Post your biggest fishkeeping mistake

bearwithfish

well mine has to be the typical new guy mistake only i was not new at the time (well to fish keeping any how) a few week ago i put an anemone in my tank and between it, my brittle starfish, and a nice size colony of Zoa's i had a chemical warfare and a physical fight that wiped out the tank..... i am still working to recover from that one looks like a few more weeks or months to regain previous levels of progress... almost a total loss

TexasTanker

I bought a 10 gallon deluxe set up and set it up EXACTLY like at the store, from gravel color, decor, to stocking. The lady said if I bought this stuff called "cycle" I could stock it right away. She said wait a few days between each fish, and that if I get a couple plants I'd only have to do monthly water changes. The tank was so toxic that it wouldn't cycle. I had to get a 20 gallon bare tank to detox all the fish and mooch cycled media from people. I started the ten gallon over, following the directions on the website. I put one fish in it and I seeded it. I did water changes weekly, and waited for all the levels to spike and drop. Once it was cycled I dumped ALL 13 of those other fish back in there. OOPS!!!

cbeard

My biggest mistake had nothing to do with what I did, per se, but what I accidentally allowed to happen.

I worked at a pet store that sold fish- both salt water and fresh. During the 'Nemo' craze, a woman came in, bought a Beta bowl and asked me for a 'Percula Clownfish'. I did the regular, and asked the woman if she realized it was salt water, and she said "Oh yeah, I know". So I assumed she planned on putting it in a salt water tank.

about an hour later she called because the fish had gotten very ill, and it was because she put it into the beta bowl despite what I had told her.

I know I took the fish back, but I have no idea what else came of it, I don't remember. Still, this was definitely my biggest mistake.

Administrator

The protein skimmer that came with our ProClear 150 Pro wet/dry wasn't working, and since cleaning it and replacing the pump didn't do the trick we bought a new skimmer. We got a Marine Technical Concepts TM3000 Columnar Protein Skimmer, which is a hang-on unit whereas the one that came with the wet/dry was seated in the wet/dry itself.

Since there was a big empty space where the integrated skimmer had been, I figured it was a good place to put the water pump for the new skimmer. I set it up and had it running for a few weeks before realizing that by putting the pump in that chamber, all of the water it sent up to the skimmer was bypassing the wet dry and was being returned to the tank unfiltered.

The skimmer's water pump is now in in the same chamber that returns the filtered water to the tank.

Inga

Well this is a fabulous thread for us "newbies" to learn from. :) Thanks for sharing your horror stories. I think they are great reminders to proceed with caution and always pay attention to what you are doing. :)

and I thought getting and owning fish would be easy and fun. ha ha ha ha

Back to my virtual tank on "fishville" from facebook.

aunt kymmie

Getting a 6gl tank (given to me) by a friend that was moving to Ohio. The tank was stocked with one upside down catfish and one serpae tetra. I went out the very next day and purchased a pictus catfish, a common pleco, three neons and three danios, and two more serpae tetras and then added them all at once to the 6gl tank.
Daily water testing showed ammonia every single day, water changes were performed every single day.

Long story short, a 100gl display was purchased less than a week later. I rehomed the common pleco to my LFS, the upside down cat died, and everyone else went into the 100 gl display. Of those fish that went into the display I still have the pictus cat and a lone danio. The 2 danios, 3 serpaes and 3 neons all disappeared within the first month of being in the 100gl. Never found any bodies.

It's a good thing I found this forum the day I purchased my 100gl or who knows what would be in my 100gl by now, lol.

bearwithfish

inga welcom to the forum!!!!!!!!! glad we could help even if we had no clue at the time LOL as for fishville i love that game i am on every night!!!!!!!

dfbiggs

jpbotha...yours made me laugh hard because I could just picture it...seems like something that would happen to me..

Inga

Thanks, I am happy to be here, I have learned so much already and have so far to go. The tank is up just today and already, I have regrets. lol

I just found a tank (after setting this one up) that was a 75 gallon for $40.00 less then what I paid for this 60 gallon.

Also, I had my heart set on some Cichlids so I got plastic plants and rocks. Now I wish I would have gone with live plants because I am told that the Cichlids I want won't fit in my tank. Dang! Well, I have the trickle noise I wanted, maybe I could skip the fish altogether. lol

My fish on fishville thrive, I hope when I finally get fish in my tank, they do as well.

bearwithfish

ohhh they will... just take your time and start slow..... i dont want to hijack this thread so i will comment in another of your posts....