Chad

No, that's a little excessive even for me @mynameisnobody 😉 . But I was the person who set aside 4, yes 4, egg cartons while shopping last week because they were cracked. That store had a bad shipping day it seemed.

Agreed @Tanked, it's best to look at the stars ranking as the basic litmus test it is. If you really want to learn more, read the comments. When comments are non-specific, good or bad, move on. Look for details and decide if you agree or not. Okay, this is an off-topic example but I can't help myself. The worst luck I've had with researching and judging via ranking and comments was in searching for appliances. They were all great AND terrible, and terrible for great reasons. Why was that fridge terrible? Well the front ice dispenser leaked and caused the electrical unit it was a part of to catch on fire, scorched pics attached!! Okay, that's a bad one! Every brand had a well documented horror story in the comments. It was rough, total decision paralysis.

Very true @mynameisnobody, it baffles me that folks would hit the one star review before giving a business the chance to make it right. That's a mentality I can't figure out.

I've had one-star worthy purchases from Aquarium Co-op before. BUT, when I asked them about the problem they resolved it. Quickly. I can attest, as a business owner, there is no way to avoid mistakes or issues. It's not IF you have them, but HOW you deal with them. How do you make it right? In AQ Co-ops case, they earned 5 stars from me for their speedy and prompt way in which they fix things.

Harlequin Rasboras. Been in the fish hobby forever. Distinctive markings, go well in groups, and are fast! Just in case the betta wasn't nice. These fish really surprised me. Their funny behavior, their twitchy nature, I'd never kept a group of fish prior and they were a real surprise to me. And oh yes, hardy. In their time in my tank, two died. Ugh, and in both cases it was because I hit them with the gravel vac. Not intentionally! Just a lot clumsier than I thought I was, and did I mention they're fast?! That's some wicked self-control you got there @Guppysnail. Not sure I could've done the same but good on you!

If at First, then Second, you don't succeed... try, try again. Alright, after being done with fish keeping for a second time something came along a few years later that made me pick up the gravel pump one more time, Covid. This time it would be different, this wasn't for just the kids this was for the family. And by family I really meant myself. I realized one issue was the tank was too small for the fish. So I raised it up three-fold and got a Flex 9!! I was following KG Tropicals at this point on YouTube and was digging their top ten things for everything vids and actually learning a lot. I realized what I wanted was a community tank. A tank with a group of fish and a centerpiece fish. But which fish? I was now a bit more humbled and wanted a bullet-proof group of fish. But not humbled enough because I also wanted another betta as the centerpiece. Sorry, but to the newbie, nothing compares to their beauty and variety, and surely I'd learned enough to make it work now, right? I set up the tank and added the group, I'd learned that would help with aggression from the betta if the group goes in the tank first. So send in the clowns!

What's the problem here? 🤣 Other than faulty test strips? 😉 As a designer, I !!HIGHLY!! recommend Cory print a "This End Up" on the strip to help with further issues like these . I can't add enough laughing emojis here 🙂

Thanks again, and you answered a question before I could ask it, epoxy 🙂 I was wondering if super glue would hold long enough, but epoxy sure would.

Those hoods are really nice, well done! I’m taking notes

Sure thing @Dextreous! And his odds go way up if he makes it through the night. Keep us all posted 😀

Honestly, only time will tell. Let's all hope he pulls through but it's a 50/50 chance at this point. Mistakes happen and it's cool the lfs gave it to you for free. A lfs had a black neon tetra hop out of the net onto the floor when I was buying a group of them years ago. He apologized and offered it to me for free, which I took. We're all doing the best we can and I think they treated you fairly. Again, fingers crossed for you and your new little fish. Good luck

My main hobby has been my job, I'm a designer. I like creating art, graphic art mainly. Prints and that sort of thing. I also like gaming (playing), and F1 (watching;).

For me it was YouTube. Specifically, I found the med trio guide first, then the gravel vac tips and tricks vids. I credit Cory with kickstarting me onto the "right path" for fish keeping and also peaking my curiosity to finally try plants. And I never looked back 🙂 .

