Biggest mistake I ever made
It's starts with a trip to Walmart yes walmart why do they sell fish I don't know it should be a crime.
My gf at the time wanted some cute little baby oscars so we vary intelligently listen to the employees advice to buy a 10g for out now 2 oscars he said they would be fine. I put them in after 1 hour of starting my cycle because I didn't know anything about cycles I was smart enough to buy prime but that's it.
Somehow my poor little oscars survived my idiot self and they where growing so I visited my petsmart were a slightly brighter employee than the Walmart one advised me I needed at least a 55g for my two oscars and suggested I get a common placo because I needed a "cleaner"
The only good advice she did give me was give me directions to a LFS
Here I got better advice no id say it was good. I still remember the owners name his name was john Hollywood lol
Anyway he advised me I needed at least a 125g because all my fish where going to get bigger mind you they where about 8inches by now.
I found a 180g on Craig's list for 250 with stand a swamp filter john said to save at least half the water and start up he tank right away.
Mistake # 1 I went only with my gf to pick up the tank it was easily 250 + pounds empty weight.
Mistake # 2 i didn't but enough water containers I bought 2 rubber maid 17g plastic storage boxes
Mistake #3 I didn't bother or make any plans for the inhabitants of the 180g tank it was a mbuna tank with about 50 Africans with fry and all
Mistake #4 I went to pick up the tank late it was maybe around 8pm
Mistake #5 because I didn't take any help to move this giant tank I was exhausted when I got home at 10pm it's was hard to drain it all than move it pretty much by myself
Mistake # 6 I knew nothing about how a swamp filter works and I didn't do any research into how they work. So I was unable to get it started I tried until just past 1 am but it was a no go
Mistake # 7 I left all the Africans on the rubber made storage boxes up until 12am before I realized I couldn't leave them in their much longer
Mistake # 8 I dumped half into the 55g with my oscars
because I was worried the 180g wasn't cycled and I was now bearly thinking about this the other half I dumped into the un cycled 180g tank
Mistake # 9 I didn't take into account water perimeters of my tank and the 180g tank nor about my tap water. So this was before I understood ph and nitrites ammonia and so on.
This was a Friday night I over slept but by morning most of the mbuna I dumped into true uncycled 180g were already dead
In the 55g with the oscars all the fry had disappeared basically eaten by the oscars he adults where fighting for their lives but three had been killed in the over night fighting
My gf at the time still wanted to keep them as she liked the mbuna so I vary stupidly listened a week later I kept finding dead mbuna so I finally gave the last survivors to john just 8 survived my ignorance I cycled the tank and learned the hard way how NOT to move a tank