Sad news, I kind of wish they sold a simple cd on this stuff. It's a lot to learn when starting off.
Share Your Mistakes Here
- Thread starter fish4phil
- Start date
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Aquarium-mania
Aquarium Advice Regular
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2014
- Messages
- 60
Mistake 1) When I was 8 I had a common , comet , 2 shubunkin , and a Black Moor into
A 5G tank. With an UGF. The black moor had to be put into a breeding trap because it was getting bullied.At least I figured out the water change / dechorinator.
Mistake 2) Decided that the 5G was too small , bought a 30 gallon and a massive canister filter. I 'cycled' the tank for a week. Then , to make things worse , I let my Dad bully the pet shop employee into selling us 4 more black moors.
Mistake 3) I then recieved another 30 gallon when I was 9 to set up a tropical community. Used white quartz gravel which ended up absolutely filthy looking.
Mistake 4) When we moved house , I got lazy and just dumped the goldfish into my tropical tank. The goldfish died off one by one , the last one to go was the comet , who died of hole in the head disease.
Mistake 5) Being stupid and 11 years old , I had let my Dad use the siphon gravel cleaner to change the water. He sucked up one of my neon tetras , and thought it was funny to see it swirling around. I rescued it , but it still died.
Mistake 6) Rinsed out the filter a couple of years ago , and forgot to plug it back in .Thank goodness we had 2 filters ...
Mistake 7) Set up automatic fish feeder for when we went on holiday , the flakes got stuck and the sinking pellets didn't come out so my corydoras catfish all died
I've made a lot of mistakes ,but now I don't let my Dad touch the tank , or buy things at my LFS. Now I have a 30 gallon tropical community , 10 cardinal tetras , 7 Black Skirt tetras , 5 Penguin tetras and a BN pleco. The original 5 gallon is a plant-only tank I'm setting up now .At least now I have 2 filters ,2 airpumps and 2 heaters in my 30 gallon ..
A 5G tank. With an UGF. The black moor had to be put into a breeding trap because it was getting bullied.At least I figured out the water change / dechorinator.
Mistake 2) Decided that the 5G was too small , bought a 30 gallon and a massive canister filter. I 'cycled' the tank for a week. Then , to make things worse , I let my Dad bully the pet shop employee into selling us 4 more black moors.
Mistake 3) I then recieved another 30 gallon when I was 9 to set up a tropical community. Used white quartz gravel which ended up absolutely filthy looking.
Mistake 4) When we moved house , I got lazy and just dumped the goldfish into my tropical tank. The goldfish died off one by one , the last one to go was the comet , who died of hole in the head disease.
Mistake 5) Being stupid and 11 years old , I had let my Dad use the siphon gravel cleaner to change the water. He sucked up one of my neon tetras , and thought it was funny to see it swirling around. I rescued it , but it still died.
Mistake 6) Rinsed out the filter a couple of years ago , and forgot to plug it back in .Thank goodness we had 2 filters ...
Mistake 7) Set up automatic fish feeder for when we went on holiday , the flakes got stuck and the sinking pellets didn't come out so my corydoras catfish all died
I've made a lot of mistakes ,but now I don't let my Dad touch the tank , or buy things at my LFS. Now I have a 30 gallon tropical community , 10 cardinal tetras , 7 Black Skirt tetras , 5 Penguin tetras and a BN pleco. The original 5 gallon is a plant-only tank I'm setting up now .At least now I have 2 filters ,2 airpumps and 2 heaters in my 30 gallon ..
ordering from certain supporting vendors (names of vendors are withheld due to forum rules), not researching there customer service practices,
Never trust customer reviews on a vendors testimonials I found the one I posted on a very well know vendors site they reworded it to make themselves look good, they now try to target the newbies they post items on sale if you haven't noticed on there sale page almost every item is out of stock from the day of sale till the end of sale , trust me don't fall for there tactics , the quality of there livestock and corals are well below standards, how our moderators on this site allow them to remain on our supporting vendors list is beyond me .
