Buying fish you know nothing about

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Barliman

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Feb 20, 2016
Messages
2,212
Location
Los Angeles, 3rd door on the left
So, I follow a few fish groups on Facebook, and one thing I've noticed is the number of people who will acquire/buy a new fish and *then* ask "What is it?" "How do I take care of it?" Why would you buy an animal when you don't even know what it is? :banghead: :blink:
 
I see this on the forum pages also.
I stay away from FB for that among many other reasons .
At least on the forum pages it is like you opened a window and are talking to who is inside it.
On FB it is like you opened a window and shouted outside to whoever ?:facepalm:(y):nono:
I know many say the FB pages are very popular and I guess they should be ?
With so much misinformation and lack of general leadership there should be an endless supply of people who STILL have no clue about keeping fish but want to tell everybody how to do it...
On forum pages if someone doesn't want to learn or take proper advice they quickly vanish. Too much work on forums. Pre qualifier IMO....
It is easy to interject BS into any ones page on FB but to start a thread and continue to make strides to do better takes effort and willingness to listen and learn..
I haven't yet ever heard one person say FB is an educational resource....:whistle:
So I guess it is just a 'bragging page' IMO ? Bragging you are clueless IMO !
 
So, I follow a few fish groups on Facebook, and one thing I've noticed is the number of people who will acquire/buy a new fish and *then* ask "What is it?" "How do I take care of it?" Why would you buy an animal when you don't even know what it is? :banghead: :blink:
It's for that reason so many extremely large fish are still sold in fish shops despite there being very few people who can adequately keep them. Very few LFS will inform you how big they get before taking your cash.
 
Why? Because we humans are very capable of making bad judgements. Knowingly and happily too. I knew DHG will not grow in my tank, I bought it anyways and watched my 10$ melt away. I knew the stock in that certain shop is poor and bought it anyways. Wasn't surprised when half of the neons died (repeat 3 times).
If you look closely you probably could find a moment or two when you lost your good judgement too.
 
Yup! Don't do facebook as Trumb would say"fake news!!!"I very much dislike facebook! But I do believe it is Your own responsibility to do your research on things, asking questions on A.A. is just to find what others think, have done, or what they know that you may or may not know. This hobby comes with alot of heart put in to it for most of us. Others will just dive in and say "OK, I got a tank filled it with water and fish, now what?" Without looking into everything before hand, just because they got a good deal. Upsetting to most of us, but we still try to help. I just wanta say to the ones that want this hobby, we are here to help, but you gotta look into everything you are planning on doing first. This will take time, lots of time! Please, Don't dive in when you don't know how deep the water is or what's on the bottom! The hobby takes time, money, love, and over all dedication! If you don't have that, then this hobby is not for you. I know nobody is perfect, but it helps if you just research everything your thinking of doing first. Have a heads up. Read other posts that people are posting, what they are going through and see what works for them, do your own investigation also. You will always learn something new. When getting advice from others about a situation it's either a hit or miss, meaning: maybe! Everything is different for everybody. It's really up to you to figure things out.
 
I'd be one of those who jumped in and threw fish in a tank with no knowledge of anything. How hard could it be right.....bad mistake. In fact, once everything went sideways I felt so bad I spent years talking to people non stop to learn everything I could. I know I had to have been a nuisance to a few people I learned from and my wife who watches me get anal with this hobby. I'm still learning something new all the time and I haven't began to know what a lot of people just on this site know.
 
I find the specialty, small shops here have been great and stopped a few impulse buys over the years.

Auctions I’ve had to sit on the bidding paddle a few times to keep the impulse buys low.
 
So easy to see something amazing or intriguing and want it. Dumb but true.

AND sometimes fish store people tell you yes it needs this and gets this big. WRONG. Tiny one half inch spotted brownish catfish was told get 4 inches and is like a BN Pleco.

Spotted Raphael Catfish is huge now, almost seemed like she never really stopped growing and eats whatever she can open her mouth and eat. My hand can fit over her body 3.5" across and she is maybe about 8 inches, not 3.5/4" 1.5 inches wide :eek:

Easy to misjudge your ability to stick with maintenance, live food, financial commitment...

We are human and sometimes excitement gets the better of us. Reason I can find really great tanks and deals on CL of higher end stuff for way less than half price ;)!!!
 
Once I sent my husband in to Petsmart for a bottle of prime and dog food. I now realize this was a mistake. He came home with a Bala shark. Bala shark went back lesson learned he is not allowed in a pet store with a fish department!
 
Once I sent my husband in to Petsmart for a bottle of prime and dog food. I now realize this was a mistake. He came home with a Bala shark. Bala shark went back lesson learned he is not allowed in a pet store with a fish department!
No good deed goes unpunished. Lol. In his defense, he was trying to do something nice for you ?
 
Daughter text me one day and asked if i need anything from the big box pet store and i said Prime. She sent a pic from online with the big bottle for sale for a good price, so i told her yes the 2 liter bottle, and she came home with the smallest maybe bottle of 250ml. and I told her it was a tad short of my expectations!

After years she knows better than to try and pick out a fish for me.

The other sad thing is getting a fish you think you know about, but really need a lot more time to learn them - better. i.e. Discus.
 
Two events, same scenario, I was a young inexperienced fishkeeper. Spotted two beautiful fish at my LFS. One was an awesome catfish, jet black with a white belly and a bright red tail. The other fish was an awesome tetra, Red fins with a purple sheen. I stocked both into my 25 gal. Tank.
The catfish turned out to be the predatory giant, Red Tailed catfish, the other was a Pacu. Both were about one inch long when purchased. Within a few months both fish had outgrown my tank. Thankfully the store took them back. Lesson learned. Got to admit, they were really cool fish. Just needed a swimming pool to put them in.
 
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