Why do people do fish in cycling?!?!

So, I have been wondering this. Fish in cycling. I think IMO there is no point in doing fish in cycling and a fish is just suffering BUT I would like to hear people who know or have experience. Why do people do fish in cycling? What's the point?

 

I do it all the time. Works fine 'cept i have to put the cycling fishes back in the 120. Wish they would kind of die off but they keep on ticking. Maybe i can find another tank to cycle with them. Hum. They are 18 months old - how long do cycling fish live anyway ?

 

I think it’s just a way to avoid dosing ammonia or adding fish food. I just feed the tank and wait for the bb to form before introducing them.

 

Well some people might have water with low ph where the bacteria needs a lot more food and don’t want to deal with dosing lots of ammonia. Personally I’m thinking about doing fish in cycle adding 3 tetra at a time when I do my tank in anticipation that when it’s over I’d have 12 tetras. I am using recycled media though

 

Patience is probably one reason. Got a new tank and want something in it. Its safe if stay on top of water changes. My angels are 2 years old and they were in a tank that wasn't originally cycled.

 

Btw my male swordtail was the first fish i purchased when i got 'back into' keeping tanks 2+ years ago. Obviously we didn't bother with the whole cycling non-sense. He was an adult when i purchased him so he is probably 3 maybe 3 1/2 years old. He looks pretty old.

 

So, I have been wondering this. Fish in cycling. I think IMO there is no point in doing fish in cycling and a fish is just suffering BUT I would like to hear people who know or have experience. Why do people do fish in cycling? What's the point?

Because of impatience and laziness (talking about myself so nobody get their pants in a wad). However, I do it with a cycled filter and chemicals that bind up / temp. neutralize the amonia/nitrite/etc. I figure the fish will be fine the 2-3 days it takes to cycle with a cycled filter if I use stuff like Prime.

In this specific case I had an overstocked 20g that I needed to move some fish into a fresh 40g, so I weighed their stress in the 20 vs stress of being in the fresh 40 in my mind and figured the swimming space was more important. Just my 2¢

 

There are mixed opinions. mattgirl had started a thread recently as it looks like fishless cycled tanks seem to have more trouble with mini cycles after fish get added.
Do I prefer fishless cycle? Sure.
Did I do a fish in cycle out of necessity when the QT was not ready? Sure. Was it detrimental for the fish? Nope.
Fish in cycle is not really as hard and I do not condemn them, big daily water changes are the ticket. It most likely depends on the size of the tank which way I would take in the future.

 

Kind of depends. If you aren't scared of frequent wtaer changes, shouldn't harm the fish. If you're a "change water only when the test results tell me to" you are gonna be in trouble. And not just until the tank is cycled.

 

Its safe if your pH is close enough to neutral and you keep ammonia/nitrites under 1ppm combined as the typical advice recommends. When I run fish-in I do water changes for anything over 0.25 ppm ammonia though and I usually only read trace levels of nitrites for maybe a day or two. It is a bit of a misconception that you need 4 ppm of ammonia to properly cycle a tank... ammonia is constantly being produced and consumed so if you have any reading over 0 then your nitrifying bacteria are being fed sufficiently. With my method the BB colony grows to accommodate the fish in the tank, afterwards I stock more very slowly. No more than 3 small fish at a time, but usually just one or two. Tiny spikes in ammonia can be managed with prime/stability and keeping the tank clean. There's no reason not to do a fish-in cycle if you do it correctly and exercise caution

 

Btw my male swordtail was the first fish i purchased when i got 'back into' keeping tanks 2+ years ago. Obviously we didn't bother with the whole cycling non-sense. He was an adult when i purchased him so he is probably 3 maybe 3 1/2 years old. He looks pretty old.

Shouldn't you update your profile then? I don't think you "just started". You're a fishlore VIP. Unless there's some reason that I haven't heard about, you should definitely update it.

 

After the initial oops people have, there shouldn't be a fishless cycle again in any tank within driving distance of the original.

 

So, I have been wondering this. Fish in cycling. I think IMO there is no point in doing fish in cycling and a fish is just suffering BUT I would like to hear people who know or have experience. Why do people do fish in cycling? What's the point?

