armadillo

Yeah, I feel so sorry for goldfish. Because they are treated like commodity most times. Like, given away at a fair or something, in a bowl.

Allie

Don't listen to your local fish stores' peoples' advice, unless you know they know for sure what they are talking about.
A friend of our worked for one of the major LFS chains. He wasn't allowed to tell the customer not to buy a fish. Even tho he knew that the fish the customer wanted couldn't go with what they had. I once over heard someone talking about having piranha in with Oscars and other SA cichlids. They store clerk just nodded & smiled. NOT ALL SA American fish can go together lol.
So research on your own time before you go to a pet/fish store. All you have to do is Google the name of the fish you like or tropical fish...and all kinds of good info pops up.

armadillo

Thanks a lot for the addition, Allie. I've added it to the first post.

Allie

Here's another one...Never clean your tank with bleach or any other cleaners. Clean with a scrubber/sos pad type and water.
If you don't rise rinse it properly the chemicles could kill the fish. A friend of ours cleaned the outside her tank with windex...but then used the same cloth to wipe the inside. All her fish died.

armadillo

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand thanks again, Allie. Man you bring so much good info, comments, feedback and pix to this site. Thanks for being such an active member!

P.S. Just added your comment to the main sheet now.

Allie

I have made plenty of early mistakes....same with my fish friends.

Beeboy

Never ever buy fish from a tank with dead or diseased fish in it. Trust me you will fight it forever.

Beeboy

armadillo

Thanks so much, Beeboy. I've added it to the list.

Guys, I love your contributions. Keep posting.

Allie

I learned that the bigger bodied betta the older they are. Betta should be babies, 3-4mos old/1-2" when bought...since they can only last 3-5 years.

armadillo

Oh thanks Allie. I'll keep that one on the side for when I finally update the betta caresheet. We try to keep this one species-generic. Good tip, though.

Ladybug

So much good stuff all in one place! Thanks! I'm suffering right now from mistakes made by trusting the LFS guys.

armadillo

It's awful, isn't it, that you don't feel you can trust the specialists. Glad we could be of help. Don't hesitate to share your own early mistakes, so future newbies won't have to.

Allie

The sad part is most of ours and probably world wide pet/fish stores hire people the same way they hire at Mc Donald's. Inexperienced people who no nothing about pets/fish. The people who work in the fish room should have some knowledge of tropical fish...they are getting better people in here.
The guy who runs the fish room at one lfs ask my boyfriend if he wanted a job...I think one of should. We've learned a lot over the past year with all the types of fish we've have kept. All the research we've done.

COBettaCouple

yea, if we ever get to have a fish shop like we want - the jobs will be "experience required"

Allie

I think that it definitely should be how it is.
Today a lady at the LPS store was asking the guy working in the fish room what type of cichlid a fish were...he hemmed haaed...I finally said they are yellow labs...african cichlids. He actually walked away and let me talk to the lady. :
She wanted a midas, but didn't know how big they got. lol I talked to her the whole time I was there while my bf was getting Datnoid #3

Tayful

This is the best article I've ever read in a long time, and I'm glad I did! Thanks a bunch for creating it. This has become one of my favorite sources. I've heard of many of these things before but some of them I did not know about.

armadillo

Wow, thanks a lot, Tayful. And please don't hesitate to add your own lessons-learned to it as time passes. Just add a post to this thread, and I'll integrate it to the main article's text.

jamarm

how about a small amount of salt in fresh water tank.

thanks