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

[Chad]

That’s very nice of you @Torrey, I recently illustrated my current avatar.

[Chad]

Ok, it's been a WHILE and I've been wanting to update my aquarium situation. Thought I'd show what the tank looked like a year ago and what it looks like now. Here's the before:



and here's now:



Some things are still where I left them, some have grown way more than I realized. But here are the biggest changes.

No more rummy nose tetras, platies, guppies or neons. Hello rainbow shiners, green neons, cpd's, ricefish and endlers. No more heater. Way more plants. The cory's, shrimp and bs pleco remain and are as silly as ever. For me, the rummynose's as a centerpiece school just didn't work as I'd hoped. They're so skittish and docile that any dither fish or small thing scared them off. Seriously, I had one cpd bullying them to one side of the tank. @Fish Folk sold me some incredible shiners a few months back and the change in tank behavior was immediate. They have yet to color up, but I think they're incredible already. Those in the know understand how tricky behavior in a community tank is. I get it now and am looking at parsing things down. But, since things are going well I'm in no hurry to do so. I do see how keeping two species together or less works better. But asking a novice to pick only two types of fish? Or one? Big ask 🙂 

[Guppysnail]

Welcome back. It is tricky to get the right fish mix. The tank is looking stunning!

[Chad]

Thanks @Guppysnail! I gave myself a lot of smiles seeing the before and current looks so I figured it was time to update. Finding the right mix is wonderfully tricky. Meaning I do find it fun to figure out and learn from. I also added amano shrimp. They're a lot busier and fun to watch than I was guessing they'd be. Got 'em solely for cleaning algae, love watching them.

[Schuyler]

Wow! That development! It filled out nicely

[Chad]

Thanks @Schuyler! I've been playing with adding plants more than fish lately:) I just cut the red rotalla (sp?) a few weeks ago and am impressed with the speed it grows. The corkscrew jungle val is also fun, got very tiny shoots from an online seller (very disappointed and not AQ Co-op) that barely hung on for a few months and then took off. Seems like all plants for me take forever to get going. Except the frog bit and tiger lily. Those loved my water and hit the tank at full speed. That said, I can't grow java fern to save my life. It exists in my tank, that's about it.

I need to read up on how to propagate anubias. Didn't realize how much the one on the right had grown until I saw my then and now pics. I want to cut it in half and move the top half somewhere else.

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/16/2023 at 1:30 PM, Chad said:

I need to read up on how to propagate anubias. Didn't realize how much the one on the right had grown until I saw my then and now pics. I want to cut it in half and move the top half somewhere else.

Very very easy to propogate.  The progress looks awesome!

On 2/16/2023 at 7:57 AM, Chad said:

I also added amano shrimp. They're a lot busier and fun to watch than I was guessing they'd be. Got 'em solely for cleaning algae, love watching them.

That's awesome.  One of my favorite things to do is watch them do their things.  Very unique little shrimp, well.... big shrimp.

[Chad]

On 2/16/2023 at 3:44 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Very very easy to propogate.  The progress looks awesome!

Thanks @nabokovfan87! Appreciate that. I'll give it a go this weekend and see what happens.

[Chad]

Well, I propogated/cut the anubias on the far right of my tank. Thanks @nabokovfan87 for the words of encouragement. And yes, it was very simple to do and looks great. Turns out there were two stems growing out so snip and snip. I glued the two stems to a rock and placed it behind the wood on the left of the tank to help fill in the space the tiger lily resides. I also rounded up the java fern bits and put them in an AQ Coop plant pot that I had laying around. Putting them all together in the pot hopefully helps them grow a bit. Hey, there's a first time for everything, right? 

I really like how I can now see the christmas moss behind it now.

I threw a couple java fern stragglers in another pot back there. Not sure what to do with it yet, the other pot is full up.

Aannd, I shrieked like a three year old when a sneaky amano shrimp decided to climb up my arm as I focused on cutting the anubias. Sure, I think they're great, but yeah, they still creep me out. So pathetic 🙂.

[nabokovfan87]

On 2/18/2023 at 10:14 AM, Chad said:

Aannd, I shrieked like a three year old when a sneaky amano shrimp decided to climb up my arm as I focused on cutting the anubias. Sure, I think they're great, but yeah, they still creep me out. So pathetic 🙂

Hahaha! That's awesome. Yeah they are bugs of sorts so I totally understand it. They are cool though.

The propagation looks really awesome. Well done.

[Chad]

It's been a while, but I've been keeping this wonderful hobby moving along in my house. Can't believe how time has flown. Anyway, saw a post about showing tanks that have been around and for how long. I meant to share but realized I hadn't taken a pic of my aquarium in over a year. So now I'm sharing and reopening this old journal. Here's a pic of the tank fairly new, about 5-6 months old.

 

And here we are today, around two and a half years later.

 

 

Same tank, new fish. I added a trio of Kohaku Swordtails and a pair of Yellow Tiger Guppies from Dan's Fish about 3 months ago. One of the female Swords passed during childbirth but she had a lot of kids. Anyway, I'll add more to this in the coming days but for now a simple thanks for being here. I've been lurking on the forum here and there. Not commenting much since there are far better minds sharing their expert wisdom. Still, in the meantime I've been learning a lot from you all. Again, thanks!

[Guppysnail]

Welcome back. Tank looks awesome 😎 

[Chad]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:24 AM, Guppysnail said:

Welcome back. Tank looks awesome 😎 

Aww, thanks @Guppysnail! And right back at ya, you're a huge source of smiles and info on these forums. Wouldn't be the same without ya 🙂 

I'm going to talk more about my personal experiences as to all the fish I've had in the coming days. Lot's of opinions and rationales about why I did what. Not always what one would deem proper, but I'm only human. 

[Chad]

No Multiple Tank Syndrome here. Okay, so let's start off with what might be considered a no-no of fish keeping that I'm guilty of but it's worked for me. I don't have several tanks or a fish room. But I do get rid of fish that don't work out, or I get tired of, to refresh my main aquarium. I say main because I do have a quarantine and/or grow out tank in my basement. And no, I don't dispose of them but I do give them to local fish keepers that want them. I don't think I'm being cruel but some may disagree. I could see how some might say I'm being flippant or callous about keeping living pets. It's true that I don't feel the same emotional bond to fish as I do with cats or dogs. Some do bring that bond out in me, but I enjoy groups of nano fish and generally they don't elicit such feelings. Love to watch them and care for them, but when a fish or group of fish aren't working out in the way I'd hoped, I move on and try something new. Thankfully, others have gladly taken them off my hands.

So, am I a bad guy? Maybe, I don't think so but what bad guy ever does? This has allowed me to learn so much about fish and what I want out of fish keeping without keeping more tanks than I can manage. Because that's the other thing I knew, without question, before starting this hobby: I'm not going to take care of several tanks the way one should. I'll burn out if I try it. It's not easy to own up to here but I know that's what I'd do. So I steered clear of buying any more tanks. I knew, every time, what I wanted only to have it not work out like I'd hoped. So I thought, maybe for a while anyway, I'd share my take on some fish that I've kept, why I loved them and why I got rid of them. Also some that have been in my tank the whole time too. But maybe that's not cool? Which is why I figured I'd get this said right now.
 

[Guppysnail]

On 3/7/2024 at 1:16 PM, Chad said:

I don't have several tanks or a fish room. But I do get rid of fish that don't work out, or I get tired of, to refresh my main aquarium.

I do have several aquariums but still do this.  Many fish live 5-10 years.  I would never get to enjoy half the fish I want to if they all lived forever lives in my tanks.

I feel it’s a kindness and they will be happier somewhere they work better.  Or if I’m no longer paying the attention to them they deserve because my interest is elsewhere the will be happier getting the kind of TLC they deserve from someone who is focused on them.  
 

 

[Chad]

Thanks @Guppysnail for sharing. Couldn't say it better and I feel exactly the same way, obviously. I didn't know if this was frowned on or not in the community? So I figured let's get this out there because I've always been nervous to share it. 

[Guppysnail]

On 3/7/2024 at 1:47 PM, Chad said:

I didn't know if this was frowned on or not in the community

I used to wonder also.  Becoming involved with the Breeders Awards Programs at my clubs I’ve found that this is common practice.  
I do have my pets that are family and will never leave my care but others rotate in and out and go to other hobbyists who have the enthusiasm for a new species. 

[Chad]

Also a great point @Guppysnail. I simply thought there's a professional disconnect between the fish breeder who sells fish and the aquarist who gives fish away to try something new. One's trying to make a living or at least a nice side-hustle and the other is giving up. At least that's the thought that was running through my mind. I also know that most MTS addicts (just kidding here! love you all) aren't in their situation because they didn't know what to do with their old fish. But I recalled some chatter like that a while back and thought to myself, "Am I bad for calling a do-over?" Been hesitant to put it out there and find out. Until now, thanks again.

