What in your opinion is the biggest obstacle you face when keeping fish?

[ktk4beees]

On 5/18/2023 at 11:57 AM, Monkeypoint said:

Huh. I am looking into this myself. Do you have to remineralize the water, and if so, how do you do that?

I am looking into that myself right now. The good thing about the one I bought is it offers water prior to going through the last step and taking everything to 0. That way it can provide both Human and Dog mineralized water with the 'right' goddies in it for us land based air breathers and the 0 water level after the last step so you can custom mineralize it to you specific fish needs.

As for the how? That I am working on and, as far as I have gotten in the process, I can see that it may be different depending on the species you intend to keep in you aquarium. At lease you will not need to have to deal with city water chlorine.

[AnotherHumanPerson]

I’d say time is a major obstacle. It takes tons of time to get anything done, from cycling to plants growing in to getting fish through quarantine. Fish keeping is a hobby you need to take slowly (I learned that the hard way 🙃)

Another problem that I have issues with was finding the time to do stuff. Between a busy schedule and executive dysfunction, I find it hard to find time/remember to do regular maintenance (let alone feed the fish some days). This is the main reason why I opt for heavily-planted setups with medium to low stocking with hardy fish, as it minimizes the maintenance needed.

[neitherman]

On 5/18/2023 at 10:57 AM, Monkeypoint said:

Huh. I am looking into this myself. Do you have to remineralize the water, and if so, how do you do that?

I haven't been re-mineralizing because I originally filled the tank with conditioned tap water and I only do 5 gallon water changes at a time (basically I am dumping 5 gallons of RO water into ~40 gallons of tank tap water). When I test my water hardness post water change it's still showing as through the roof on the ACO test strips. Snails look good though, I am not seeing any pitting in the shells. Shrimp also seem to be molting just fine. I am also putting liquid ferts in the tank for my plants post water change.

Edited May 18, 2023 by neitherman

[Scrum Fish]

One of my biggest obstacles is trying to fix things that aren't broken.

Both of my fish tanks* are fairly heavily planted and have gotten to a point that they don't require water changes as often as they used to.  It's difficult to quit fiddling with things and it takes an effort to remind myself that if plants are growing, fish are active and colorful and healthy, and the filter media isn't too clogged to run then I need to keep my hands out of there!

*My axolotl tank is younger and doesn't have nearly as many plants, so I still have to do more frequent changes in it.  I guess that's keeping me somewhat sane.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Scrum Fish

[Monkeypoint]

On 5/18/2023 at 4:16 PM, neitherman said:

Snails look good though, I am not seeing any pitting in the shells. Shrimp also seem to be molting just fine.

Sounds like everybody’s happy!

[Monkeypoint]

On 5/14/2023 at 2:27 PM, FLFishChik said:

I can’t use a python to do water changes and 2) I can’t lift a heavy bucket of water so it’s gallon pitcher from the kitchen to the tank, 1 gallon at a time

If you have another faucet in your house that isn’t one of those pull-down kitchen sink types, I found a great hack. First I replaced my bathroom sink for one that has this type of faucet. it was around $35 on Amazon. My Python died after 20 years. I bought a Hygger but it’s the same idea. I attach one end to the faucet with this rubber gizmo. Camco Water Bandit | Features a... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000EDOSKG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

It has the 3/4 garden hose thread that screws into the Hyyger on one end and then I’ll tighten onto the faucet with one of these Koehler Enterprises EZ01B EZ... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XAKHRPI?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

it works great. No leakage at all. I have a 55 gallon tank and ain’t no way I’m schlepping buckets of water - not at my age or degree of clumsiness. If I’m not trimming plants or cleaning the filter, I’m done in about 1/2 hour, 40 minutes tops. 

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/18/2023 at 11:09 AM, Monkeypoint said:

Travel. Having to leave town and worrying about maintenance - especially for shrimp. And as an aside, I'm terrified of power outages!

You can always pre-make your water for water changes and have it set aside ready to go.  It might be a good way to keep things going for longer trips, top offs, as well as having a camera to monitor tanks while you're away. 

