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

[Chad]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:57 AM, Guppysnail said:

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. 

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.

[Chad]

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.

[Chad]

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! 

[Chad]

[Guppysnail]

On 3/11/2024 at 9:54 AM, Chad said:

surely I'd learned enough to make it work now, right?

I’ve only kept 1 betta and that was long before they were so weakened in the hobby.  Just this past November I almost pulled the trigger at a swap. This dude came right to my finger in his tank.  
I wised up and put the emotion away and walked away. 
This thought is not limited to new folks. 

[Chad]

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?!

On 3/11/2024 at 9:07 AM, Guppysnail said:

I’ve only kept 1 betta and that was long before they were so weakened in the hobby.  Just this past November I almost pulled the trigger at a swap. This dude came right to my finger in his tank.  
I wised up and put the emotion away and walked away. 
This thought is not limited to new folks. 

That's some wicked self-control you got there @Guppysnail. Not sure I could've done the same but good on you! 

[Chad]

Ponyo. And here's the centerpiece betta to that tank. Ponyo was another eBay betta purchase. From a different seller at least, a female, and a veil tale. I was hopeful for better genes since it was an older tail type. I was also hopeful for better temperament since she was a female. In the end, unfortunately, my hopes didn't pan out. I don't remember if she arrived with popeye also or if it came on later. But she had it. Same story really as before, healthy behavior, though aggressive. Most aggressive betta I kept. She was meant to hunt. Also had the most personality. Thankfully the rasboras were far quicker than she was and other than one nipped fin they were fine. Her decline started with some fin rot and grew into general listlessness that sadly ended the same as the others. Meds were administered, I've forgotten which and how often. She lived longer than her predecessors, 8 months, but that's the best I could manage. 

[Chad]

A New Hope, Almost. When Ponyo passed away, I was done with bettas. The harlequin rasboras were doing great. So I began to realize that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't me or fish keeping in general but bettas and me that are the problem. I started doing more research, started watching youtube, and found Cory and Aquarium Co-op. His vids had lots of helpful info but also carried the same message: fish keeping isn't hard, we make it hard. He was defining me and my mistaken approached towards this hobby to a tee. I honestly can't recall all the advice I gleaned in this time. But it was pivotal in changing my approach and expectations in fish keeping. I saw that relaxing and finding the simpler methods actually yielded better results too. I was hooked. Oh yeah, I said I was watching Cory right? So while doing so I became hooked on guppies too. It's all your fault Cory! 🙂 So I took the rasboras back to the fish store and came home with 6 male guppies! Alongside them, I bought my first real plants from Aq-Coop too. Nothing could stop me now.

 

[Chad]

I learned several things quickly with this set-up. First, guppies aren't bullet-proof. I bought these from a lfs and then a couple more from Petsmart. I was mainly to blame for the troubles that ensued. The lfs had a big aquarium of guppies, all sorts and sizes. I found several including the prettiest one, a shy yellow, orange, and blue beauty that didn't want to come out and swim like the others. He'd sit and hide in the back, but my keen eye spotted him and he had to be mine. I won't go on any longer and will simply say, DON'T EVER BUY THE SHY FISH. Unless of course you plan to nurse that poor soul back to health immediately and you really know how to do it. In a fish store, shy fish are sick fish. He was dead the following morning. Another gentle soul, just resting on an anubius leaf for a day, followed where the first had led. I bought more from a local PetSmart. Knowing what I know now please be very careful and know what you're doing if you buy from big box stores. They can be healthy, but too often they've got something. Usually Ich, which is easy to deal with, but it's no fun in your main tank. In this particular case, the guppies (and endlers) I bought from PetSmart were actually far healthier than the originals. So yes, it can happen and be a great experience.

What I learned almost as quickly was how a group of male-only guppies can get along. I'm not saying don't keep a male-only guppy tank. But I will say don't keep 9 male guppies in a 9 gallon tank. Especially if a couple of those gallons is for the filtration in the back of the tank (again, Fluval Flex 9). One of the yellow tiger guppy/endlers and the tuxedo guppy (both Petsmart purchases) took it to every other guppy in the tank and were quite aggressive. Those boys need room to run, and hide, if you want this set up. Personally, I wouldn't do less than a 20 gallon long if I ever tried this again. In the end, I took what was left of the group (the two I mentioned above) to my lfs. While all this was transpiring I had watched another Cory video, one where he visited a guppy breeder/seller. I knew what I needed to do: get a pair from a quality source, make a family, and fill a tank with guppies.

Edited March 22 by Chad

[Chad]

Snails! Nerite Snails! This is a quick aside for the post above but I forgot about these little dudes until now. I never took pics of them but when I got the guppies I bought a couple nerite snails. I figured they'd be great algae eaters and I thought they were pretty. I'd heard mystery snails were no good for this kind of thing, and again, the nerite's shells wowed me. 

But, I hated them. They don't reproduce so easy to control and they're small enough to get into cracks and crevices. But, I hated them. Why? The eggs. For me, I found the eggs (think sesame seeds dipped in epoxy) impossible to remove. I still have driftwood and glass with scars from those eggs. Glass I'd scraped with a real razor blade. They were everywhere too. If they're your thing, then cool. Just not my cup o' tea.

Also, and I might ruffle a few feathers here, but I don't think snails are that great at algae cleaning. Don't get me wrong, they do eat algae which is good. But I had misunderstood the level of "cleaning" they did. For instance, a half dollar size of brown algae on the glass would still be there but now had several little tracks through it where the snails had been. I have no idea how many snails you'd need to get crystal clear glass, if possible I never came close to those numbers. In the end, a scrubber or plastic razor blade with some wet forearms has done the trick. Snails for algae didn't do it for me. But later, I did get some mystery snails and they were one of the top good surprises for me in fish keeping. But that'll have to wait for another day. 

[Guppysnail]

[Chad]

Oh, so you have 1 Nerite snail too @Guppysnail?

[Guppysnail]

On 3/25/2024 at 6:07 PM, Chad said:

Oh, so you have 1 Nerite snail too @Guppysnail?

I had 54 at one point 😲

[Chad]

On 3/25/2024 at 5:16 PM, Guppysnail said:

I had 54 at one point 😲

Phew, sadist 😉 

[Guppysnail]

On 3/25/2024 at 6:21 PM, Chad said:

Phew, sadist 😉 

It took me longer to get that many eggs off the glass than it would have taken me to just wipe the darn glass 🤣🤣