Rant Against So Called Fish Keeping "rules"

[Mako Man111]

Where to begin. First of all I mean no offense to anybody and I am aware that many of these "rules" are in place so that people newer to the hobby can have a good idea where to begin. But, that said...

The rule about fish inches per gallon and stuff similar to that, really, just use your best judgement, you can go over the 1 inch per gallon rule as long as its not completely excessive and you have decent filtration. And you do partial water changes every week or so.

All the stuff about planted tanks and you need this to keep algae at bay ect, well there are just to many variables to narrow it down to what you need, such as water properties and minerals already in the water, the type of light you have not just the wpg, how deep your tank is, how clear your glass lid is, how old your lights are, how often and how much you change your water, and color temp of your lights, and ammount of fish you have, the ammount and type of plants you have..and there are probably more. I think its a bits unfair to say you have to stay under 2wpg if you don't have co2 stuff like that. I say do whatever works for you. Even if you have a little algae it never hurt anyone and in many cases is benefitial to your fish. Don't beat yourself up over strictly adhereing to the rules, do whatever works for you.

Finally, the deal with people saying what you can and cannot keep together. Now there are some obvious exceptions (such as keeping neons with a full grown oscar lol ) but when people say you can't do this or that its not always the case. Most of the time it depends on the personallity of your particular fish. I had can oscar who held his ground and held his own against a severum larger than him, sadly he died of an internal parasite, but when I got a new larger oscar, who was bigger than the sev, and sev tormented him to no end and the oscar would just let him beat him up. My point is, use common sense and see what works for you. Some people say you can't keep angels with disus, others say they make great companions.

Conclusion: There is so much conflicting information out there reguarding fish keeping that it can be confusing and its impossible to say whats going to work for you and what you have to follow. As stated before, see for yourself what works and go from there. Don't kill yourself over trying to follow all of the rules when these rules vary from opinion to opinion, and source to source.


End rant/ All in good fun.

 

[QuotheRaven]

Great comment mako people are so strict in fish keeping. I have 2 tiger barbs and neither of them have ever touch another fishes fin aggressively however others say tiger barbs chase fish and kill them and fin nip 24/7. Each fish is different in personality, Every danio i've owned are aggressive evil buggers although not supposed to be

 

[Bignose]

Well, okay, that all boils down to, every fish has their own personality and maybe you just got lucky.

I don't know of anyone who has stuck to the hobby a long time who has claimed that the 'rules' are hard and fast laws. What you do have to know are the reasons and evidence behind the rules, so that you know when they can be bent. And be prepared to take quick emergency action when you've bent the rules too much.

The 'rules' are guidelines and generalities that are grounded in fact. I.e. most tiger barbs are aggressive, especially if not kept in large enough groups. Yes, there are ones out there who are tame, but most aren't. I.e.#2, the inch per gallon rule can indeed be broken, but you have to know what fish can break them and why (like overstocking a cichlid tank to help spread around aggression) and you have to commit do doing the extra water changes and the extra maintenance and watch the tank more closely for signs of problems. If you are willing to take the extra responsibility, yes, you can bend that rule.

This is really like being in school. You can choose to memorize the facts or the equations or whatever you need for the test. Or you can learn the reasons behind the facts, the equations, etc. When the exam question asks you about a slight variation, or gives a question that is similar, but not exactly the same as the memorized situation, the student who learned (as opposed to just memorized) will have a huge advantage.

In the same way, if you learn about the rules, you learn the foundations as to why the rule has become a rule in the first place, and then you learn how to tweak it to your own designs.

All that said, if you are ranting against the (very few) members who just spout the 'rules' then I suppose you have a point. However, again, most of the long-term fishkeepers I know on here have learned the reasons behind the rule, and completely acknowledge when and where some of the rules can be bent.

 

[SamUK]

Well, okay, that all boils down to, every fish has their own personality and maybe you just got lucky.

I don't know of anyone who has stuck to the hobby a long time who has claimed that the 'rules' are hard and fast laws. What you do have to know are the reasons and evidence behind the rules, so that you know when they can be bent. And be prepared to take quick emergency action when you've bent the rules too much.

