The torturing of marine life/unpopular cycling methods.

[liquidg]

This is about using fish/mollies to partly cycle an aquarium.

There were some interesting opinions in a thread I was reading else where and it amazes me that near no one seems to remember that we as hobbyists are torturing marine life by placing them into a life that they did not exist in!

Every single one of us has killed a few or more of their new pets; it’s part of the learning curb for all this.

The hobby in a nutshell is we put these fish and inverts where do not belong and try for the best out comes knowing that this may not happen.

I don’t mean just the mollies; I mean the rest of us that are condemning the very thing that we have done, but far worse!

Mollies are a hardy species with what is being done with them, in fact possibly more resilient then most marine fish.

The cycleling fish I am referring to are mollies were most likely tank bred by people,99.9 of what we buy is not, they come from the wild!

The hobby is all about partial or complete torture to marine life, which is sadly how it is!

A comment on animal cruelty was made.

We as a society have bred wild dogs to suit our needs, cats, we cage birds, we breed animals for meat, cleared land for your homes which has tortured and still is and has killed so much life and is just a small part of day to day human life styles!

Animal cruelty is a major part of all of our lives!

If you are intending on cycling an aquarium and hope to achieve a high level of simple success, then the biological communities have to have a multitude of varied bacteria that will oxidise all forms of waste.

This can come from natural salt water, not much is needed and the bacteria that is in and on dead coral as base rock helps as well to cycle an aquarium.

I never use anything other natural means for a perfect cycle to maturity process.

For each form of dead tissue or excretion, there is a slight variation of bacteria mutating to accommodate each and every one of these.

When you add fish of a delicate nature into waters that has no fish, they are now swimming in waters that has none of the signature bacteria variation to convert their waste.

If careful, this usually isn’t an issue if the first fish are relatively strong in adapting and can wait out slight traces of ammonia that will disrupt PH at slight levels but are still there for hours or days.

You combine that with adverse affects upon PH from co2 manufactured by all algae when the colours that lighting emits are not there when they are switched off which when on, activates photosynthesis and there is more stress.

There are so many variations of bacteria then onto protists for everything that has died on your live rock and that has been fed while cycling or what has been added like frozen marine life or similar.

Every thing like algae’s excretions of amino acid and far more plus when it dies, then there is crabs waste, bacteriophages waste, worms waste, corals mucus and waste, the list is endless to the variations of oxidisers and consumers that needs to be in place or at least those genetic markers that are still there for a quick mutation to suit what ever!

I for one, once ammonia is stable, always use fish of a robust nature to stabilise waters for the more delicate fish stocks coming later.

I don’t put any in the aquarium; this is done remotely in the aquariums water.

The hobbyist that was in question was doing something that some disagree with, yet we all live lives that are killing tons of marine life each year due to our numbers and our use of what is manufactured enacting upon climate change.

I don’t mean fish stocks taken!

This year we are seeing at least 60 percent of all sps in some areas not making it out off here and will become live rock, totally from climate change!

That is the big picture near no one bothers with, now the small picture many want to have a say on.

The mollies that were in question seem like a sound cycling option for saving other fishes lives.

I would pass them on to other cycling hobbyists when water stability is good, that’s what we do for each other.

Forums have many members and others on the forums will want the fish to use for their cycling or as pets.

Edited August 1, 2013 by liquidg

[aquaholic99]

putting animals in artificial glass environments till they die is quite cruel. Im not just talking about the cycle period. I accept that but still have hundreds of tanks

[Donny@ageofaquariums]

I like mollies and they seem to like me.

We have an understanding.