Fish-in Cycling

While the site was down i had a wander around a couple of other forums (none grabbed me as much as this one!)

I noticed on them that there was a huge amount of crticism of anyone who considered or attempted a fish-in cycle.  One poor bloke got harrassed, slagged of and even abused and as far as i could tell he was brand new to fishkeeping so probably didnt even know you could cycle a tank....let alone do it without fish.

I can understand why people would have different views on this subject but rather than offend the poor bloke which would probably put him off that forum for life, you'd think the members would have been better explaining everything to him and helping to complete the cycle properly.

I noticed similar things on my travels.  It's the main reason I was so delighted with the return of our merry little bunch.  We are generally much nicer than the other rabbles out there!  We have our disagreements, but I have very rarely seen it descend into rudeness.

There is one school of thought that it is preferable to fishless as it grows all the micro-organisms a tank needs, albeit slowly. With fishless, we concentrate only on the two filter bacteria, but all the other micro-organisms still have to grow,

Interesting idea, i didn't think about that but i can see some logic in it.

I can understand people who are against fish-in cycling and they have some sensible reasons why but some of the comments were too much for me im sure these people wouldn't be as forward face to face. 

There is so much about this hobby that is down to opinion and so many things that can vary that it seems daft to attack anyone just for thinking differently to you, nothing wrong with a disagrement as long as its done right.

Hi Gaynor, I have asked lots of questions and they have always been welcomed and answered, it a wonder I haven't done Sue's head in the few weeks I've been on the forum 

Darrell, that is exactly what happened to me, everything I had done was wrong and it left me feeling awful.  Needless to say I never logged into that forum again.  I only signed up here last night, but I already feel welcome, and I know that if I have a problem I can now ask without being verbally abused.   

Whoa! I don't recall promising not to verbally abuse anyone!    Where's the fun in that? 

Hi Resa,
I have been “lurking” on the old forum – never posted and this is my first post on this new one.... I feel I need to say a word of defence towards the person you are still attacking although that person is no longer here and did not post a single post towards you. That person, I know, has been on the old forum, not “recently joined in and then returned where they belong”. That person was very-very knowledgeable and used to be very nice... Maybe the reason that person turned nasty and then left was that the people that person was trying to help responded with pretty much “sod off, I know better”... To be honest, I quite understand that frustration, and the fact that only two members from the old forum are still posting is worrying – maybe some very knowledgeable people are lost forever for this forum...
Gaynor, this is probably the best forum for the people new to the hobby, you will learn all the bsics from here – listen to Sue and Steve!

I agree, Sue, very strange and worrying - I wish more of the "old forum folks" were present. Miss them somehow...

Gaynor, this is probably the best forum for the people new to the hobby, you will learn all the bsics from here – listen to Sue and Steve!

Ooh! I like fan mail! 

... I'm not too sure what happened with the person who decided to leave, but when I first joined she was very helpful and friendly

It's very easy to post something that is somewhat ill-considered in an anonymous environment like this. I sometimes have to "bite my tongue", I'm not the most patient or diplomatic person generally; hard to believe I know!  Perhaps our ex-colleague thought that, as she was leaving, she could relax any self-censorship.

...but they soon returned back to where they belonged and civility reigned again...well, apart from Steve

You're going on my list... again!