What's The Biggest Mistake You've Ever Made In The Aquarium Ho

[fish48]

biggest mistake getting a tank in the first place i now have as many as a local pet shop lol.
a big mistake i have done was to catch a foot long LIMA SHOVELNOSE CATFISH i didn't have a net at the time
the CATFISH was in a bucket i when't to lift it out with with my hands i felt a sharp pain in my hand the catfish pectoral fin got stuck in the palm of my hand. the pectoral fin is a thin bone with a very fine edge of teeth down one side of it. a bit like looking at the edge of a saw. i couldn't remove the fish with out cuting through the pectoral fin. whent to the hospital they couldn't remove the bone and tald me it would eventually come out by it self and 3 month later the bone of all most a inch in length came out the other side of my hand lol.
btw the catfish fish soon recovered

 

[Curiosity101]

Lol @ Verminator. I've exploaded heaters twice! On two seperate occasions. I have now finally learnt my lesson and 'touch wood' remember to turn it off now. Or at the very least I un stick it and lay down along the bottom of the tank.

 

[Carlovel1]

My worst mistake happened a few days ago, I dropped my iPhone 4 into my tank

 

[GAB99]

My worst mistake happened a few days ago, I dropped my iPhone 4 into my tank

i wouldnt say a big mistake more massive fail

im just teasing hope it tuned out ok eventually?

btw it was my fault for leaving the lidopen to feed the fish, go to the bathroom and have cousin feed them 'oweo'

 

[Carlovel1]

Its still working after I dried it with a hair dryer

 

[BadBadger]

Sucking up a couple of baby kribs whilst doing a bit of a clean and then only realising my mistake as they were waving goodbye

 

[Channti]

Bala Shark in a 15 gallon tank + Guppies and a Male Dwarf Gourami......Chaos followed. I lost 3 guppies, and the bala shark and gourami were both rehomed for terrorizing the other inhabitants.

5 gallons of water in the carpet when doing a waterchange and not watching my bucket. Now I've learned my lesson; invested in a 50ft Python that will reach ALL tanks in my house.

Using an Elite heater without listening to the warnings... Heater got stuck on; tank was around 94F when I saw it. Thankfully, my Bettas were both still alive, and recovered just fine from their near-boiling incident. Now using a Hydor Theo heater in the tank.

Putting a common pleco in a 15 gallon tank at the suggestion of my LFS staff.

Introducing fish with ick into a community tank.

Not checking the impeller of a "broken" filter before putting it in the box and buying a new one. Pulled out that "broken" filter a year later; ran some warm water through it after cleaning the impeller with a q-tip, and now it's working good as new.

Forgetting a piece of blanched Zuchinni was in a 15 gallon tank... finding it 3 days later after wondering what the raunchy smell was and why my water was so disgusting.

Fish Related; Dumping a full container of fish food all over the carpet the day after buying it (and not one of the small containers either... about 100 grams of flake food all over the carpet.

Getting the MagFloat stuck on the glass, jerking it quickly to move it, and smashing into the suction cup'd glass thermometer.....on TWO separate occasions. Thankfully, I didn't smash the center "red" part on either occasion... just the glass that surrounds it and got all those silver little balls in the bottom all through my gravel. I've since learned to remove the thermometer before doing ANYTHING in my tank.

Transporting my betta home in a cup in -20C weather. And leaving him in his cup on the floor of the truck while I went to get a coffee and bagel. I got back 10 minutes later and his water was ice cold and he was grey. Still alive to this day though. He rode the rest of the way home with his cup wrapped in mittens while I frantically attempted to heat his cup water with the heat from my hands.

.......
I'm trying to avoid making more mistakes to add to this list by reading and writing a lot here

 

[rustyspurs]

my biggest mistake lead to my interest in the hobby, my sister had a 5gallon hexagonal tank in her garage which i took to get my goldfish out of the bowl he was in. i knew nothing about cycling and lost him within a day( after surviving in a rotten bowl for two years, figures). i then bought a Bala from the local fish shop before, on some whim checking what size they grow too. Panick ensued and i got a cheap 4ft tank.
its now two yrs or so later and i have a 5ft, 90 gallon and a 15 gallon betta tank and love kepping fish.
i still cringe when i think of some of the conditions i let my early fish exist in, but hey u live and learn.

 

[fry_forever!]

my biggest mistake lead to my interest in the hobby, my sister had a 5gallon hexagonal tank in her garage which i took to get my goldfish out of the bowl he was in. i knew nothing about cycling and lost him within a day( after surviving in a rotten bowl for two years, figures). i then bought a Bala from the local fish shop before, on some whim checking what size they grow too. Panick ensued and i got a cheap 4ft tank.
its now two yrs or so later and i have a 5ft, 90 gallon and a 15 gallon betta tank and love kepping fish.
i still cringe when i think of some of the conditions i let my early fish exist in, but hey u live and learn.

I've done it before too, no worries.

 

[Sesshis_grl]

Oh gosh...so new to the hobby and lots of mistakes

my biggest mistake? putting two puffers in my new uncycled tank with community fish...*head to desk* lol not good

 

[Amunet]

Getting fish before the tank cycled.
I did the typical newbie mistake. And even though I was doing water changes every single day, it still wasn't enough to save the fish.

 

[BettaBoysGirl]

Hmm, Ive been in fish keeping about 6 months now.. My worst mistakes so far....
1.The typical newbie, bought two bettas, seperate tanks, but not cycled. Fortunately they both survived and tanks are fully cycled now.
2. Scratching an acrylic tank, badly
3. Left the heater on when I drained a tank completly. Luckily it didnt shatter.
4. Betta Condo.... Yea.. Seperated but not safe. Two of my males ended up with shredded fins... That lasted exactly one week before i seperated everyone.

 

[fry_forever!]

I've also kept goldfish in Tupperware containers when I was 6 years old...
And put many fish into uncycled tanks... Including some cory fry not too long ago... But I had absolutely nowhere else to put them at the time, eventually cleared out a 10 gallon for them. They are doing great now.

 

[flix_cw]

Sucking up a couple of baby kribs whilst doing a bit of a clean and then only realising my mistake as they were waving goodbye

Argh my worst nightmare!

I always put the plug in in the sink because i'm so paranoid about this happening!

 

[Assaye]

Biggest mistakes - filter dramas. I've had so many fish get caught in filters. The most upsetting was when my stunning HM betta Deimos was in Q/T for some unknown problem and I stupidly left the filter cover off the impeller for a couple of minutes while fiddling in the tank. I look away and seconds later Deimos is right up in there, fins shredded and body mangled. He survived, just, and limped on for another couple of weeks. Poor little man. I can't believe I was so bloody stupid and absent minded.

Had an oto caught in a filter today, a neon caught behind a filter today and various neons/bettas/corys/snails have unpleasant run-ins with filters in the past. I try to block them with mesh but the little creatures always find a way to get hurt. I can't help but blame myself.

Some smaller and more amusing mistakes include:

Accidentaly leaving a heater on for an hour while out of water. No harm done in the end, which is pretty amazing considering. Heater still works and the plastic lid it was on is fine. Go Delta Therm!

I used to do water changes by taking the heater out *while it was on* and putting it in a bucket of water. Doh!

I once picked up one of my bettas while drunk. I held him in my hand and asked him not to die.

My most recent mistake was moving two swordtails from the brackish tank at the lfs to my freshwater tank with my quick acclimation method (drip with a fast drip per second rate). Fine for local freshwater fish but the swords were NOT happy! I'd totally forgot they were brackish at the store - who keeps swords in a brackish tank and doesn't painstakingly remind all customers to acclimate them SLOWLY??