Dumbest Aquarium advice you've ever been given?

[CephalopodCove]

I love my Dad and he's had tanks before, but usually very hardy fish. I purchased some RCS to breed and started to set up a drip acclimation after taking the advice of my local LFS owner. He stood there looking at me like I was crazy and said 'Dump em in, they'll be fine!' He also was judging off of pool test strips for the water conditions and wanted to add pool chemicals to lower the PH...

 

[bshenanagins]

I love my Dad and he's had tanks before, but usually very hardy fish. I purchased some RCS to breed and started to set up a drip acclimation after taking the advice of my local LFS owner. He stood there looking at me like I was crazy and said 'Dump em in, they'll be fine!' He also was judging off of pool test strips for the water conditions and wanted to add pool chemicals to lower the PH...

You mean you don't use shock or chlorine in your tanks? Come on clean it up lmao

 

[CephalopodCove]

You mean you don't use shock or chlorine in your tanks? Come on clean it up lmao

Oh well of course! I mean fish tanks are exactly like pools right? I know! I'll add some fish to my pool! It'll be great, they'll be so happy! ~sarcasm~

Seriously though, my Dad isn't allowed to tell me how to keep my tanks anymore.

Also, my mother happened to come to the pet store with me when I was looking for substrate for my shrimp tank. My mother heads over to the tanks and says 'Oh! I like this little guy! Can we put him in your tank??' I walk over to see what she's talking about. I have a 10 gallon freshwater...she's looking at a baby horseshoe crab...

Also, I'm not sure keeping a horseshoe crab is a good idea in the first place. I only know a bit about the species common to the Jersey shores but those get huge. I was very afraid of someone buying it without knowing what they were doing

 

[bettaowner]

My friend got a new tank for his betta and the kit came with water purifier. I explained the purpose and without reading the instructions, he almost dumped the whole portion into his tank.

 

[FishieKeeper429]

When I bought my first Betta, I bought a 1g starter kit (he is now in a 5g with filter and heater) and it had a packet of pellets for him. My mother figured that because it said "daily supplement" that I would use the whole packet in one day. She then suggested I put all of the pellets in. Not knowing anything, I followed what she said and put in ALL of the food. My fish barely survived the night because I also forgot to put in water conditioner. He is happy now tho and fed normal amounts of food.

 

[Miyavp]

A little horrified by the tanks at my local grocery store today......the goldfish have ick so bad. So I went into the other isle found the ick medication and stuck in in between the glass and the plastic lip of the tank. So whomever comes care that cares for these fish knows exactly what needs to be done. Maybe I ought to apply for their job. Clearly I know more about fish then they do.

 

[Mebbid]

A little horrified by the tanks at my local grocery store today......the goldfish have ick so bad. So I went into the other isle found the ick medication and stuck in in between the glass and the plastic lip of the tank. So whomever comes care that cares for these fish knows exactly what needs to be done. Maybe I ought to apply for their job. Clearly I know more about fish then they do.

I know what you mean. There is a pet store nearby that has some fairly rare, expensive, and hard to find fish but every single stack of tanks has ich and I completely refuse to buy anything from there.

I would like to add something that made me feel happy. I went to walmart the other night and their 3 stacks of tanks were in similarly horrible condition. There were two employees of the graveyard shift that noticed one of the oscars dying and were frantically rifling through the medications trying to find something that could help even without them having any idea what was wrong. They felt really really bad for the sick oscar that it restored some of my faith in people. I was able to point out some of the obvious sicknesses in the tanks and they started taking care of it as well as leaving some notes for their manager that was scheduled to come in during the AM.

We chatted about fish for a while and I referred them to my LFS that is pretty good in helping out since they had tanks of their own. I didn't think about recommending that they come here though

 

[Miyavp]

I know what you mean. There is a pet store nearby that has some fairly rare, expensive, and hard to find fish but every single stack of tanks has ich and I completely refuse to buy anything from there.

I would like to add something that made me feel happy. I went to walmart the other night and their 3 stacks of tanks were in similarly horrible condition. There were two employees of the graveyard shift that noticed one of the oscars dying and were frantically rifling through the medications trying to find something that could help even without them having any idea what was wrong. They felt really really bad for the sick oscar that it restored some of my faith in people. I was able to point out some of the obvious sicknesses in the tanks and they started taking care of it as well as leaving some notes for their manager that was scheduled to come in during the AM.

