Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
After I take the piece of shrimp out of the cycled tank do I need to get fish right away? Will the bacteria die if there isn't any waste to feed off of?
Damsels are hardy fish and can go through some crazy cycles with out dieing lol . If you find that cruel I am so sorry but it worked really well for me. Just thought I would share :)
Guys yall are cracking me up lol ...I used 3 yellow tail damsels Wich makes them none aggressive when I started my tank ..guess what 1 year later I still have my damsels and they do not bother any of my other fish lol ..now if you get like one damsel in a very small tank yea gonna be mean as all heck. Damsels are hardy fish and can go through some crazy cycles with out dieing lol . If you find that cruel I am so sorry but it worked really well for me. Just thought I would share :)
This method is indeed effective, however, it is very stressful for even the strongest fish. Ammonia is highly toxic, and its effect on the fish's gills could be compared to shampoo in your eyes...it "burns"! Worse yet, it will also cause permanent damage to the very tissues that allow the fish to breath. This damage is so serious that a significant fraction of fish used to cycle a tank die during the cycling period itself, and even those who do manage to survive the cycle have their life expectancy greatly shortened, often dying within the next few months instead of living a happy life of 3-10 years that almost all fish are capable of. In many cases, people also end up getting stuck with a few fish that they really didn't want to have in the first place, but bought them anyway because someone told them they were "good for cycling", if such a thing exists.