What was your biggest misconception of fish keeping?

[Xzap]

The same friend that gave me the "Betta in the bowl" that started all this madness also told me I should get a fish "tank". She said so much has changed now that you don't have to change water and clean the tank like you used to.

Sounded easy enough at the time !

4 tanks later and I'm very glad I got into fish keeping, but man was I misinformed.

Thx,

dave

 

[jrp1588]

the inch of fish per gallon "rule"

 

[Tiffi]

My brother had the first aquarium in our house when he was younger. My parents put guppies, a betta, some corys and neons in it. That tank had only plastic plants, no airstone, just a filter, some light and a heater. They didn't change the water right etc.,etc. and my mom spend a whole lot of money on denitrifying the tank, raising the ph and so on. Soon they got algae and most fishes died. So far to that .

I got a cold water aquarium a little later and my dad bought me some goldfish with blown up eyes in red and black. Man, they were so scary, shortly afterwards I quit with fishes 8O .

Now years later, and a lot biology courses further, I started this hobby again and new beforehand that there is a lot to know about to be successful, so I didn't make any mistakes anymore, except maybe for buying plants that were not compatible with my low light .

 

[jrp1588]

He he, just remembered some misconceptions from when I was about 5 years old.

#1-Fish like kool-aid just like people...(Dead tank)
#2-Bettas like to be taken out of their tank and petted...(dead betta)
#3-You don't need to vacuum aquarium gravel because the water cleans is
#4-What's a water change?

 

[Tiffi]

Yeah, my brother used to take his fish out of the tank, too. Plus he and my mom always held up a mirror for the betta in front of the glass so he gets angry .

 

[dskidmore]

Recent misconceptions:

That old dresser should be able to hold my new 75 gallon tank.
I can just re-use all this old filtration equipment, so this will be a low-cost upgrade.

 

[talloulou]

Recent misconceptions:

That old dresser should be able to hold my new 75 gallon tank.

8O

I think my biggest misconception was/is that someday i will be satisfied with the tanks I have and not want more.

 

[Zagz]

My biggest misconception was that you could put fish in the tank right away and not worry about it. They would be "fine".

 

[dskidmore]

Recent misconceptions:

That old dresser should be able to hold my new 75 gallon tank.

8O

I think my biggest misconception was/is that someday i will be satisfied with the tanks I have and not want more.

Me too. Up to the week before I bought the 75, I thought a 55 was all the tank I would ever want.

 

[afilter]

Petting the Betta reminded me of my boys (4 and 5 at the time) first fish a betta named Reggie. One night when they were supposed to be sleeping the oldest ran out and announced they could not fing Reggie. I of course thought how can you not find a betta in 2.5 gal tank. Sure enough he was gone! After some quick interrogation I learned Reggie was out "Learning Tricks" and they dropped him.

Fortunately, I quickly found him behind the cabinet and returned him to his home. Needles to say Reggie found a new home in the kitchen where he lived a happy Betta life. 8)

 

[TomK2]

"Sure I can put that giant hex tank in the most prominent, and sunlit, portion of the house's busiest and sunniest room. I like fish tanks, and it will be no big deal keeping it a pristine showpiece. What an 'oh wow' impression it will give"

After 9 months it became an "oh wow" alright.

 

[Todd2]

Definatly the "1 inch per gallon" rule.

 

[tetrin]

well...this is related indirectly to fish-keeping -
"maintaining a planted tank is easy."
well, to broaden the range - "this hobby is really easy, just dump in fish and water and they'll live happily ever after".
-that's how my friend tempted me to join the hobby. he quit shortly after realising the amount of work involved. now he likes to take pictures of my fish . a costly hobby too ( a nikon d70 costs a lot), but less physical and less stressful, nonetheless.

 

[jrp1588]

Well with simple fish, you could pretty much do that...but they wouldn't be happy.

 

[dskidmore]

"Sure I can put that giant hex tank in the most prominent, and sunlit, portion of the house's busiest and sunniest room. I like fish tanks, and it will be no big deal keeping it a pristine showpiece. What an 'oh wow' impression it will give"

After 9 months it became an "oh wow" alright.

That's not a hard rule, one of my best tanks was in a window. Ten gallons, Whisper Jr filter, small heater, and alot of healthy water sprite and crypts. The plants would put off oxygen bubbles, without any fancy fertilizer or CO2 injection, and with minimal scraping the glass was clear enough to see through it out the window.

 

[greenmaji]

#1 misconception about fishkeeping of mine was..

Designing a "closed system" would be just a matter of removing all forms of nitrogen by bacterial filtration means.

 

[TomK2]

dskidmore-

you fared a lot better than I did! But algae scraping, for me, is several notches below policing the yard for dog poop. I only do it when there is no way to get out of it! And it was a monster Hex, not easy to work with too.

 

[tackytank]

my first post!
My biggest mis-conception- Sure...I'll take your FREE 55 gallon tank. Turned out to be a 40 gallon and a small fortune later to get it running and cycled...and figuring out I would need one more tank to get all the fishy's I liked (75 gallon currently cycling) my FREE tank has seriously injured our checking account and pushed my husbands patients.
tackytank

 

[shawmutt]

All I had to do was buy the fish and feed 'em.

 

[patagonia]

betta in a bowl...i thought for water changes u had to get the fish out of the bowl and put him in a tupperware while u scrub and rinse everything in hot hot water...then fill the bowl again add dechlorinator and return the fish to his home....no wonder he didnt last long.... ....