Only Human!

[QuotheRaven]

because they stated the filter pad should be cleaned every 2 weeks or 3 weeks and replaced every 6 months and they took my filter pads and made me buy new ones (I had to get my filter repaired) Instead you clean the pads with old tank water every 3 months I think it is and only rinse them off not do a complete clean

 

[mr williams]

thanks

 

[puddle_inc]

can you give me some advice on filter pads? why not listen to lfs?

the people that work in most LFSs don't know too much of what there talking about, sometimes they try to but they usually have no clue about things. they will hire anyone at most places.

 

[thefirethief]

I think Ive done okay, all things considered. I read and read and read before my first tank but still gave into a few temptations.

Ive got an angel in a 30G which is going to need re-housed in about 6 months i reckon.

Lobbing plants in without a clue. Most rotted away, a few grew uncontrollably and looked well.... crap.



I had terrapins when was about 12 and they lived in a nice stagnant mess of a tank. they lasted quite a few years but when I think back to how clatty it was I still feel like a right prat.

 

[CFC]

When we got our first "proper" tank which was a Juwel Rekord 120 we made all kinds of errors. Before that we had a little 5-10g coldwater tank with a few danios a couple of peppered cories and a CAE and the tank must have cycled without us ever knowing so when we got the big tank we just filled it, added dechlorinator and left it to run empty for a week, as per the LFS instructions.
After the week we started adding fish, just 3 or 4 a week as we had been told but within a month we had hit trouble with huge nitrite problems and most of our fish died.
We also did the buying bala sharks and clown loaches for a small tank and putting brackish fish in freshwater, and buying non aquatic plants which then rotted within a month. To be honest any other industry would be closed down by trading standards for the ammount of poor and false information given out by the majority of fish stores.
In the end i was so fed up with being given crap advise and lied to that i bought a load of books and read them cover to cover again and again until i understood everything that i needed to know. Unfortunately that meant having to buy more tanks for somewhere to put all this new found knowledge to use

 

[dwarfgourami]

I don't like to think about my first tank. I think it was a 60 ltr, at least I hope it was and not even smaller. It housed a couple of this and a couple of that, making far too many in total, nothing thought out, no knowledge going into the stocking whatsoever. The mollies got ich, because I did not know about keeping them in hard water, and the Chinese Algae Eater jumped to its death because I didn't know it would. By some curious stroke of fortune I was spared a major die off, but honestly I knew NOTHING. To be fair, it was less easy 30 years ago, particularly when living in a far-off corner in the world, no internet of course, harder to order books, or even to know what books there were, and considerably less money around. The thing that strikes me now is how much more FUN fishkeeping is when you know something about fishy needs and behaviour.

 

[stang1]

I cleaned out my community tank removing bogwood and rock to give it a thorough clean being extra dilligent to make sure nothing was hitching a lift. After I'd sorted everything I noticed a neon tetra dead on the floor. He must have been caught up in the planted bogwood. Felt awful about it!

 

[linda1503]

When I had 2 three foot tanks together on a metal stand (one on the top and one on the bottom), one of the tanks had blue gravel and one had red gravel. I thought that they looked SO cool!!!

Washing the filter every week in tap water! Looking back i don't think I ever had a 'cycled' tank!

As soon as they started to look too manky, about every 6 months or so, I would take everything out and scrub it, gravel, filter, fish, (just kidding about the fish )

Flushing every dead fish down the loo!

Keeping bala sharks, angels and tetras together.

Kept black molllies in a fresh water community tank and wondering why they kept dieing on me!

Only ever kept one cory in a tank, they must have been soo lonely!

Oh, when I think back the list of mistakes could go on and on! Please don't hate me!



By the way, this was about 20years ago, I have learnt a bit since then, honest!

 

[sparklefuzz]

When I was about 12, I bought a goldfish bowl and 3 goldfish. They only got cleaned when the water was so brown I couldn't see the fish. When any died, which they of course did... I'd just go buy another.

Then my Dad bought me a tank, I reckon it was about 10g, might have been a little bigger. It had a fluval filter... and I stocked it with goldfish, I think I had 7 at one time. Every week, I'd fill the bathroom sink with cold water, net the goldies and put them into the sink... then using a jug, empty the tank until there was an inch or so water left in it, then I'd carry the whole thing into the bath and scrub it to death. The filter was scrubbed and the gravel was thoroughly washed out. Then I'd put it back and fill it with jugs of cold water, then net the fish out of the sink and put them back. I also used to sometimes fill the bath - which was never the cleanest of baths either, I'd fill it and put the fish in for a couple hours thinking they'd love it.

The sad thing is, when hubby and I bought our first house, we went out and bought a goldfish bowl and a goldfish, and I did exactly the same, even at the age of 21. I knew no better, never heard of water conditioner, or gave a thought to how brown water actually affects a fish... and it was always freezing cold water out of the tap too. Poor babies.

