Bad Fish Advice

[Maxkolbe]

Once a guy at petsmart told me I could keep either a manguanese cichlid or two oscars in a 29 gallon tank... And I almost did!

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I read on the Internet to keep a goldfish in a bowl only fill it half full so there is more water surface area. Oh the agony!!

My mother got told that one when I was a kid. We had fancy goldfish in a 1 gallon bowl only filled halfway!! :/

 

[m0stUniQue]

I hear this all the time ; don't change your water till your aquarium's done cycling

 

[Bearchumjs]

I hear this all the time ; don't change your water till your aquarium's done cycling

What about fish less cycling?

 

[alia258]

With fish less I heard that you don't have to change the water unless the ammonia is above a certain point, but don't quote me on that it's just something I heard in passing!

 

[Alyxx]

A friend of mine told me that she sucked at keeping fish. I asked her what she had and she said she had a bowl with two of "those betta fish things" and they killed each other. They guy at Walmart told her two would get along just fine! She thought it was something she did, apparently she had never heard them called Siamese fighting fish. Another instance of needing to do research before purchase, though.

A few more :
1. Just use aquarium salt to make brackish water. Even better, on the little "care" card for green spotted puffers at Walmart it says they prefer brackish water, so add 2 teaspoons of aquarium salt per gallon or something like that. Wrong salt, and not enough of it...
2. African cichlids should be fed feeders regularly because they are aggressive. Wrong, too much protein can kill them!
3. You should just change all the water every couple months instead of weekly partial water changes.
4. pH must be 7.0 to keep tropical fish, or to keep such and such fish you have to have a pH of such and such, and if your pH is any lower or higher you need to use chemicals to make it neutral/whatever exact number you were given. Fish are very adaptable and most, especially if they are tank bred, can and will do fine within a pretty large range of pH.
5. Products like ammonia lock or ammonia removing filter media are necessary for the health of fish. They really just stall or kill your cycle. Ammo lock can be pretty useful in a dire emergency, though.
6. Test strips are the best testing method because they are quick and easy and have less room for error.
7. Water changes are bad for fish...
8. You can put 5 fish in a little 2 gallon tank.

 

[Chronos313]

6. Test strips are the best testing method because they are quick and easy and have less room for error.

Was so gonna say that!

I think that another one is feeding 2-3 times a day is bad advice as it leads to wasted food, which in turns can havoc a tanks parameters and lead to nasties.

Another one is that a bala shark can go in a 20g community tank. Ya that one was a doozy when u heard it at best west pet foods. I almost ended up giving the employee a good wallop with a 25 pound bag of cat litter for saying that. Thankfully I know the manager there and had a few words with her. And I haven't seen that employee since

 

[Tcal01]

The WOOOOOORRRSSSTTTT advice has to be........to not join AA

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

"6. Test strips are the best testing method because they are quick and easy and have less room for error."

Even in labs, test strips are a joke. Only the pH ones will ever be used and it's for a quick way to make sure your solution is acidic/basic when doing millions of steps to make sure you are on track.

 

[jkdubs2]

That you have to have some kind of "aquarium" substrate for your tank. I hate this one. When I first started fish keeping I wasted so much money on that advice.

 

[Maxkolbe]

I know! When I set up my 60 gallon I found out I could use PFS and ended up saving a TON of money... Which I used to buy Fish!

How about this, the best way to solve an algae problem is with a common Pleco.

 

[fishdude25]

You only have to do one 25% pwc a month, too much can stress your fish. Such horrible advice!

 

[garfy]

The amount and size of water changes required varies from tank to tank.
For example a tank with very few fish that have a small bio load require very small water changes less often but a tank with lots of fish with a large bio load would require larger water changes and they would need to be more frequent.
Your Nitrate readings would tell you exactly when you need to do water changes.

 

[Fishy Aston]

Gotta change that filter cartridge every month or so!

I actually agree with that!

Trying to make more money out of us!

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

I actually agree with that!

Trying to make more money out of us!

Well, in their defense, some of my tanks I do have to "replace" the pads every month. For whatever reason, more debris or higher tannic acid levels or whatever, I have some tanks that I have to put a new one in pretty often. But, I buy the giant sheets of filter floss and cut them out and I leave most of the old pad in the filter to transfer.

But, for most of the people out there, this is awful advice that will just cause a tank to never establish and empty your wallet.

 

[CherryBarb123]

Being told one of the most common myths "Fish only grow to the size of the tank"

We were also told that you should never count bottom feeders when stocking a tank!

Leave your tank for a week to "Cycle" it and the come and add some fish. Seriously though, they would let you buy ANYTHING!

 

[Fishy Aston]

Well, in their defense, some of my tanks I do have to "replace" the pads every month. For whatever reason, more debris or higher tannic acid levels or whatever, I have some tanks that I have to put a new one in pretty often. But, I buy the giant sheets of filter floss and cut them out and I leave most of the old pad in the filter to transfer.

But, for most of the people out there, this is awful advice that will just cause a tank to never establish and empty your wallet.

Yes a lot of the LFS tell you to change the filter media but I have never changed mine! I will be changing it on one of my tanks soon as it is looking be falling apart!

 

[emerald76]

When I started my ten after two years without a tank, I was told the classics-
Oh, put fish in in 2 days
You can have ten guppies in there plus a pleco and two neon tetras.
Go ahead and put snails in they won't breed.
I learned from just reading this site how wrong they were!

 

[Jolenebailey]

Seeing Red Devils labeled as a African Cichlid in the local pet shop.

 

[Fishy Aston]

Just last week a girl at Petsmart wouldn't sell me black neon tetras because I told her they were to share a tank with my GBR. "Cichlids eat anything smaller than themselves", she said...After 20 minutes of convincing her they were safe she proceded to beat the neons with the net so bad I told her not to worry about it. She had the hand eye coordination of a drunken toddler...

So funny some staff just cant catch the fish!

I just get someone else to catch them.