[Chad]

Let's take it from the beginning! Starting this journal up again got me to reminiscing. Then wondering, do I have pics of our first fish, of Ballerina? And yeah, I did.

In 2015 I wanted to get my daughter a pet, all to her own. I've never kept fish, always thought they were neat but a college roommate had a tank of cichlids. They were rough, boring, and the tank was nasty. Looked like too much work too. But hey, I'm an adult now and I was certain fish-keeping had come a long way. I found a "cool" fish tank from Fluval, the Spec 3. The Spec 5 was there too but wouldn't fit on her dresser. Designer me liked the looks, the techie in me liked the set-up. A blog showing how to set it up for betta's and I was ready-set-go. What else did I need, right? Oh, the fish, I needed a fish! 

A trip to a couple local fish stores and I started getting worried. I didn't know much, but I knew those fish were in bad shape. Too many were past bad shape and gone. When you mention to a fish store owner or employee that several bettas seem to be dead (midwest polite way of saying LONG F'ing GONE!) in their display and their response is a facial expression that screams, "And?", might wanna move on. Definitely feeling confident with my tank choice though, all their betta tanks were plastic .5-1 gallon tanks. My 3 gallon tank was a comparative palace! Insert sarcasm here and yeah, lots of great fish moves coming shortly.

A google search later that night about bettas and suddenly I was wowed. Unbelievable colors and options for bettas, and it seems most of these are sold on eBay!! Win-win, super easy and options galore. Found a few sellers with good records, not perfect but who is right? My daughter and I went through and found the one! A beauty, we hit buy and waited. The following week she arrived. She named her Ballerina.

[Chad]

Ballerina was beautiful! A purple, pink and white Rosetail Betta! Why would you sell any other betta than a rosetail?! Absolutely stunning. She did have one eye that was twice the size of the other. I learned that sometimes they nick them and one puffs up. No worries, just keep giving clean water, quality flake food and you're good. I think I was using a dechlorinator but I had no idea what a cycle was at this point. Still, a couple water changes a week turned into every other day, focusing on keeping those filters spotless. Clean is clean right! And that tank was a hospital level of clean. 

You know where this is going right? The hospital clean tank soon became a hospital. I've honestly forgotten how this all sequentially broke down other than the popeye never went away and the fin rot started in the first week. After that it was a google searching flurry each day to try and quell whatever it was that was weakening and destroying poor Ballerina. I don't remember what all I tried and what all symptoms she had throughout but it ended with pineconing. In one month, Ballerina was gone. 

I was done, my daughter was sad but bounced back fast. Cats saved the day, distracting little buggers. So much for fish keeping, I gave up and left... for good. Or so I intended. Never learned about the horrible genetics of Rosetail Bettas until a year or so later. Learned that when time had passed and I wondered, "Maybe it's time my youngest daughter should try and have pet of her own?". 

That's my first personal experience with keeping fish. What grade would you give this star pupil? 😉

[Guppysnail]

On 3/8/2024 at 11:57 AM, Chad said:

What grade would you give this star pupil? 😉

100% average. Well in the group on the bell curve. 

[Chad]

On 3/8/2024 at 11:26 AM, Guppysnail said:

100% average. Well in the group on the bell curve. 

I suppose you’re right and that’s the scary thing, that entry level keeper bar is just too low. I have tons of reasons but few solutions. I was told by a neighbor once, in a kinda snarky way, that fish keeping is too hard. I was forced to think but I liked my answer: “Fishkeeping is very easy once you learn how to do it. It’s the learning part that’s so hard.” There’s so much contradictory and straight out bad information out there that when you’re new who do you trust? They all sound plausible until you try them.

[Chad]

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.

[Chad]

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.

[Guppysnail]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:39 AM, Chad said:

Meds seemed to make the rot stop during application didn't help regrowth.

Often fin rot is a secondary opportunistic infection taking advantage of a fish with a more serious internal bacterial/parasitic/ protozoan infection.

You are NOT alone.  As many others I only learned what I know by making mistakes at the expense of the fish.  This hobby has a very steep learning curve.  
 

Hobbyists often leave the hobby beating themselves up without ever knowing most of us all learned this way and can fully empathize.  Some new folks are to embarrassed to even speak of it and feel shame because to many long term fish keepers do not openly share all their fish life costing mistakes.  
 

THANK YOU for openly sharing your learning journey.  Someday a new person/many new folks will read your journey and feel not so alone.