Worst Newbie Mistake

[3fsh]

What were the worst mistakes you made when you first started? (And their consequences.) I think this would be neat for all the newbies to learn from as well. I'll go first:

I had a 6G tank with 3 very small goldfish and one chinese algae eater. Being the newbie that I was, I decided to transfer them directly into a new 12G tank I had just purchased... uncycled! Poor babies... They all survived the ammonia spike (barely), but it took so much longer to cycle because because I used goldfish (which are very messy, dirty fish).

I also bought some filtered water from the store and dumped it directly into my tank (after adding amquel and other stuff) but I forgot to test the pH first! Sadly, my algae eater died because (as I learned later) I had added water with a pH of 6.3 to my tank which had a pH of about 7.5!

 

[Incitic]

Putting 6 fish into a newly bought tank. 5/6 died from ammona levels. Poor fishies

 

[cutechic]

Keeping three white clouds and a snail in a 0.25 gallon "tank"

 

[fish_r_great]

Getting 3 GSP in a 29 and not using brakish water. The lfs claimed they weren't brakish but they later told me that they added salt to the water.

 

[kittybug]

Not doing more comparison shopping on my tank. when we bought it my hubby and i just went to the closest lfs picked out a 30 gallon and bought it on the spot. Yesterday I bought 1 135 gallon for damn near the same price. I am kicking myself. If i had found this cheaper store first i could be surrounded by270 gallons of tank right now. grrr. By the way. Anyone who lives in our near Las Vegas check out a store called Tanks Alot. the prices are amazing

 

[vantgE]

six african cichlids in a 10 gallon tank without water changes for at least a month

 

[punkserb]

my sister bought one of those "betta and a plant" bowl things. in no time the water was dirty and betta looked sick.

so i took it. didn't need a biology degree to determine that whoever invented this was an idiot. i immediately removed the plant, did a 100% water change, added gravel, and filled it with tap water the put the fish back in.

i didn't treat the water, had no heater, had no filter, fed it a few flakes and freezedried mosquito larva everyday whether it ate it or not. i did 100% water changes about 1-2 times a month with regular untreated tap water.

well guess what? the betta lived for another 2.5 years!!!! no joke i swear!

after it died i got sad and got another one from LFS. treted it the same, it died after 3 days from fungus. found this forum and got another one from the same LFS, this time treated the water, made sure it was between 76-82 F, removed uneaten food, etc. this one died after 5 days also from fungus. i figure this is just a bad LFS so i decided to no longer buy from them and i now have a nice 5 gallon with live plants that is cycling!

i love this place, there is so much to learn and it is so interesting.

 

[Vip]

Put 2 red devils in the same tank, they almost killed each other.
Nici my g/f: Put her hand in my tank while my cichlids had eggs, dumb idea!

 

[fishatron7429]

my dad told me that i needed plants for the tank, so i went outside and picked out a few lillies, roses e.t.c and put them in the tank, i came back to 3 dead goldfish
R.I.P Joey, Chandler and Ross

 

[Guppylover]

I had 2 tiger barbs and 3 guppies together...very very bad experiance. 2 dead guppies and 1 close to death tiger barbs. It seemed that the male tiger barbs nipped two of my guppies to dead and harrased to female tiger barb. More tiger barbs were added and everything when totally peaceful...the only arguments where fought between themselves and no particular female gets bullied no more ^__^
I never had a problem with adding fish to an unclyed tank because when I got my first tank my experianced fishkeeping friend was right there next to me!

 

[Incitic]

my dad told me that i needed plants for the tank, so i went outside and picked out a few lillies, roses e.t.c and put them in the tank, i came back to 3 dead goldfish
R.I.P Joey, Chandler and Ross

Took the literal meaning huh? Can't blame you. I was going to just find a rock in my back yard and put it in the tank. God knows what it would of done to it

 

[CFC]

Our worst mistake was not bothering to learn about fish keeping first and just dumping a whole load of fish into a brand new uncycled 30g, within a few weeks we had lost nearly all the fish which forced us to actually do a bit of reading and learning about the nitrogen cycle etc before starting again.

 

[Arashi]

About 11 years ago, I had a great 10 gallon community tank. I never cycled it, but all the fish I put in it survived, and were going strong. I had platies, zebras, and a few catfish. Then a friend of mine told me about these really great, pretty fish she had...said she had too many and had to get rid of some...asked it I would take some...I did. About a week later all my fish were dead, save the ones I got from her...

...they were black convicts!

 

[Aquascaper]

My 15g was my first tank and we got it from a friend. Same day we went out and bought a load of gravel, a filter & an air pump. Took it all home, set it up with tap water and let it all settle. We waited 2 days and then went to the LFS and bought 2 black moors and 2 shubunkins, got home and chucked them in. Did water changes every week using treated water but nothing else. After 2 weeks decided that it was good Feng Shui to have an odd number of fish so went to the LFS and bought a fantail. Popped him in and everyone got Ich! Treated the water and cured the Ich but realised that the new fantail was nipping everyone and had eaten half a shubunkins tail overnight! He went back to the LFS sharpish.

Morales of the story:

1)Always quarantine new arrivals as they don't always show symptoms in the LFS and stress can bring illness on.

2)Don't put moors and shubunkins together as they will get big and the shubunkins are fast eaters (mine are going to a good home when we get the new tank)

Hope that helps anyone

 

[OzzieGirl]

Similar story really. Took the lfs advice and after 2 days to let everything settle added 3 platys, 2 days later 3 mollys. 2 weeks later all dead. Did a stupid thing and went straight back and was told should only put 2 or even 1 fish back in after leaving the tank for a couple more days. What a suprise that those died aswell I was upset after that so I packed eveything away and didnt get it all out till after 6 weeks of background reading, and the tank is still going strong now

Steph