Strange Misconceptions in Fishkeeping

[StockEwe49]

Hi all, recently I have been thinking about things that are well known in the hobby that turn out false or half true. The whole reason I started thinking about this is from my experience with Celestial Pearl Danios. In all my research, I have heard they eat from the mid water column, but mine will come up to the surface to eat pellets off the top of the water. What are similar misconceptions you have witnessed in your aquariums?

[Colu]

Fish only grow as big as the tank their in is the one I seem to hear a lot  

[HH Morant]

You can pour something into your aquarium that will "detoxify" ammonia.

Oh yeah - and nitrite.

[meadeam]

On 12/2/2021 at 3:20 PM, HH Morant said:

You can pour something into your aquarium that will "detoxify" ammonia.

Oh yeah - and nitrite.

This one is just a matter of accurately describing what is happening at a molecular level.  For the intent and purpose of the average aquarist,  it is close enough.

"Liquid C02" however is one I think borders on being intentionally misleading and bugs me more.

[drewzero1]

Cleaning the tank... I hear about a lot of inexperienced aquarists doing things like taking out the fish, scrubbing the decorations, and replacing all of the water. It really doesn't help that that's how tank cleaning tends to be depicted in media. (Finding Nemo, I'm looking at you!)

There are a lot of misconceptions about the nitrogen cycle, but I totally get it. It's taken me forever to remember the difference between nitrite and nitrate. You kind of have to be a little bit biologist and chemist to keep a pet ecosystem going. (Also sometimes plumber.)

[Intuos]

Fish stocking, the 'inch per gallon rule'. 

[Guppysnail]

On 12/2/2021 at 2:06 PM, StockEwe49 said:

Hi all, recently I have been thinking about things that are well known in the hobby that turn out false or half true. The whole reason I started thinking about this is from my experience with Celestial Pearl Danios. In all my research, I have heard they eat from the mid water column, but mine will come up to the surface to eat pellets off the top of the water. What are similar misconceptions you have witnessed in your aquariums?

My CPD eat wherever and whatever they can find. I have seen them surface and scavangevsubstrate as well as eat off bare bottom tanks. They greedily nab any microfauna from glass anywhere. I often see them picking at prefilters. They are piggies. Mine are also not shy they are “underfoot” whenever I vac the two tanks they are in I guess hoping to nab a critter in the process. 
I think a lot of misconceptions like this are because we have read xyz fish does xyz thing so we tailor our tanks feeding patterns etc to that expected behavior and end with them eating/behaving in that manor. A good many fish I have or have had behave nothing like what I read. But I don’t tailor my feeding etc to them. BN pleco are supposedly shy/hide. My breeding pair I wanted to eat up front each from their own food dish. So that’s how I fed now that’s how they and their children eat. If I’m late with dinner they are sitting in  the bowls staring at me like hey lady get with the program kids included 🤣

[meadeam]

Selecting filtration based on water volume.

This one can be ok as long as you also take into account stocking level and species.  Most intermediate aquarists (I consider myself an intermediate) learn this fairly early on.

[Flumpweesel]

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

If you're going to show me 17 pictures of a sleeping cat you better be ready for some goldfish anecdotes cause I've got loads and yes they are cute and yes they have memories.

[Patrick_G]

On 12/2/2021 at 4:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

If you're going to show me 17 pictures of a sleeping cat you better be ready for some goldfish anecdotes cause I've got loads and yes they are cute and yes they have memories.

Yes! Our goldfish most definitely have memory and react differently to different types of food based on what jar I carry to their tank. They love floating pellets and go crazy when they see that jar, but don’t react at all to the jar of sinking food. 

[Maggie]

That's funny, I read the same "mid water feeder" thing about dwarf emerald danios which are cousins to CPDs, and mine hung out and fed almost exclusively on the bottom. The free-swimming fry stayed closer to the top and then hung out farther and farther down until they were old enough to stay with the adults. 

On 12/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

But this misconception comes in handy when you rent an apartment with the only pets allowed being dogs and cats but whose lease includes a clause about mold control ("check behind aquariums"...) 😁

[Streetwise]

I remember doing 100% water changes when I was a kid. We had excellent well water, so I got away with it. Scrubbing plastic and satin plants was a chore.

[Blaha]

 

On 12/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

If you're going to show me 17 pictures of a sleeping cat you better be ready for some goldfish anecdotes cause I've got loads and yes they are cute and yes they have memories.

My friends are always getting pics of fish and also the plants. Maybe even more plant pics than fish pics

 

[TheDukeAnumber1]

On 12/2/2021 at 6:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

If you're going to show me 17 pictures of a sleeping cat you better be ready for some goldfish anecdotes cause I've got loads and yes they are cute and yes they have memories.

And watch their eyes glaze over 4 seconds in lol.

When I started everything I thought I knew was a misconception, and I think I've finally learned enough to know that I know nearly nothing. Natural systems are complicated...

