The things you don't know when you're starting out . . .

[JettsPapa]

• One of the first plants I bought was a Java fern.  The directions on the package said to plant it in the substrate, so I did (yes, I know, men aren't supposed to read the directions, but I did this once).  It looked great, but some time later I happened to bump into it while I was doing something else in the tank.  It moved.  Plants aren't supposed to move like that.  All the roots had rotted off and the plant was just sitting there on the substrate.  I was so discouraged I gave it away and haven't had a Java fern since.
• I was at one of the chain pet stores looking at the fish food and saw some freeze dried brine shrimp cubes.  The helpful young lady who worked there said they make a nice treat for fish, but don't feed them very often.  So I bought some.  I took them home and got ready to feed them to the fish.  I thought two or three would be about right, but showing remarkable (and unusual, at least for me) forethought I decided to just put one in the tank first and see how quickly the fish ate that before giving them more.  I'm very glad I just fed one.  That thing started absorbing water, and the brine shrimp started coming off of the cube, and they kept coming, and they kept coming . . . you get the idea.  There was no way those fish were going to eat anywhere close to all of them.  I finally netted most of them out.  After that I broke the cubes into smaller pieces, and didn't buy any more when those were gone.

Feel free to add your own amusing experiences.

[jwcarlson]

I did the same with anubias and java fern.  Most of mine survived, but the java fern got all stressed and made TONS of little baby ferns.  So I've still got tons of those all over the place except now they're not quite as small, but they are still pretty small.  

 

[Lennie]

When I was setting my first planted tank, I didn't know I had to soak my big piece of driftwood even after I've boiled it. 

So I placed everything in the tank, tied mosses, planted all root plants and so on. Placed the rhizome plants (hehe, noobs. @JettsPapa, @jwcarlson) in the corners of the wood. It was a densely planted for a good start. Looking perfect!

Until... I started filling the tank with water.

EVERYTHING SUDDENLY TURNED INTO A VEGGIE SOUP.

Driftwoods floating on the top. Plants are everywhere thanks to driftwood pushing them all around.

That was very disappointing...

I ended up covering random places with the rocks to make sure driftwood sits in. 

All my scape and work turned out to be a driftwoods covered by rocks everywhere. I had a rock on my face whenever I looked at the tank for months. That driftwood was never willing to soak.

I'm mad again,,,, at a driftwood.👺

 

Edited February 7, 2023 by Lennie

[Theplatymaster]

ive had success with Anubias in the ground, i just dont bury the rhizome.

I stuck val all the buried and it didnt do so well.

I wish i knew what plants did well in my water. Id have gotten just a dwarf aquarium lily, and some root tabs, and have had an awesome tank, instead of spending so much money on plants.

[Tanked]

When choosing plants, "easy to grow" doesn't mean they will!

Aquariums aren't supposed to be clean. 

When my brother and I got our first 10 gallon tank we dutifully changed the filter media and scrubbed everything clean weekly.  If the water turned to milk we changed it.  When the water turned milky a few hours later we changed again. no one ever suggested that we wait it out.  Coupled with having no memory of ever using a water conditioner, it is a wonder that any of the fish survived.

Big box fish departments probably don't know what they are talking about.  

When shopping for my first adult aquarium, the conversation went something like this: I want the 30 gallon starter kit and some idiot proof plants.  What kind of plant is that?  "some kind of Crypt."  Can I grow a Scarlet Temple and Jungle Val. with the light on this kit?  "Yes!"  Can I keep a Common Pleco and 3 Tinfoil Barbs with them?  "Yes". 

 

 

[jwcarlson]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:35 AM, Tanked said:

When my brother and I got our first 10 gallon tank we dutifully changed the filter media and scrubbed everything clean weekly.  If the water turned to milk we changed it.  When the water turned milky a few hours later we changed again. no one ever suggested that we wait it out.  Coupled with having no memory of ever using a water conditioner, it is a wonder that any of the fish survived.

