Okay... Time To Fess Up... :)

[DyArianna]

Everyone has made mistakes in their learning process with fish and aquariums.  Some have been minor and others not so minor.  I thought maybe it might be helpful to others if some talked about some of the worst mistakes they made while enjoying the hobby.  I'll start...although mine might be quite standard as I am not so advanced as others... but here goes...
 
I used to have over 200 guppies.  But I only had 5 tanks.  10 gallon tanks to boot!  That was years ago...  now I know better.  The odd thing is...  I didn't take care of my tanks very well and my fish seemed to be thriving!  Have no idea why!  lol 
 
Then there was the time when I first started that I was told I could keep a Shebunkin gold fish and a Ryukin gold fish along with a couple of red finned tetras... guppies and mollies also in a 10 gallon tank.  Did not go well at all...  
 
And lastly.. and hopefully my last uninformed fish purchase...   Yep.. it's alright to put 2 Bala sharks and 2 African dwarf frogs in a 10 gallon uncycled tank!  No problem!!!!   Yep..  no problem... no live. 
 
Do any of you have some experiences that might benefit others along the way?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Aside from not knowing a thing about cycling tanks in the beginning, my first purchase for my brand new 55g tank included 5 male dwarf gourami and a common pleco. The DGs all died of DG disease, and I ended up rehoming the pleco.

 

[Joshwainwright]

About a year of not knowing about cycling and thoroughly cleaning my filter with tap water was the worst I've done. I eventually joined this forum though and my guppies started to live longer
 
I've never really had fish that were ever going to grow giant, before joining this place I just kept guppies and mollies as they seemed to breed like crazy and last the longest

 

[TallTree01]

Several in fact
- was sold a tandanus catfish ( a 3 foot monster ) and told it would live in a 60 l tank. Don't worry. Theyve been in the dam for years now.
- sold 7 tiger barbs to unchecked tank forcing me to do fish- in cycling. They all lived and I rehomed all my barbs when I realised they were inappropriate.
- bought pearl gourami. Rehomed him.
- now the scariest one, I've killed 14 plants.

 

[Joshwainwright]

- now the scariest one, I've killed 14 plants.

If we're confessing about plants, I have to confess that I bought 50 quids worth and kept forgetting to turn on my light when I went to college on a morning. Most of them died...
 
I've ordered a load more today along with some liquid CO2, my light's on a timer now  

 

[Lilfishy]

I started with a 15 gallon tank, took the Lfs advice, added the filter start stuff, & added 6 guppies 6 swordtails 6 tetras & some kind of loach I know to be a Siamese algae eater 3 days later.
Needless to say a lot died as I didn't know about cycling or water changes then
Now I know better & wish Lfs's especially the chains would train their staff better to give good advice

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

-Did water changes without turning off the heater which burned the suction cups and ruined my heater
-Bought 5 tiger barbs like 2 days after i got my first tank one would die each day and i had no clue what was going on
-When moving one of my tank i cleaned everything in my tank and let the filter dry out
-At one point had 2 male dwarf gouramis, a redtail shark, 2 peppered corys, a male sword tail, 3 gold barbs, and 3 what i thought were otocinclus but were CAE in a 15 gallon
 
I havent done anything too bad like getting bala sharks for a 10g but i do have a red tail shark in a 15g who im trying to rehome so i can have a school of tiger barbs

 

[This Old Spouse]

You wouldn't really put a school of tiger barbs in a 15g, would you?

 

[Aviici]

Probably making major boo boo's right now, but here's the ones I know of:
- About 9 years ago kept 2 goldfish (freddie and flipper) in a bowl. My neighbour had two, and he was older than me.. so I had to have some as well, when I realised they were getting big, and it did take a LONG time I moved them to a plastic tank, which was about 40 litres max, thinking that would be great. Did water changes straight from the tap into the tank while keeping the fish in a bowl. Somehow they are still alive, however they're in a pond swimming happily with 5 Koi and some Comets, breeding like it's going out of fashion.
- Before joining this forum I made the mistake of putting 6 male guppies in a 35l tank with my Siamese Fighter, only one had survived.. and he's in a 200l and behaves like Genghis Khan, with his..women
- When setting up my newest tank I didn't soak the bogwood, was floating around a murky tank for about 2 weeks.

 

[NorthEastFisherman]

You wouldn't really put a school of tiger barbs in a 15g, would you?

15G with tiger barbs and a few cories? Yep i would.

 

[frapadoodle]

Wow, where to start?
Well as a boy knew nothing about fishkeeping. Cycling, nope. Water changes, nope. Acclimation, nope.
Neons with Angels, yep. Cae's, yep. Just whatever fish I liked, yep. Cories by themselves, on gravel, yep.
Iridescent sharks, Bala sharks, Red tailed shrarks, yep.
Goldfish with tropicals, yep.

This time, Opaline Gourami in a 10gal., later rehomed to 55gal.
As to killing plants, Elodea, still don't know why. Water Sprite, another question.

Had to save my Altenathera from the cories and Gourami, they were bashing it before it could root. Now recovering with the Betta.

 

[This Old Spouse]

This may turn out to be the most educational thread yet.

 

[Aviici]

This may turn out to be the most educational thread yet.

Yup!

 

[Joshwainwright]

I'm sure there's going to be some people just don't want to admit

 

[This Old Spouse]

I'm sure you're right. But why not? We weren't born fishkeepers, after all.