picking up fish for cheap that i dont really have room for and thinking well i can just resell them?? Ya i still have them lol.
Your biggest mistake
- Thread starter FSM
- Start date
When I was a fishkeeping n00b I picked up a chinese algae eater. The first mistake was that it was a chinese algae eater. The second mistake was that I picked it up to live in a 5g tank with my betta because I - oh, here's a knee slapper - trusted pet store advice on required tank size. The third mistake was then when I realized it needed its own bigger tank, I provided it, but failed to gravel vac underneath the tank ornaments for a prolonged period of time (as in never). The final mistake was one day stirring up the sub under those ornaments, which I believe must have had a build-up of some kind of toxic gas (the STENCH that bubbled up to the surface was awful), because immediately after doing so the fish started thrashing violently and gasping for air. He suffered some kind of neurlogical damage from this incident and a result would have random twitches, thrashing fits, etc. even when being kept in pristine water conditions. He died young for a CAE and I felt just awful because absolutely everything that went wrong with that fish was 110% my own idiot fault.
So lessons to be learned? Don't buy any species without thoroughly, thoroughly researching its care. Don't trust a pet store's advice on really pretty much anything, because 9/10 times you're dealing with someone ignorant, and 10/10 times you're dealing with someone who wants to make a sale. And for god's sake, don't set up a fish tank unless you actually know what you're doing in terms of properly CLEANING it. It seems like a no-brainer, but I was young and stupid and honestly didn't think I needed to clean the gravel under the ornament because surely the fish can't poop under a solid surface. Nevermind that this is occuring in WATER, duh. *shakes head* That poor, poor fish.
So lessons to be learned? Don't buy any species without thoroughly, thoroughly researching its care. Don't trust a pet store's advice on really pretty much anything, because 9/10 times you're dealing with someone ignorant, and 10/10 times you're dealing with someone who wants to make a sale. And for god's sake, don't set up a fish tank unless you actually know what you're doing in terms of properly CLEANING it. It seems like a no-brainer, but I was young and stupid and honestly didn't think I needed to clean the gravel under the ornament because surely the fish can't poop under a solid surface. Nevermind that this is occuring in WATER, duh. *shakes head* That poor, poor fish.
i got a great GT from petsmart the other day its only about 2.5 inches and the hump on the forehead is very noticeable and by far the largest ive seen on a GT, had to buy him
went home and put him with my fh until i set up a new temporary tank for him
sorry about the picture quality it doesn't bring justice to the GT as the colors are far more vibrant in person and the hump is farm more noticeable.
went home and put him with my fh until i set up a new temporary tank for him sorry about the picture quality it doesn't bring justice to the GT as the colors are far more vibrant in person and the hump is farm more noticeable.
one big mistake was putting my 11 inch bichir in my 125 gal and I started to notice that some of my fishes were moving, iridescent shark, pleco snowball...
I use to work at a fish store a few years back and we had this guy call in asking about how to test for water quality, he said he did it exactly as the instructions say. So after talking with him for a couple minutes it finally came out... He didn't put the chemicals into the test tubes with water from the tank... but he actually put the chemicals directly into the tank waiting for the water in the tank to change colour!!!
Converted my saltwater tank to a fresh. I had a 3" Clown Trigger that I raised to about 9", an Emperor Angel, two Percula Clowns, a Niger Trigger, and a Humu Humu. I wish I still had my saltwater setup. 
Was it the cost to operate that made you decide to switch over?sincitydragon;4007438; said:Converted my saltwater tank to a fresh. I had a 3" Clown Trigger that I raised to about 9", an Emperor Angel, two Percula Clowns, a Niger Trigger, and a Humu Humu. I wish I still had my saltwater setup.
One time I bought a 10 gallon biocube type tank for my first tank and didnt know what a fliter was.
I've done 2 major blunders that stand out in my mind.
1. Buying a gold nugget plecos for my 90g tank. Didn't think my Australian Arowana would eat it, but it did and ended up dying from major intestinal injuries from the barbs and spikes of the gold nugget.
2. Trading in a snake at a pet store for a Snowball Plecos. This is after watching the guy that was helping me scoop out 3 other dead fish from the tank. Then proceeded to bring the snowball home and throwing it directly into the tank without quanrantine. Ich spread like wildfire and I lost EVERY fish in my tank, 9 clown loaches, 1 baby Aus. Arow, and a candy striped plecos.
Never again adding fish without a weeks worth of quarantine time.
1. Buying a gold nugget plecos for my 90g tank. Didn't think my Australian Arowana would eat it, but it did and ended up dying from major intestinal injuries from the barbs and spikes of the gold nugget.
2. Trading in a snake at a pet store for a Snowball Plecos. This is after watching the guy that was helping me scoop out 3 other dead fish from the tank. Then proceeded to bring the snowball home and throwing it directly into the tank without quanrantine. Ich spread like wildfire and I lost EVERY fish in my tank, 9 clown loaches, 1 baby Aus. Arow, and a candy striped plecos.
Never again adding fish without a weeks worth of quarantine time.