you used to be able to call one of there customer service girls if there were any problem , now it's by email or Facebook and you'll wait
till they feel like responding if they do at all ,
shame on you vendor
Ask other members about a certain vendor you want to deal with
especially if you plan on ordering livestock
out of all the vendors out there I can only count 5 I would trust for buying livestock
Never trust customer reviews on a vendors testimonials I found the one I posted on a very well know vendors site they reworded it to make themselves look good, they now try to target the newbies they post items on sale if you haven't noticed on there sale page almost every item is out of stock from the day of sale till the end of sale , trust me don't fall for there tactics , the quality of there livestock and corals are well below standards, how our moderators on this site allow them to remain on our supporting vendors list is beyond me .
you used to be able to call one of there customer service girls if there were any problem , now it's by email or Facebook and you'll wait
till they feel like responding if they do at all ,
shame on you vendor
Ask other members about a certain vendor you want to deal with
especially if you plan on ordering livestock
out of all the vendors out there I can only count 5 I would trust for buying livestock
Piggypie
Aquarium Advice Activist
I got two tiny goldfish during a school fundraiser when I was 14 that I named Marco and Polo. They came in a little plastic bucket with a sack of food. I put them in a 1 gal fish bowl when I got home (no cycling, no filter, but I used a dechlorinator). Their water would turn cloudy overnight, and I found out they needed 10 gal each. They died a week later when I had to leave for the weekend and couldn't do daily water changes 
A few months later my sister got me a red betta that I put in the same bowl. I only changed the water about once a week, did about 90% changes, floated the fish in the bowl in a cup if old water to try to make the very small temperature change gradual, but wiped off the inside of the bowl with a paper towel. About a year later I dropped in some bamboo which I think really helped and a year after that bought the betta a 5.5 gal, and a "baby betta" at pet smart for the bowl. Still no heaters or filters. I think going from a round to flat walled tank really freaked out the betta because he mostly just sat in the corner after that. He lived a total of three years. I used a light to keep the baby betta warm and crushed up pellets for her to eat, and shockingly she survived. When I got her she was just under an inch long, and now she's just over 2 inches, and very happy loving in the cycled, filtered, heated, heavily cycled 10 gallon I set up about 2 months ago with some glow light tetras, a few Pygmy Corydoras and some mts it's probably heaven compared to the little bowl she was in for a year, and she's got a ton of stuff to explore..
A few months later my sister got me a red betta that I put in the same bowl. I only changed the water about once a week, did about 90% changes, floated the fish in the bowl in a cup if old water to try to make the very small temperature change gradual, but wiped off the inside of the bowl with a paper towel. About a year later I dropped in some bamboo which I think really helped and a year after that bought the betta a 5.5 gal, and a "baby betta" at pet smart for the bowl. Still no heaters or filters. I think going from a round to flat walled tank really freaked out the betta because he mostly just sat in the corner after that. He lived a total of three years. I used a light to keep the baby betta warm and crushed up pellets for her to eat, and shockingly she survived. When I got her she was just under an inch long, and now she's just over 2 inches, and very happy loving in the cycled, filtered, heated, heavily cycled 10 gallon I set up about 2 months ago with some glow light tetras, a few Pygmy Corydoras and some mts
it's probably heaven compared to the little bowl she was in for a year, and she's got a ton of stuff to explore..
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
They have something a lot like that. There are these rectangular packets of paper with words on them called books
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hey, I do what I can
There's just no love for books anymore
just because they aren't electronic nobody pats attention to them.
xwing
Aquarium Advice Freak
I try to encourage everyone to read more books and use more the one reference
They have something a lot like that. There are these rectangular packets of paper with words on them called books
I've never really seen much at all here lol, the only one was from a products company (you can guess what the solution to every problem was but I guess a start). So basically nothing except library books. Even a pamphlet would be good.
I know the internet covers everything and half the time I'm just standing there reading the iPhone so it's better than before the internet but there seems a lot of confusion out there.
ArtistGardener
Aquarium Advice Freak
They have something a lot like that. There are these rectangular packets of paper with words on them called books
Exactly. I LOVE this forum and have learned so much, but I also have a stack of books that I can reference, slowly browse and study. Many used book stores have all kinds of aquarium books on the cheap!
