Cycling Poll: Fish or Fishless

Canadian Fish

Like the subject says, wondering the ratio of people who cycle with fish as opposed to without.

I cycle on my bike is not an acceptable response.

marshallsea

Either way can take as long. I have cycled two tanks with platys and it seems to shorten life span. I've had several fry born in an unycled tank and they never became sexually mature. Lots of live plants can make it easier on the fish. Next time will be fishless.

Mikaila31

you forgot silent cycling. I either just use a bunch of plants or clone the tank with mature media. I'm too impatient for anything else. Especially when I need a tank to go from zero fish to pretty much fully stocked within a day. I've never managed a fishless cycle tbh I always screw it up somehow even if I use mature media.

Canadian Fish

Yeah, I know they can take the same amount of time, and I've heard the arguments for each. I'm curious as to the ratio of people who do one vs the other. I was in chat the other night, and someone had a question about cycling without fish, and everyone in there who spoke up used fish, which surprised me.

I'm including silent cycling in fishless cycling, since it doesn't use fish. Fish in VS any cycling that doesn't involve fish.

Mikaila31

But silent cycling kinda does use fish.... depending on the method it could be considered one or the other. Example when I clone a tank typically what I do is add fish to a completely uncycled tank then just stuff some mature media into the filter at the same time or a couple hours later.

Then I run some tanks that have no filter and bioload is determined by plants. I'd say maybe thats fishless since there is room for a bioload regardless of if you have fish in the tank or not. You could add fish right away or two months down the road and it wouldn't make much difference.

Canadian Fish

Doesn't using the media pretty much cycle the tank instantly?

I think it's pretty clear what I intended with my question. I'll clarify again.
Do you cycle with just fish potentially harming them, or do you use another method to cycle that results in no harm to the fish?

Even though you use fish in the above scenario, the tank is pretty much already cycled due to the existing media, no?

fish monger

Seeded media will definitely speed up the process. Fast growing floating/stem plants will consume ammonia to the point where you can add a few fish right away.

Canadian Fish

That's good to know. Unfortunately this tank is going to have some herbivores, so with the exception of java plants and Anubias, plants probably won't survive. And I believe they are both slow growing.

I may try fishless cycling with ammonia for the first time.

Maybe. I hate change.

Mikaila31

Again it depends. Like with most things there is no clearly laid out lines. You can use mature media and instantly have a fully cycled tank or you may only have a partially cycled tank and thus go through a short mini-cycle when you add fish. The outcome depends on a couple of variables.

Canadian Fish

I have some media from a tank that was fully cycled and housed a single ryukin that passed away.

Unfortunately it died a week ago (or so) and the only thing in there is an Apple Snail and about 20 tiny baby apple snails. I fear the bacteria may have died for lack of waste being produced.

When I set up the new tank I'll try some of the old media from my other tank on the off chance it still contains the beneficial bacteria.

Unfortunately I'm still waiting for the new filters to arrive, and I still have to pick up the substrate for the new tank, so I can't transfer the media just yet. I expect the filters to arrive tomorrow or Monday.

I can't wait to get it set up and cycling.