The 'rules' are guidelines and generalities that are grounded in fact. I.e. most tiger barbs are aggressive, especially if not kept in large enough groups. Yes, there are ones out there who are tame, but most aren't. I.e.#2, the inch per gallon rule can indeed be broken, but you have to know what fish can break them and why (like overstocking a cichlid tank to help spread around aggression) and you have to commit do doing the extra water changes and the extra maintenance and watch the tank more closely for signs of problems. If you are willing to take the extra responsibility, yes, you can bend that rule.

This is really like being in school. You can choose to memorize the facts or the equations or whatever you need for the test. Or you can learn the reasons behind the facts, the equations, etc. When the exam question asks you about a slight variation, or gives a question that is similar, but not exactly the same as the memorized situation, the student who learned (as opposed to just memorized) will have a huge advantage.

In the same way, if you learn about the rules, you learn the foundations as to why the rule has become a rule in the first place, and then you learn how to tweak it to your own designs.

All that said, if you are ranting against the (very few) members who just spout the 'rules' then I suppose you have a point. However, again, most of the long-term fishkeepers I know on here have learned the reasons behind the rule, and completely acknowledge when and where some of the rules can be bent.

i agree with big nose.


the rules you stated are there for beginners in the hobby and are a good guideline until they have done some research and understand what its gonna take to then go over it or do there own thing.


kinda agree about the planting one tho. so many people seem to think there so hard to keep but i jus stick em in the gravel/sand and thats about it. no fancy lighting or ferts.

 

[OohFeeshy]

Especially with compatability, most 'rules' as you call them invole aggressive fish that, when in the right mindset, are perfectly capable of ripping your entire stock to shreds. It is much better to say, for example, 'do not keep bettas of any other sex with any other fish' than it is to say 'a small propotion of bettas will tolerate other fish, although some may turn nasty later, or not like one particular type of fish, or be picked on themselves, or not even like living in a tank with a filter, so be very very careful' adn have to deal with the end result when someone comes running to the emergency section saying their betta has killed several of their fish.

 

[dwarfgourami]

If everybody is capable of just using their best judgment, how should we deal with the beginners' forum? Should we just refuse to answer their questions?

The rules are basically simplified explanations to new fishkeepers- like grammar is a simplified way of explaining how a language works; obviously, if you're a fluent speaker you're not going to need them.

 

[SPLiSH]

I think they new people to the hobby should start off following the 'rules' - these have become common advice for a reason. As the person becomes more experienced within fishkeeping, they can experiment a bit.

 

[vancouver]

''The rule about fish inches per gallon and stuff similar to that, really, just use your best judgement, you can go over the 1 inch per gallon rule as long as its not completely excessive and you have decent filtration. And you do partial water changes every week or so.''

I always try to say that only really applies to fish that stay under 2'' and tanks under around 15gs..

I understand what you're saying, but it's just an attempt to keep total noobs from making big mistakes.

 

[cjohnston]

I have to say, I have read this with a sigh of relief.

I have before, confessed to what is in my 100l tank and got all sorts of answers back about what shouldn't go in the tank and how what I will do with when they get bigger, some even being on the touch rude!

The answer, everyone lives in harmony and I have an arrangement with my lfs that when my fish get big, I can swap them for a small one of the same species or a different one.





By the way 'total noobs' is exactly what I am talking .

Makes people afraid to ask as they will be critiscied.

Sorry to speak my mind.

 

[raptorrex]

Where to begin. First of all I mean no offense to anybody and I am aware that many of these "rules" are in place so that people newer to the hobby can have a good idea where to begin. But, that said...

The rule about fish inches per gallon and stuff similar to that, really, just use your best judgement, you can go over the 1 inch per gallon rule as long as its not completely excessive and you have decent filtration. And you do partial water changes every week or so.

