Are there any 'old school' fishkeepers left?

[IanB]

This is going to make me sound like a proper ol' soap but what happened to starting an aquarium with a decent filter, 24hours to let the chlorine disperse and add a couple of tough as old boots fish?

I started fishkeeping in the late 80's, my shop opened in '95.. and the old boys who made up a chunk of my customer-base back then used to tell me if they wanted to speed things up they'd pee in their tank....

Now it's chucking chemicals in and waiting a month (grossly over-simplifying)..

Anyone still do things the 'old fashioned way'?? :-/

 

[jessonthenet]

Never had a wee in my tank must be the ammonia source for bacteria to cycle it.

Chloramine doesn't disappear after 24 hours I don't think which is often used now instead of chlorine. I suppose nothing wrong filling up your fish tank and leaving it before starting the cycling process if you know it is only chlorine in the water.

I wasn't born until the 80's so wouldn't know that far back.

It is pretty technical now and some people do over complicate stuff I agree. A few chemicals available prey on newbies. Example that one shop sells all the water conditioners in the world and admitted to using cheap pond dechlorinator to me even for their shrimp tanks including the crystal reds. Probably loads of other stuff shops don't admit too but sell loads of hyped up stuff. I know of people that never used to use dechlorinator too.

 

[FF MkII]

I have to agree, it's all gone a bit namby pamby and companies rely on scaremongering to push this fancy liquids and all singing, all dancing powders etc

 

[bigbird]

same, agree x 3.
I think a lot of people are not doing enough homework and relly to much on a quick fix solution. I agree there are some items which are of benefit like water conditioner and meds, but the rest is old school. I do however not pee in the water. cheers jk :thumbup:

 

[D-MAC]

How old school do you want to go :whistle: Unfortunately as Jess mentioned we are now dealing with chloramine and that doesn't disapate out of the water by leaving it, so we do need the water conditioners...I now find a lot of customers are very impatient, so doing it the old way just doesn't cut it with them...We can load the tank with ammonia but without a bacterial additive, what's going to brake it down?
Got to add in my 40+ years of fish keeping I never had to to pee in a tank to get it going.:thumbup:

 

[Art_Gal]

My brother had a tank back in the mid 70's, but I was a little kid then. I remember every few months he would take the entire tank apart to "clean" it. He would clean the gravel and replace the filter media which was cotton and charcoal. Could you imagine doing that now??? He was re-cycling his tank every few months. Fish would die left and right but no one knew why. Now we know. No internet back then, so no one knew any better.

BTW, I did a fishless cycle on my 75g (added ammonia daily until it was cycled) and it was IMO, the best way to go. I didn't feel it was morally right for me to sacrafice fish to just cycle a tank when I had another option..again, just my personal choice so don't get mad at me. And there was no way I was putting my angelfish into a non cycled tank.

 

[IanB]

Don't feel so out of touch now, cheers all... I wasn't advocating taking a widdle to speed things up, reckon that's just a bit too old school..lol.
I suppose a lot is to do with tank size.. In a larger tank you wouldn't necessarily be sacrificing any fish. Never had problems with little tanks either, but my customers certainly did.
And I knew a lady who stripped down and cleaned her tank twice a year. Only ever added AquaSafe to the fresh water.. Never lost a fish in the 8 years I knew her.

I get why the fishless cycle is popular but think I'd prefer a little life in my tank and adding to it gradually than watch an empty tank for a few weeks and then be able to fully stock it all at once..

But hey.. You pay your money, you make your choice.. *cool*

 

[bigbird]

also remember what you piddle is the stuff you drank the night before :lol: oh and watch out for the multivitamins...they would turn your pee and thus tank---flouro yellow :lol:

 

[Kangus]

*Note to self, dont buy any tanks with yellow silicon

 

[Brengun]

On the other hand they reckon fish will spawn if a pregnant womens wee is added to the water. I asked my neighbour for a cup of it but she wouldnt be in it. :lol:

 

[bigbird]

:lol: would love to have seen her face when you asked her......

 

[Brengun]

Oh I'm not that game, I asked her hubby to ask her for me lol.

 

[IanB]

I asked my neighbour for a cup of it but she wouldnt be in it. :lol:

That's just selfish... :whistle:

 

[bigbird]

i am sure now the hubby thinks your nuts.......hows that for a conversation...hello neighbour...hows your wife and the pregnancy going.....oh that well....thanks for asking...how about my fish hey...they need hormonal stimulation......do you think your wife would give me a cup of her urine......heloo hello...wow the neighbour runs fast :lol:

 

[Art_Gal]

Just for the record, when I said I put ammonia into my tank I didn't mean I wee'd into the tank...I did not. Nor did anyone else as far as I know. I bought a bottle of clear ammonia and used that

Brengun thanks for sharing that very funny story. I too would have loved to seen the look on your neighbors face. Did the hubby ask her or did he know better? :lol:

 

[macvsog23]

On the other hand they reckon fish will spawn if a pregnant womens wee is added to the water. I asked my neighbour for a cup of it but she wouldnt be in it. :lol:

Sounds positively kinky to me

 

[matubula]

On the other hand they reckon fish will spawn if a pregnant womens wee is added to the water. I asked my neighbour for a cup of it but she wouldnt be in it. :lol:

There's something in that. In days gone by they used frogs as a pregnancy test. If you inject the urine of a pregnant women into the frog, the hormone(s) [I don't know which] would cause the frog to produce eggs.

 

[berwickdave]

bloody funny stuff i got tears :lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::clap::clap::clap::clap::woohoo::woohoo::woohoo::lol::lol::lol: