vfc;3924724; said:
One of my very first fish was a Channel Cat and thus spawned an MFKer! Which has led me to spending THOUSANDS of dollars on tanks, equiptment and more monster fish
Common Freshwater Fish to Avoid in Home Aquaria
- Thread starter Delhezi222
- Start date
One of my very first fish was a Channel Cat and thus spawned an MFKer! Which has led me to spending THOUSANDS of dollars on tanks, equiptment and more monster fishGreat article! I enjoyed it very much. I realize that most of the folks on MFK ARE monster fish keepers, whereas I am not, however I enjoy reading about and trying to learn about other kinds of fish besides the ones that I keep. That said, there probably aren't alot of goldfish keepers that belong to this forum, however I'm glad that you included them. As has already been said, goldies are probably the most bought and most abused fish out there. I thought that I knew a good bit about keeping goldfish because when my son was small, we bought a 20 long and had 4 goldies. All but one died and that one I kept alive for about two years. Thought I was doing great! Didn't know the first thing about taking care of the tank either, cycling, nothing. Certainly didn't know that they could grow as large as they can or that they could live 10 years or more.
Even this time, when I got started keeping fish a couple of years ago, I started with goldfish. Drawing on my past "experience"
, I figured I knew enough and started with four goldies in a 15 gal tank. Thankfully I at least started to do research, better late than never I guess. Upgraded to a 30 gal tank, but only after I realized that the 15 gal was too small and lost two of the four goldies.
Now, even though I have six tanks and only one goldfish (for now) they are my absolute favorite. Nothing burns me more than folks that keep them in bowls or tanks too small for them. Once, while in a chain LFS a woman came in to buy a few goldies and a bowl. I had to interupt her as she was talking to the clerk and loudly exclaim "those goldfish need about 10 gal per fish, don't they?". The woman was surprised and the clerk agreed with me until he couldn't steer her towards a betta or something smaller. When he saw the sale walking out the door, his tune changed "well, yeah, some people DO keep goldfish in bowls with no problem!". I had to leave.
Which leads me to another pet peeve and suggestion, that someone already mentioned. Puffers. We all know how hard it is to find a knowledgeable LFS clerk. In addition to being told that I could keep 4 goldies in a 15 gal, when I upgraded to the 30 and had the empty, fully cycled 15 gal, I just had to fill it. Went to the LFS and fell in love with black finned sharks. AGain, I should have known by now, I didn't research first. Asked if I could keep them in a 15 and how many. I was told I could keep 6. Well, to be in the safe side, I only got four. Got home and THEN decided to research only to find there was no way I could even keep one in that tank. So I did the responsible thing and returned them. Of course they were probably sold to someone even more clueless than I, but at least they didn't die on MY watch. But anyway, these LFS that sell the GSP and F8 puffers in freshwater, generally don't tell you they need brackish water. In my case, the clerk did know THAT, but didn't know the difference between the GSP and F8. Bought what I was told was a F8 but it ended up a GSP, which again, I couldn't keep in my too small tank. So back to the store IT went! Funny, the only sign on the puffer tank was "aggressive". Well, at least there was that!
anyway, sorry for the long post.
Just wanted to give you kudos for a wonderful article.
Even this time, when I got started keeping fish a couple of years ago, I started with goldfish. Drawing on my past "experience"
, I figured I knew enough and started with four goldies in a 15 gal tank. Thankfully I at least started to do research, better late than never I guess. Upgraded to a 30 gal tank, but only after I realized that the 15 gal was too small and lost two of the four goldies.Now, even though I have six tanks and only one goldfish (for now) they are my absolute favorite. Nothing burns me more than folks that keep them in bowls or tanks too small for them. Once, while in a chain LFS a woman came in to buy a few goldies and a bowl. I had to interupt her as she was talking to the clerk and loudly exclaim "those goldfish need about 10 gal per fish, don't they?". The woman was surprised and the clerk agreed with me until he couldn't steer her towards a betta or something smaller. When he saw the sale walking out the door, his tune changed "well, yeah, some people DO keep goldfish in bowls with no problem!". I had to leave.
Which leads me to another pet peeve and suggestion, that someone already mentioned. Puffers. We all know how hard it is to find a knowledgeable LFS clerk. In addition to being told that I could keep 4 goldies in a 15 gal, when I upgraded to the 30 and had the empty, fully cycled 15 gal, I just had to fill it. Went to the LFS and fell in love with black finned sharks. AGain, I should have known by now, I didn't research first. Asked if I could keep them in a 15 and how many. I was told I could keep 6. Well, to be in the safe side, I only got four. Got home and THEN decided to research only to find there was no way I could even keep one in that tank. So I did the responsible thing and returned them. Of course they were probably sold to someone even more clueless than I, but at least they didn't die on MY watch. But anyway, these LFS that sell the GSP and F8 puffers in freshwater, generally don't tell you they need brackish water. In my case, the clerk did know THAT, but didn't know the difference between the GSP and F8. Bought what I was told was a F8 but it ended up a GSP, which again, I couldn't keep in my too small tank. So back to the store IT went! Funny, the only sign on the puffer tank was "aggressive". Well, at least there was that!
anyway, sorry for the long post.
Just wanted to give you kudos for a wonderful article.
