Dumbest Aquarium advice you've ever been given?

[Alyxx]

STOP!!!!

Hammertime

Hehe... You just made my night!

 

[MMantelli]

Ammonia is less toxic to African cichlids when there Ph is where it should be. (8.2)

 

[Gsdsar]

A clown loach is a good addition to your 26g.


Yeah. I should have done my research before buying a fish. Now I take in my phone and if I see something I like I look it up, then ask questions.

 

[astronomicallee123]

My favorite was " where did all the water go? I had 8 oscars in that 10 gallon tank"

This right here.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

STOP!!!!

Hammertime

Lol! That just made my afternoon.

 

[monsteridea]

Oh man... used to work at PetSmart. Three different stores on and off for some years. The last store I had the unfortunate luck to work at: Everyone was on a different page. The managers didn't care enough to get all associates on the same page with knowledge, and would be petty and hide or throw out any information I gave to them! Anywaaays...

Some great things I had to hear from my customers that other associates in that store said was "Okay" to do.

- 10 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank, barely a strong enough filter. To that customer asked me, "Why do they keep dying??"

- Keep Bettas in tiny bowls because they're "afraid" of big spaces.

- Keep a fancy goldfish in a 2 gallon tank "to start."

- Let the filter run for a few days before stocking your tank.. which usually meant "as many as you want" to most people.

- It's against policy for feeder goldfish to be given out to parties or weddings, except occasionally when someone wants to buy 50 of them and supposedly has a 40 gal just in case no one wants to keep them. Uggh 40 gal will not fit 50 goldies!

- Plecos in a tiny tank... @_@

- Neons or other schoolers in a pair, or by themselves.

So infuriating!

 

[Miyavp]

I remember some bad advice I got from I friend. I'm usually great at researching but all of his other advice had been sound so I followed it. A pleco with my goldfish. And the nipping began..... thankfully I caught it at the first few nibbles and put in into a floating breeder tank until I could rehome him.
He's in a 29gal now with an albino corydora. I think he's much happier

 

[Bambinojake]

The diversity of some of these angelfish advice posts... One person says 4 in a bowl, another says 1 per 50 gallons.

 

[Fullmoonnight]

I just laughed for 5 minutes straight.

I did too after my initial shock the first time I heard it lol

 

[Dmack]

"Red tailed sharks go great with fancy guppies and even if he does try to eat them it will be good exercise for the guppies" Head fish keeper

 

[ktomminello]

Picotopes are awesome for photos and raising wigglers. I have no problems with using bowls as living art with semi aquatic rooted rhizomes and flowering wisteria, crypts, orchids and lilies- I'm one of those evil fish keepers

I completely overstock my tanks to get their sizes proper for their grown tank mates and to check their temperament... My small heavy rooted vases with betta that I use to simulate dry season and my soon to be upgraded to a 65g 50g Southeast Asian biotope...

 

[FishieKeeper429]

I was at PetSmart about a week ago and I was exclaiming about all the fish they had and how well taken care if they were (they really were. Their tanks were cleaner than the ones at my LFS) and a man comes up to me and says "I'm sorry, I don't mean to eavesdrop but do you know a lot about fish?"
I tell him I love fish keeping and know a bit.
"Ok well, I bought my daughter 10 fish to out in her 10g tank. When I woke up this morning 9 of them had disappeared! I think one of them ate all the rest!"
I then proceed to ask what kinds of fish he had bought her.
Turns out he had bought one Oscar, and 9 neon tetras.
The worst part: "The lady that was here said they would get along fine!"
I had to convince him that an Oscar needs a mug larger tank then a 10g and they only really go with oscars.

 

[Aquamandan]

I was at PetSmart about a week ago and I was exclaiming about all the fish they had and how well taken care if they were (they really were. Their tanks were cleaner than the ones at my LFS) and a man comes up to me and says "I'm sorry, I don't mean to eavesdrop but do you know a lot about fish?"
I tell him I love fish keeping and know a bit.
"Ok well, I bought my daughter 10 fish to out in her 10g tank. When I woke up this morning 9 of them had disappeared! I think one of them ate all the rest!"
I then proceed to ask what kinds of fish he had bought her.
Turns out he had bought one Oscar, and 9 neon tetras.
The worst part: "The lady that was here said they would get along fine!"
I had to convince him that an Oscar needs a mug larger tank then a 10g and they only really go with oscars.

Geez, that is really bad. You'd think common sense would tell him not put really small fish with a big fish (even if he doesn't know anything about fish), but apparently not! That Oscar must have been happy that night.

 

[aquandrew]

my sister and i just got done putting play sand in her new tank last week. her and her boyfriend went to the pet store and they told her play sand was too "sharp" for fish so her boyfriend bought fine grained gravel and they switched it out. I've never heard of anyone saying play sand is too sharp, in fact the play sand looks less sharp than my regular pet store sand. what a waste of 60 lbs of sand

 

[FishieKeeper429]

Geez, that is really bad. You'd think common sense would tell him not put really small fish with a big fish (even if he doesn't know anything about fish), but apparently not! That Oscar must have been happy that night.

Common sense does not reside in rookie fish keepers

 

[Cactuspixie]

my sister and i just got done putting play sand in her new tank last week. her and her boyfriend went to the pet store and they told her play sand was too "sharp" for fish so her boyfriend bought fine grained gravel and they switched it out. I've never heard of anyone saying play sand is too sharp, in fact the play sand looks less sharp than my regular pet store sand. what a waste of 60 lbs of sand

Anything to make a sale. I hope it at least looks better.

 

[aquandrew]

Anything to make a sale. I hope it at least looks better.

i haven't seen it yet but she put the under gravel filter back in, i told her those things are just poop traps and to get a gravel vac

 

[Fishingforfish]

Today, I got to see an employee feeding the fishes. She was literally pouring handfuls of fish food to a small number of fish..and to top that off, before that, 2 employees were fighting over who should feed them, because apparently, both of them were "busy"...busy as in playing with the faucet.

She then looked at me and said "it's good to fatten up your fishes to ensure good health."
What.

 

[bettaowner]

I was telling my friend about a great betta tank and once I said the filter is easy to install he said, " oh a filter. I won't need to do water changes right!"

 

[Bubbles0oO]

Just found a craigs list post....

Beta boy for sale!!

He is blue which means he is male!
He comes with a small castle shaped bowl with pink gravel.
We cant keep him because we are moving.
Come and get this little guy, the only fish with personality!