What did you do when you started fishkeeping?

[Auratus]

I had a shabunkin, fancy goldfish, and a pleco in a one gallon.

That was like 5 years ago.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I never had any disasters. Considering the state my fish were in, I am surprised! I had 10 or so goldfish in a 40l tank. I never did water changes, I had a filter and used dechlorinator when I did change any water.

Strangely I had no problems at all. TYhe fish were moved to a 160l about 6 months later. This was 2 years ago, the fish are for the most part still alive and well. The goldies and comets went a pond about a month ago and the weather loach is currently king of my 160l.

 

[cometcattle]

Dechlorinator???

I was like eight.

 

[Cheese Specialist]

Dechlorinator???

I was like eight.

LOL I was 19

 

[CatLover]

I had a VERY hardy cichlid once. He was an adult and I was keeping him in a small tank (that's what he was given to me in and I had no money of my own at the time). I have no clue what species he was, and I don't have any pics and just barely remember what he looks like, so I guess I will never know what he was.
Anyway, I named him Thrash because he was mean as hell. At the time I had no idea there was chlorine in tap water, so I never used any chemicals to make the water safe. I had him for about a year, so of course I did several water changes and he survived a year with just straight tap water. One day I guess all the chlorine finally caught up with him, and he died.

That's the worst experience I have ever had with fish.

 

[vantgE]

Six african cichlids placed in a uncycled ten gallon tank two deaths

 

[mrcrabbs]

On my first tank, 10 gallons, my heater came on... Never turned off.... 90 degrees or something. All my fish died. Then about 6 years later I got back into the hobby.

 

[Doggfather]

A goldfish in a 1 gallon tank when i was 5

 

[mr_br0kn_drmz]

please dont be mad at me for this one puffer lovers...

i was maybe 12 and i went to the lfs with my dad and i saw this really kewl looking puffer. i begged my dad for it, he eventually got it for me. i remember the store keeper telling me it was a salt water puffer. so i got it home and put it into a 1 gallon tank with untreated tap water with table salt. it died that very day.

 

[cutechic]

1. 3 white clouds in a 1/4 Gallon tank (Aquababies ) with water changes once every two weeks. Surprisingly, they all lived.

2. An ADF in an unheated 5 gallon tank; fed goldfish flakes. I had 6 of these total (one after the other, not altogether). None lasted more than a couple weeks The lfs said the gravel (bought at the same lfs) was reacting with my tap water

Poor fish & frogs

 

[Lenna]

I put a freshwater shrimp from a local creek into a 5g tank with no dechlorinator. Poor little guy lasted less than 6 hours - I was 8. Once I learned about dechlorinator I had a few guppies in this tank with a redclaw crayfish, shrimp and three natives. I used to take all the fish out and clean the tank really thoroughly , it had an UGF. Surprisingly, none of them died until there was a power outage while I was away. All plants died and I came home to this stinking soup- none of the guppies died though, not even the fry- tough little buggers. A few years later I got a 10g for my birthday (12) and continued to clean it in the same way. I used to throw away the filter media every time I cleaned the tank. I had 2 peppered corys, 3 neon tetras, 3 zebras danios and the survivors from the earlier disaster. I don't know how I did this, but I only lost 1 of the corys and 1 of the tetras jumped out. I had them for a year before I had to give them to my cousin when I moved away. She'd killed them all within 2 months (she must have been pretty bad). A few years ago I had 6 gouramis in a 15g because the LFS had no info on their adult size and I thought they were full grown. I'm so glad I found this forum. I did every newby thing wrong and learned everything I know through trial and error. I wish I'd found this place ages ago and saved myself the trouble

 

[PETsMARTchick]

I had a Black Moor, Fan Tail, and 3 Rosey Reds(saved) in a 2 gallon!!!!! And I wondered why they all died in a week. What an idiot! But this was when I was a pre-teen and didn't know squat about fish. I was so upset that I gave up on fish til I started working at PETsMART.

 

[fishdudein]

I didn't really get my "own" aquarium until I was maybe 9 or 10, but I remember before that the family had goldfish (in one of those drum type goldfish bowls of course), and I got to help take care of them. Every week or so the bowl would need to be cleaned For some reason, we did not own a fish net.....made do with a big metal slotted spoon. Scooped those goldies right out of that bowl, kinda like Campbell's Chunky Soup Yes, this is something I will never forget

 

[Sorrell]

When I was 6 I had a ten gallon with black and white gravel, black and white plants four black skirt tetras, six zebra danios, two angels (one balck and one white-who'd of guessed?) two dalmation mollies, two pepper cories, and a common pleco. No grey area there Anyway, I fed them once a day, but other than that only touched it one a year when I put the fish in a bowl and I tore the tank down, boiled the gravel and scrubbed the whole tank, then I'd fill er up and net the fish back in I had all those fish in there for three years, when one morning my heater exploded filling the tank with a thick black cloud and all the fish except my pleco died. When I was ten I actually started researching fish and then I had some nice tanks after the black and white fiasco.

 

[Auratus]

Correction. I did have one tank before that. It was a half gallon with two tiny black moors just poured in (not aclimated at all) with some live anarchis floating at the top. So much that there was no way for them to get air. They were dead the next morning...

But after my Grandpa found out he told me the basic stuff. He used to have seahorses when my mom was a kid.