Edited May 18, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Galabar]

The only thing that would worry me is that gold-colored fitting.  If it's got copper in it, you might not want to use it on a shrimp/invert tank.

[nabokovfan87]

On 5/18/2023 at 4:33 PM, Galabar said:

The only thing that would worry me is that gold-colored fitting.  If it's got copper in it, you might not want to use it on a shrimp/invert tank.

This is a common misconception.  the fittings are often brass. 

The water is not in contact long enough to cause any issues.  These fittings are internally there on the sink as well as any hoses you may use in the yard.  It's a common material, but the water is not in contact long enough to cause those types of issues for shrimp.

[Monkeypoint]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:39 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

the fittings are often brass. 

Also, it's no different from the fittings and adapters included with both the Python and Hygger hoses. The only difference being that despite the variety of adapters both companies include with their kit, none of them actually fit the threads of currently manufactured faucets (aside from the 3/4" outdoor spigot, which is not an option most of the year), whereas the Water Bandit offers a near-perfect solution. It is somewhat ironic that the faucets are manufactured in the same country as the hoses and adapters. You would think they would update the adapters to fit the threads of the faucets they manufacture. Just sayin'!

[tolstoy21]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:33 PM, Galabar said:

The only thing that would worry me is that gold-colored fitting.  If it's got copper in it, you might not want to use it on a shrimp/invert tank.

Most of the water in many (mostly older) homes flows through copper pipes. I've successfully kept neocaridina (and even caridina) species in my water, and admittedly, my pipes are a tad corroded and need to replaced with Pex.

My guess, and I stress 'guess' here, is that copper would need to be leaching out at a rate that would also be causing homes tremendous plumbing problems. And for this to happen, the water would need to be highly acidic.

Again, this is just my theory, but it is based on the fact that my shrimp are not dying. 

[JettsPapa]

On 5/19/2023 at 7:43 AM, tolstoy21 said:

. . . My guess, and I stress 'guess' here, is that copper would need to be leaching out at a rate that would also be causing homes tremendous plumbing problems. And for this to happen, the water would need to be highly acidic.

Again, this is just my theory, but it is based on the fact that my shrimp are not dying. 

I suspect you're right.  I have all copper pipes in my house.  It was built almost 100 years ago, but we stripped it down to the studs in 1989 and put in all new plumbing, electrical, insulation, sheetrock, etc.  Shrimp and snails do just fine.

[anewbie]

The single biggest obstacle I face is keeping them all alive. The most frustrating current obstacle is finding detail information on behavior of the current fishes i'm hopeful to obtain. It is amazing how little information is known or shared about some species. Like will they bite my fingers when I feed them. This is very important to know because I need my fingers for typing notes and when bitten i hate to type.

[Phoenixfishroom]

On 5/18/2023 at 7:33 PM, Galabar said:

The only thing that would worry me is that gold-colored fitting.  If it's got copper in it, you might not want to use it on a shrimp/invert tank.

So in this case that fitting is, as someone else said, probably brass, however, even if it was copper it would be perfectly fine. A lot of houses have copper pipes for Which means all the way to your sink it’s been sitting in copper, and those people can still have inverts just fine. I recently found a couple of pennies in one of my fishtanks from when my niece was over so they had been there for over  a month.

the metal doesn’t leach into the water like that, I also have a tank that has crystals with native copper in it and there are shrimp in there too. The whole concept of rocks/crystals/metal fixtures leaching into the water enough to cause problems is pretty much false aside from possibly some mild ph change with limestone or calcite/selenium and issues with certain heavy metals

Edited May 21, 2023 by Phoenixfishroom
Clarify

[Tanked]

I have often heard that in much older homes you are supposed to let the faucet run for a minute or two to flush out any lead that has leached out of the solder joints overnight.  This would also hold true for the leached copper as well.  If the copper was leaching out at an appreciable rate this would "be causing homes tremendous plumbing problems" as @tolstoy21 mentioned.

If this was a real problem, I would think that the trace amounts of copper in some popular aquarium plant fertilizers should be a problem, as well as the majority copper content of brass faucets.  If a magnet sticks to a yellow fitting, then it is likely brass clad steel.