There was a time in the hobby that was before the understanding of chlorine's effect on fish, which was before when I started keeping fish.  But, even 25 years ago I distinctly remember being told that I didn't need to use water conditioner as long as there was enough agitation in the water when I refilled the tank.  While it's true that you can agitate chlorine away, I'm not positive that you can do it in real-time filling the tank.  While I might have had a water conditioner, I do not recall ever using it when I did water changes.

Additionally, I feel like fish were hardier "back then".  Now they do seem pretty fragile... unfortunately.

Edited February 8, 2023 by jwcarlson

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

I didn't realize the plants in tubes at the big box store had aquatic and SEMI-aquatic plants. To be fair they do label them (though not to my satisfaction). I bought a couple Dracaena and stuck them in the substrate. They did last quite some time though- so I guess semi-aquatic is true . No really, didn't realize at the time it was even marked and didn't know that growing them out of the back of your tank was "a thing". 

[JettsPapa]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:59 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I didn't realize the plants in tubes at the big box store had aquatic and SEMI-aquatic plants. To be fair they do label them (though not to my satisfaction). I bought a couple Dracaena and stuck them in the substrate. They did last quite some time though- so I guess semi-aquatic is true . No really, didn't realize at the time it was even marked and didn't know that growing them out of the back of your tank was "a thing". 

They also have the same planting instructions for all of them (see my experience above with a Java fern).

[jwcarlson]

On 2/8/2023 at 8:59 AM, xXInkedPhoenixX said:

I didn't realize the plants in tubes at the big box store had aquatic and SEMI-aquatic plants. To be fair they do label them (though not to my satisfaction). I bought a couple Dracaena and stuck them in the substrate. They did last quite some time though- so I guess semi-aquatic is true . No really, didn't realize at the time it was even marked and didn't know that growing them out of the back of your tank was "a thing". 

Perhaps temporarily aquatic would be a better label?

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:00 AM, JettsPapa said:

same planting instructions for all of them

Yes their labeling is very generic and super frustrating when you don't have any experience HOWEVER I've always been veyr happy with the tube plants I've purchased. 

On 2/8/2023 at 7:03 AM, jwcarlson said:

temporarily aquatic

Hahah! I love that!

[FLFishChik]

One of the first aquariums I owned was a 20g hex tank as a teenager with mollies as and an under gravel filter. I didn’t know that water had to be tested or changed out regularly. I gravel vacuumed as needed but never tested water or changed it out, just topped off when needed. had that tank for 3 years and many Molly babies. If i tried that approach today, I’d likely lose all my fish

Edited February 8, 2023 by FLFishChik

[Biotope Biologist]

On 2/7/2023 at 12:48 PM, JettsPapa said:

•   The helpful young lady who worked there said they make a nice treat for fish, but don't feed them very often. 

Ah yes I remember frozen foods were meant to be a “treat” but give them too often and your fish will die of bloat. Or something along those lines. And here I am now. My fish ONLY eat frozen foods. And live foods. I have a freezer of about 5 different choices for them.

 

I think it’s gotten better since I was a kid but the amount of fish I was sold that were “community” fish that were actually semi-agressive or fin nippers was not 0. Barbs and dwarf gouramis went in with some guppies. The guppies came out without tails. From then on I don’t think I’ve ever had guppies actually now that I think about it. Little me must have held onto the “too fragile” notion.

[knee]

I cleaned my tanks every week and fortunately for the fish, we have water conditioner. But I did replace ALL filter media every time I cleaned my tanks and also put methylene blue in the tank itself. The store owner told me to put methylene blue after dechlorinator to keep my tank clean and to avoid getting my fish sick.

As a kid, having a blue tank was amazing and I really enjoyed looking it at. I definitely put way too much of that stuff and idk how my fish survived, but from what I remember they were happy. The convict pair in that tank even spawned, but those fish will spawn in a cup if you leave them in there long enough.

