Jump to content

What upsets/bothers you the most in this hobby?


Karen B.
 Share

Recommended Posts

What bothers me most is #1 Balance, and #2 the lack of absolutes in this hobby.  They go hand in hand.  There is no formula for balance in the aquarium. There are guides for getting there but no precise recipe.  Balance is a moving target.  When we move into the realm of planted tanks,  I think we have as many "could happens", as absolutes.  

 

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/1/2022 at 10:49 AM, Tanked said:

What bothers me most is #1 Balance, and #2 the lack of absolutes in this hobby.  They go hand in hand.  There is no formula for balance in the aquarium. There are guides for getting there but no precise recipe.  Balance is a moving target.  When we move into the realm of planted tanks,  I think we have as many "could happens", as absolutes.  

 

Amen to that!!! I am not a « try and see what happens » kind of person. I need precise formula which well… ain’t happening in our hobby. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are only three things that bother me:

A fish gets sick and I try to treat it and dies anyways.

Healthy plants begin to die and algae over take them (can never figure out how to make them healthy again)

My angles always bickering.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/1/2022 at 10:49 AM, Tanked said:

What bothers me most is #1 Balance, and #2 the lack of absolutes in this hobby.  They go hand in hand.  There is no formula for balance in the aquarium. There are guides for getting there but no precise recipe.  Balance is a moving target.  When we move into the realm of planted tanks,  I think we have as many "could happens", as absolutes.

It’s funny because this is actually one of my favorite things about the hobby! It can definitely be frustrating at times, though.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/2/2022 at 12:44 PM, Hobbit said:

It’s funny because this is actually one of my favorite things about the hobby! It can definitely be frustrating at times, though.

Frustrating is an understatement for me.  the tank I try hardest with never balances,🤬 and the tank that receives no care fell into it by itself.

  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 4/3/2022 at 11:01 AM, Tanked said:

Frustrating is an understatement for me.  the tank I try hardest with never balances,🤬 and the tank that receives no care fell into it by itself.

that is quite often the case. the harder you try, the more difficult it seems it is.  some days, less is more.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/29/2022 at 11:33 PM, lefty o said:

i would never admit to anyone i was talking to a chair force member!😎

LMAO. I'll remember this when talking with my Army buddies.

Biggest thing annoying me currently is watching my tank make small steps in recovery and then several backwards. Get the water parameters setup and more stable. Get plants and now I'm watching plants react strangely. Its disheartening. I miss being able to watch my fish and shrimps.

Fear I'll have to scrap the whole thing and start allll over.

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2022 at 9:47 AM, MadMaxi said:

LMAO. I'll remember this when talking with my Army buddies.

Biggest thing annoying me currently is watching my tank make small steps in recovery and then several backwards. Get the water parameters setup and more stable. Get plants and now I'm watching plants react strangely. Its disheartening. I miss being able to watch my fish and shrimps.

Fear I'll have to scrap the whole thing and start allll over.

Scrap it? Really?  Man that sucks. 
 

what’s going on?  What are the plants doing? Got pictures?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah that is my biggest concern at the moment. I am watching and doing what I can to prevent it from going that far. I am really hoping to salvage and get everything to recover.

Had a crash due to dust particles getting into the tank from a basement renovation. Lost all my fish and shrimp with the contaminates. Finally got water parameters to stabilize and added new plants. So far the floating plants (Hornwort) are doing well and growing fast, the Temple plants however are the ones responding weirdly. Planted them in the substrate and part of the stem died off and started hollowing out. The next segment above it though is growing roots like crazy which are going down to the substrate looking for a home. Just waiting and seeing how it goes...

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2022 at 10:18 AM, MadMaxi said:

Yeah that is my biggest concern at the moment. I am watching and doing what I can to prevent it from going that far. I am really hoping to salvage and get everything to recover.

Had a crash due to dust particles getting into the tank from a basement renovation. Lost all my fish and shrimp with the contaminates. Finally got water parameters to stabilize and added new plants. So far the floating plants (Hornwort) are doing well and growing fast, the Temple plants however are the ones responding weirdly. Planted them in the substrate and part of the stem died off and started hollowing out. The next segment above it though is growing roots like crazy which are going down to the substrate looking for a home. Just waiting and seeing how it goes...

I think you are fine.  Stem plants like temple often can be floaters or planted in the substrate.  Once you have some good roots you can burry them and be off to the races.  If your tank is stable, you may be able to introduce a few shrimp or a fish.  I’d go slow, but a betta wouldn’t add too much of a load to the tank

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2022 at 4:42 AM, Marc said:

Tiny tanks and the poor fish who have to live in tiny tanks their whole lives. It would be pretty sad if your whole life was spent in one room.

