Things you wish newbies knew.
 

Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and nagging
them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose interest
after a week at most.

Yeah, well for some reason, unbeknownst to myself, one very important
word has been dropped from the vocabulary of many parents recently.

"no"

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

spiral_72 wrote:
21. Never, ever, under any circumstances..... feed your fish after
midnight.

(Ok, so the movie "Gremlins" is a bit old)

ROFLOL - some of us are old enough....

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

Eric wrote:

OK, I will now reveal that I have at one time worked as a fish professional.
I worked for one of the big "evil empire" type stores when I needed an extra
job to cover some expenses. Here are some things I wish people knew about
fish before they ever thought about keeping an aquarium.

1. You cannot buy an aquarium and the fish you want in it the same day. There
were even people who wanted to buy a tank and a clownfish just because they
saw Finding Nemo. Even if you bought live sand and filtered seawater this
would be a long shot for the little nemo's survival.

2. You can't stock a tank to capacity shortly after setting it up. the number
one cause of death is ammonia. Bacteria get rid of ammonia. New tanks don't
have these bacteria, so build up slow. It may take a couple of months.

3. Algae will not kill your fish. Some people panic when they see algae. They
do stupid things as a result.

4. A teardown and rebuild is a good way to kill your fish. If the fish were
happy why do you need to take everything apart? Oh, yeah, algae.

4. It's best to stick to fish that stay under 3 inches in a 10gal. tank

5. You don not *have to* get a CAE or a pl*co in order to "clean the tank".
If you just think they're cool, get one, but they are by no means necessary.
Every fish you add to a tank increases the load on a tank. There is no magic
fish that improves water quality.

6. If you think that AmmoLock, Amquel, or zeolite are a long-term solution to
your overcrowded tank, you're wrong. There are countless oscar abusers who
mistakenly rely on these products.

7. Don't worry so much about your pH. It's high. The water comes from deep
wells that extend into Jurassic seabeds. Your better off just not worrying
about and letting your cardinals die young than adding pH Down or worse to
your tank.

Can anyone else add to this list?

-E




Another one....

Live plants are good for a tank. No, they don't die if you submerge them
in water.....

Met a newbie in the LFS today and got chatting. She's had the tank for
around a year and has an extreme nitrate problem - she's longing to add
more fish but won't because of the water (sensible)...I suggested water
changes and plants and got the reponse paraphrased above about
submerging plants - upshot, she left the LFS clutching a bundle of live
plants....

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

In article ,
NetMax wrote:

Someone knows exactly how I feel (that 70g would hold a nice tropheus colony
if I rush all the fish into the tank under construction, or maybe I'll just
use the bathtub for a while, I can take showers ;~).

Don't go there. Damsels are only $6 ea.



--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

From the other side of the asile

Just because someone works in a pet shop, it does not follow that they
know all about all the things they sell.

just because the plants are displayed underwater does not mean they
will survive there.

Small Oscars are cuter than big ones. Small ones don't stay small.

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

20. Fish aren't cheap. If you can't afford a tank that fits the fish, a
heater and test kits, this hobby isn't for you. Get a cat. They're
easier and cheaper to care for.

Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and nagging
them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose interest
after a week at most.

Too true, that's why I'm stuck here with a bearded dragon next to my desk.
(Will they get enough calcium from crickets gut loaded with tortillas
which are made with lime? I know this is usenet, but no guessing, anybody
know?).

Ithink the petshop should have the wits to point out to the kid mommy or
daddy may have to feed ralphie the wonder fish when kiddo is away at a friends
house and if they get a fish mummy or daddy like a lot too I bet they'll
take care of it better. Harm reduction. if you're gonna get stuck with
a kids animal, make it one you like. Bettas are good.

--
Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
Troll Information:
http://tinyurl.com/9zbh
Reading Headers:
http://tinyurl.com/amm9s

Could you put these on one line by any chance?

Like:

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995. Aquariums since 1952.
http://tinyurl.com/9do58 http://tinyurl.com/9zbh http://tinyurl.com/amm9s
--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

In article . com,
IDzine01 wrote:
Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and nagging
them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose interest
after a week at most.

Yeah, well for some reason, unbeknownst to myself, one very important
word has been dropped from the vocabulary of many parents recently.

"no"

It's not been dropped so much as ignored by the receiving end. They can
go on a bit.


--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

I would suggest people know the PH of their water before buying fish. Since
our water is hard and alkaline I only buy fish that are known to thrive in
such water. It's pointless to buy a fish native to waters with a PH of 6.8
or below when my water is almost off the scale at 300 = liquid limestone.

1) pH doesn't matter, hardness does.
2) you can safely move fishes from soft to hard water but not the other way.
3) you can change half the water a day if you're moving them to softer water.

he fishes tissues dont care what kind of ions, alkaline or acid are flaoting
around in their gills but if you change the amount of those ions drastically
then, osmosis being what it is, the fish loses all it's body chemical
rather quickly. And dies.

300 is "medium soft". 50 is "soft". 0 is "pure" and very difficut to
deal with although there are fish that live in this, usually with
a pH of about 4.

For refernece, LS tapwater is 600-900 ppm and is "hard". Liquid rock
begins at 1200ppm and is great for plants - lousy for Apistogrammas;
ask me how I know. Did I mention we have a limestone well? But living
on the Canadian shield has its advantages material wise; I jsut scooped
up about 40 pounds of flourite size of chocolate limestone gravel
from a spot near here. yes yes,too hard it'll leech carbonates into
the water. Good, I have to add lots as it is. Some crypts grow in
limestone, such as balansae ("BAL") and pontiderifolia ("PON").
--
Need Mercedes parts ? - http://parts.mbz.org
Richard Sexton | Mercedes stuff: http://mbz.org
1970 280SE, 72 280SE | Home page: http://rs79.vrx.net
633CSi 250SE/C 300SD | http://aquaria.net http://killi.net

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

On Tue, 31 Jan 2006 11:04:09 -0600, "Koi-Lo"
wrote:


"IDzine01" wrote in message
roups.com...
Ooo. I wanna play...

20. Fish aren't cheap. If you can't afford a tank that fits the fish, a
heater and test kits, this hobby isn't for you. Get a cat. They're
easier and cheaper to care for.
===============================
Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and nagging
them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose interest
after a week at most.

Tell the badgering and nagging child that if he doesn't get his act
together you will send him to the reptile department and lock him in
with the snakes.

Things you wish newbies knew.
 

On 31 Jan 2006 10:29:13 -0800, "IDzine01"
wrote:

Tell that to an uninterested parent whose child is badgering and nagging
them to death for a fish. Said parent knowing the child will lose interest
after a week at most.

Yeah, well for some reason, unbeknownst to myself, one very important
word has been dropped from the vocabulary of many parents recently.

"no"

How very true. I'm certain we would be in much better financial shape
today if my wife had learned to say "no" to me.

Mr Gardener