 

[Richie Hell]

We managed to avoid any real bad mistakes thanks to this place, but we had a few.

The worst one was buying a used tank with mature filter medi, and leaving it sitting upstairs for 3 hours before we could be bothered to add water. Then we wondered why the tank wasn't cycled....

The other real mistake was not giving it a good clean before setting it up, and thinking "ooh a snail, how cute"....

Other than that, we tried adding Mollies, which lasted about 3 hours before we had to take them back. Everyone survived thankfully. Also tried some ADFs, but we could never see them and check they were eating, and they eventually died.

 

[noshybabs]

Ibe been keeping fish on and off for about 6 years, mostly off, and in that time ive made some real booboo's

My top 5 are

1. Turning on my heater without there being enough water in the tank to cover it....... It exploded, melted my filter housing, electricuted my fish

2. Not quarentening fish, Had white spot 5 times because of this!!!!

3. Over feeding! I red someonwhere in a mad aritcle that you give them enough to last 20 mins! Amazingly high nitrate as a result

4. Over stocking. "My fish have no tails and chase eacher about??" It cause its over stocked you jerk!!!

5. this one is good, as i only did it yesterday, I got my self a new Nano 40 filled it with sand, and set everything up for cycling, I though !!!!! idea! how about i clean the sponges from mu other tank in the water of the new one and it will quicken the cycling process!! one problem! now there is sludge all over my fresh new sand

will i ever learn!!

(didnt see this thread before )

 

[Miss Wiggle]

glad to know i'm not alone!

my first tank wasn't properly cycled either, just set up to run for 2 weeks before adding fish slowly.... but in my defence my dad helped me set it up and he kept fish 20/30 years before so fishless cycling wasn't around at all then.

it was also horribly stocked, was about 25g, i had bala sharks, kissing gourami's, way too many small fish, never thought about compatibility or anything like that, just chucked them in together and hoped for the best. didn't use water conditioner (although i think after scrubbing the filter clean that was the least of my worries!). had no clue about water chemistry etc.

i feel so bad for it now i guess that's why i try and help out newbies as much as i can. make up for my mistakes by stopping others making them

 

[methodmza_uk]

I read up on cycling before hand as a mate of mine bought 7 red belly piranhas for a 50gal tank and put them in with about 3 hours of filling it up. Everybody knows what happened to them fish!!

As for mistakes, when i first set my 14gal up I bought 5 guppies. Everything fine, then bought a male siamese fighter. Woke up in the morning all the guppies had no fins left and 3 died, i think from stress after having a fight. The fighter went to another tank after that!!

Also bought colwater plants without knowing and they nearly ruined my tank. Slime everywhere after a while.

 

[my fat fish]

well i have done some stupid things

1# wake up one morning go out and think hey ill spend soe pennies on a nice fish tank so i got a rakord 80 thinking this is big (never seen this forums before then) will get loads of fish in here
so i get hom set it all up and get it running i go back 2 fish store next day as they told me to get the fish from them the next day, so i go in and look around at fish and am thinking grate will get 1 of them and 1 of them and racked up a big list then thought hey i will look next door and thtas wher i got lucky. the lady ther told me how 2 really start up the tank and about cycling it and all that tosh otherwise could have been a disaster wating to happen as the firstfish store only cared about sales

2# finally set up my tank with my biggest regret synce i used blue gravel im soo ashames i regreat ti everyday lol

3# found this forums and waste lots f my life on here now , dont get me wrong i glad i found this place (fish is not time consuming its life consuming)

4# dident think to ask anyone her and went off to the shops in need of algae eaters and they sold me 2BN plecs for a 3ft tank and told me they would rach only 4" each later discover there gonna be biggish

5# buy some tetras all going well with them untill 1 of them pops (dont ask was grose) never found out y thta happened tho maby not my falt maby my fault dont know,

6# buy a gravel vac decyde its crap so i get an eletric one that has a little thing that spins around cutting up big particals so i dont jam the vac up, it came with a little cover aswell so i dident suck fish up but if i did they would notreach the spinning thingy. well i lost this little cover for it and thoght if i keep low ill get away with it all going well then i suck up a tetra (nasty sight i feel bad about that)

7# my mollies have baies and i manag 2 love 3 of them i think when i added fully grown dwarf gourmies they ate 3 of the babies being as small as they were

8# no i got a pregnant gourmie with white spot am treating it and would also like to keep the babies so i need to cure her before she has babies
(eggs) or she cant be moved to my other tank cos my clown loach will most likely die from it

9# thought this would be a nice and easy hobbie its the bloody hardest i have had so far

ooh and my 10# mistake is all my bad spellings in ther

 

[insanityseeker]

putting a male and female fighter together... or not waiting long enough for the tank to cycle...