YES!
I've always loved shrimp & nano fish, but refuse to put them in anything smaller than a 20 long. We currently have chili rasboras, CPDs, pygmy cories , threadfin rainbowfish, horned nerites & neocaridinias in a 55 gallon planted tank, right next to my desk (I work from home). There were times that I'd see them playing in the current & the next thing I knew, my computer went to sleep from inactivity. I now have a mouse that intermittently wiggles the cursor to prevent that.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The amount of fish that are abused is absolutely the most upsetting thing to me. The fact that I can walk into any chain store in my city and see fish being abused is horrifying. The amount of people that buy a .1 gallon "tank" for their betta. The uneducated pet store owners that tell customers that they can keep koi in average aquariums. The fact that it's still LEGAL to sell bowls marketed as "tanks" is so upsetting. I literally seen a video on YouTube where a kid had 17 common goldfish in a bowl. Where are the responsible parents at? Why don't people understand that fish are ANIMALS! You wouldn't keep your dog in a kennel 24/7 without ever letting it outside to use the bathroom so why do people think it's acceptable to keep a goldfish in a tank that's barely big enough for them to fit in. We absolutely need more regulations on pet stores, it's not right. Walmart stopped selling (abusing) fish because people spoke out against it, I feel the community as a collective should push for the better treatment of fish.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For a little background, I've taken care of fish off & on since the early 1990's, but didn't get into it seriously until 2012, when we started breeding discus & a few other types of fish, with mostly planted tanks. I moved September 2021, 5 miles closer to our local water treatment plant, so we're literally just 5 miles closer, on the same main water line. Since we stopped breeding in 2019, the move was the perfect excuse to downsize to "easier setups". When we set 2 aquariums back up at the new house, we did one high tech & one low tech.

Here's what currently bugs me:
1) At my previous house, I knew exactly which common plants would thrive & how to take care of them. Of all things to have an issue with, neither setup likes anubias. I think I received an order with "rhizome rot", the seller replaced it, but those died off soon too. I've lost 9 anubias since the beginning of the year.

2) Even with upgrading from a cheap sera CO2 reactor to a serges CO2 reactor & doing the EI dosing method, I just cant get my plants in the high tech tank to pearl anymore.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2022 at 11:37 AM, Lucid_Reese said:

The amount of fish that are abused is absolutely the most upsetting thing to me. The fact that I can walk into any chain store in my city and see fish being abused is horrifying. The amount of people that buy a .1 gallon "tank" for their betta. The uneducated pet store owners that tell customers that they can keep koi in average aquariums. The fact that it's still LEGAL to sell bowls marketed as "tanks" is so upsetting. I literally seen a video on YouTube where a kid had 17 common goldfish in a bowl. Where are the responsible parents at? Why don't people understand that fish are ANIMALS! You wouldn't keep your dog in a kennel 24/7 without ever letting it outside to use the bathroom so why do people think it's acceptable to keep a goldfish in a tank that's barely big enough for them to fit in. We absolutely need more regulations on pet stores, it's not right. Walmart stopped selling (abusing) fish because people spoke out against it, I feel the community as a collective should push for the better treatment of fish.

I get where you are coming from, but not sure I agree with your conclusion.  The problem is with the definition of ‘abuse.”  Some argue that keeping any fish in an aquarium is abusive, others that keeping a single betta in a 3 gal bowl is fine.  Who is right?  The best answer is not so much regulation, but education.  

 Small mom & pop stores are struggling to compete with on-line and big box retailers that have massive buying power, and frequently employ unfair pricing strategies.  Your LFSs are among the hardest hit.  Adding regulations will disproportionately impact them since they don’t have deep pockets and high end law firms to help them navigate the legal maze to comply.  

The local shops are the lifeblood of our hobby, since frequently they have the most knowledgeable staff.  They are also able to order in a more varied inventory of fish.  Big box stores are more limited  to a narrow list of “vanilla “ fish that should sell well in the market, and cannot buy fish from local hobbyists. 

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 5/1/2022 at 12:44 PM, Ken Burke said:

I get where you are coming from, but not sure I agree with your conclusion.

I absolutely agree! I didn't think of the impact of LFSs. 

 

On 5/1/2022 at 12:44 PM, Ken Burke said:

The best answer is not so much regulation, but education.  

Great point. Education is the key to most things, especially when it comes to a hobby like ours. Thank you for making great points and expanding!

  • Like 1
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The one thing that bothers me most about this hobby is the lack of good tropical fish stores in the area. All we have in my town for places that sell fish are Meijers, Pet Supply plus and Petco. Walmart had fish along time ago but stopped.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/29/2022 at 3:53 PM, Guppysnail said:

The only two things that really get my knickers knotted are cleaning canister hose lines 🤢🤮and nitrate tests. I cannot differentiate color well even on coop strips (though those are easier a bit to see than api liquid). Everything else is an adventure to me 😁

Wait, you're supposed to clean those? 😳

On 4/1/2022 at 9:49 AM, Tanked said:

What bothers me most is #1 Balance, and #2 the lack of absolutes in this hobby.  They go hand in hand.  There is no formula for balance in the aquarium. There are guides for getting there but no precise recipe.  Balance is a moving target.  When we move into the realm of planted tanks,  I think we have as many "could happens", as absolutes.  

 

I don't remember if I said it before, but it drives me a little bit nuts that nothing ever stands still. There have been a couple of times where for just one day everything aligned and I had a clean, happy, and healthy tank, but it seems like there's always something coming or going.

I suppose if I could somehow permanently balance the tank it would get boring pretty quick. For a while I barely looked at my white cloud minnow tank at all, because they never needed any attention.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple things. 01.  Mean people.  There are so many ways to accomplish something.  And when someone offers some ideas of how they do it or have seen it done and others attack them for their opinion.  02.  Poor care of fish in big box stores.  If this was done to a dog, cat or bird they would be getting fines.  

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...