armadillo

Would be the life, wouldn't it? A fish store.

COBettaCouple

Yea.. it's a dream. hopefully one day, we'll make a reality.

sirdarksol

You touched on this mistake in your post, but I want to make it more obvious.
A Small pleco in the petstore will grow much larger
The same with pretty much any fish that has a (SM) next to its name. This doesn't mean that this is a smaller breed of fish. It just means that it's a juvenile.

armadillo

Thanks a lot for that, Sabi. Adding it now.

Newtankdude

Hey, Armadillo
I'm going to sticky this in the saltwater specific species and misc. so that if someone starts with SW, like I did, they will know this. They would automatticly go to the SW part of the Forums, so they would never see it. I hope this isn't a problem, If you do have a problem with it, tell me and I'll remove it. Thanks.
-FLcracker94

armadillo

Of course. No problem. That's cool. But it can be stickie'd in 2 places at the same time, then?

Arvenohx

Great idea!

I don't have much, just the usuall REASERCH YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU GET THEM!
But I'm sure you guys know that allready.

Oh, something random, don't keep ghost shrimps with amano shrimps. The amano will kill them. R.I.P Silvester.

armadillo

Thanks a lot, Arvenohx. Yep, lack of research has really been what's got us all into trouble at the beginning. Thanks for the note on Amano shrimps. Am trying to keep it species-generic, but I think this would be a great thread on the shrimp species section. How about creating a early mistakes document for these too? I'd find it really interesting as am about to get shrimps.

tan.b

i never knew that! thats exactly why i love this site.....always learning something new!!

Howeyg

you should mention when adding things to external filter e.g bio spira after filter has been on take the filter out of the water i just flooded my living room (luckily i got laminate flooring)
this is the noobiest thing i have ever done

COBettaCouple

clean-up on aisle 7! hey, i've made some floods going into a tank to get something out when it was full - water in every direction and of course under the tank.

armadillo

Good one! !! Adding it.

Bill

Don't buy regular gravel for your tank, buy aquarium stuff! Garden gravel may be cheaper, but it is really dirty and may contain stones which will There is also loads of sand and little particles in it... no amount of washing will stop it from making your tank cloudy. Guaranteed inert pea gravel from your LFS is a much safer bet... I learned this the hard way!

tan.b

i used lfs gravel for my first tank, then builders grade gravel for the subsequent tanks. they were all equally dirty and needed alot of rinsing, and the lfs gravel was 10 times the price and limited in variety. the builders merchants have a huge variety of gravel to choose from. in all the tanks, they were clear in a week, and as they are cycling though that time the water clarity is the least of your worries! even if you put fish in cloudy water....they dont mind. i'm sure its a bit murky in the wild!!!

zeddy

you wanted to see expensive freshwater fish look through this sight www.riverwonders.com there are some ridiculous fish in there

armadillo

Thanks a lot for sharing that one, Bill. That sounds REALLY annoying. I've added it to the lsit.

giordanopg

Thanks a lot!
Man, I've made a lot of mistakes.
But after my first fish died, I've been studying a lot. The more I learn, the more interesting it gets.

JenniferDawson23

I'm very new at this and firstly made the mistake of taking on an overcrowded 64litre tank that was having water problems even before I had it. I think the biggest mistake was listening to the guy in the store who told me my best bet would be to change all filters/pads/sponges and make daily water changes with tap water I am in process of solving overcrowding problem but my water hasn't been clear since