Apologies @Flipper but you misunderstood my context. I meant that DOING water changes was no big deal so don't worry about them, they're easy. That's what I was trying to impart, but I can see how I could have been clearer in how I wrote it. 🙂

As for the fin rot and death, I've come to believe there were a lot of variables at play. 1. These two fish were already sick when I got them, pretty sure about that one. 2. The tank. It was not seasoned and likely too small. The cube layout of the spec 3 isn't great for fish. 3. Feeding. I never got it down until much later. I've killed most fish by overfeeding. This one by underfeeding 4. Stress. Too many water changes, too many med treatments, I could go on 5. A cycled tank. If it was cycled it wasn't for long from the meds and cleaning. Didn't learn about that until much later too. The hardest part to reconcile with was that these fish would have had a better chance of survival if I'd been lazy and simply ignored them for the most part. It's actually been a wonderful life lesson about excessive behavior. Is that the right term? Anyway, these experiences have helped me to "take the foot off the gas" a bit more in life. I'm sorry the fish died because of it but I'm not hating on myself because I know my intentions were pure. I wanted them to be so healthy and happy, and the harder I tried the worse I made it. Hell of a life lesson, feel lucky to have learned it.

Thanks @Guppysnail. And you're right, it is embarrassing, and I was frustrated and embarrassed. I did leave this hobby, twice. Thought about leaving several other times too. I so hope this tells the story of a newcomer stumbling along until, they finally "start" to get it right. Still have a long way to do. That was idea of this journal's title, I felt like every mistake someone could make while earnestly trying to do it the right way I've done.

Welcome and very nice set up. Everyone's given great info. I'll be watching to see how this aquarium looks with fish. It's already come a LONG way. Well done!

Welcome indeed, very sweet tanks! That fish house HOB lid top is crazy fun. Again, very nice!

Remi was a Koi Plakat male betta. It was the fins and the flow that caused all the troubles with Ballerina. It was too much food! It was not medicating at the first sign of trouble. Good meds, not just salt or tea tree oil (oh this is hard to write). As the picture above shows, fin rot started a week or two after arrival. Very slowly though. Meds seemed to make the rot stop during application didn't help regrowth. Lethargic behavior. I believe epsom salt baths were given daily (10-15 minutes stints). Minimal food, too little I learned later. I bought a bubbler to help with aeration. A micro bubbler you can see with minimal/no surface agitation. Sadly, the end result was the same. Pineconing was again the final symptom and Remi passed. He lived for 3 months. Again, I gave up on the hobby. Then a year or so later, Covid hit and I needed a diversion at home. We all did.

A Few Moments Later. Actually three years later... I tried fish keeping again but this time for my youngest daughter's first pet. I had given up on fishkeeping, but it still kept calling every now and then. You know how it is, you see an aquarium at a doctors office, in the background of a tv show and instead of thinking, "good riddance to that!" I'd be envious. Like, "Why couldn't I do that?!". So I started learning more, learned about the cycle (still fish in, just adds lots of water changes, right?), learned more about Bettas, learned about medications!! It became clear that I simply wasn't knowledgeable enough to keep that Ballerina alive. These are creatures in complicated ecosystems and I simply wasn't hi-tech enough, or advanced, the first time around to properly care for my betta. This time would be different! Or so I told myself. So with my new and improved skillset my other daughter and I found another Betta... on eBay... from the same seller. She named her Remi.

Also, please consider quarantining the fish you buy before adding them to this aquarium? Will likely save you a lot of headaches later.

You're very welcome @jkh772. I'm not there, so I can't say for sure, but it sounds like your colony is going along just great. Those are great signs all is well. I can't chime in on parameters, it's just not my strong suit other than ammonia and nitrites bad, nitrates ok-meh, chlorine the worst. But my advice is to keep things as simple as possible. This advice piggybacks onto the perfect advice @Beardedbillygoat1975 just gave. Leave it alone as much as possible. I have a long history of the opposite. Cleaned too much, fed too much, medicated too much, too many fish, too many plants... it took me so long to slow down and just let the tank grow into and adjust itself. Once I did, things got so easy and successful. Enjoy!

Yes indeed @Beardedbillygoat1975, me too 🙂 Stuffing the inlet covers with some sponge likely helped but I’d still find them back there regardless.

I’m almost positive the ghost shrimp did not harm your fish. If they are not ghost shrimp and were mislabeled that could change things. Ghost shrimp will make fish “disappear” but only after the fish has passed. They can also handle 68 degrees like a champ. My instinct would be to research ottos and possible illnesses they get. Good luck.