cycle if I had to but do it the clever way and add two small fish every 2 weeks and change water when/if needed. It's hard work but at least your not looking at an empty tank - but, hey, each to their own.

Thats what I am doing - a fish in cycle, partly becuase I could not source any ammonia, but mainly because I would have an empty tank and as Akasha72 said - it would drive me mad. I do 10%-15% daily chnages and so far so good - 1 male and 3 female guppies in a 55 gallon

 

[Tizer]

Personally, I'm not sure if I could look at an empty tank for 2 months - it would drive me mad! I much prefer to seed a tank if I can. I would be tempted to do another fish-in cycle if I had to but do it the clever way and add two small fish every 2 weeks and change water when/if needed. It's hard work but at least your not looking at an empty tank - but, hey, each to their own.

Thats what I am doing - a fish in cycle, partly becuase I could not source any ammonia, but mainly because I would have an empty tank and as Akasha72 said - it would drive me mad. I do 10%-15% daily chnages and so far so good - 1 male and 3 female guppies in a 55 gallon

lol, WHAT? that's going to take months 4 tiny fish in a 55 gal wont produce much ammonia at all, in fact, there will be more ammonia from the rotting food in there

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Personally, I'm not sure if I could look at an empty tank for 2 months - it would drive me mad! I much prefer to seed a tank if I can. I would be tempted to do another fish-in cycle if I had to but do it the clever way and add two small fish every 2 weeks and change water when/if needed. It's hard work but at least your not looking at an empty tank - but, hey, each to their own.

Thats what I am doing - a fish in cycle, partly becuase I could not source any ammonia, but mainly because I would have an empty tank and as Akasha72 said - it would drive me mad. I do 10%-15% daily chnages and so far so good - 1 male and 3 female guppies in a 55 gallon

lol, WHAT? that's going to take months 4 tiny fish in a 55 gal wont produce much ammonia at all, in fact, there will be more ammonia from the rotting food in there

No, you got it all wrong, the plan is that all the resulting Guppy fry will gradually increase the bioload.

 

[Yanks15]

Just got back from LFS and heard some terrifying advice. A poor woman and her daughter were losing fish and didn't know why. The employee told them to change out all their filter media because it was bad! Being nosy I lingered around. They have (3) 4" Goldfish in a 20gal(US) tank with an Aqua Clear20 filter. After the woman told the employee what she had, the employee didn't flinch about the size of the fish, tank, filtration, nothing! I tried to say a few things tto the woman when the employee left but she soon returned to continue the cluelessness. Hopefully she listened to what I had to tell her or the rest of her fish will probably go the same way the others did.

 

[MBOU]

Its alright LOL I just had a meeting at the bank and whilst waiting for slow computer we had a long discussion about fish and water quality issues I like to think we helped each other out now all i need to hear is that they will be refunding me a few thousand pounds and I will stop telling everyone i meet how much I hate Barclays!

That aside, I would never 'fish in cycle' from scratch, seems unecessary...

But you wont catch me fannying about dosing daily with ammonia and doing far more water changes than i really need to.

I just:

A/ Dont keep piddly tanks if possible
B/ Use mature media and water if possible
C/ Evolution Aqua 'Pure' balls
D/ Wait for a cycle (generally 1-3 days if matures media, less if water as well) and keep testing, once levels look normal, add a small pinch of fish food and keep testing, if results return back to safe levels within 12 hours...
E/ Do a 25% water change
F/ Add few fish at a time... keeping feeding to the minimum.

 

[mattybee]

Personally, I'm not sure if I could look at an empty tank for 2 months - it would drive me mad! I much prefer to seed a tank if I can. I would be tempted to do another fish-in cycle if I had to but do it the clever way and add two small fish every 2 weeks and change water when/if needed. It's hard work but at least your not looking at an empty tank - but, hey, each to their own.

Thats what I am doing - a fish in cycle, partly becuase I could not source any ammonia, but mainly because I would have an empty tank and as Akasha72 said - it would drive me mad. I do 10%-15% daily chnages and so far so good - 1 male and 3 female guppies in a 55 gallon

lol, WHAT? that's going to take months 4 tiny fish in a 55 gal wont produce much ammonia at all, in fact, there will be more ammonia from the rotting food in there

No, you got it all wrong, the plan is that all the resulting Guppy fry will gradually increase the bioload.

Haha no I'm gradually going to introduce some more - they only been In a week, so in another week a few more will go in don't want to put to many in one go