What mistakes did you make when you started out?
- Thread starter sargie
- Start date
not researching the species i wanted to keep before buying them! i had 2 oscars, a RD and pleco in a 55 gallon tank! the RD killed the O's-
i also didnt know that i should be doing frequent waterchanges.. .good lord.
i also didnt know that i should be doing frequent waterchanges.. .good lord.
1. Thought LFS knew what they were doing.
2. Thought I knew what I was doing.
3. Once I found out about "cycling" I thought when the cloudy water cleared up it was cycled.
4. Thought that because I picked it out I could add it too my tank with no problems....what, just because the new fish is a baby and the existing fish are a year old and established, they won't welcome him to the tank?...what, the new fish should be able to handle the existing tankmates.
5. A new tank is not new anymore after a couple of weeks...ie "new tank syndrome"
6. Completely cleaning my first tank of goldfish except the bit of water I kept them in while I thoroughly cleaned it....I did know not to use soap or bleach and to condition the new water.
7. What do you mean the fish has to be acclimated?
I have learned better than the list above and continue to learn every day. I love this hobby!
2. Thought I knew what I was doing.
3. Once I found out about "cycling" I thought when the cloudy water cleared up it was cycled.
4. Thought that because I picked it out I could add it too my tank with no problems....what, just because the new fish is a baby and the existing fish are a year old and established, they won't welcome him to the tank?...what, the new fish should be able to handle the existing tankmates.
5. A new tank is not new anymore after a couple of weeks...ie "new tank syndrome"
6. Completely cleaning my first tank of goldfish except the bit of water I kept them in while I thoroughly cleaned it....I did know not to use soap or bleach and to condition the new water.
7. What do you mean the fish has to be acclimated?
I have learned better than the list above and continue to learn every day. I love this hobby!
yeah i bet we all still make mistakes.. about 5 yrs ago i overcleaned a tank (stripped it of its BB) and killed off about 17 fish.. God i knew when they started gasping a few hours after the waterchange i was in trouble.. i knew exactly what i did wrong.. it was an expensive lesson..
now i dont expect to have sparkly clean tanks lol
now i dont expect to have sparkly clean tanks lol
i rember when someone i knew was giving away loads of fish i had a 20gal and they had big angles and such which had been in a much bigger tank i said id have them and put them in my 20 gal which was already over stocked woops 
and it wasnt properly cycled either.
and it wasnt properly cycled either.I had 2 jack dempseys, 2 oscars, 2 texas cichlids, a large common pleco, and a rainbow shark all packed into my 20 gallon. Rarely changed the water, and filtered it with the stock filter that came with the tank from Petsmart. Fed them 2 dozen unquarantined rosy reds every weekend, and couldn't understand why they got ich so frequently. 
In college, I scrapped up all the money I had and bought a 5 gallon hexagon tank with an undergravel airstone filter. I didn't have enough money for a heater, and guess what I stocked the tank with? 3 baby oscars. The fish lasted for a miserable 3 months and succumed to ich. It's been over 12 years and I still think about those oscars... the guilt follows me to this day.
This is another story, but of someone I had met, who wanted to share with me their fish story. I gathered from what she shared that she owned a small (20-30 gal) freshwater community set up with tetras, gouramis, etc... that's cool. Then she started to talk about how her boyfriend wanted to get a "nemo-fish", so I was anticipating her to share a saltwater tank experience. This is the gyst of what followed in her words.
"So we went to petco and bought 2 nemos. We brought them home and floated the bag in the tank to even out the temp. But when we put the fish in the tank, they started to spaz out and in 20 minutes they were dead."
WTF! They put the clownfish in their freshwater tank! What appalled me even more was when she said that she went back and bought another one to try again. Of course... same result. I drop-kicked her right then and there.
Lesson is, don't put saltwater fish in a freshwater system... not like y'all MFK'ers need this advice.
This is another story, but of someone I had met, who wanted to share with me their fish story. I gathered from what she shared that she owned a small (20-30 gal) freshwater community set up with tetras, gouramis, etc... that's cool. Then she started to talk about how her boyfriend wanted to get a "nemo-fish", so I was anticipating her to share a saltwater tank experience. This is the gyst of what followed in her words.
"So we went to petco and bought 2 nemos. We brought them home and floated the bag in the tank to even out the temp. But when we put the fish in the tank, they started to spaz out and in 20 minutes they were dead."
WTF! They put the clownfish in their freshwater tank! What appalled me even more was when she said that she went back and bought another one to try again. Of course... same result. I drop-kicked her right then and there.
Lesson is, don't put saltwater fish in a freshwater system... not like y'all MFK'ers need this advice.