We chatted about fish for a while and I referred them to my LFS that is pretty good in helping out since they had tanks of their own. I didn't think about recommending that they come here though

Lol mine was the same place... i really should apply for that job.

 

[Alyxx]

I know what you mean. There is a pet store nearby that has some fairly rare, expensive, and hard to find fish but every single stack of tanks has ich and I completely refuse to buy anything from there.

I would like to add something that made me feel happy. I went to walmart the other night and their 3 stacks of tanks were in similarly horrible condition. There were two employees of the graveyard shift that noticed one of the oscars dying and were frantically rifling through the medications trying to find something that could help even without them having any idea what was wrong. They felt really really bad for the sick oscar that it restored some of my faith in people. I was able to point out some of the obvious sicknesses in the tanks and they started taking care of it as well as leaving some notes for their manager that was scheduled to come in during the AM.

We chatted about fish for a while and I referred them to my LFS that is pretty good in helping out since they had tanks of their own. I didn't think about recommending that they come here though

That makes me happy, too.

 

[ninijiko2225]

Before you go on vacation, feed your fish a lot so they don't need more food

 

[Oohitsae]

Before you go on vacation, feed your fish a lot so they don't need more food

This one is actually true in a way.
You feed them a lot the week or two prior to leaving to beef them up. then start fasting a day or two before leaving and do a large water change the night before/day you leave to get as much waste out of the tank as you can.
This'll give the fish some meat on their bones to survive not being fed or a while and will also help keep water quality decer while gone if you don't have anyone to look over it

 

[bettaowner]

Most people like to use those vacation feeder tablets but I don't like them because t=in the past, they've ruined my water quality.

 

[Miyavp]

Most people like to use those vacation feeder tablets but I don't like them because t=in the past, they've ruined my water quality.

I always have a friend feed my fish.

 

[bettaowner]

Sadly i don't have anyone near by that I can trust to feed my fish.

 

[jwh0818]

You know, this isnt advice but I felt I should put it somewhere.

I was at work [store] and I saw a guy looking at filters so I offered some assistance. Turns out he has a 10g tank with 4 big goldfish. I tried to get him to upgrade his tank size but he wouldnt because it wouldnt fit on his nightstand. This guy was around 50 something and wearing a work suit. He was looking at purchasing a new filter because his tank was dirty. He said he doesnt do water changes because his filter does all the work. I explained everything to him but he still refused. He wanted to get an ac 50 and I told him he shouldnt. I ended up selling him an ac110 for 35 $ because the box was cut open. The ac 110 is for a 10g tank! I hope it makes the fish a bit happier while they strive to survive in there

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

The ignorance of people. There are more and more crummy people in the world everyday

 

[GJMattingly]

This will rub the wrong way but people were saying that fish will keep growing out of a tank. I believe this in some cases but my uncle kept an Oscar in a 20 long for 4 years and it was only 4 inches and a gold fish the Oscar never ate and it was only 2 inches after 2 years. I now have the tank. Fish have a new home.

 

[Samzter]

This will rub the wrong way but people were saying that fish will keep growing out of a tank. I believe this in some cases but my uncle kept an Oscar in a 20 long for 4 years and it was only 4 inches and a gold fish the Oscar never ate and it was only 2 inches after 2 years. I now have the tank. Fish have a new home.

That's because the fish are stunted. It's very bad for the fishes health and kills them prematurely

 

[TheCommunityCichlid]

This will rub the wrong way but people were saying that fish will keep growing out of a tank. I believe this in some cases but my uncle kept an Oscar in a 20 long for 4 years and it was only 4 inches and a gold fish the Oscar never ate and it was only 2 inches after 2 years. I now have the tank. Fish have a new home.

The fish is probably severely stunted.

 

[jwh0818]

This will rub the wrong way but people were saying that fish will keep growing out of a tank. I believe this in some cases but my uncle kept an Oscar in a 20 long for 4 years and it was only 4 inches and a gold fish the Oscar never ate and it was only 2 inches after 2 years. I now have the tank. Fish have a new home.

I have no kind words for this. Im glad they are rehomed now. Stunted growtb will kill a fish eventually. Its a slow death