Less time and solid proof of ur cycle being complete no playing with chemicals but the work load is greater being most of us who fish in cycle are doing wcs more frequently

 

I'm clueless. Being a vip just means i post too much - it doesn't mean i know diddly. I claim complete ignorance to anything and everything and those who take my advice are just being foolish.

Shouldn't you update your profile then? I don't think you "just started". You're a fishlore VIP. Unless there's some reason that I haven't heard about, you should definitely update it.

 

Can't speak for everyone or every situation. But I am fish in cycling right now. But I am doing this because I had a tank break. I moved my fish to another established tank, which overstocked it incredibly but it was am emergency. Got a new tank set up the next day. Now I did let it run for 24 hrs first simply because my water here is crazy cold and it needed to heat up. I added filter media and decor from an established tank. Then put new fish in. Its not perfectly cycled right now but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

 

I'm clueless. Being a vip just means i post too much - it doesn't mean i know diddly. I claim complete ignorance to anything and everything and those who take my advice are just being foolish.

Well ok then..

 

Can't speak for everyone or every situation. But I am fish in cycling right now. But I am doing this because I had a tank break. I moved my fish to another established tank, which overstocked it incredibly but it was am emergency. Got a new tank set up the next day. Now I did let it run for 24 hrs first simply because my water here is crazy cold and it needed to heat up. I added filter media and decor from an established tank. Then put new fish in. Its not perfectly cycled right now but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

Going thru the same issue without the tank break picked up unexpected fish and had no tank ready

 

In my country some people legit don't know about fishless cycling. When I told the lady who sold me an aquarium and also sells fish that after 10 days from the start I still have no fish in my tank because I'm cycling fishless with ammonia, and I still have nitrites, she was like:
"???? That's not how you cycle the tank. Ammonia is poison, you don't add that to the tank. And you can't cycle without fish poop, that's just how it works, silly. It's time to buy some fish or your water will go bad. Do a water change and let a couple of fish in." Before that I got the same reaction from another experienced aquariumist on a local facebook group. Not only they haven't heard of it, they can't even understand how it works.

 

Well
1) by accident; didnt know about the cycle before buying fish and now fish-in cycling by default... Or they have a mix up with their test kit and think their tank instantly cycled with seeded media when in actual fact they weren't shaking the test bottles enough to get true readings
2) you cant buy ammonia in some countries. Pure ammonia isnt available in shops here, and as far as I'm aware it's a restricted item so you arent allowed to ship it.
3) kind of an extension to 2, fish food is messy and releases ammonia slowly. Some might consider it a tedious cycling method.
4) not sure this 100% counts but when people have crashed cycles, they're reverted back to fish-in cycling.
5) quite a popular one; impatience. I wouldnt say lazy because fish-in cycling is a lot more high maintenance than fishless cycling (I assume; I've never done a fishless cycle)

I really think fish-in cycles are only harmful to the fish when done unintentionally. When you intend to do a fish-in cycle, your daily water changes and prime dosage means your fish are fine (not suffering). Depending on your ethics, I dont think there is anything wrong with intentional, properly maintained fish-in cycles.

 

Shouldn't you update your profile then? I don't think you "just started". You're a fishlore VIP. Unless there's some reason that I haven't heard about, you should definitely update it.

That is what a real guru would do. No matter how much you know you are still learning. What you have learned is in your past, you just started learning what is ahead of you grasshopper, or something like that

 

Ohhhh okay. I see. So, there are many reasons but everyone does it for their own purposes.

 

I think the better question is why would you not do a fish cycle? As long as you keep the ammonia close to 0 I don't think it has a lot of adverse impact on the fish and they get to enjoy clean nitrate free water !!!

 

I think the better question is why would you not do a fish cycle? As long as you keep the ammonia close to 0 I don't think it has a lot of adverse impact on the fish and they get to enjoy clean nitrate free water !!!

I might try it one day. A new challenge for me to overcome.

 

I think the better question is why would you not do a fish cycle?

And do daily water changes? No thank you.

 

I had never heard of fishless cycling until I joined this forum. I know some folks fear for the fish while fish in cycling but if done right the fish are never in any danger. It takes more work to fish in but in my humble opinion I think we get a stronger more natural cycle/stronger bacteria when it gets a more natural food. Ammonia in a bottle isn't natural food.

