Confessions of a Fishaholic

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eatingleg4peanut

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 21, 2010
732
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Maryland
They is something I feel obligated to share, I have been and idiot and a fish abuser in the past. I stupidly desided to buy a tank 5 years ago (my first tank I had just turned 18) that was a 39 gallon tall. I then proceeded to buy a ton of fish for it without doing any research. I bought 2 Jacks, 1 Green terror, 1 red devil. 2 midas, 1 Convict, 1 Zebra (african cichlid), 1 peacock, 2 bala sharks, and 2 PACU! Knowing what I know now I feel like such an idiot for not looking into it all before purchasing, and although it was MY fault for not researching I feel annoyed that the fish store who sold me the fish all at once and knew I had a 39 gallon since I had only bought it the night before. How they did not die from the tank not being cycled I have no idea. I had this tank with these inhabitant for about 6 months, the first 2 to pass were the Midas, the same day at that. At this time I finally started doing research online and realized what I had done keeping all these fish. By the time I got home the next day the peacock was dead. I immediatly contacted petsmart (where I bought them, exept the Pacu, which my cousin gave me) they would not take any, they were all to big by this point, I have no LFS in my area and had no money at the time. I was able to relocate the Convict and Zebra (weird they are still friends to this day) to my sisters 55G. I then was able to contact a LFS about 1 hour away from me that was willing to take the Bala Sharks(7" at this point), and the green terror(5 "), but no go on the jacks(one 5" and 1 7"), red devil(5-6") and Pacu's(10" and 12"). I scraped up money and purchased a 55G and moved the 2 jacks and red devil, and kept the pacu in the tall since they were as tall as they were long. This was a big mistake, the Pacu's size, although not aggressive at all, must have been keeping the other cichlids aggression in check, because within a week the red devil had killed the smaller jack and then a week after the big jack killed the red devil. Which really sucks because knowing what I know now I'm pretty sure that the jacks had paired off. About 3 months later the Pacu's now around 16" each busted the tank while I was away, came home to flooded room and dead fish. They only one I still have is my jack "jacky boy", but my sister does still have the convict (its a female and bred with her firemeouth, weird) and the zebra. For the past 3 years I have been successfully and properly keeping fish. So why am I sharing this? One: I wanted to get it off my chest and two: to let people know that have made mistakes (hopefully not to the extent that I did) that you can go on to keep fish correctly, just do your homework.

RIP: Pacu's (Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dumb), Peacock (Zappa), Midas's (franz and hanz), Red Devil (Maggy), Jack Dempsey (Jackies Girl)

Sorry.
 
We have all made mistakes in the past from lack of education and information, and also from haste just to get those fish into that tank! No wrorries man, as long as you learned something from the experience....then it has not gone to waste :)
 
My first tank was not over stocked but I did start out with an O in a 20 gallon that was not set up prior to getting the fish. Bought the tank on the way home from the fish store. Then I tried to stock with fish she likes to eat (which is anything). Good times. She is my baby fish and six years later still with me.
 
I did something similar. I got a tiger shovel nose and put him in a 20gal. I realized my mistake right away though because as soon as I got home I went online to find out what they eat and saw how big they get. I think he was stunted a bit but he's definatly growing fast now. I still have him. He's now residing in a 120 gal and I have plans to buy a pool to put in my basement this fall when they go on sale.
 
Yeah, man. We all started somewhere. My first efforts as an adult involved a 10 gallon tank with a disgustingly bloated stock list that would send you head reeling. It contained an adonis pleco, a tire track eel and others with only a small whisper filter. By the time I learned there was such a thing as ammonia in aquarium water, it was off the charts even though the fish looked fine and were not even breathing fast at all. I got the tank cycled in the next week or two but none of those fish lived longer than a year after that in spite of major upgrades and quality control on the water. What a waste of great fish.
Now I chronically understock most of my tanks. Lesson learned.
 
kevinfleming21;4309016; said:
We have all made mistakes in the past from lack of education and information, and also from haste just to get those fish into that tank! No wrorries man, as long as you learned something from the experience....then it has not gone to waste :)
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Very well said!
 
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