Worst Way You Have Ever Kept Fish

[snazy]

Mine are separated now by males and females, but I used to keep them years ago together. I didn't have plants though, so only the ones I moved to another tank survived at the time. I had to give them all away one day and I still haven't seen the same type male guppies I used to have back then. And I didn't even put that much effort as I do now.
It's a nightmare for someone that tries to save batches of fry with no additional tanks to accomodate them when they grow up. People are not always responsible.

 

[FishBlast]

Mine are separated now by males and females, but I used to keep them years ago together. I didn't have plants though, so only the ones I moved to another tank survived at the time. I had to give them all away one day and I still haven't seen the same type male guppies I used to have back then. And I didn't even put that much effort as I do now.
It's a nightmare for someone that tries to save batches of fry with no additional tanks to accomodate them when they grow up. People are not always responsible.

I'll have to plan on what to do whenever my red swordtail might start making fry. She's kind of young but I've heard that they can give fry at that age too. Though my home-grown swordtails from before didn't have fry until they were almost twice this one's size. This red-albino swordtail is kept with a green-black male at the moment.

Hope that won't happen till I get a 52 or 49 L something like that aquarium. Then I could use this old 23L one for growing swordtail fry and separating them. What I'd want is to get calico swordtails (red with black spots) as those are some of my favorite, but haven't seen them on sale and it isn't as interesting as growing them at home.
If my neighbor agrees to start fishkeeping again, we could share the batch whenever I'd allow them to breed.

 

[snazy]

Not a criticism, but swordtails are very active fish and although small, they do need big tanks like over 100L.
Also, more than one male in a tank is not recommended as they can kill each other otherwise.
I have just one female albino koi swordail and it is a funny fish. She looks like she has a cranky face literally. She used to hate my corydoras when I first got her but now she pretends to be a cory and hangs around with them, ignoring the platies, although platies/swordtails are nearly the same species.

 

[balajake]

About 12 years ago. rio 125 and tiny 4cm pangusus shark that the fish shop told me wouldn't get too big. within 7 months it had grown to nearly a foot in length, had eaten most of its tankmates and even jumped out of the tank a few times, when i took it back the guy asked me who had sold it to me as it could easily grown to 3 foot i told the silly beggar that he had. even now when i see a pangasus in a LFS i cringe

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Not a criticism, but swordtails are very active fish and although small, they do need big tanks like over 100L.
Also, more than one male in a tank is not recommended as they can kill each other otherwise.
I have just one female albino koi swordail and it is a funny fish. She looks like she has a cranky face literally. She used to hate my corydoras when I first got her but now she pretends to be a cory and hangs around with them, ignoring the platies, although platies/swordtails are nearly the same species.

I agree, my swordtails are in a 40g tank as they are very very active. But, I have kept multiple males in the same tank and never had aggression. As long as the m/f ratio is good, you probably will not have problems. I even exceeded the recommended m/f ration and went 1 male to 4 females. Most I have had at once was 3 males, 12 females, and not a single male fight.

 

[FishBlast]

I also had more males in a single aquarium not sure exactly if it was 50L or 60L, no fights, but I really shouldn't have added that seashell, as one male entered it and got stuck there, he died. The only time I had a death of a Xipho that was violence-related, was when that female turned male and attacked the swordtail male that wanted to mate with her.

100 L aquarium would be kind of huge to put in the house for like 3 fish though. I hope that I can change that and make room in the house to get something that big. No idea how to carry such a thing in here with no car.
Another idea would be making an aquarium that spreads pretty much all over the room like some kind of pipe system, but imagine the kind of filter needed for that. O_O And all the glass needed + silicone...

How did you get huge aquariums in the house though? (those that have sharks and stuff in their tanks especially).

Not a criticism, but swordtails are very active fish and although small, they do need big tanks like over 100L.
Also, more than one male in a tank is not recommended as they can kill each other otherwise.
I have just one female albino koi swordail and it is a funny fish. She looks like she has a cranky face literally. She used to hate my corydoras when I first got her but now she pretends to be a cory and hangs around with them, ignoring the platies, although platies/swordtails are nearly the same species.

My albino female hangs around the catfish as well so I guess they tend to stay around them for some reason. And so did the fry. But I don't exactly understand why the fry would gather around a huge fish, maybe they think it's a rock or something, since the catfish never ate them.

 

[Baccus]

My worst mistake as a kid was trying to keep neon tetras in a bowl with no heater or filteration. I then got guppies a worse mistake as they have no concept of over crowding. Finally got a 1 or 2 ft tank and kept a mix of tropicals. That was quite a few years ago and I eventually ended up with 3 tanks which I sold to purchase my first aviary. From one aviary it became two avairy's and now I not only have 10 tanks (7 stocked) I also have a huge 3 bay avairy that my husband and I built from scratch. I think the only creulty you can really do is the unintentional (lack of knowledge) and not rectifiying the cruelty when you do have the knowledge.

 

[nanoMama86]

I agree, Baccus. It is not cruelty if you do not know it is wrong. If you do know it is wrong, and still continue to keep an animal that way, that is cruel.



And my worst mistake that I regret so much now is putting three pictus cats in a 20 with 2 clowns and platys. It was several years ago, but I will never forgive myself. Dang lfs.

 

[Mr Melt]

I had my 1st fish in a Baby Biorb. That is all.

 

[Fishy friend2]

I still regret having my older Betta in a 1/2 gallon bowl....... He died from a cat attack.....

 

[frapadoodle]

A Goldfish in an unheated unfiltered flower bowl. It showed up in a cup, with my son after a youth outing.

 

[fizzlesticks]

When I set up my aquarium for the first time since childhood last year, the LFS sold me the following for my 10 LITRE tank: 10 neon tetras, blue dwarf gourami, bristle nose plec, and plants. I had a heater and a filter, but no light. I couldn't understand why they all died! I took the gourami back...and swapped him for guppies.

 

[FishBlast]

When I set up my aquarium for the first time since childhood last year, the LFS sold me the following for my 10 LITRE tank: 10 neon tetras, blue dwarf gourami, bristle nose plec, and plants. I had a heater and a filter, but no light. I couldn't understand why they all died! I took the gourami back...and swapped him for guppies.

I guess the plec was making enough poop to kill everyone in that small tank.

 

[fizzlesticks]

When I set up my aquarium for the first time since childhood last year, the LFS sold me the following for my 10 LITRE tank: 10 neon tetras, blue dwarf gourami, bristle nose plec, and plants. I had a heater and a filter, but no light. I couldn't understand why they all died! I took the gourami back...and swapped him for guppies.

I guess the plec was making enough poop to kill everyone in that small tank.

Pretty much. And it still took me a while to figure out stocking and cycling correctly.

 

[FishBlast]

When I set up my aquarium for the first time since childhood last year, the LFS sold me the following for my 10 LITRE tank: 10 neon tetras, blue dwarf gourami, bristle nose plec, and plants. I had a heater and a filter, but no light. I couldn't understand why they all died! I took the gourami back...and swapped him for guppies.

I guess the plec was making enough poop to kill everyone in that small tank.

Pretty much. And it still took me a while to figure out stocking and cycling correctly.

It took me 16 years to find out about the cycle and I've barely just begun (and ended up in the unfortunate fish-in cycle too). But guess I was lucky that I've managed to keep some of the more common fish up to 3 years alive and catfish up to 9 years.