Unpopular Opinions (fish related)

[Rocky998]

Ok,two of the better youtube hosts? Showed their latest and I was shocked. Co-op's 800 gallon was not just cloudy water and algae filled, it also had like 50 Rosy barbs looking like goldfish. That aquarium cost $16,000. I felt sorry for the big MBU puffer because that aquarium had no flow in it. Just filtered by canisters and Co2. My analysis is that it is woefully under filtered and that big puffer being fed whole clams means they need a real beefy pump moving thousands of GPH and either a sand filter or large sump. Not Fluval cannisters.
The other was Bentley Pascoe who did a tour of his planted aquariums. It was like Bentley- who I like- was blind to the rotting leaves, algae, and water drips all over the glass. BBA was everywhere even the front glass.
Makes me wonder if once you get settled in as a youtuber..upkeep seems to slip. In fact I could go on with some youtubers who show their aquariums and ...the ratty look they are blind to.
Funny thing is ? King of diy at least knows filters very well even if fish keeping itself seems sort of new to him.

Algae isnt always bad... Some people do like it... I like algae in moderation and honestly wouldnt mind the two sides of my tank being covered... Algae is naturally found and it starts growing when there is an imbalance... To me, that sounds like nature trying to help you because the algae is fixing an imbalance... Some people find it and fix it which is good but I let algae grow and dont worry unless it looks really bad and is actually doing harm

 

[gilpi]

Ooohh, grabbing the popcorn for this thread!

Feeding the popcorn to the fish

 

[Stan510]

I left out,it was BBA. On even the front glass. BBA on the inside glass,drip marks on the outside.Up to then,he had a fine channel. I don't get why he showed what must be the worst he has,far,far from the best of other years.

 

[Caesar]

As long as my fish are healthy, if I'm tired aesthetics be damned

 

[Stan510]

I don't care for videos of collecting wild fish. To see some idyllic clear pond or stream and the fish caught with a later view of those same fish in a rundown warehouse crowded by the thousands is depressing.
I'm older these days so I'm not sure of I posted this before!
But a new collect vid was posted and I skimmed over it. Once again,the same formula.

 

[Stan510]

Also Kevin Novak posted today a vid and you might notice he says what I've been saying,all you really need to grow plants besides the right lights and substrates is..ta da- IRON. You don't need the 19 flavors that Barr puts out there as gospel unless you are using R.O. water of course.
My only tweak would be potassium. Java fern's spots disappear when you add potassium.
I mean any all purpose aquarium fertilizer main ingredient is iron. There you go.

 

[Stan510]

Or how about this? ALL aquascaped tanks start to look alike. Its a formula,derivative. Some 'scapers set up tanks knowing already what it's going to look like in weeks. Where's the fun in that?

On the other hand,if that's what you wanted- Amano like plants in that design? Then that's a good thing.

 

[Madisonkrug]

Okay guys HOT TAKE... but I personally don't believe that there is a wrong way to keep fish. The fish keeping hobby is already unnatural and each tank is its own experiment. Obviously putting a fresh water fish in a salt water tank ( or putting a fish in an environment it clearly wont be supported in ) is wrong, however once you've got the basics these fish need to survive, there really is no right from wrong. Tank mates, substrates, water parameters, stocking levels, tank size and foods these aren't really the be all end all of fish keeping; it is what we have tried and had success with in the past. Knowing what has and hasn't been successful for others can be beneficial to someone who doesn't know the ins and outs of fish, but that doesn't mean it is set in stone as some people may believe. In reality we cannot replicate nature in a glass box. In the wild there are thousands of factors each contributing to any one fish's environment, there cant possibly be a list of things you need to do to copy and paste that into a enclosed space. In nature factors occur for better or for worse and they all take a toll on a fish's lifecycle. So if you cannot replicate nature in a tank, why are we all trying so hard to? Try keeping fish that totally don't belong together, pushing the limits of your knowledge of these fish and expanding on what we think is possible in this hobby. In nature there are no stocking levels, fish spawn and the ones that survive keep reproducing growing the population no matter how many gallons of water they live in. In nature there are no tank mates big fish and small fish live together in healthy ecosystems, you don't see the natural population of neon tetras wiped out in the amazon after one angy angel fish swims by!!! But in your tank that might just be the case. In nature there are invasive species that come from all over the world scattered about in places we never could have imagined they would thrive, adapting to the new environment and running rampant. Time after time again nature proves to us that we cannot replicate its effects and yet we stay with our cookie cutter ideas of what is possible, what we think nature wants and we stopped exploring the possibilities. Stop telling people they cant keep guppies if their water is soft. Stop telling people they need an inch per gallon. Stop telling people corys need to have sand and the world might end of they keep them with gravel. Stop limiting what can be done because you've been too afraid to test out your knowledge of fish and how it would actually look, you cant just take someone else's experience as fact. This is a hobby you need to learn for yourself. Fill a tank with gravel and watch those corys thrive anyways!! lol thats my hot take

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Well I respectfully disagree

You cannot compare what happens in a natural situation to what happens in an enclosed glass or acrylic box.