[tolstoy21]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:20 AM, Tanked said:

If the copper was leaching out at an appreciable rate this would "be causing homes tremendous plumbing problems" as @tolstoy21 mentioned.

I have problems with copper leaching from my pipes in my home's old plumbing. This manifests itself as green stains on any while porcelain in my home (what is leaching is technically oxidized copper). This happens because the water coming from my well has a Ph of 5.5. This eventually this leads to pin hole leaks in my copper plumbing, if not remediated. But this takes some time to occur.

I have a system to remediate this condition which buffers the water to neutral through the addition of calcite and magnesium oxide.  When the water is acidic, like mine, and not corrected, corrosion and oxidation occurs. In neutral and basic water conditions, no copper oxidization should occur.

A few years ago, I did switch things up and started pulling aquarium water from a pipe joined before the my water softeners and conditioners, and this is all Pex (aka plastic). So, no copper in inline with my aquariums any more.

However, I have kept shrimp before this time (neocaridina) and didn't notice any health impacts to those living on my tap/well water when it was running through old, corroded copper plumbing.

Moral of story, I wouldn't be concerned about brass, copper or other fixtures in terms of aquariums.

However, I guess if you used old a thousand old pennies as your substrate and injected Co2, you might run into issues. 😛

Edited May 21, 2023 by tolstoy21

[CJhilljack]

On 5/14/2023 at 11:27 AM, FLFishChik said:

Water changes. On my 5g and 10g this isn’t an issue (apart from having to do it more frequently), because a cup and a pitcher do the job. BUT, the 29g is a bit more difficult 1) my faucets are such that I can’t use a python to do water changes and 2) I can’t lift a heavy bucket of water so it’s gallon pitcher from the kitchen to the tank, 1 gallon at a time so, 8-10 trips to fill it back up 

Same for me. Moving water around is definitely my biggest obstacles. 

2nd biggest is water. We're on a well with soft water, high ph. Maybe not an obstacle so much as just a circumstance that required some additional research. 

 

 

 

 

[JettsPapa]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:10 AM, tolstoy21 said:

. . . . This happens because the water coming from my well has a Ph of 5.5. This eventually this leads to pin hole leaks in my copper plumbing, if not remediated. But this takes some time to occur.

I have a system to remediate this condition which buffers the water to neutral through the addition of calcite and magnesium oxide.  When the water is acidic, like mine, and not corrected, corrosion and oxidation occurs. In neutral and basic water conditions, no copper oxidization should occur.

A few years ago, I did switch things up and started pulling aquarium water from a pipe joined before the my water softeners and conditioners, and this is all Pex (aka plastic). So, no copper in inline with my aquariums any more.

However, I have kept shrimp before this time (neocaridina) and didn't notice any health impacts to those living on my tap/well water when it was running through old, corroded copper plumbing.

Moral of story, I wouldn't be concerned about brass, copper or other fixtures in terms of aquariums.

However, I guess if you used old a thousand old pennies as your substrate and injected Co2, you might run into issues. 😛

Wow.  Well water can certainly vary drastically.  Mine is 8.2 pH, and hard.

[tolstoy21]

On 5/22/2023 at 9:14 AM, JettsPapa said:

Wow.  Well water can certainly vary drastically.  Mine is 8.2 pH, and hard.

Yeah, agreed.

Mine is pretty hard as well, with a dGh of 9.  But, like I said, it's also pretty acidic. Out of the tap, the Ph is in the 5's; however, once it ages a day, it settles in somewhere between 6.4 - 6.8.  (My dKh is less than 1). So I have an odd combo of hard, yet acidic water.

All the fish I keep are AOK with this, but I do stick mostly to South American species.

 

Ok, sooooooo . . . .  back to the original topic of this thread.

Biggest obstacle for me is that my success rate with fish from the local fish stores in area is pretty abysmal. So I now shop online mostly.

But this becomes problematic due to shipping rates. So I wind up paying double for something as common as a neon tetra just to get them through sellers I trust have healthy fish.