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
The internet is a God-send for research purposes as you have a huge library right in your home to pull from. BUT, curling up in a comfy chair or couch with a warm drink and a good book with NO electronics on is one of life's self supporting experiences, IMO. OS.
Hmm, the trouble with books I find here is they get dated. Or at least the ones here do which are mostly written in the 1800's. Actually the library isn't that bad but woefully dated on say canister filters.
I still like the idea of a CD but to be honest anything would be better.
Below from a goldfish book from local library.
I still like the idea of a CD but to be honest anything would be better.
Below from a goldfish book from local library.
ArtistGardener
Aquarium Advice Freak
Absolutely, Old Scales! Absolutely!!!
Delapool, I agree with that, too. You do need to find more recent books. The book I had from early days of fish-keeping was from the 50s or 60s--an Axelrod book. Not a single mention of cycling but lots of talk about "aging water" and other stuff that makes me cringe now. My early tanks were successful, I now know, because I added fish very slowly so the tanks cycled fish-in. Getting back into the hobby last year, I made a single big cycling mistake with goldfish (thankfully folks here helped me immensely and my fish survived--then I did a fishless cycle on my two new tropical tanks). I kept that old Axelrod book for the pictures, but went out and bought five newer books!
Delapool, I agree with that, too. You do need to find more recent books. The book I had from early days of fish-keeping was from the 50s or 60s--an Axelrod book. Not a single mention of cycling but lots of talk about "aging water" and other stuff that makes me cringe now. My early tanks were successful, I now know, because I added fish very slowly so the tanks cycled fish-in. Getting back into the hobby last year, I made a single big cycling mistake with goldfish (thankfully folks here helped me immensely and my fish survived--then I did a fishless cycle on my two new tropical tanks). I kept that old Axelrod book for the pictures, but went out and bought five newer books!
Yes, good point - that's what I should do now and buy my own books. At least they should get into country - I've just had API liquid co2 rejected (looks like unable to import into state) which is a big surprise.
Old Scales
Aquarium Advice Addict
Artist, I still have that book from the 60's. It was the standard back then. LOL Shows how much more we know now. Thank God. It was done by Herbert Axelrod. Called "The Encyclopedia Of Tropical Fishes". "Aged water" OMG. I haven't heard that term since then. Thanks for the memory. OS.
pip walters
Aquarium Advice FINatic
PHP:
People at the LFS need to stress that these fish need bigger tanks! It's unfortunate because i lost both balas.
Having been a vendor and as I now work for an importer/ wholesaler, I have to say this for balance....
As a vendor it is not always possible to assess a customer's ability nor is it always possible ascertain their experience or even the size of their tank..... especially when everyone these days just quotes gallons rather than tank dimensions as we did when I was in retail.
Sometimes, when a customer asks to purchase a certain fish as soon as they see it in your tank, you just have to assume that they came to buy that particular fish and know about its needs. If you start questioning an experienced fishkeeper about their tank size an water parameters, it can be quite demeaning when they turn round and say 'i know what
I am doing, I have kept fish for thirty years'.
Having said that, all vendors should attempt to ensure that the customer is aware of exactly what they are buying. The sad fact is, many staff at aquatic outlets have neither the experience or knowledge themselves.
Lack of knowledge is why the aquatics industry is so large..... bad for the fish, but good for business!! Will that ever change?
Tank Girl
Aquarium Advice Freak
Pip - you're singing my son's song! Especially since you're only trying to be helpful. But for some reason folks really get their hackles up over basic questions. I don't mind if someone at a store asks me about my set-up. It tells me that they care.
enrgizerbunny
Aquarium Advice Addict
Washed my tank with vinegar mix and didn't rinse it before filling. Mixed up some water with pot ash until the PH was off the scale and added slowly until it came up. The fish were in a container with the old tank water, so no biggie.
Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Sent from my SCH-I435 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
BMbigfish
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Mine and my fiancé's biggest mistake was putting an African butterfly fish in our tank with 2 gars and a big fat Redtail. We woke up the next morning and our redtail swallowed it up!
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