The Don’ts & Do Nots of Fishkeeping - Chad’s Journal

[Chad]

So, I’ve been figuring and re-figuring this hobby out. I’ve made mistakes then learned the “right” way to do it only to find it wasn’t right at all. To date, I’ve went through this 3 times. Oops, aha! No wait, still oops. Lather, rinse, repeat. Three times!

 

My current strategy is to follow what I’ve been learning over at aquariumscience.org. He struck a chord by describing me, and my problems, perfectly. He wrote:

 

“If I had to take all the problems down to one it would be that the beginners are simply trying too hard. The beginners are using every gimmicky new thing and chemical on the shelf at the local fish store. They are cleaning their filter and their tank very thoroughly once a week. They are changing out their filter cartridges once a month… All these things are just too much and, in many cases, downright counterproductive. They kill the fish.”

 

This is me, it’s in my nature to make these mistakes. I like to tinker, to try new things and learn. Not usually a bad quality, but I don’t like waiting either. I over-analyze and then over-react to issues with my tank. Prior to this I was taking Cory’s advice and his guidance, pretty much. In truth, I was cherry picking his advice and overlooking some very important details that were causing big problems. Example: add fish slowly to get the cycle going well and feed sparingly. Me: a week is slow enough, right? And the fish are hungry, another little pinch is no biggie, right? Patience, well, it sucks.

 

We’ll see how it goes. I don’t expect to get it right, but three months into my latest do-over and things seem better. I’ll share some past experiences along the way so don’t expect a completely linear timeline. I’ll also be hugely appreciative of your input. The only thing I know for sure is that I still have a lot to learn. You people have been the best at helping me along and maybe my stories and shares will help someone else in the earlier stages of fishkeeping. That’s my intent anyway.

 

So, here’s what’s sitting beside me while I work. A 33 gallon long with a few guppies, 7 rummy nose tetras, 8 neons, 8 panda cories, 5 platies, a bristlenose pleco, and cherry shrimp. The last two being all that survived my prior tank, a 20 gallon long.

 

A special thanks to @Guppysnail for challenging me to give this a try. Thank you!

Edited January 7, 2022 by Chad

[Levi_Aquatics]

I will be interested in following this journal. Thanks for sharing!

[Guppysnail]

This is awesome. I’m so glad you have started a journal. You are open to new ideas and challenges and I love to follow along on those types of journeys. Your picture is cute. That statement about gimmicky things is often correct. I boil fish keeping down to a simplistic version I learned as a kid collecting things from the creek. Get fish put in water add food siphon out poo change water. And as you say lather rinse repeat and that’s it. Oh and…Squeeze out filters…when they slow down.  I’m still working on learning patients though so if you conquer that please share how 🤣 I’m also certain I have an algae scrapper…somewhere…I don’t do windows. 
Wishing you success beyond your wildest dreams this time around. 

[Chad]

Thanks @Levi_Aquatics and @Guppysnail. And yeah, I'll share any tricks for patience I learn. Right now, my trick is to have patience forced onto me. By that, I tell my wife what I'm doing and when I later try and tell her something else she hits me with a, "but weren't you JUST saying you were going to wait and see?". That usually shames me into holding the line 🙂 Usually. 

[StockEwe49]

@Chad patience can be hard in this hobby. Nature works on its own clock!

[Chad]

On 1/7/2022 at 1:10 PM, StockEwe49 said:

@Chad patience can be hard in this hobby. Nature works on its own clock!

For sure, time is the main ingredient to success in this hobby.

[WillC]

Glad you are doing a journal! I can so relate to your journey so far!

Will

[Chad]

The decor of a designer*

I love aquascaping my tank. I’ve had a heavily planted tank before and my tinkering nature didn’t like how it would “get away” from me so easily. So I got plants here that I could move around (minus the Tiger Lily) and just “tinker” around with the layout of the tank as much as I want. Other than the Lily, it’s Java Fern, Christmas Moss, various Anubias, Buce, and a tiny smidge o’ Frogbit. 

But the one thing I want to talk about is my bubbler. Again, I’m a designer, and this thing should NOT be in my tank. It’s cheesy and not cool enough for this tank. But I LOVE IT. Often I create art for myself that I want others to be impressed by. Maybe it’s human nature, maybe it’s that my job’s based on others liking my work? It’s a cycle I’ve found hard to break. Same case with my tank, I want you all to be impressed, and that’s a dangerous path. It’s why I generally shy away from social media. I don’t want this journal to become selfies with me in front of my tank and a hot drink in my hand exclaiming, “TEA TIME!!!” because I’m too tired to do anything else. I want my tank to be beautiful, but more than that I need this tank to make me smile. 

Similarly, I’m coming off that holiday high now that winter is truly here. I’m reminded of an argument I have with my wife every year about Christmas lights. She prefers white only lights, I prefer colorful. My argument has always been that the holidays are a time of fun and nostalgia. I say, the gaudier the better! No kid looks at white lights and goes “ooh and ahh!”. It’s the twinkling, colorful lights with a blow-up ornament that stands 200 feet tall that gets all the smiles. 

So, with that share, I’m trying to get tasteless with my tank. My prerequisite is it needs to make me smile and that includes the inhabitants of the tank. About that water mill bubbler of mine? There’s a nostalgia aspect to that silly decoration as well. The first aquarium I ever marveled at was at my public library. As a preschooler, my mom would take me there to find a book a week (to look at, I wasn’t that bright). They had an aquarium and I remember it being really greenish and yellow, and it had a couple bubblers in it. One of them was this water mill. Every time I look at that dumb bubbler in my tank I remember my awe as a kid and I can’t stop smiling.

