Things you wish newbies knew.

"Victor Martinez" wrote in message
...
Elaine T wrote:
11. You have to use a gravel vacuum to clean the gravel when you change
water. If you've never cleaned the gravel before, start out gradually,

Not true at all. I never vaccum my gravel anymore. Plants like fertilizer.


14. Never buy a fish on impulse. Research its future size, housing

But we've all done that, haven't we?

Not usually fish, but definitely plants. Mostly becuase the damn LFS never
has the plants I want.



--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

"Elaine T" wrote in message
. com...
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

Your algae observations were really funny. I *worry* about fishtanks that
have no algae at all! What would the fish graze on when I feed lightly?

From another fish store refugee...

8. Your new tank will most likely have cloudy water for a while. Changing
the water will only make it worse.

9. No, guppies (mollies, platies, swordtails) don't lay eggs. Where did
the babies go? Well, fish have this rule... If it fits into the mouth,
it's food. Be grateful the babies are gone because livebearers will breed
you out of house and home unchecked.

10. Where did your cute little baby neons go? Didn't you buy an
angelfish last weekend? See number 9. Almost any fish will consider
eating a much smaller tankmate.

11. You have to use a gravel vacuum to clean the gravel when you change
water. If you've never cleaned the gravel before, start out gradually,
cleaning a third of the tank for the next 3 water changes. Work up to
cleaning the whole gravel bed with every water change.

12. Typical aquaria have strip lights that are wildly inadequate for live
plants. Why? So typical fish-only tanks don't grow too much algae. Get
a glass canopy and a good power compact light fixture if you really want
to grow plants. At a minimum, get a strip with two fluorescent tubes
instead of one.

13. Learn how to recognize ich before it wipes out your tank. If you
can't get to the fish store easily, keep some Quick Cure on hand.

14. Never buy a fish on impulse. Research its future size, housing
requirements, temperament, compatiblity, and food requirements before you
buy. The fish you buy on impulse and later wish you hadn't will be the
one that only eats live food, is too aggressive to keep with the rest of
your fish, costs a fortune yet hides all the time, or has an adult size of
20" long.

15. Despite their popularity, tempting colors, and low price, livebearers
are not very good beginner fish. Start with danios, tetras, rasboras,
cories, or peaceful cichlids and add the livebearers later when your tank
has stabilized.

16. Only buy fish when every fish in the store tank is healthy. If even
one fish is sick or dying, can you tell which one will be next? I like to
see most of the fish on the same shared water system healthy too. Never
add fish store water to your tank and quarantine new fish for a few weeks
if you can.

--
Elaine T

From yet another fish store refugee:

17. Fluorescent coloured stripes and spots on fish are not natural. They
are called painted fish. The process is not nice, kills most of them, and
the survivors generally don't live as long.

18. Goldfish are NOT air breathers.

19. If you have a fish which kills everything you put into the tank, then
stop trying.
--
www.NetMax.tk

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.

"IDzine01" wrote in message
oups.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.
--
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
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

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"

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

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.

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

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

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....

"IDzine01" wrote in message
oups.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.

Yeah, but the fish don't wake me up at 5 am because they're hungry or they
want to play.