And do daily water changes? No thank you.

If we don't add too many fish to start with, daily water changes aren't always necessary. This is where we let the numbers be our guide. Start with just a few fish and gradually add more.

 

I think the better question is why would you not do a fish cycle? As long as you keep the ammonia close to 0 I don't think it has a lot of adverse impact on the fish and they get to enjoy clean nitrate free water !!!

The only reason I can think of is what to do with these fish when my tank is cycle other than that fish in

 

The only reason I can think of is what to do with these fish when my tank is cycle other than that fish in

You cycle with the fish you want to keep unless they are very very special because things can go wrong. Not likely but all things are possible. Most of the fish I cycled with are still with me. That was almost 5 years ago.

 

One word at least when I did it at the beginning
I
M
P
A
T
I
E
N
C
E
Which FOR ME ONLY AT THE TIME was a synonym for selfishness
I stopped Bc I now know better and honestly Bc being able to seed with old media cuts cycling from 6 weeks to two days

 

Personally I always do fish in cycles. I just monitor the parameters and do a water change when needed. I do use seeded media when possible to help speed up the process. I lost a few fish when I first started out, but now I almost never lose fish during cycling.

 

People don’t know the risks a lot of the time. They go to a chain store and buy their first tank and equipment and get told that if they add bottled bacteria they can add fish on day one.

 

What freaks me out is that I worry I’ll never Be cycled with fish in cycling. BC I change water every other day so the ammonia levels etc never rise enough to then become whatever they need to become.

 

I've never done a fishless cycle

 

What freaks me out is that I worry I’ll never Be cycled with fish in cycling. BC I change water every other day so the ammonia levels etc never rise enough to then become whatever they need to become.

Anything over 0 means there is a surplus of food for the nitrifying bacteria.. both of my fish-in cycles completed in 8-10 days without problems I did have the occasional small ammonia spike with one of them afterwards though. Never caused an issue and I never saw nitrites again in both cases

 

In my country some people legit don't know about fishless cycling. When I told the lady who sold me an aquarium and also sells fish that after 10 days from the start I still have no fish in my tank because I'm cycling fishless with ammonia, and I still have nitrites, she was like:
"???? That's not how you cycle the tank. Ammonia is poison, you don't add that to the tank. And you can't cycle without fish poop, that's just how it works, silly. It's time to buy some fish or your water will go bad. Do a water change and let a couple of fish in." Before that I got the same reaction from another experienced aquariumist on a local facebook group. Not only they haven't heard of it, they can't even understand how it works.

And the fish still survive....Life is good.
Multiple roads lead to Rome....accomplish the same goal with different means. None of them is better or worse, just different and very personal.

 

And the fish still survive....Life is good.
Multiple roads lead to Rome....accomplish the same goal with different means. None of them is better or worse, just different and very personal.

And those roads weren't built in a day.. or something

 

The interesting part is also that we don't really have a clue how many people do successful fish in cycle. This and many other forums are only getting the questions from failed attempts.

 

What freaks me out is that I worry I’ll never Be cycled with fish in cycling. BC I change water every other day so the ammonia levels etc never rise enough to then become whatever they need to become.

The thing is. There will always be enough ammonia in there because the fish are constantly producing it. You will grow enough bacteria to process the ammonia they are producing. You should NEVER see a spike like the one you see when adding a days worth of ammonia all at the same time like it is done when doing a fishless cycle.

Keep the ammonia level down to no more than .50 but .25 would be even better. If this is done the fish will never be in any danger. Enough bacteria will grow to eventually clean up the ammonia as it is being produced. That is when you finally get a zero ammonia reading. The fish are still producing ammonia and ammonia eating bacteria is still producing nitrites but there is enough of each type of bacteria to almost instantly clean them up. At that point you are just left with nitrates.

 

Instead of fish I just use all those pesky snails.

Snail-in cycle

 

What's unsafe are newbies overfeeding, overcrowding, and not changing the water. Fish-in cycling is very safe and gets a bad rap probably from the above reasons.

I've had fish breed within a week of adding them to a cycling tank.

 

Here's how my cycling experience has been: I bought fish and didn't know what cycling was till I was 3 months into owning fish and for my other tanks I just transferred media