Newbie Questions

[DanS]

Hi all, I'm a complete newbie to fish keeping, but have always been facinated, so thought its about time I do something about it.... I have a modest 60 litre (16 US Gallons?) tank, that I haven't really done anything with whilst I do a fair bit of research.

I've read the start of the Fishless cycling thread and do want to use this method as i don't like the idea maturing an aquarium with live fish as..... well its not very nice is it

So..... I've been doing a bit of reading about it using a book called the Tropical Fishlopedia (don't know how popular that is in these circles, or even if its known at all!!)... Anyway almost every other place i've read about fishless cycling (including here) involves adding ammonia. The Fishlopedia notes that whilst no fish are in place, there's no fish wastes for the bacteria to process (obviously), but then states that "adding a small pinch of flake or granular food each day will have the desired effect". Now this seems frightfully simple rather than carefully measuring ammonia additions etc. I don't mind either way, but found it odd i've only read this in one place. Load of rubbish? Any thoughts? I'm also going for the most natural look i can - i.e. live plants and rocks, no plastic divers. The live plants should help this process also?

Right if i'm not already banished forever for a fishless cycling question, here is another newbie question..... whilst making the decision to keep fish I had a few thoughts about the ethics of fish keeping itself (no way do i want to get into a discussion about that ) So i've made the decision to try and stock the tank with aquarium bred species only. Would it be stupid to say that the majority of fish shop livestock is aquarium bred? Particularly the more common "starter" fish, platys, danios etc.? How can I tell if something is wild caught or not - just ask the shop? Sorry if thats a dumb question.

Anyway, hello all! I look forward to getting some useful info from this site, and potentially providing some info if I ever know what i'm talking about!

Cheers
Dan

 

[Majjie]

Hi Dan,

Welcome to the forum. I'm one of the few people who doesn't seem to mind answering fishless cycling questions - but I'm no great expert - I just find it interesting (must get out more ). Oh - and incidentally, I have a copy of the Fishlopedia too, but haven't ever read their fishless cycling bit.

You'd think that just adding regular pinches of food would be easy - but it isn't necessarily the case. If you do follow this method - don't try to get the ammonia levels too high because the food contains lots of other things apart from a nitrogen source and a build up of organic material may encourage a lot of other microbial growth that you don't want. Poor Ben didn't have much luck with it. Have a look at this thread:

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=180989

Some people think that plants can hinder a fishless cycle because they like to use ammonia as a nitrogen source - and this might be true, if you use a low ammonia level - but if you're adding pure ammonia I don't think it's a problem. They're more likely to help by bringing in some useful bacteria.

As for getting tank bred fish - I think actually asking the fish shop is probably your best option. You're right that the more common fish are most likely to be tank bred but it doesn't always follow. Cardinal tetras, for instance, are often wild caught (or certainly used to be) whereas neons are usually bred on fish farms.

 

[DanS]

wow this is a well populated forum, my thread had gone to the second page.

Many thanks for the response Majjie. Adding food doesn't seem such a great idea then!! Cheers!

Dan

 

[Squid]

I agree. Often people who go for the food option are finding it difficult to find a good ammonia source with no other chemicals in it. Using flake is more difficult to gauge the ammount of ammonia to start off with as you have to wait for it to break down into waste and form ammonia, so using ammonia is a more exact science i guess. However, if you are away for a few days in the middle of a cycle, then it might be a good alternative to keep the ammonia levels up whilst your not there to do it. Others have used shrimp instead.. sounds messy

Cheers and good luck..

Squid