So, my advice to myself: never forget why I don’t just “like” this hobby but I “love" it. And don’t forget the smile test.

* Again, I’m a graphic designer by day so bear with me as I have a little fun with the graphics. Good graphics are too much work so I’m simply playing around here a little for my own benefit.

 

[eatyourpeas]

If the tank makes you smile every time you spend time with it, that is all that matters. I stopped obsessing over a pretty tank a while ago, after realizing it is the home of the critters, and as such, they get the privilege of redecorating to suit their needs. I just wish some of them had a little better design sense. 🤪

Your tank is beautiful, thanks for sharing!😍

[Chad]

On 1/8/2022 at 11:55 AM, eatyourpeas said:

If the tank makes you smile every time you spend time with it, that is all that matters. I stopped obsessing over a pretty tank a while ago, after realizing it is the home of the critters, and as such, they get the privilege of redecorating to suit their needs. I just wish some of them had a little better design sense. 🤪

Your tank is beautiful, thanks for sharing!😍

Hey, thank you for sharing! It is the most important aspect of this hobby, relaxing and enjoying, that I most often forget to do. Good for you and great advice!

[Levi_Aquatics]

I have the same issue of worrying about what others think about my aquariums and not what I like/what is best for the fish. 

[Guppysnail]

That looks fantastic. Mine always look chaotic but I love them. Let’s talk about your water mill bubbler….AWESOME. It may not fit with naturalistic decor but it made me smile when I seen it. 😁. You are definitely on the right track. It’s what makes you happy and you smile. The reality is folks on social media do not I’ve with your tank. Healthy tanks with healthy fish and plants that look unique to the individual designing them and speak to their personality making them human and real people vs just pictures of pretty tanks instead of standard pics I can view in google are what impress me. I forever smile at @Beardedbillygoat1975 sponge bob because it speaks to how much he loves his family. 
I am envious of your ability to place things so it actually looks like something I would see in nature.

[Chad]

Thanks @Guppysnail, it's called obsessing over every darn detail;) But you're right when you mentioned the fun of everybody's particular style and personality they employ to their tanks. I have a lot of fun to seeing what everybody is doing and how they're decorating their tanks. 

[Beardedbillygoat1975]

@Guppysnailthanks for the shout out and @Chadits fun to let your freaky Nerm flag fly! Balancing my kids wishes with my own is always an act of patience. 

[Chad]

Agreed @Beardedbillygoat1975. Besides, what's a parent to do other than throw your kids a bone once in a while right? Get them interested in keeping a pet. My kids were the reason I got into fish keeping. Got my first daughter a betta with the Frozen Castle and everything. She didn't like keeping fish, turns out I did. Got my second daughter a betta with the Neon Mushroom and everything. She didn't like keeping fish either, turns out I really did. 

[Minanora]

I love this. And I love your flair for the comical. 😛

I look forward to following your journal!

[Chad]

I aim to please! Thanks for the kind words @Minanora.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I'm a fan of the quirk. I like the mill myself- I have childhood connections with them too! One of the things that's great about this forum is that one person's style might not be YOUR thing but you can still appreciate it and enjoy it along with them. With my tanks I always think to myself, if I were a fish, would I want to live here? If the answer is yes then I'm good with it. 🙂 

[Chad]

Thanks @xXInkedPhoenixX! You touched on something I enjoy the challenge of yet struggle with and that’s the balance between what is my personal style and what’s best for the fish. This is where forums like this are great in showing great options others have done to create a unique ecosystem that works for the fish they want to keep. 

[Flumpweesel]

I totally agree if you're going to trim up for Christmas go big and go loud. A colour coordinated Christmas is not a sign of a fun household. Christmas trees should barely be visible under tinsel and every home made cottonwood snow man the kids have brought home from school. Nothing should match everything should be a relic from previous years carrying the memories of fun with it.

As for your watermill when I first added an airline I really wanted either a treasure chest or oyster shell that opened and closed. Seems the stores here are cursed with better taste than I. 

 

[Chad]

Oh don’t think for a second that I got that water wheel from a local store @Flumpweesel. I had to search Amazon and more to track that bugger down. I almost added a skeleton drinking from a jug of rum for good measure but decided to start slow 😉. Yknow, it might be funny to go overboard on a tank, fill it with the gaudiest bubblers one can find. Add so many the poor fish will think it’s living in a soda can. Kinda like some people’s yards in December. Of course that probably wouldn’t be nice to the inhabitants so I’ll just keep it as a silly thought. Oh, and you were spot on with my thinking about Christmas tree decorations. I always win the battle as to how to decorate the tree. “I’m the designer in this house and I say it needs to be ugly!” Ok, I’ve never said that to the wife either. Thought it lots of times tho 🙂

[CalmedByFish]

On 1/8/2022 at 11:38 AM, Chad said:

My prerequisite is it needs to make me smile and that includes the inhabitants of the tank.

This is almost on par with advice like "patience" and "research." 

On 1/8/2022 at 10:38 PM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

 With my tanks I always think to myself, if I were a fish, would I want to live here? If the answer is yes then I'm good with it. 🙂

Bingo.

[Chad]

Thought I would throw my timeline of tanks out there and ask the forum, what was the first tank you owned? A personal favorite? Or even a chronological history of your collection of glass and silicone? 

[Chad]

I have a Pleco! Okay, I've had her for a year now but dang if she won't come out to get a decent pic of her. Well today she finally did! Say hello to... y'know I haven't named her yet? Any thoughts as to what she should be called?

[Levi_Aquatics]

That is a beautiful fish @Chad