Your Biggest Mistake?

[keenfish]

every one has made a mistake or two, mainly due to being a newbie so what was your biggest or worst in your eyes or the ones you look back and laugh and think how stupid was i, weather fw or sw. this be handy for other newbie on what not to do i start

mine was sticking some zebra dianos in with my 10in gold fish, gone within 3 days.

 

[Hholly]

Mine was getting a male American-flag fish. Everything I had read about these fish said they were peaceful, community fish. But this one ended up being very aggressive and upset the whole community. He harassed my swordtail till an ich outbreak occurred, then the swordtail developed dropsy and had to be euthanized. I ended up euthanizing the flag fish.

 

[Sharkbait54]

Buying a convict pair... So ...many... Babies...

 

[J19Reynolds]

Mine so far would have to be I bought 2 yellow labs (about 1inch long & without research) and put them both in a 2.5 gallon with WAY too much sand as well...

 

[Mike19]

Mine to this day i feel horrible about it. I was cleaning my ten gallon tank and put all the fish (5 guppies, and 1 pleco) in a bowl with the heater because last time i left the heater out it exploded even when it wasnt pluged so i put the heater in the 1 gallon bowl to cool down thinking it wasnt pluged. Ended up cooking the fishs :'(

 

[Lovin Fish]

Putting plants from the pet store directly in my tank. I never knew plants should be quarentined too!

 

[Athaocity]

Putting plants from the pet store directly in my tank. I never knew plants should be quarentined too!

I did that too! My tetras caught ick from this same situation

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I have two.

Not quarantining some rainbow fish. They infected my whole tank with ich. I lost 5 out of 7 in the first week. I then accidentally contaminated another tank and lost a dwarf gourami.
Also not quarantining some harlequin rasboras that had colomnaris. I had to pull the whole tank apart and disinfect everything and I lost my 5 year old Betta during the process.
I now quarantine!!

 

[StevesPrettyCool]

I'm an easily distracted person and have a bad habit of starting the siphon while changing water and walking away. during pwc time my brains jumpin all over and sometimes the only way i remember about the siphon is when i hear it overflowing all over the carpet... ooppsss!

thankfully a casualty free mistake, but a common one none-the-less

 

[Lovin Fish]

I did that too! My tetras caught ick from this same situation

Yeaha same here except it was my glass catfish that got sick...some type of bacteria or something. Never figured out what it was. And, i ended up with tons of garden snails!!!

 

[emerald76]

Having-
1 carnival goldfish(common)
70 guppies
3 black widows
2 angels
2 cichlids of some sort
Neons
Zebra danios
Glofish
All in a 30 gallon. The goldfish killed my two favorite guppies, the black widows and angels died, but not before the angels killed the cichlids and glofish and a few neons and the danios
I thought 2-8 ppm ammonia was normal
Most of the fish got fin rot
Ich from the goldfish
Never gravel vacd it
All the fish died after I did a huge gravel vac without dechlored water
Entire cans of food were dumped in by relatives
Got API testing liquid in the tank
Never did a water change
And this was all in an elongated octagonal tank about thirty gallons, 22 in high,2 -8 in wide, 30 in long and covered in algae

 

[Tetra123]

Putting 2 gold fish in a 10gal without knowing anything about cycling and declorinating the water. Live and learn!

 

[Maxkolbe]

Back when I just had a beta my cleanings were every couple month and consisted of putting the beta into a cup of water (don't even know if it was declorinated) emptying the tank and rinsing all the gravel as well as the rest of the tank thoroughly in tap water then refilling and putting the beta back in. Do I even need to mention that the tank wasn't heated? Glad I know what I'm doing now and can keep a healthy beta .

 

[Tetra1990]

I've got two: in a five gallon tank, I started with 5 cardinal tetras and 2 emerald Cory cats. After they all died, I got 2 male mollies. It's cruel I know now, but they were so aggressive! Unfortunately, the more dominate Molly died first. So I thought he got what he deserved. A few days later the other one died from injuries. YESi learned my lesson!

 

[Freakgecko91]

Thinking that bc all my fish were alive and relatively healthy, that my tank water was perfect, so very wrong and luckily I found that out thanks to my Lfs, and fortunately enough, my tank is now cycled with minimal casualties and I test at least once a week now

 

[Bubbles0oO]

Listening to the pet(co/smart) advice and stocking a 16 gallon with....

20 guppys
3 blackskirts
3 common plecos
4 pearl gourmais
6 hatchet fish

And then when some died they. Lamed it on my water quality. Which they tested from the water from the bag with the dead fish in it.....

 

[Tetra1990]

Listening to the pet(co/smart) advice and stocking a 16 gallon with....

20 guppys
3 blackskirts
3 common plecos
4 pearl gourmais
6 hatchet fish

And then when some died they. Lamed it on my water quality. Which they tested from the water from the bag with the dead fish in it.....

WOW, 3 common plecos in a 16 gallon lol.

 

[Bubbles0oO]

IKR , now I know that's its a big no no lol. One of them lived for 3 months then I couldnt find him during my every 2 month waterchange ( also advice)

 

[Freakgecko91]

Lol petsmart offers the best advice, doesn't it hahaha sarcasm obviously included

 

[CherryBarb123]

Before I knew any different I did what so many people do and I placed 4 fancy goldfish in an 8 gallon tank. It was "cycled" according to my LFS but obviously it wasn't. The fish lasted a couple of months before they died. Makes me feel so bad

Another thing was believing everything my LFS said. I used to do this and I ended up with unhappy and dead fish. Thankfully I changed to a different LFS but when I think about all those poor fish that could have been saved....