General advice you think EVERYONE should have while starting a tank
- Thread starter shimmercat
- Start date
I still have two of my original three zebra danios! Of course...now that I learned what fishless cycling is I'm a huge advocate of fishless cycling over fish-in cycling anyday.
Shimmercat, I think it is great that you are learning about the hobby, and your customers will appreciate your advice. Despite the generalizations about chain stores, I’ve been to Petsmarts that were really quite good, with knowledgeable staff and a good selection of healthy fish. Some other Petsmarts are dives and the employees don’t care. It sounds like you’re lucky to work at a good one!
To respond to your original questions:
1) I think fishless cycling is best, but the ammonia method is probably too baffling for most beginners. It might be a good idea if you stock Biospira, since many people swear by it, and it’s still relatively hard to find in stores- I don’t know if you can order it through Petsmart. I haven’t used Biospira, but it supposedly solves two mistakes nearly every beginner seems to make: 1)they will not wait out the cycle, and 2)they will add entirely too many fish at once. As far as hardy fish go, Mollies withstand cycling well too but it is a strain on any fish. It’s good that you have a cycling sheet to hand out because beginners will not comprehend the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycles after one conversation no matter how well you explain it. Also, I’m sure you’ve discovered that in retail sales, no one believes anything you say until it is repeated by another employee or printed source, especially when they do not want to believe it. They want to hear that you can just throw 10 goldfish in a gallon bowl and never change water and they will live for years- there are a lot of misconceptions about fishkeeping.
2) As stated before, beginners usually get too excited and want to have fish immediately so they don’t wait until the cycle is done to stock fish, or they simply didn’t understand the cycling process. About half the posts in the MFT Beginner forum are from people who jumped the gun and didn’t bother to cycle their tanks before adding a ton of fish.
3) If the water is saturated with ammonia/nitrites, they may need to do a large water change to dilute the toxins.
I think it is good that you are advising beginners to read all they can on the internet. They might not do it, but you can only lead a horse to water. There is a ton of free knowledge out there. I read everything I could when starting this hobby and I still made plenty of mistakes.
To respond to your original questions:
1) I think fishless cycling is best, but the ammonia method is probably too baffling for most beginners. It might be a good idea if you stock Biospira, since many people swear by it, and it’s still relatively hard to find in stores- I don’t know if you can order it through Petsmart. I haven’t used Biospira, but it supposedly solves two mistakes nearly every beginner seems to make: 1)they will not wait out the cycle, and 2)they will add entirely too many fish at once. As far as hardy fish go, Mollies withstand cycling well too but it is a strain on any fish. It’s good that you have a cycling sheet to hand out because beginners will not comprehend the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycles after one conversation no matter how well you explain it. Also, I’m sure you’ve discovered that in retail sales, no one believes anything you say until it is repeated by another employee or printed source, especially when they do not want to believe it. They want to hear that you can just throw 10 goldfish in a gallon bowl and never change water and they will live for years- there are a lot of misconceptions about fishkeeping.
2) As stated before, beginners usually get too excited and want to have fish immediately so they don’t wait until the cycle is done to stock fish, or they simply didn’t understand the cycling process. About half the posts in the MFT Beginner forum are from people who jumped the gun and didn’t bother to cycle their tanks before adding a ton of fish.
3) If the water is saturated with ammonia/nitrites, they may need to do a large water change to dilute the toxins.
I think it is good that you are advising beginners to read all they can on the internet. They might not do it, but you can only lead a horse to water. There is a ton of free knowledge out there. I read everything I could when starting this hobby and I still made plenty of mistakes.