What Kind for 1st Fish?

i dont agree with that either.

i like to use a live fish for purely entertainment reasons, not because of their abundance. I want a fish moving around. "an abundant not threatened fish" is merely a guideline I choose to follow. I didnt mean to single handedly cause the human species to be destructive.

Like I said though, you dont even have to evilly take advantage of a shrimps death either. The cycle will start and finish without you adding anything to it; just eat the shrimp yourself .

 

live rock, live sand, maybe some macro algae and then a fish.
dont start off with a tang(except yellow tang maybe), trigger or manderine goby.

 

My issue here, not to start a huge thing, is that there is a difference between preparing animals for consumption and intentionally putting a live animal in poor conditions for a lengthy period of time.
One I feel is necessary and the other I think is cruel and unnecessary.

Like I said before, some people are more OK with this then others so it's up to you what you're comfortable with. I just personally don't agree with it.

 

Also, what about the possibility of a compromise? Since I would be surprised if anyone really changes their mind completely.

What about using a piece of shrimp or pellet food or whatever to get over the initial ammonia spike, once your ammonia has dropped back down to next to nothing then continue the cycle with a fish?

The nitrites and nitrates are much less toxic than ammonia in saltwater so it should be a much more tolerable environment for the fish! That way you can get a fish in there ASAP if you're impatient for that and you avoid putting the fish through the bulk of the nastiness of the cycle.