[Gator]

@StockEwe49; Yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions out there, and I've probably heard them all, I'll try to clear some up. Danios will eat from all levels in an aquarium as I'm sure they do in the wild. Fish and plants will continue to grow until they die, regardless of the size of the tank, I once had a Pleco that normally grows to 24 inches in the wild grow to 24 inches in a 29 G tank. When I set up my 29 G tank, I had a choice between a canister filter rated for a 30 G tank or a canister filter rated for a 60 G tank, I chose the filter rated for a 60 G tank and I haven't had any regrets, I've never had an ammonia spike, and all of my water parameters are where they should be. My tank had been set up for about a year when I spoke to a Fisheries Biologist friend who asked me about my tank and I told him what I had done, he smiled and said that it's better to have too much filtration than not enough. Had I chosen the canister filter rated for a 30 G tank, the bio-filter may have been overworked and overwhelmed. It's not the rated flow of a filter that makes a difference, it's the rated capacity. 

[CalmedByFish]

On 12/2/2021 at 1:06 PM, StockEwe49 said:

Hi all, recently I have been thinking about things that are well known in the hobby that turn out false or half true. 

I actually think one of the biggest "well knowns" in the hobby, that isn't true, is that having an aquarium has to control you. Nobody makes us acquire more containers of water than we can comfortably keep up with. Nobody makes us over-spend. Nobody makes us give in to a whim to buy a fish... which then spreads an illness that wipes out the whole tank. 

Truly, it can be great for our well-being to have a lot of tanks, strategically spend a lot of money, buy a fish on a whim and quarantine the heck out of it first, etc. But there does seem to be a mentality that being out of control is to be expected in this hobby. It's not true. We are in control of ourselves. 

"MTS" is a good example. It's not a syndrome. There's no disease, or contagion, or lack of a cure. It's a choice.

Editing to add: That doesn't mean compassion isn't in order when our choices lead to stress or grief. Thought I should make sure that's clear. Compassion is always good, and it doesn't need to have "well you did choose..." added to it.

Edited December 3, 2021 by CalmedByFish

[Tanked]

On 12/2/2021 at 7:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

"Fish aren't like real pets, more like decorations"

If you're going to show me 17 pictures of a sleeping cat you better be ready for some goldfish anecdotes cause I've got loads and yes they are cute and yes they have memories.

When the pictures of sleeping cats or exceptionally brilliant grandchildren come out I have fish pics at the ready.

 

On 12/2/2021 at 4:14 PM, drewzero1 said:

Cleaning the tank... I hear about a lot of inexperienced aquarists doing things like taking out the fish, scrubbing the decorations, and replacing all of the water.

Been there, done that!🥴

In the pre-internet days good information was a lot harder to come by.  The inexperienced aquarist often took advice from people with no experience.  A lot of good fish gave up there lives for the cause.

[Guppysnail]

Excess fish pics also work like bear repellent when someone tries to talk to you that you really don’t want to talk with 😉

[Blaha]

On 12/2/2021 at 10:03 PM, Gator said:

@StockEwe49; Yeah, there are a lot of misconceptions out there, and I've probably heard them all, I'll try to clear some up. Danios will eat from all levels in an aquarium as I'm sure they do in the wild. Fish and plants will continue to grow until they die, regardless of the size of the tank, I once had a Pleco that normally grows to 24 inches in the wild grow to 24 inches in a 29 G tank. When I set up my 29 G tank, I had a choice between a canister filter rated for a 30 G tank or a canister filter rated for a 60 G tank, I chose the filter rated for a 60 G tank and I haven't had any regrets, I've never had an ammonia spike, and all of my water parameters are where they should be. My tank had been set up for about a year when I spoke to a Fisheries Biologist friend who asked me about my tank and I told him what I had done, he smiled and said that it's better to have too much filtration than not enough. Had I chosen the canister filter rated for a 30 G tank, the bio-filter may have been overworked and overwhelmed. It's not the rated flow of a filter that makes a difference, it's the rated capacity. 

When I used HOB filters I always got the next size up.
14G got a 30g filter, 29G got a 55G filter.
Now I'm using sponge filters and have no clue what I'm doing. I have 2. One is the Large Co-op Sponge (40g size) set up as standard with an air stone, the other is the medium prefilter sponge (10-15g size) over a powerhead intake. The small sponge easily out performs the large one with just an airstone by a large margin, but also at 200gph flow through that powerhead it does cycle the equivalent volume of almost 8x my tank per hour and I probably don't even need the other sponge filter, but my Kuhlis like the bubbles and the shelter it provides

[Expectorating_Aubergine]

That there is only "the correct" way to do anything. Anything different is wrong......

[Streetwise]

Some folks think that organic soil tanks are more difficult. They are low-effort for me.

[drewzero1]

On 12/2/2021 at 11:15 PM, CalmedByFish said:

I actually think one of the biggest "well knowns" in the hobby, that isn't true, is that having an aquarium has to control you.

Very well said. At first I thought it was just pet shop owners, fish breeders, and crazy people on YouTube who had a bazillion tanks, then I got a bit deeper and realized it's a really easy trap (decision!) to fall into (choose!). When I went from one aquarium to two, and then two to three, I felt the additional responsibility pile on as a result of my decisions. It felt extremely freeing to break down that third tank when I was done with it.

I know I'm in control when I can walk into a pet store, see some amazing fish I *need* to have, observe for a few minutes, and walk out empty-handed. Maybe later. I either go to the store to buy a fish, or I don't.

[Streetwise]

@drewzero1, window-shopping is a good skill to learn for all hobbies. You feel smart, and save money.