Just A Cycling Statement

[Ludwig Venter]

To me, this whole cycling thing is really a total new concept, (which I first heard of when I joined this forum)..... Since 1970, Ive been keeping fish (& at one stage - built up to almost 300 tanks)

When I buy a brand new tank, I buy the gravel, heater, filter and everything I want for this new set- up, including the fish. I wash the gravel, & set up the aquarium and as soon as the water temp has reached the required 26/27 deg C, I release my fish into this setup and some of them even start spawning within the next hour.

The essential urgency of cycling before introducing the fish as I've seen in this forum now makes me nervous, & I wonder if I've just been lucky for 38 years, but absolutely no negative effects has ever been observed - (not even in the long term).

For this reason, I will now in future recommend that cycling is done, but for myself, traditional paradigms reigns supreme.

 

[catxx]

i think you've managed to get by with hardy stock and pure luck! before i knew what cycling was i put a betta in a newly set up tank, within 24 hours he was moping with clamped fins and looking very sorry for himself, and that's what brought me to this forum, he was put back in his bowl, the tank was cycled, and he lived on for another 2 years. i won't ever skip a cycle again, but with mature tanks can now clone media rather than going through the whole cycle process.

re: the spawning, some fish will be triggered into some kind of spawning when in a sudden new environment with very clean water - i guess it simulates new rainfall. corydoras are a good example of this.

 

[minxfishy]

Ludwig you should like my parents

They had many tanks when I was a kid, never cycled the tank before adding loads of fish, rarely lost any and think Im a complete nut for fishless cycling.

In fact they think Im nuts to do water changes too, they used to just top up the tanks.

 

[ALW]

Well Fish Keeping methods have changed over the years

 

[shelaghfishface]

Well Fish Keeping methods have changed over the years

this is so true, i have read many of what would be considered to be horror stories on here

Since 1970, Ive been keeping fish (& at one stage - built up to almost 300 tanks)

haha i wasnt even a twinkle in my daddy`s eye then

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Well Fish Keeping methods have changed over the years

this is so true, i have read many of what would be considered to be horror stories on here

Since 1970, Ive been keeping fish (& at one stage - built up to almost 300 tanks)

haha i wasnt even a twinkle in my daddy`s eye then

If the methods have changed, do you think we are now breeding more "sensitive" fish??

 

[ALW]

Well Fish Keeping methods have changed over the years

this is so true, i have read many of what would be considered to be horror stories on here

Since 1970, Ive been keeping fish (& at one stage - built up to almost 300 tanks)

haha i wasnt even a twinkle in my daddy`s eye then

If the methods have changed, do you think we are now breeding more "sensitive" fish??

Well Neons are more sensitive now than what they used to be, at one time they were considered to be very hardy. Now i wouldnt dream of putting them in a uncycled tank!

 

[Ficious]

i agree with you ludwig. when i first kept aquariums i had about 4 running and never did i cycle the tank. it was always add the water and wait a day, then buy the fish. i think its important to cycle the tank under certain circumstances, and it IS possible a tank can crash because it wasnt cycled (too many fish added too quickly, water quality...etc.

 

[shelaghfishface]

my lfs sent me home with 8 neons a day after setting my tank up, needles to say they were dead in the week

 

[rabbut]

I've only ever fishless cycled once, the rest of the time I set-up with a few small hardy fish and built up my stock over a few weeks. It seamed t work reay well, rarely suffering losses while getting to fully stocked. I realise now that this was more down to luck. A few years later, fish were dieing in these tanks, and the symptoms of ammonia poisoning would be consistant with the symptoms of the ailing fish that I remember Ammonia caurses lasting dammage, and just because a method of fish-in cycling appears to work, it can still come back to haurnt you later.... I'd be reluctant now to add fish to an un-cycled tank

 

[shelaghfishface]

Well Fish Keeping methods have changed over the years

this is so true, i have read many of what would be considered to be horror stories on here

Since 1970, Ive been keeping fish (& at one stage - built up to almost 300 tanks)

haha i wasnt even a twinkle in my daddy`s eye then

If the methods have changed, do you think we are now breeding more "sensitive" fish??

oh definatley, if fish are no longer exposed to the "good" old fashioned bugs, how can they have built up immunity (sp)to them...