Top 5 beginner fish keeping mistakes

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

there's many things you guys are better at that us Brits....like dental hygiene

Myth...there's a huge difference between your average American and those we get to see on TV and in the movies and glossy magazines. Don't forget that practically all health care, including dental, is hugely expensive over there.
I like raccoons and think that they are another great example of Mother nature showing versatility within a toxic environment, not too dissimilar from our own urban wildlife.

 

[FishHobby99]

Myth...there's a huge difference between your average American and those we get to see on TV and in the movies and glossy magazines. Don't forget that practically all health care, including dental, is hugely expensive over there.
I like raccoons and think that they are another great example of Mother nature showing versatility within a toxic environment, not too dissimilar from our own urban wildlife.

Speaking of TV we’re watching the British version of Law & Order. Love it! Didn’t realize an American show would have a Brit version!

 

[FishHobby99]

He's young and American, so it's to be expected

We can’t all be as bright as the progeny of penal colony deports to Down Under.

 

[badbrownbear]

Amen to cycling your tank.

Abit of contradictory information there for me. He mentioned don’t chase water parameters Because fish have been bred in captivity but then said In the wild fish don’t eat much and it’s in their DNA.

Am I missing something?

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Abit of contradictory information there for me. He mentioned don’t chase water parameters Because fish have been bred in captivity but then said In the wild fish don’t eat much and it’s in their DNA.

Am I missing something?

Nope.
Water parameters ARE important, regardless of where the fish was bred and don't forget, sometimes you'll never know where the fish originally came from. Some 'wild caught' fish turn out to have been intensively farm-bred, whilst some so-called 'farm bred' where actually plundered from a local water source.
It's often a good plan to take what the naturally-occurring conditions are for each fish as your starting point, especially given that they have (probably) evolved to live in that particular water.
All that said, thirty years ago, Discus were definitely a specialist fish, needing specialist fish care. Today, whilst still having relatively special needs, most are now farm-bred, many in eastern Europe, and these are definitely more robust than their wild-caught cousins.

The other point the chap may be trying to convey is that it is often an overly complex exercise to adapt your water to match the needs of your fish and far, far easier to match the fish to your water.

 

[Rocky998]

(although I take that as a compliment because Raccoons are smarter than Pandas)

 

[Tacocat]

Honestly, I agree. Racoons are little bastards and will somehow find a way into your trash one way or another. One time I watched two help each other knock bricks off the garbage to get into it.

However, they are really cool though.

 

[itiwhetu]

I am tired of hearing that fish are bred in tanks all over the world so you don't need to bother too much about their parameters and especially don't worry about pH, they will be fine. Almost every fish that has a problem on this forum site is because that fish is being kept in a tank not suited to them and the most common cause is high ph.