All the stuff about planted tanks and you need this to keep algae at bay ect, well there are just to many variables to narrow it down to what you need, such as water properties and minerals already in the water, the type of light you have not just the wpg, how deep your tank is, how clear your glass lid is, how old your lights are, how often and how much you change your water, and color temp of your lights, and ammount of fish you have, the ammount and type of plants you have..and there are probably more. I think its a bits unfair to say you have to stay under 2wpg if you don't have co2 stuff like that. I say do whatever works for you. Even if you have a little algae it never hurt anyone and in many cases is benefitial to your fish. Don't beat yourself up over strictly adhereing to the rules, do whatever works for you.

Finally, the deal with people saying what you can and cannot keep together. Now there are some obvious exceptions (such as keeping neons with a full grown oscar lol ) but when people say you can't do this or that its not always the case. Most of the time it depends on the personallity of your particular fish. I had can oscar who held his ground and held his own against a severum larger than him, sadly he died of an internal parasite, but when I got a new larger oscar, who was bigger than the sev, and sev tormented him to no end and the oscar would just let him beat him up. My point is, use common sense and see what works for you. Some people say you can't keep angels with disus, others say they make great companions.

Conclusion: There is so much conflicting information out there reguarding fish keeping that it can be confusing and its impossible to say whats going to work for you and what you have to follow. As stated before, see for yourself what works and go from there. Don't kill yourself over trying to follow all of the rules when these rules vary from opinion to opinion, and source to source.


End rant/ All in good fun.

I couldnt agree more. i bought my first tank as an established community, second hand, it was stocked with tiger barbs, angel fish, RTS and RTS, cory, plecs, guramis, rams. and i added shrimp and crabs, before i really found out the RULES of the hobby. lol the inch per gallon rule says im well over stocked, but if you check the Bio load, its not as bad as you would think. it is a peaceful community, most of the fish are about the same age, so have growen up together. from my point of view, when i started using fish forums to increase my knowledge, i was being told that my community could not exsist. the angels would attack the shrimp!!! the crab would attack averything it could reach!!! the tiger barbs would nip every ones fins, the RFS would harry the RTS. thing is i could not see any of this happening with my crew. it didnt take me long to realise that the RULES were no more than guidlines, and it was the posters that were insisting that they were hard and fast rules.

Great comment mako people are so strict in fish keeping. I have 2 tiger barbs and neither of them have ever touch another fishes fin aggressively however others say tiger barbs chase fish and kill them and fin nip 24/7. Each fish is different in personality, Every danio i've owned are aggressive evil buggers although not supposed to be

lol yeh just like the comminiuty we keep.
some of the members breed shrimp to feed their fish, yet others would rant on if you put shrimp in a tank that has fish in that MAY eat them. it seems the cutoff point is the cost of the stock, not the wellbeing of the animal.

dwarfgourami asks, and i paraphrase here, should we stop giving advice to newbies? i can only answer for myself. i joined many Tropicl forums, and read them all avidly, as such i recieve much varied advice, i take it all on board, then make a dissision, based on the advice given with a pinch of common sense, with a hint of adventure. it may also be worth remembering that, it is people experimenting, be it through knowledge, or lack there of. that developes our understanding of our hobby.

 

[Tolak]

There are no hard & fast rules, just guidelines. These guidelines are just a starting point. Once you get a little experience by all means try going beyond the guidelines after getting some info, and having a backup plan. Without doing this, gaining, and sharing experience, aquatics would never advance.

One that comes to mind is the feeding of beef heart to discus & other N.W. cichlids. I really can't see a discus taking a bite out of a cow standing in the shallows of the Amazon, and the first person to try this was probably looked at as some sort of nut job by fellow aquarists of the time. It has been an accepted staple food for cichlids for as long as I can remember. A newer one is the use of hydrogen peroxide as an anti-fungal for hatching angel spawns. Someone had to take a little risk with this one, and it works very well for many people.

By all means aquarists should come up with ideas once they have a little experience, and toss that idea out on the Internet. Others may have tried it and have suggestions for what works & what doesn't, and also have ideas for a backup plan to get you back to square one relatively safely.

 

[Mako Man111]

All points taken, I know the rules are guidelines to help the people new to the hobby get their feet wet. I was mainly just trying to point out that there are many exceptions to the rules, and opinions on just what exactly the rules are vary greatly. Betta's with tankmates especially, is a good example.