 

[Miranda Marie]

I got into aquascaping videos on YouTube for about a year before getting my 20g. So I happily bought a full spectrum light, aquasoil, and fertilizer... Only to grow a massive hair algae farm because my nutrients and light were way too intense for my skill level and the height of the tank (in the light's case). Spent well over a year battling insane amounts of algae, even with tons of Amano shrimp and frequent water changes.

Turns out less is more when starting out with plants LOL.

[Tanked]

On 2/8/2023 at 9:57 AM, jwcarlson said:

Additionally, I feel like fish were hardier "back then".  Now they do seem pretty fragile... unfortunately.

While there are always exceptions, I think that sometimes they are hardier than we realize.  about 4+ years ago, I adopted an abandoned community aquarium and 14 fish.   The aquarium could have had a starring role in one of those pet abuse videos.  The owner had the set up for about two years before he took ill.  I knew that one of the fish was doomed when I saw him.  Today five of those fish remain.  A sixth fish jumped back in December.  I do believe that some of the higher dollar fish are more fragile.

@xXInkedPhoenixX I went to PetSmart last night for the first time in years because it was suggested that I add/needed iron now.  I also wanted to check out the new store.  I was looking at the tube plants and and also discovered the aquatic/semi aquatic label. That cut my choices by more than half, so I ended up buying a pack of Aquatic Top Fin bulbs.  Even if I knew which bulb was which they probably should have been labeled for large aquarium or outdoor use only.

[xXInkedPhoenixX]

On 2/8/2023 at 7:01 PM, Tanked said:

That cut my choices by more than half,

Yep. You can pretty much count on a few species of Anubias and some Java ferns. Occassionally they surprise me with something else, as far as full aquatic plants go. 

[nabokovfan87]

• Let's "clean the tank" mom said.  Alright, so we get the big tub and move the fish out the tank.  She get a scoop and takes out all the gravel into the pasta strainer and then I take the tank to the front yard to rinse it out.  Clean the glass, wipe everything out while she rinses the gravel (always very dirty) and then we add in the stuff back to the tank and proceed to work on the filter.  Clean out the cartridge and check the little wheel, probably dried out by now.  Clean off the plants if they looked nasty and not the shiny plastic that was more appealing.  The fish did well, surprisingly, we used dechlor and we did have a cloudy tank for quite a while.... but it was basically a "deep clean" far too often.
• I do really, REALLY hate that my love of sharks was mixed with the admiration of bala sharks as a kid.  "Get enough of them and you won't have aggression".  Yeah right.
• Got a marineland bowfront tank, I think it came without a filter so I got a quietflow.  LOVED IT, but I had too many issues trying to cut scraps of sponge to fit and I was just bad at cutting sponge.  Getting a new HoB wasn't an issue so I got something else.  Then I got an aquaclear (pre-fluval) because everyone said they were the best and then a sponge filter because it was just easier.  Then I got tidals, then I had an aquaclear again (larger size, fluval branded).  Then I got a ziss bubble bio.... you get the picture.  Constantly unhappy with filters and just not really being happy with what I had because I was constantly watching things about how everything else or something specific was the best thing ever.
• Buying the bulk pack of food because I needed to get enough $$ to get free shipping. Or the 4 pack of flourish iron and the bulk pack of prime to have "enough".
• Not buying enough plants
• buying enough plants but not letting them actually grow in before adding fish
• worms.  All of that. Just worms.  Don't get worms in your tank because the filter stopped working and you didn't catch it.

[Tanked]

On 2/8/2023 at 11:11 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I do really, REALLY hate that my love of sharks was mixed with the admiration of bala sharks as a kid.

For me it was the Columbian Shark.   A quick read just now indicates that everything about my first aquarium was wrong.

  https://www.fishlaboratory.com/fish/columbian-shark/#columbian-shark-tank-mates