My lesson... READ UP ON FISH BEFORE YOU GET INTO IT!

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R

red_wall

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
May 27, 2008
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The Peach State
I started with my first tank(vase) when i was like 9ish i'd say. I had a beta fish named Sushi with a little plant in there, he died I'd guess around a year later. I was a kid and I didnt really care. I got out of fish after that until I was 14, on my 14th birthday I got a 46 gallon tank and an Oscar.
Apparently Oscars are VERY hardy fish because he's still alive and kicking from my no knowledge of cycles. I would let the water evaporate and when it got to where the filter was too loud, i'd just add more water. Then I'd do a 100% change and scrub the filters, tank, and substrate, de-chlorinate the water and just throw him back in it. I did this for 2 years.

I sold my Oscar because he got too big for my tank. I cleaned the tank probably may 30th(the full clean) I sold the Oscar on the first of June.

So, I bought some less aggressive fish, cardinal tetras, and rainbow sharks (11 & 2) so, the Tetras started dying. Im fairly sure now that these deaths were the result of my tank not being fully cycled. Im down to 5 tetras, I know at least one is alive, but I dont know about the other.

I ran out this morning, after finding the dead fish, to walmart to buy Ph equalizer, Ammonia neutralizer, ammonia test strips. I used to think, 'psshhht all these people freaking out about testing water, psssccchhh, whatever, I dont need that.' Well I got banged up the bunghole on that one, Im now testing my water regularly and maintaining a good balance on the Ph and no ammonia (hopefully)

I've currently read all that I can on cycles and everything fish-related. I need to make sure this mistake cannot possibly happen ever again with me.


My lesson learned:

Read up a LOT on something before you just dive headfirst into a precise art.
 
Welcome to the 'club' - may of us started almost exactly the same way :)
 
Yeah, you're not alone by any means. Good for you for doing the research on your own though.
 
I started along the same lines, except with feeder goldfish won at a fair..kept 'em in a 2.5 gallon and cleaned it 100%. the awful things hardy fish can endure... awesome tho that you are still in the hobby, it's much more enjoyable once you figure out what you're doing!
 
A similar story, I got interested and just jumped in. I had some money and I wanted a tank full of thousands of exotic fish immediately. My LFS were really good and managed to slow me down (even though I was there with money to spend they told me to hang onto it and go slow). They were very helpful and ran a service to test your water for you as you get into the hobby. We just took a small container in and they'd tell you how things were going, if you needed to do anything and what you could safely put in the tank.

Even so, I still managed to lose my first tank full of fish after a while, something went wrong with the cycle, or a bully fish injured one and that got a bacterial infection which spread or something. Anyway, I managed to achieve one of their highest ever ammonia levels (the test tube went black).

I learned that some things can't be done in a rush.
Snickers
 
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