Cycling my 210g FOWLR with Mollies

If it's not enough ammonia to hurt a molly, you're going to have to add anything else to the tank very, very slowly, or risk another cycle due to stocking too fast for relative bacterial population.

 

New livestock needs to be added slowly anyway

 

Living though a cycle does not mean it wasn't an uncomfortable experience. Ammonia doesn't have to kill your fish. They can live through long stints of low levels and short stints at high levels. What is does is cause permanent damage that shortens the life of your fish. So, your definition of "fine" translates only to "alive" because you have no means of assessing damage unless you've you sent it in for a necropsy. I have seen the gills of fish that suffered ammonia burns and it's not pretty. The stress that ammonia can cause is not speculation. There are studies that have measured stress hormones and different levels and different durations of ammonia exposure. This is all very important to the aquaculture a food fish industry and has been WELL studied.

 

Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t care. The fish lived, it wasn’t stressed (the gills didn’t turn red, or change at all) it’s doing fine, and it got the job done. That’s all that matters. Everybody has there own opinion.

 

There's a thousand ways to skin a cat... this is true.

I prefer to cause no harm. I too cycled with mollies..... 15 year years ago. Heck, I even set the suckers free in the ocean when I was done. There was no internet forums then... it was just me, myself and I, some really old books and an LFS owner who didn't speak english. But I know better now and try to be a little conscious of how what I do affects other things.

And if you don't care, then I guess it's an acceptable method to you. But you are handing out false information to say fish are not stressed when exposed to ammonia. Read "Fish Welfare" edited by Branson. There's a whole chapter on water quality and specifically ammonia and the stress that it causes in fish by measurable cortisol levels and other hormones. So even though you may not care about the stress.... I thought you may care about being correct. This is researched and proven.... it's not a forum urban legend or hobbyist speculation.

 

I prefer to use mollies, you prefer to use shrimp. Nether way is wrong, they both work.


I didn’t say fish are not stressed when exposed to ammonia. I just said this molly acted just like it was in a cycled tank. The gills look the same, it had a healthy appetite, and it was swimming normal. Maybe it was just that individual molly. I’m just telling how it went with my molly.

And I don’t appreciate people putting words in my mouth

 

I would appreciate if you would go get a cup of ammonia, and duct tape it just under your mouth, and let it sit there for 2 weeks. That way, you'd know what the mollies went through.

Imagine if you decided to force a person to breathe a low concentration of ammonia for 2 weeks. You have the same ethical dilemma as the situation with the molly - except you would never do that to a person, just to a fish.

 

Like I said. Everybody has there own opinion. You have yours, I have mine, leave it at that. I’m not saying my way is better. I was just trying to help out, than I was put down, and told I was wrong, and that’s cruel to the fish. It has nothing to do with you. I was trying to help sneakerpimp. I’ve said what I wanted to. Take my advice or not, it’s up to you. But I’m not going to change my mind.

Incognito, and blackraven1425, deal with it.

 

Does it matter that your fish didn't look stressed? Controlled studies show measurable stress in fish exposed to ammonia.

And no, I can't turn a blind eye to causing unnecessary stress in fish when I know these people must be on here asking these questions because they love the hobby so much. I didn't attack you, so don't play the martyr. A lot of assumptions in this hobby is based on anecdotal evidence without choice... some things are based on researched facts... such as fish stress and exposure to ammonia.

I'm trying to have a discussion... please come up to my level and join me.

Does anyone in this discussion think ammonia exposure is good for a fish?

 

Just because I don’t think the same way as you, doesn’t mean I’m lower than you. Lets agree to disagree, and end this like adults.