Whether it is a lake or a river or swamp, the water is naturally moving and refreshed either by rainfall, the flow of a river or a waterfall etc

You cannot fully replicate nature in an aquarium to the same effect, unless you have a massive aquarium and even those are not complete replications of nature

A filter recycles the water, a river flows thus constantly changing the water

Rivers and lakes offer a wider variety of hiding spots, plants that are significantly larger and more diverse and lakebeds/riverbeds usually consist of a mix of gravel, sand, mulm and fallen branches etc As a result fish in the wild adpat to their surroundings, a fish in an aquarium with the wrong substrate such as Cories on gravel, cannot adapt. They get hurt instead.

Mixing fish species can be done, including mixing species that you shouldn't....but mixing species or keeping hard water fish in soft water is not beneficial to their health and welfare

Having the right hardness and pH is vital for the health of fish. Just cos you can keep fish in the wrong conditions doesn't mean that you should.

 

[Madisonkrug]

Well I respectfully disagree

You cannot compare what happens in a natural situation to what happens in an enclosed glass or acrylic box.

Whether it is a lake or a river or swamp, the water is naturally moving and refreshed either by rainfall, the flow of a river or a waterfall etc

You cannot fully replicate nature in an aquarium to the same effect, unless you have a massive aquarium and even those are not complete replications of nature

A filter recycles the water, a river flows thus constantly changing the water

Rivers and lakes offer a wider variety of hiding spots, plants that are significantly larger and more diverse and lakebeds/riverbeds usually consist of a mix of gravel, sand, mulm and fallen branches etc As a result fish in the wild adpat to their surroundings, a fish in an aquarium with the wrong substrate such as Cories on gravel, cannot adapt. They get hurt instead.

Mixing fish species can be done, including mixing species that you shouldn't....but mixing species or keeping hard water fish in soft water is not beneficial to their health and welfare

Having the right hardness and pH is vital for the health of fish. Just cos you can keep fish in the wrong conditions doesn't mean that you should.

You didn't get my point and that's fine, as i said you cant replicate nature in an aquarium and that other than the basic requirements that a fish needs it can vary a tad and people need to stop stressing so much over having perfect environments when it isn't possible to have everything perfect all the time. Keeping healthy water and their approximate water needs IS important but its not the be all end all that is is EXACT. As i said as an example you can still have gravel in your Cory tank that doesn't mean there aren't other factors that can increase your success with gravel in a cory tank such as plants mulm and a mixture of sand in there as well but you still CAN have gravel and they CAN thrive its all personal experience.
Take that as you may

 

[Stan510]

I don't hold Ohio Fish Rescue to public aquarium standards BUT! They really need to drop the ugly and tacky decor of sunken ships and the like in those aquariums. The electric eel would like some driftwood ( Notice they look themselves like logs) to blend in with. A hollow log even better.
Only in America do you see any aquarists with toys in with fish. It sort of says fish are toys and even disposable..the opposite of what OFR wants to convey I bet.

 

[Madisonkrug]

I don't hold Ohio Fish Rescue to public aquarium standards BUT! They really need to drop the ugly and tacky decor of sunken ships and the like in those aquariums. The electric eel would like some driftwood ( Notice they look themselves like logs) to blend in with. A hollow log even better.
Only in America do you see any aquarists with toys in with fish. It sort of says fish are toys and even disposable..the opposite of what OFR wants to convey I bet.

So true!! they look bad and i cant imagine theyre providing much or any benefits to the fish! Poor guys im sure theyd much prefer something more naturalistic even if its a fake log better than nothing!

 

[Oblio]

I don't hold Ohio Fish Rescue to public aquarium standards BUT! They really need to drop the ugly and tacky decor of sunken ships and the like in those aquariums. The electric eel would like some driftwood ( Notice they look themselves like logs) to blend in with. A hollow log even better.
Only in America do you see any aquarists with toys in with fish. It sort of says fish are toys and even disposable..the opposite of what OFR wants to convey I bet.

My Corys like to hide/forage in a large sunken ship.

 

[Caesar]

The purist in me is struggling.

 

[Stan510]

Ok,here's a biggie. If you paid big money for lights that top out at 6,500K? You wasted your money. Sure,they grow plants just fine- so do shoplight's at 5,000K and you can get them for $20. No,what you want are lights that run 7,500-9,000. In those lights fish light up and plants grow faster with less scum algae growth. The 5-6500K lights are loved by BBA.
Why,why? Do they even make 6500 and less lights for the aquarium trade? Its like some engineer told the company "Matches sunlight" and that is not true. In lower K lights goldfish are never red...in a pond on a sunny day? Goldfish and Koi are RED.
I don't get it really how the whole point of the hobby- eyeballs on nice looking things and color- falls to LED that are flat as a pancake.