Some Reasons Not to Use Goldfish to Cycle Your Tank

Tips on Cycling Your New Aquarium

I don't recommend using goldfish for cycling a tank for many reasons. The ones that come to mind at the moment are:

1. Goldfish have different care requirements than do tropical fish, and if you keep the goldfish healthy, and then try to adjust the tank for your tropical fish, you will stress the filter and will cause the tank to at least partially cycle again - you could even cause the tank to completely cycle again.
2. If you keep the goldfish in tropical conditions, they will be more susceptible to disease and are likely to leave you with a diseased tank, treating the disease will probably kill the filter and cause the tank to cycle again.
3. The goldfish people use to cycle a tank are usually feeders. These fish are very poorly cared for by breeders, shippers, wholesalers, and most retailers, and almost always bearing some disease, leaving you with a diseased tank which you have to treat and then cycle again.
4. And, of course, what are you going to do with the goldfish after you cycle the tank?

My snail mail address is: Keith Seyffarth, 217 W. Koch, #308, Bozeman, MT 59715.
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Page most recently modified: April 13 2008 18:05:36.