how can this be!?!

[brit0211]

i was just talking to this guy who bought 2 clown fish and put them in a 10 gal. tank. i asked him what he cycled the tank with before he put them in and he said "huh?" then i asked how long he waited to put the fish in, and he said 5 days...... its been almost a week and his fish are doing fine... HOW CAN THIS BE?!
is he just really lucky??
i dont think he knows anything about saltwater!

 

[interj]

Clowns are pretty hardy. I actually cycled my tank (against everyones advice) with a clown and a humma. 4 months later and they are both doing fine.

 

[lovethesea]

his tank will cycle. Unfortunately the fish will be in there when it takes place. Hopefully they won't die.

 

[calvindo]

absolutely possible.... in a brand new tank, there is no ammonia or nitrite spike. unless, he throws in the dead shrimp, to start the bacteria cycle.

 

[kreach]

At best, you could consider it dumb luck.
Essentially what he is doing is cycling his tank with live fish rather than a cocktail shrimp/uncured live rock. His clowns might survive the cycle, they might not... poor things.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by brit0211
i was just talking to this guy who bought 2 clown fish and put them in a 10 gal. tank. i asked him what he cycled the tank with before he put them in and he said "huh?" then i asked how long he waited to put the fish in, and he said 5 days...... its been almost a week and his fish are doing fine... HOW CAN THIS BE?!
is he just really lucky??
i dont think he knows anything about saltwater!
Yes it is possible. especially if he used lr/ls or seeded the system with water or sand from another existing established tank. The question is what are his nitrItes. My first tank had pegged nitrites with a neon gobie in a 10g UGF. They stayed pegged until i stopped feeding. Took about more than a week but they finally came down.
Hopefully the fish are ok. But they very well could suddenly die in the next day or two.

 

[lovethesea]

also send him here whether they die or not. He obviously has much to learn if he wants his fish (present and future) to live.

 

[calvindo]

Originally posted by lovethesea
his tank will cycle. Unfortunately the fish will be in there when it takes place. Hopefully they won't die.

i hate to question your response.... but i really dont understand why does someone need to do the dead shrimp thing, just to get a spike and wait for it to level out. then add fish..... i'm going to get slam for this.... but i just have to get it out. i didnt cycled my tank... I added cured lr and ls on the second day, had a fish in the tank in a week (hitched hiked), added corals on the second week, added more fish on the third. fish and corals are doing just fine... i had problems with ick, in the beginning, but thats about it. my water levels barely registered, from day 1 and now all 0 out. i'm not saying cycling is a waste of time and not having any logic behind it... just really confuse on this topic

 

[brit0211]

oh man, i asked him what he put in there, he said "just some rocks from my yard" i asked him if he did anything to them, he said "nope, just put them in" i cant believe it, i'm sending him some info about everything because i am wanting to set up a saltwater too.. but im making sure i read and understand everything before i do it.
hes in college and just decided to start it up just like that it seems
i bet the clowns dont make it

 

[beaslbob]

i agree with calvindo. your cured lr provided the bacteria to start and maintain the cycle. The fish hitchhiker continued to maintain that bacteria. And his experience with ich is why i recommend running the system fishless for at least three weeks. I have had no cycle when using water from estabished tanks.
there are two bottom lines here. first 6 months after the setup, the cycle method will not matter much. Second fish provide more than just rotting flesh. for instance the carbon dioxide of the fish feeds the algae/plant growth in the system, helping to reduce nitrates.

 

[greenbananas87]

this may sound stupid but do you have to add a dead something or other to start the tank cycle, from what i have i figured when the rock got put in the cycle just kind of started im confused

 

[bang guy]

Cured live rock will definately have nitrifying bacteria on it, that's a given.
Will it have enough to process the ammonia produced by a fish? It might...it might not. If it was just taken from a functioning setup it probably will but it's not a sure thing. If you put one of your pets in there and there isn't enough bacteria yet you could experience an ammonia spike or worse, a Nitrite spike. This will cause the fish added stress and it will be suseptible to illness like Ick, could cause brain damage, it might even kill it.
If you produce an ammonia level you will allow the nitrifying bacteria to reproduce and when the ammonia and Nitrite go back to zero then you can be SURE that you have enough bacteria to handle the fish waste. Otherwise you're just guessing. If you add an ammonia source and no ammonia is detected then you can also be sure that you have the required bacteria population.
I just question the judgement of people who actually prefer to cause suffering on a fish when it's just as effective to use something already dead.

 

[1journeyman]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
I just question the judgement of people who actually prefer to cause suffering on a fish when it's just as effective to use something already dead.
Agreed.
An aquarium should replicate aquatic life, not be seen as an expensive toy. If you don't have the patience to wait 3 or 4 weeks for a tank to cycle then you might want to re-think your aquarium purchase.

 

[fireo1o]

poor fish

 

[greenbananas87]

that clears it up thanks squishy, when i first started reading up on cycling and all the different things i got the wrong idea of how it started

 

[kingsman39]

I had a lawn mower blenny appear 2 days after putting some LR in my tank. So... it is possible.

 

[calvindo]

i had a baby hippo tang who hitched on my lr. so it is very possible... some find this hard to believe ... i bought my lr from a display tank which has fish in it.