Levels of the freshwater or saltwater hobby

[tlindsey]

I've noticed some guest and a few members purchasing fish that I would consider for the advanced hobbyist. I myself have kept a few saltwater species and freshwater species I consider for the advanced. I'll be honest though I was not a advanced hobbyist years ago in the hobby but did read articles from books or asked someone that had knowledge about that particular species questions. Today imo there should be no excuse for doing research prior to purchasing fish prior.
I read threads titled what to feed etc. Some species will be doomed by the time you have taken them home. Again I'm not a expert by no means but know I have limitations of what I can care for.

 

[BIG-G]

With the Internet being able to be accessed basically in a person’s hand these days, there’s not really any excuse for not doing at least a little research before making a spontaneous purchase.
That’s being said, I have a huge list of fish in my head that I know I can’t reasonably care for, either max size, specialized care requirements and I will admit price as well as just not having the time to devote to another aquarium all keep me from making that purchase.

 

[duanes]

The biggest problem I have with much of the internet info, is that anyone can say anything, and may sound like they know what they're doing, or being truthful.
When much of what is posted is BS.
This is especially true with tank size.
Wishful thinking aquarists with minimal experience or knowledge, often post a 75 or 80 gal tank is OK for an oscar, jag, festae or some other large cichlid, when the reality is very different, that something over 150 gals (preferably more) should be thought of, as minimal.
In many cases it takes 2 years or so for the negative effects of too small a tank size to manifest problems.
And a lot of people will say, I've had my oscar for 6 months and its doing great, and others may accept that as gospel, thinking that is reality.

 

[jjohnwm]

It is indeed astonishing to me to read some of the questions posted regarding the maintenance of fish newly purchased by relatively inexperienced hobbyists. The number of beginners who seem to have tanks of several hundred gallons capacity, crowded with numbers of large and often completely incompatible fish, just blows me away. Many of these folk seem to think that the problems which surface can be easily and quickly solved by the simple application of large sums of money, applied to more/bigger/better filters and other paraphernalia. And yet, as tlindsey stated, these people seem incapable of doing a quick search for even the most basic husbandry care.

Of course, as duanes said, there is a huge amount of ridiculous misinformation through which one must sort to find the useful stuff.

Generally speaking, it's usually safe to ignore any suggestions in posts which include comments about "fishies", "fin-babies", "my mom" or "my allowance"...and so-called "care guides" written by owners who just got the fish last month are pretty suspect as well.

 

[Krismo962]

Finally someone who agrees! I got called a 'fish abuser' when I told someone to stop humanizing fish on another forum.I'm a teen too but there's whole new wave of so called 'experts' floating around.They give advice on things they know nothing of ,most of it comes from google or maybe they've never even kept that species of fish.They 'assume' tank sizes,max sizes etc ,how does having a few tetras give you the expertise to answer a question stingrays?

 

[Krismo962]

Finally someone who agrees! I got called a 'fish abuser' when I told someone to stop humanizing fish on another forum.I'm a teen too but there's whole new wave of so called 'experts' floating around.They give advice on things they know nothing of ,most of it comes from google or maybe they've never even kept that species of fish.They 'assume' tank sizes,max sizes etc ,how does having a few tetras give you the expertise to answer a question stingrays?

a question on stingrays*

 

[eon aquatics]

colombian tetras keep well
silver dollars seem picky

 

[eon aquatics]

guppies seem picky as well

 

[Krismo962]

Am I missing something? how is that relevant to this thread?

guppies seem picky as well

 

[eon aquatics]

well the thread is about levels of fish care